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Congress Quietly Repeals Martial Law Provision In late 2006, Congress revised the Posse Comitatus Act and the Insurrection Act to make it far easier for a president to declare martial law. Those changes were repealed at the end of this January as part of Public Law 110-181 (HR 4986), the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (signed into law by President Bush on January 28, 2008). Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt), who championed the opposition to the original law, was also the hero of the repeal. It helped that all the nation’s governors opposed the 2006 law. Boise State Professor Charlotte Twight, the author of the excellent Dependent on DC, alerted me to the change last night. I checked on Nexis and the only news coverage I found regarding the repeal was a 322-word Gannett News wire story from February 1 that focused on how the repeal made governors happy. I first wrote about the Posse/Insurrection peril for American Conservative a year ago. My most recent piece on the subject was an article for the January issue of the Future of Freedom Foundation’s (FFF) Freedom Daily....
Freedom Tower blueprints found in trash A homeless man's discovery of documents purported to be blueprints for the Freedom Tower is a serious security breach and has prompted an internal investigation, a spokesman for the New York Port Authority said Friday. Workers found to have broken rules governing the disposal of the blueprints will be fired, and contractors whose employees may have mishandled the papers could lose their contract to build the 1,776-foot tower on the World Trade Center site, Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman said. "We already have protocols in place" to prevent sensitive documents from falling into the wrong hands, Coleman said. He added, "We don't tolerate stupidity." The New York Post reported Friday that a homeless man found the 150-page document while rummaging through a trash can. The blueprints were dated Oct. 5, 2007, and were labeled, "Secure Document -- Confidential," the newspaper said....
Airport screeners to get more security training Airport screeners are about to get new security training designed to help them think creatively about possible threats _ including those they have never thought of. "We have to prepare for attacks that don't fit our procedures," such as the traveler who stuffed a block of cheese wrapped in wire into a checked bag, Transportation Security Administration Kip Hawley told reporters Friday. The screeners still will be vigilant for someone trying to bring a gun on a plane, but they also want to look for more offbeat threats, he said. Part of the preparation is a new 12-hour training course that all 43,000 screeners across the country will go through. Currently screeners get four hours of retraining each week. But this new course includes briefings from field intelligence officials who will discuss the latest threats and trends. For example, in the 2006 London airliner plot, the operatives planned to put pornographic magazines in their carry-on luggage to distract the screeners. Screeners will also learn about new explosive devices and will be shown how they look on the screen of an X-ray machine, as well as what they look like up close. The third part of the training includes instructions on how to deal with passengers in a way that creates a calm environment. There will be no more screaming across checkpoint isles, and screeners will get tips on how not to be baited by an angry passenger....
Justice Dept. Details Program for Collecting DNA From People in Federal Custody The Bush administration moved forward on Friday with a program to expand collecting DNA samples from people in federal custody. But it was unclear how federal laboratories would be able to handle the added work. The Justice Department formally proposed regulations for collecting the samples, a technique that essentially mirrors taking the fingerprints of people arrested for federal offenses, as well as illegal immigrants detained by federal authorities. The government now collects DNA just from felons. DNA, the genetic marker found in hair and blood and other body fluids, can provide a more concrete link to a crime than fingerprints, which often are not left at a crime scene or are difficult to collect. For the new effort to succeed, the samples, most collected by swabbing an inside cheek, have to be entered into the DNA database of the F.B.I. A spokeswoman for the bureau’s laboratory, Ann Todd, said it already had a backlog of 225,000 samples to be processed, a more complex procedure than entering fingerprints. If Justice Department estimates are accurate, work at the laboratory would increase twelvefold, Ms. Todd said. No additional money was provided for the laboratory when Congress authorized the new collection program in 2006....
Packin' heat: Bill aims to honor concealed weapons permits nationwide A bill introduced into Congress this week would force every state to recognize a concealed-weapons permit issued in another state, a move that would make Utah's permit even more of a prize nationwide. Utah has one of the more easily obtainable permits - an applicant need not even set foot in the state - and the permit is recognized in 32 other states. The Secure Access to Firearms Enhancement Act, dubbed the SAFE Act by supporters, would force the other 17 states to honor the Utah permit or another issued by a carrier's home state. The bill, introduced this week and co-sponsored by Utah GOP Rep. Chris Cannon, includes the caveat that the permit holder would have to abide by the state's laws on where the firearm can't be carried, such as churches or schools. Cannon backs the bill because he says the Second Amendment guarantees an individual's right to carry and own a weapon and that right doesn't end at the state line. "You no more give up that right leaving Utah than you give up your right to freely exercise your faith," Cannon says. "This legislation is an important effort to help make that clear - as a matter of federal law." Larry Pratt, the executive director of the Virginia-based Gun Owners of America, the group pushing the SAFE bill, says the legislation should create some uniformity in the hodgepodge of state laws across the nation. The bill is similar to the constitutional protections for drivers who have a license issued in one state and who are traveling in another, Pratt says....