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Stephen M. Kohn (202) 342-6980
Lindsey M. Williams (202) 342-1903

Sibel Edmonds Requests Attorney General Review the Invocation of State Secrets Privilege

Edmonds to Testify in Ohio Case Unless Attorney General Re-Invokes the Privilege

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee held a hearing yesterday on the REAL ID Act and the REAL ID revival bill, known as PASS ID. I attended and want to share with you some highlights.

Good News!

Little good came from the hearing, as it was primarily focused on how to get the states and people to accept a national ID. But there is some good news.

First, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared REAL ID dead (much as I did in my testimony two-plus years ago). “DOA” is how she referred to it.

I’ve written about PASS ID here a couple of times before - first on whether or not it’s a national ID [1] and, second, on the politics of this REAL ID revival bill [2]. Now I’ll take a look at whether it fixes the privacy issues with REAL ID. Privacy is complicated. Buckle up.

The day the bill [3] was introduced, the Center for Democracy and Technology issued a press release [4] giving it a privacy stamp of approval.

While we were busy covering the ‘Iranian Twitter Revolution’ and gobbling up the latest ‘sex’ news involving Sanford:

Robert Gates issued his anticipated order to establish the U.S. Cyber Command which ‘supposedly’ will be responsible for defending the military portion of cyberspace. Of course the preoccupation with Sanford’s hanky panky and playing cheerleader for our twitter buddies didn’t allow for any in-depth coverage of this gigantic development.

Members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will line up Thursday to take their shots at Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

To which Ron Paul and Jim Bunning might say: Where have you been?

Paul and Bunning — viewed by their colleagues as among the most eccentric members of Congress — were anti-Fed before anti-Fed was cool.

Paul, a Republican representative from Texas, has railed against the Federal Reserve for so long that his supporters sometimes chanted “End the Fed! End the Fed!” at rallies during his long-shot 2008 presidential run.

AIG Hearing with Geithner & Bernanke

From CATO: http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2009/06/17/is-the-real-id-revival-bill-pa...

With the move in the Senate to revive our moribund national ID law, the REAL ID Act, under the name “PASS ID,” it’s important to look at whether we’re still dealing with a national ID law. My assessment is that we are.

First, PASS ID is modeled directly on REAL ID. The structure and major provisions of the two bills are the same. Just like REAL ID, PASS ID sets national standards for identity cards and drivers’ licenses, withholding federal recognition if they are not met.

Congressman Paul's bill H.R. 1207 as of today has 234 co-sponsors and Sen. Sanders bill S. 604 in the Senate now has Senator DeMint and Senator Vitter as cosponsors.

Very disturbing video on the lack of oversight and transparency at the Federal Reserve. Alan Grayson: Is Anyone Minding the Store at the Federal Reserve?

Other video: