Confirmed: DOJ Uses Section 702 to Get Title I FISA Warrants. In addition to the apparent miscommunication between Mark Udall and Acting (and presumably soon to be confirmed) DOJ National Security Division Head John Carlin, there was an even more telling exchange in today’s hearing. In it, Martin Heinrich asked whether DOJ had yet written down its radical new policy of giving notice to defendants caught using Section 702. Heinrich: As you know in October 2013, after months and months of discussion and debate in which you and the NSD were involved, DOJ adopted a new policy by which Federal prosecutors would inform defendants when they intended to offer evidence informed, obtained, or derived from intelligence collected under Section 702 of FISA. And when you and I met in December you informed me that that policy had not yet been reduced to a formal written policy, and so, Mr. Carlin, I wanted to ask, is that process done yet and has that policy been finalized and if so has it been disseminated in written form?
Um. I’m glad that’s all cleared up. Today’s NSA-Related Orwellianism: “Derived From” As I noted in this post, the government has submitted its response to Mohamed Osman Mohamud’s motion for discovery on how DOJ came to forget to tell him he had been discovered through the use of Section 702 spying. The bulk of their argument basically boils down to this assertion, which they repeat in many forms throughout their response. A remedy for untimely notice exists under FISA: the defendant will be given the opportunity to challenge evidence obtained or derived from FISA collection in a suppression hearing governed by the procedures set forth in FISA.
That is, they argue the only thing Mohamud is entitled to is an opportunity to challenge the Section 702 evidence, which they intend to prevent adversarial review of by chanting “national security.” Which is another way of saying they believe Mohamud has no real remedy at all. But the really pathetic part of the response comes in the passage where they try to explain why they didn’t give Mohamud timely review. Breaking! DOJ: Our Delayed Notice Doesn’t Mean You Can Withdraw Your Plea. DOJ has now given a third defendant, Agron Hasbajrami, notice his prosecution was “derived from” Section 702. The government submits this letter to supplement the government’s original Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (“FISA”) notice, which was filed on September 13, 2011. The original FISA notice advised you that the government intended to offer into evidence, or otherwise use or disclose “information obtained or derived from electronic surveillance and physical searches conducted pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (‘FISA’), as amended, 50 U.S.C. §§ 1801-1812 and 1821-1829.”
(Dckt. # 9). Oops! There’s just one problem: Hasbajrami already took a plea deal, pleading guilty to material support for terrorism on April 12, 2012. And DOJ says he can’t take it back. Still. No wonder John Carlin umed and ahed so much today. Albanian National Arrested En Route to Fight Jihad Pleads Guilty to Attempting to Support Terrorists. Agron Hasbajrami, an Albanian citizen and resident of Brooklyn, pled guilty today in United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York before the Honorable John Gleeson to attempting to provide material support to terrorists. At sentencing, Hasbajrami faces up to 15 years in prison. As a condition of his plea, Hasbarjrami has agreed to be deported from the United States. The guilty plea was announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Janice K. Fedarcyk, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office; and Raymond W.
Kelly, Commissioner, New York City Police Department. According to court documents, Hasbajrami attempted to travel to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan (the FATA) for the purpose of joining a radical jihadist insurgent group. On September 5, 2011, Hasbajrami purchased a one-way airline ticket to travel to Turkey the following day. Brooklyn Resident from Albania Sentenced to 15 Years’ Imprisonment for Attempting to Support Terrorism. Earlier today, at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn, New York, Agron Hasbajrami, an Albanian citizen and Brooklyn resident, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for attempting to provide material support to terrorists. Hasbajrami will be removed from the United States at the conclusion of his sentence.
The sentence was announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Lisa O. Monaco, Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division; George Venizelos, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office; and Raymond W. Kelly, Commissioner, New York City Police Department. In September 2011, Hasbajrami purchased a one-way airplane ticket to travel to the Middle East on his way to the FATA to fight violent jihad. “Hasbajrami sought to use New York as the launching pad for his terrorist scheme. DefendantAgron HasbajramiAge: 28. DEA. FBI. Waiting on the RIAA, feds held seized Dajaz1 domain for months. Documents unsealed this week reveal that the year-long delay in returning the seized Dajaz1 domain name occurred in part because the government was waiting for copyright holders, including the Recording Industry Association of America, to provide more information.
The documents were released in response to a joint request from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the First Amendment Coalition and Wired (which shares a parent company with Ars). The documents raise fresh questions about the domain seizure process created by Congress in the 2008 PRO-IP Act. Dajaz1.com was (and is) a popular hip hop music blog. In its application to seize the site's domain name, the government cited four links to allegedly infringing songs hosted on cyber-locker sites. Dajaz1's attorney says the site complied with the DMCA takedown process, and has also suggested to Ars that some of the music was leaked by agents of the music labels themselves in an effort to create "buzz" for forthcoming albums.
Justice Department memo reveals legal case for drone strikes on Americans. A secretive memo from the Justice Department, provided to NBC News, provides new information about the legal reasoning behind one of the Obama administration's controversial policies. Now, John Brennan, Obama's nominee for CIA director, is expected to face tough questions about drone strikes on Thursday when he appears before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
NBC's Michael Isikoff reports. By Michael Isikoff, National Investigative Correspondent, NBC News A confidential Justice Department memo concludes that the U.S. government can order the killing of American citizens if they are believed to be “senior operational leaders” of al-Qaida or “an associated force” -- even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the U.S. The secrecy surrounding such strikes is fast emerging as a central issue in this week’s hearing of White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan, a key architect of the drone campaign, to be CIA director. DOJ: Calling Out Government Lies Would Endanger National Security. The government argues that, in spite of the fact that Saifullah Paracha’s Gitmo Detainee Assessment Brief was leaked in April, his lawyer, David Remes, cannot talk about it.
Because if he did, we might conclude the DAB was real. Granting Petitioner’s request could also be detrimental to the interests of national security, given the access to classified information that petitioners’ counsel enjoy but that members of the public at large do not. Reliance on the purported detainee assessments leaked to WikiLeaks in unclassified public writings by habeas counsel known to have access to classified information could be taken as implicit authentication of the reports and the information contained therein.
Of course, no one really doubts that it is real. But the government will claim that this public information remains classified to make sure Remes can’t mention the information. Remes can only represent his client, I guess, in court, not in the public sphere. Welcome to the United States Department of Justice. Department of Justice Agencies.