We are at CyberWar, our national politicians tell us, and in a CyberWar we must be ever CyberVigilant and on CyberGuard against our CyberEnemies. Usually, showing up is a prerequisite for vigilance. Earlier today, the full House Armed Services Committee was called together for a hearing entitled “U.S. Cyber Command: Organizing for Cyberspace Operations.” There [...]

When the Senate Homeland Security Committee held its hearing yesterday on “Making Government More Transparent And Accountable,” it managed the transparency part of the task rather well. Of all members of the committee, only Senator Thomas Carper was visible for any part of the hearing. Our government can really produce amazing feats. What do you [...]

Will the last Senator in the Capitol please turn the sunshine off? When the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee called together a public subcommittee hearing this week entitled “Removing the Shroud of Secrecy: Making Government More Transparent and Accountable,” I especially looked forward to the testimony of Ellen Miller. Miller is the executive [...]

Date of House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held hearing on the “administration of the Freedom of Information Act”: Thursday, March 18. Response obtained when selecting a link to view a webcast of this hearing: “The program you are trying to view is not available. Please try later.” Response obtained when selecting a link [...]

One of the features of the American military is that it is supposed to serve determined civilian aims as a branch of government subordinated to civilian control. In the Groundhog Day hearing this year on the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy of discriminating against gay and lesbian Americans, and in the upcoming follow-up hearing in [...]

If you’re interested in federal policy regarding the “War on Drugs,” consider watching the Senate Judiciary Committee as it meets this Christmas Eve to consider S. 1789, at which time the committee will either send the bill to the floor of the Senate or kill it. S. 1789, also called the Fair Sentencing Act of [...]

The website of the House Judiciary Committee reveals that this month’s scheduled hearing, bringing FBI officials to answer questions about the bureau’s domestic surveillance of law-abiding Americans, has been canceled. The second of two hearings regarding the government’s role in preventing head injuries in football, on the other hand, will proceed as scheduled. Priorities, priorities.

The following is our transcription of the November 19, 2009 testimony of John Amos of Skytruth, a non-profit environmental imaging organization, to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. After more than a decade analyzing satellite imagery in the commercial sector for oil and gas exploration, I founded Skytruth, a non-profit corporation dedicated to [...]

The next time you hear a U.S. Senator declare how vitally important offshore oil drilling is for the nation, you’ll have to ask yourself how she or he managed to come to that conclusion. On Thursday, November 19 2009, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee convened a hearing on the environmental impact of offshore [...]

The following is our transcription of remarks made today by Greg Nojeim, Senior Counsel of the Center for Democracy and Technology, in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security. Thank you for the opportunity to testify about cybersecurity and civil liberties on behalf of the Center for Democracy and Technology. CDT [...]