A federal group is selling collector’s coins of Border Patrol Agent Brian A. Terry, who was killed in a shootout while on duty, to raise money for a foundation created to honor Terry.

Called the “Challenge Coin,” the Border Narcotics Intelligence is selling the coins online for $15.

Terry’s death grabbed national headlines because it revealed the federal government’s botched “Fast and Furious” drug smuggling investigation.  

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Steve Neavling

Former Vice President Al Gore launched an unusual assault on the Obama administration over the revelation that the federal government is tracking cell phone records, The Washington Post reports.

“In digital era, privacy must be a priority,” Gore tweeted Wednesday. “Is it just me, or is secret blanket surveillance obscenely outrageous?”

The tweet follows news that the government is tracking cell phone records of millions of Americans.

Steve Neavling

The Obama administration’s characterization of the attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya on Sept. 11, 2012, slowed the down the investigation, a key Benghazi whistleblower said, Fox News reports.

“I definitely believe that it negatively affected our ability to get the FBI team quickly to Benghazi,” Greg Hicks, the deputy chief of mission in Libya, said during a Congressional hearing Wednesday.

Some Republicans are accusing the administration of downplaying the attack for political reasons.

Democrats scoffed at the idea.

“People who have actually seen the documents, who have actually conducted a real investigation completely reject the allegation that they were made for political purposes,” Rep. John Tierney, D-Mass., said.

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The Obama administration is close to stiffening surveillance laws to make it easier to wiretap people who use the Internet, the New York Times reports.

Saying it’s much easier to wiretap people using traditional phone services, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III wants the federal government to extend the practice to monitor suspects who communicate using the Internet.

The proposal is being reviewed by the White House, the Times wrote.

Privacy advocates aren’t so happy about the proposed change.

“I think the F.B.I.’s proposal would render Internet communications less secure and more vulnerable to hackers and identity thieves,” said Gregory T. Nojeim of the Center for Democracy and Technology. “It would also mean that innovators who want to avoid new and expensive mandates will take their innovations abroad and develop them there, where there aren’t the same mandates.”

The search for a new FBI director is heating up.

Looking to replace Robert Mueller, whose term has expired, the White House has begun vetting candidates and may be down to a short list of potential successors, NPR reports.

NPR reported that the Obama administration approached Judge Merrick Garland, a federal appeals court judge in Washington D.C., but he didn’t want the job.

That leaves the White House with a short list of candidates, NPR reported, citing anonymous sources.

Among them are Lisa Monaco, a federal prosecutor; Jim Comey, a former U.S. attorney in New York City; and David Kris, a longtime Justice Department lawyer, NPR wrote.

Steve Neavling

The state and justice departments have no intention of investigating complaints of human rights violations and other misconduct by DEA agents in Honduras, the Washington Times reports.

At issue is the May 2012 deaths of four Honduran villagers during an anti-drug operation along the Carribean coast.

Some lawmakers and human-rights groups have been demanding to know how much the DEA was involved in the deaths, the Washington Times reported.

More than 55 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives have requested an investigation, but the Obama administration appears to be pleased with a report from Honduras that cleared the DEA of wrongdoing, the Washington Times wrote.

“There will be no separate investigation,” a U.S. official told The Washington Times this week.

New York Times

The Obama administration on Friday announced a policy change that — if it works — should lead to smarter enforcement of the immigration laws, with greater effort spent on deporting dangerous felons and less on minor offenders who pose no threat.

The new policy places stricter conditions on when Immigration and Customs Enforcement sends requests, known as detainers, to local law-enforcement agencies asking them to hold suspected immigration violators in jail until the government can pick them up. Detainers will be issued for serious offenders — those who have been convicted or charged with a felony, who have three or more misdemeanor convictions, or have one conviction or charge for misdemeanor crimes like sexual abuse, drunken driving, weapons possession or drug trafficking. Those who illegally re-entered the country after having been deported or posing a national-security threat would also be detained. But there would be no detainers for those with no convictions or records of only petty offenses like traffic violations.

To read more click here.

Steve Neavling

In his first public comments about the downfall of CIA Director David Petraeus, President Obama said he is reserving judgment on whether the FBI handled the matter properly, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Obama said Wednesday that he is waiting for more information before deciding whether the FBI should have told him earlier about the investigation involving Petraeus.

One good sign, Obama said, is that it so far doesn’t appear like classified information had been disclosed  “in any way that would have had a negative impact” on national security, the Wall Street Journal wrote.

“I have a lot of confidence generally in the FBI,” Obama said.

The FBI continues to investigate whether Petraeus’ affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, led to the leak of classified information.

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