News Story
Editorial Urges Portland Police to Rejoin FBI’s JTTF Squad
By The Portland Tribune Editorial PORTLAND, Ore. — In 2005 the Portland City Council voted to pull out of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force – leaving not only Portland, but also the region, with a void of local engagement in investigating and preventing acts of terrorism. That absence should end this week as the…
Judge Rules Against Muslim Groups But Blasts Government
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com There was good news and bad news for Muslim activists who sued to get FBI files on their activities. The bad news was that a federal judge in Santa Ana, Calif., ruled Wednesday that the groups cannot have access to most of the files because of national security issues, the Associated…
Suspected Terrorists Can Still Legally Buy Guns
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — Apparently suspected terrorist have the right to buy guns too. The Associated Press reported that 247 people with suspected terrorism ties bought guns last year in the U.S. after going through the mandatory background check, according to FBI stats. AP reported that it is not illegal to buy guns…
FBI Wash. Field Office Gets Piece of Pentagon Wall From 9/11 Attack
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — FBI agents at the Washington Field Office hardly needed anything to remind them of the devastating aftermath of 9/11, and the plane crash at the Pentagon that killed 184 folks. Nonetheless, it was nice gesture Wednesday when the office was presented with an 800-pound limestone block recovered from the…
FBI Agent Commits Suicide in Maine
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com The FBI wasn’t saying much last week about the suicide of an FBI agent, who shot himself in the Portland, Maine area over the weekend of April 24, according to sources. The agent was in his early 50s, one source said. FBI agent Greg Comcowich, a spokesman for the Boston FBI…
IG Report Says Some FBI Agents Lack Skills to Probe Computer Intrusions
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — A Justice Department Inspector General report issued Wednesday says a third of the agents it interviewed, who probe national security-related computer intrusions, lacked certain skills to competently do their jobs. Specifically, the report said of the of 36 agents interviewed at 10 field offices, 13 “lacked the networking and…
San Francisco Chronicle Denies Secret Service Request to Monitor Its Phones During Visit by Napolitano
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — The U.S. Secret Service may have touched a on a sensitive nerve with the San Francisco Chronicle. The agency asked the paper if it could monitor its phone traffic during a visit by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Monday. She had gone to the paper to talk to…
Atty. Gen. Holder Says He Hopes FBI Director Confirmed Way Before Sept.
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — The hunt for a new FBI director — and the Senate confirmation — will hopefully be completed way before Robert Mueller III retires Sept. 4, Atty. Gen. Eric Holder Jr. said Tuesday. “The goal is to have somebody nominated and ready to go,” Holder told reporters, according to USA…