Dozens of Criminal Justice, Religious, and Civil Rights Groups Urge Senate Judiciary Committee to Investigate Pardon Attorney Office Letter Follows Disturbing Revelations About Handling of Clemency Petitions FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 21, 2012Contact: Monica Pratt Raffanel, media@famm.org WASHINGTON, D.C. – FAMM today released a letter signed by more than three dozen criminal justice reform, religious and civil rights organizations urging the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate the Office of Pardon Attorney (OPA) at the U.S. Department of Justice. FAMM first called for a congressional investigation last week. According to FAMM President Julie Stewart, “The letter sent today demonstrates that this story is not going to go away and that DOJ cannot sweep OPA’s disturbing behavior under the rug.” The calls for investigation follow recent news ... Continue reading →

In April 1974, a few months before President Nixon resigned, Ben Bradlee, the executive editor of The Washington Post, gave one of the most thoughtful speeches of his life. In it, he talked about the fact that journalism is produced in “an adversary environment where the goals of the reported inherently conflict with the goals of the reporter and the reader.” “It is this daily conflict that gives concrete importance and meaning to the First Amendment, to freedom of the press,” Ben said. “Without that freedom there is no conflict, and without that conflict there is no truth.” During the past two weeks, my former boss Bob Woodward has compared me to Richard Nixon, referred to me in the pages of The Washington Post and ... Continue reading →

Christopher Doyon, a.k.a. Commander X, sits atop a hillside in an undisclosed location in Canada, watching a reporter and photographer make their way along a narrow path to join him, away from the prying eyes of law enforcement. It’s been a few weeks of encrypted emails back and forth, working out the security protocol to follow for interviewing Doyon, one of the brains behind Anonymous, now a fugitive from the FBI. Doyon, who readily admits taking part in some of the highest-profile hacktivist attacks on websites last year — from Tunisia to Orlando, Sony to PayPal — was arrested in September for a comparatively minor assault on the county website of Santa Cruz, Calif., where he was living, in retaliation for the town forcibly removing ... Continue reading →

Clarence Aaron was sentenced to three life terms in federal prison without parole for abetting a drug conspiracy. In 2001, he applied for a presidential commutation, an act of clemency he came closer to receiving than he or his advocates knew. (Photo courtesy of PBS FRONTLINE) At 24, he was sentenced to three life terms for his role in a cocaine deal, even though it was his first criminal offense and he was not the buyer, seller or supplier of the drugs. Of all those convicted in the case, Aaron received the stiffest sentence. For those reasons, his case for early release was championed by lawmakers and civil rights activists, and taken up by the media, from PBS to Fox News. And, ultimately, the prosecutor's ... Continue reading →

Clarence Aaron was sentenced to three life terms in federal prison without parole for abetting a drug conspiracy. In 2001, he applied for a presidential commutation, an act of clemency he came closer to receiving than he or his advocates knew. (Photo courtesy of PBS FRONTLINE) At 24, he was sentenced to three life terms for his role in a cocaine deal, even though it was his first criminal offense and he was not the buyer, seller or supplier of the drugs. Of all those convicted in the case, Aaron received the stiffest sentence. For those reasons, his case for early release was championed by lawmakers and civil rights activists, and taken up by the media, from PBS to Fox News. And, ultimately, the prosecutor's ... Continue reading →

Bravo! @TIME wins Magazine of the Year at the National Magazine Awards #ellies Continue reading →

ABOUT THIS PROJECT Some activists have criticized the U.S. military for utilizing enhanced interrogation techniques, performing interrogations overseas and indefinitely detaining enemy combatants. Well intentioned though these critics may be, few among them realize how essential such techniques are to the routine process of information gathering in which our military engages every day. And it is precisely this information that keeps Americans safe both at home and abroad. Keeping this in mind, we at the Heritage Foundation have decided to launch the Protect America Project (PAP), which will seek out ways to make the process of information gathering more efficient. The first PAP design exercise is the Mobile Black Site. The Mobile Black Site (MBS) is a discrete interrogation vehicle with a stealthy exterior and ... Continue reading →