The Daily Muck

Four former CIA officials find Bush’s claim that he only recently learned of the contents of the NIE report, to be “preposterous.” One of these experts said that such intelligence would have been, as a matter of practice, included in the Presidential Daily Briefings (PDB) , which have occurred daily since last August when the Director of the NIE whispered in Bush’s ear that he had some new info on Iran. (Huffington Post)

Lawyers for Bin Laden’s former driver Salim Ahmed Hamdan have been allowed to argue that Hamdan is a prisoner of war and not an unlawful enemy combatant. Earning a coveted POW status would mean that Hamdan would be removed from the military commission process and that the Geneva Convention would apply to the terms of his detention. However, a military judge has denied him the right to call three “high-value detainees” as witnesses. (LA Times)

What’s next for prisoners at Guantanamo Bay? It appears likely that the Supreme Court will rule that the U.S. Constitution protects their legal rights, but there are tougher issues to decide, like whether the current procedure is adequate. Don’t expect a decision in Boumediene v. Bush and Al-Odah v. United States until early next summer, just before the court recesses. (McClatchy)

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has released a report that details the “massive failures and billions wasted at the Department of Homeland Security.” The report highlights the $24 billion spent and $178 million wasted on the failed Coast Guard Deepwater program, the $600 million spent on unworkable radiation scanners for the borders, and the $1.3 billion on the USVISIT program, which was never fully implemented. (CREW)

File this in the TPMmuckraker Department of Worst Nightmares: The Federal Aviation Administration has failed to update its runway safety plan in five years, cut funding to its runway safety office and did not appoint a permanent head of the office for two years, and now Congress reports “a high risk of a catastrophic runway collision.” The worst runway collision in the nation occurred in 1991, when a passenger jet landed and slammed into a commuter plane on a runway, killing 34 people. (USA Today)

Numerous Iraqi military and law-enforcement officials brought to the U.S. as part of special intelligence and training programs have run away and are seeking asylum in this country or disappeared altogether. Intelligence officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity said nearly a dozen Iraqis fled military training facilities in the U.S., including a brigadier general who went to Canada with his family earlier this year. (Washington Times)

U.S. Special Counsel Scott Bloch has responded to the article “Head of Rove Inquiry in Hot Seat Himself” (Nov. 28), in which it is noted that Bloch is facing allegations that he improperly deleted computer files during a probe by using a private computer-help company, Geeks on Call. Bloch asserts that the director and inspector general of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) have conflicts of interest making impartiality unlikely in their investigation. (Wall Street Journal)

We may not be ready for a duel yet, but senators Specter (R-PA) and Reid (D-NV) are engaged in an “affair of honor” in which Reid has called Specter a “puppet” and Specter has asserted that Reid is not fit to lead the Senate. According to Specter, Reid violated Senate Rule XIX, which prohibits the questioning of a senator’s integrity. (CQ Politics)