Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich now has nothing to lose, at least politically, and may be making the most of it. In recent days Blagojevich has been lashing out at those who ousted him, referring to Illinois state lawmakers as drunkards and adulterers who don’t know how to do their jobs. While most lawmakers are brushing off his comments as gossip, some fear that Blagojevich may be able to reduce his sentence by informing on others. As a former congressman and twice-elected governor, he likely knows where a lot of bodies are buried.. (Associated Press)
Yesterday, in a letter to the House Financial Services committee, New York state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo gave details on how Merrill Lynch distributed its 2008 bonus pool, revealing that 696 employees received $1 million or more in bonuses–only a very small fraction of the company’s 39,000 employees. A reminder: Merrill lost $27 billion last year. (New York Times)
It seems that the staff at Los Alamos National Laboratory is having trouble keeping track of its computers. A recent memo shows that currently 67 computers are missing and that 13 of them are confirmed lost or stolen in the past year alone. Furthermore, officials at the laboratory may have erred when they decided to treat the lost computers as a property management issue and not a potential lapse in cyber security. Among the losses is a laboratory BlackBerry that went missing in a “sensitive foreign country.” (Project on Government Oversight)
New developments in the case of Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian being held at Guantanamo Bay. According to a statement by British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, a team of officials will visit the former British resident, who is currently on a hunger strike at the facility, and prepare him for his return to the United Kingdom. While the Obama administration has not yet said they will release Mohamed, the visit appears to be a prelude to his release and a strong indication that the administration is accelerating the process of releasing prisoners. (Washington Post)
A congressionally ordered audit has revealed that tens of thousands of assault rifles and other firearms in Afghanistan are at risk of being stolen and falling into Taliban hands because U.S. officials have lost track of them. The audit found that inventory controls were lacking for almost half of 242,000 weapons donated to Afghan forces. An additional 135,000 weapons were left in the care of Afghan military depots, which have a high rate of desertion and theft, in addition to lax security on the premises. (Washington Post)
The Lithuanian defense minister will meet with Defense Secretary Robert Gates today to discuss the possibility of her country accepting up to 10 Guantanamo detainees, an issue that should be of high priority to an administration attempting to close the camps. Rasa Jukneviciene would also like to discuss the possibility of her country hosting an American missile defense base, something that would calm regional fears about a resurgent Russia. It is unclear whether the discussions would involve these two issues in a quid pro quo arrangement. (Associated Press)
