The Daily Muck

An internal military study alleges “gross mismanagement” in Marine Corps officials’ denial of an urgent request for mine-resistant vehicles in 2005, a decision that may have caused hundreds of fatalities caused by roadside bombs. The study reveals that cost was a major factor as to why battle commanders were denied the equipment they needed. The report’s author, Franz J. Gayl, has filed for whistle-blower protection. (New York Times)

Last year Chris De Rosa, the former director of the division of toxicology and environmental medicine at the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), was reassigned to a non-supervisory “special assistant” position shortly after he produced a report about the potential public health threats from industrial pollution in the Great lakes region. De Rosa, who also helped publicize the formaldehyde problems with FEMA’s trailers, believes that the government is suppressing the Great Lakes report. (Washington Post)

After the attacks of September 11, 2001, the CIA sought to expand its ability to monitor terrorist activity by setting up front companies overseas where case officers would operate under “nonofficial cover”: “meaning they would pose as employees of investment banks, consulting firms or other fictitious enterprises with no apparent ties to the U.S. government.” The program became the source of a “bitter fight” within the CIA, and “after concluding they were ill-conceived and poorly positioned for gathering intelligence” on terrorists and “unconventional weapons proliferation networks,” the agency closed all but two of the companies. (Los Angeles Times)

Prince Bandar, the head of the Saudi national security council, the son of the crown prince, and close friend of President Bush, has been accused of threatening former prime minister Tony Blair that if the British government did not end a Serious Fraud Office investigation about BAE’s massive secret arms payments to Bandar, then Bandar and the Saudis would withhold intelligence about potential terrorist threats against European targets. Previously classified files reveal that British investigators were told that they faced the loss of “British lives on British streets” if investigations into BAE’s secret payments were pursued. (Guardian)

A military judge has ruled that lawyers for Osama bin Laden’s former driver, Salim Hamdan, will be able to question Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and six other detainees being held at Guantanamo. The judge has restricted the questions to be submitted in writing, and Hamdan’s lawyers will be allowed to ask only about his activities between 1996 and 2001, and not about the treatment of the detainees after their capture. (Miami Herald)

In 2006 the FBI was authorized by a secret intelligence court to access e-mail messages from a single e-mail address. But due to an “apparent miscommunication,” the FBI accessed messages from an entire network. According to an intelligence official, “it’s inevitable that these things will happen. It’s not weekly, but it’s common.” (New York Times)

The New York Times has found some major discrepencies between the publicly reported unofficial results of the New York Democratic primary and the official count. Approximately eighty of New York City’s 6106 election districts did not report a single vote for Barack Obama on election night, while the official count now shows Obama receiving votes. City officials, who are still conducting a formal review of the results, suspect the problems were the result of human error. The Times also found “a handful” of districts which reported zero votes for Hillary Clinton on election night. (New York Times)

Scientists have begun analyzing materials in the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) issued trailers to determine the source of the dangerous formaldehyde fumes. Results reported by the Centers for Disease Control state that the formaldehyde levels in the trailers are five times higher than what people encounter in a typical modern home. FEMA hopes to move all 35,000 families out of the trailers by summer 2008. (AP)

The trial of former New Hampshire Democratic Congressional candidate Gary Dodds – who is accused of “falsifying physical evidence, creating false public alarm, and conduct after an accident” – is nearing its conclusion. Lawyers for both sides made their closing arguments on Friday, and the jury is scheduled to begin deliberations Wednesday. (New Hampshire Union Leader)

After a federal judge found the FBI responsible in July for framing four men for murders they did not commit, defendants won $102 million in damages for malicious prosecution. The Justice Department has appealed this judgment, but has not explained its challenge to the award. (Chicago Tribune)