The Daily Muck

If the Army had conducted proper paperwork on the initial testing of its body armor, it would have been able to guarantee that the protective vests provided to soldiers met current safety standards. But it didn’t, a Defense Department audit shows. (USA Today)

After September 11, 2001 the federal government established dozens of “fusion centers” across the nation that have access to personal information about American citizens. One center even has access to “top-secret data systems at the CIA.” By employing “law enforcement analysts and sophisticated computer systems to compile, or fuse, disparate tips and clues and pass along the refined information to other agencies,” the centers are designed to enhance “national information-sharing networks that link local, state and federal authorities.” (Washington Post)

Representative Don Young (R-AK) supports the Alaska SeaLife Center and its three-day fishing tournament. But Young’s genuine appreciation of wild marine animals and marine biologists is now complicated by the fact that Alaska SeaLife Center (a 501(c)(4) nonprofit) used the same invitation to invite donors to both the fishing tournament and a campaign event for Young. Young and his campaign have refused to comment on the apparent violation of campaign finance law. (KTUU News)

Representative William Jefferson’s (D-LA) needs a new chief political strategist. Mose Jefferson, who currently holds that position, and is also William’s oldest brother, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on seven felony counts. Mose is charged with bribing a New Orleans school official to win support for a math curriculum he was selling. (Times Picayune)

The controversial Counterintelligence Field Activity Office that Donald Rumsfeld launched after September 11, 2001 is likely to be shut down soon. In 2005 it was revealed that the office, which expanded domestic spying, maintained a database on antiwar protests in 2003 that had been organized by “churches, schools and Quaker meeting halls.” (New York Times)

Many of the pre-Petraeus reports (the general will testify in Washington next week) on the surge have emphasized how the Iraq war has inflicted “incredible stress” upon and has created “a significant risk” for the military. Today’s Politico previews a report by the nonpartisan advocacy group Veterans of America that emphasizes the tremendous mental health costs of the war. Longer deployment of troops, the report claims, has compounded “the injuries for those who already served” and is a “prescription for catastrophe.” (Politico)

Though the Senate soundly defeated a one year moratorium on earmarks last month, Senate Republicans are calling for more disclosure about pet projects. This call for the disclosure of earmarks in the text of spending bills (rather than buried in committee reports) coincides with Citizens Against Government Waste’s annual “Pig Book,” which highlighted pork such as “$149,000 for the Montana Sheep Institute, $188,000 for the Lobster Institute in Maine, $211,000 for olive fruit fly research in France, and $460,000 for research on hops, used in brewing beer.” Yesterday, Republicans in the House failed to force (sub. req.) a vote on an earmark “freeze.” (New York Times, Roll Call)

In a report to the Senate Homeland Security Thursday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s inspector general said FEMA is more prepared for an emergency situation than it was after Hurricane Katrina, but nowhere near ready for another such catastrophe. The most recent criticisms of FEMA since Katrina are for housing hurricane victims in trailers with dangerous levels of formaldehyde. (AP)

Representative Henry Waxman has written to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs to reiterate the “Committee’s request for documents related to the rejection of expert recommendations for ozone air quality standards.” (Committee On Oversight and Government Reform)

According to study done by the organizations Project Vote and Demos, many state public assistance offices are failing to increase the number of poor, registered voters. The study shows the in the last decade, voter registration through food stamps, Medicaid and the like dropped almost 80 percent.(Kansas City Star)

Eight former temporary workers for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now were found to have submitted faulty voter registration cards in St. Louis during the 2006 election, says U.S. Attorney for St. Louis Catherine Hanaway. The organization claims the workers probably did so to increase their pay. (AP)