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Attention Swimmers: This Year, Abramoff Crony Won’t Save You
Officials in Rehoboth Beach, Del. have declined an application from onetime Jack Abramoff lobbying crony Michael Scanlon to work as a lifeguard. Every summer from 2002 to 2005, Scanlon took a break from fleecing Indian tribes for millions of dollars to work as a lifeguard for the resort town, earning $11.35 an hour for his troubles. But not this year: officials nixed his bid, fearing “the prospect of television crews swarming over the beach should the scandal resurface in the news.” (Delaware News Journal)

The CIA: Dusty’s Troubled Trails
Foggo’s troubles may help to explain Porter Goss’s sudden departure from the agency earlier this month. According to sources close to Goss and the White House, who would not be named talking about private conversations, administration officials had been pressuring Goss to get rid of Foggo. But Goss resisted. It was a risky stand to take. For months, former and current intel officials had privately complained to the White House that the CIA was suffering under Goss’s poor management. Goss’s resistance to firing Foggo, despite the investigation closing in on him, made top administration officials, including National Intelligence Director John Negroponte, lose faith in Goss’s judgment. (Newsweek)

Looking Past the Corruption
Brent Wilkes may have thought that he was too big to go down. If so, it’s looking like he was wrong. (War & Piece)

Cheney Pushed to Widen Eavesdropping
Vice President Dick Cheney and his top legal adviser argued that the National Security Agency should intercept purely domestic telephone calls and e-mail messages without warrants. [NYT]

The NSA is on the Line — All of Them
One of the foremost experts on the NSA predicts that we’ll soon learn that the NSA’s surveillence didn’t stop at telephone data: “I’ll tell you where this story probably will go next. Notice the USA Today article doesn’t mention whether the Internet service providers or cellphone providers or companies operating transatlantic cables like Global Crossing cooperated with the NSA. That’s the next round of revelations.” (Salon)

Legal, Political Debate Grows over NSA Data
A lawyer who sued Verizon last week for violating privacy laws by turning over calling records to the National Security Agency said Sunday that customers of AT&T and BellSouth want to join the lawsuit. (USA Today)

Negroponte Misled Public on Domestic Phone Spying
Three days before the USA Today piece hit, the head of the U.S. intelligence community told reporters, “this is about international terrorism and telephone calls between people thought to be working for international terrorism and people here in the United States.” (WaPo)

White House: Give me an N! Give me an S! Give me an A-a-a-ay!
Bush aide Stephen Hadley was dispatched to cheer the NSA’s domestic spying efforts — not a surprise, since it was largely their idea. (NYTimes)

Hold the Phone – Will The NSA’s Information Gathering Make Us Safer?
In the difficult days after 9/11, White House officials quietly passed the word through Washington’s alphabet soup of intelligence agencies: tell us which weapons you need to stop another attack. At the supersecretive NSA, the National Security Agency (also known as No Such Agency), the request came back: give us permission to collect information on people inside the United States. (Newsweek)

Lawmakers Look to Query Hayden on Spying

The fate of President Bush’s CIA nominee could hinge on how he justifies domestic eavesdropping programs that some lawmakers contend are illegal and started without congressional approval. Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden should expect sharp questioning about programs he oversaw while directing the National Security Agency as the Senate Intelligence Committee begins hearings Thursday. (AP)

DHS Bonanza in Kentucky
The Department of Homeland Security has invested tens of millions of dollars and countless hours of labor over the last four years on a seemingly simple task: creating a tamperproof identification card for airport, rail and maritime workers. Yet nearly two years past a planned deadline, production of the card, known as the Transportation Worker Identification Credential, has yet to begin. Instead, the road to delivering a critical antiterrorism tool has taken detours to locations, companies and groups often linked to Representative Harold Rogers (R-KY). (NYT)

Coingate Visits Spain – Spanish Firm Linked to Noe Raided
Spanish authorities investigating an alleged pyramid scheme arrested nine people and raided the Madrid offices of a publicly traded company once entwined with former Toledo-area coin dealer Tom Noe and the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation’s rare coin funds. (Toledo Blade)

Feds Subpoena Documents from Mollohan’s Institute
Federal prosecutors have issued a grand jury subpoena for financial records at the Canaan Valley Institute, one of three nonprofit groups contacted by the FBI as part of an investigation of federal earmarks from U.S. Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va. (AP)

Mollohan’s Nonprofit and A Suspect Real Estate Deal
The Times-West Viriginian explores a fishy real-estate deal by one of Alan Mollohan’s nonprofit organizations. (TWV)

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