`(1) upon request of the head of State or local law enforcement agency, the Director of Central Intelligence may detail any employee within the Central Intelligence Agency to that State or local law enforcement agency on a nonreimbursable basis; and

`(2) subject to the approval of the Director of Central Intelligence, the head of a State or local law enforcement agency may detail any employee of that State or local law enforcement agency to the Central Intelligence Agency on a reimbursable basis.

Saudi “money man” Yasin al-Qadi, named by the Bush Administration as a financial backer of the al-Qaeda terrorist network, had funded a software start-up in Boston named Ptech, reported the Boston Globe over a year ago. . . .

He also headed the Saudi-based Muwafaq (Blessed Relief) Foundation.

Treasury officials allege the “charity” is an al-Qaeda front used to funnel millions of dollars to the terrorist organization . . .

Reports of the Boston FBI’s bungled investigation into Ptech [have] unmistakably dark suggestion that this poor performance may have been intentional. . . .

Maybe because they were shielding a money laundering vehicle . . . created back in the 1980's as part of the CIA’s program of arming the Afghan mujahedeen.

Can you say BCCI?
[...]
Ptech was still operating at the highest levels of American society in the Spring of 2002, when the firm showed up hustling business at the door of Wall Street’s JP Morgan Chase.

National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice has agreed to be interviewed by the bipartisan 9/11 commission on Feb. 7, after weeks of resistance from the White House to the bipartisan panel?s requests, The Observer has learned.

In a Feb. 3 interview the newly minted commission member Bob Kerrey, the former Senator from Nebraska, now the president of the New School University, said that Ms. Rice?s interview will not be held under oath, and the results of the interview are not to be made public.
[...]
Kerrey, the commission?s unlikely new spitfire, told The Observer he would lobby the comission to request sworn, public testimony from Bush?s embittered national security advisor.

"I'm very much interested in following up on the statement Condoleezza Rice made at her famous press conference in ?02, that 'I don?t think anybody could have predicted ? that they would try to use an airplane as a missile,?" Mr. Kerrey said. "I don?t believe that."

The commissioners are divided on whether or not to press the point?and to use a subpoena if she refuses.

"We?re not there yet," said former New Jersey Governor Tom Kean, the committee?s chairman.

The Rabin/Shabak coverups continue with renewed vigor. Just this past fortnight two people who know too much were hushed. On Jan. 20, Dr. Vladimir Yikerivich, past head of cardiology at Ichilov Hospital, was convicted of manslaughter and corruption. Recall that he was the surgeon who operated on Rabin's heart on the murder night. Three years ago, when charges against him were first published, he threatened to open his mouth about what happened that night if the claims against him were pursued. He seems to have had a change of heart.

Then there was the untimely demise by cancer of former Shabak Deputy chief, Yossi Ginosar at age 58. As numerous correspondents noted, convenient cancer strikes again. . . .

The decision to make Ginosar mortally ill may have been made in February 2001. That's when his partner Ozrad Lev revealed to Maariv that Ginosar had laundered over $300 million of money stolen from the Palestinian Authority by Yasir Arafat, in Swiss bank accounts.

In July 1996, [Kerry] was more than happy to help when he heard that a generous potential contributor wanted to visit his Capitol Hill office. The donor was Johnny Chung, a glad-handing Taiwanese-American entrepreneur. Chung brought along some friends, including a Hong Kong businesswoman named Liu Chaoying. . . .

Liu was interested in getting one of her companies listed on the U.S. Stock Exchange. Kerry's aides immediately faxed over a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The next day, Liu and Chung were ushered into a private briefing with a senior SEC official. Within weeks, Chung returned the favor: On Sept. 9 he threw Kerry a fund-raiser at a Beverly Hills hotel, raking in $10,000 for the senator's re-election campaign. . . .

Liu was in fact a lieutenant colonel in China's People's Liberation Army and vice president of a Chinese-government-owned aerospace firm. And Chung, who visited the Clinton White House 49 times, went on to become a central figure in the foreign-money scandals of 1996. Chung eventually pleaded guilty to funneling $28,000 in illegal contributions to the campaigns of Bill Clinton and Kerry. According to bank records and Chung's congressional testimony, the contributions came out of $300,000 in overseas wire transfers sent on orders from the chief of Chinese military intelligence—and routed through a Hong Kong bank account controlled by Liu.

In the New Hampshire Democratic Primary, exit polls, which are seldom far wrong, indicated a very close race. The final vote was not close. A close race would have constituted a win for Dean, given expectations. There is serious reason to be dubious of computerized vote counting systems (see Verified Voting or Black Box Voting for details). . . . According to the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s office there are three possibilities:
... counted by Diebold machines.
... counted by ES&S machines.
... counted by hand.

These are optical-scan systems, where the voter marks a paper ballot that is subsequently counted by computer. There is, then, the possibility of a recount, but only if the issue is forced, since the election was not considered close enough to mandate an automatic recount. Given the problems demonstrated with Diebold systems and the serious allegations made against ES&S, perhaps such a recount should be pursued. In any case, here are the vote totals and percentages for the big five candidates, grouped by vote tallying method (percentages are percentages of the big five vote, i.e., it does not include the minor candidates)).

To bring the matter into sharper focus, here are the percentages by which Kerry’s vote exceeded Dean’s, grouped by tallying method. 

VotingTechUsed	% Margin
Diebold	58.1%
ES&S	35.0%
Hand	4.7%

[...]

The Cloak and Dagger Show was banned by President Bush. Former Vice-President Al Gore's office advised The Cloak that President Bush personally told Prime Minister Paul Martin that "in return for oil concessions Bush told Martin to get The Cloak and Dagger show off the air.

I was told that the station was going to make a "genre" change to comedy. . . .

said Lenny Bloom.

"But Tom Heneghan (Tom of Venice) who is very close to former VP Al Gore told me that President Bush, when he met in Mexico with Paul Martin, made it part of the oil concession contracts that they were negotiating. Bush said he wanted Martin to cancel the Cloak and Dagger Show." I have been in contact with Gore since then to learn that he guaranteed its authenticity.

Early tests show deadly ricin in Senate mailroom

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Preliminary tests on a white, powdery substance found in the mailroom of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist indicate the presence of the deadly substance ricin, a Homeland Security official said Monday.

[...] The substance is to be tested further at the Army research laboratory at Fort Detrick, Maryland.

"It’s pivot/spin function is superb. Designed to fool onlookers to believe it is America which is under attack, and not America who is on the attack. It is a decoy designed to preempt any question which are bound to pop up in certain awake and aware analyst’s minds, that being of course, “Could the US be behind the attacks?” “Why of course not, see, the Pentagon got hit..."

Advertisers probe brains, raise fears

When Peter Graser underwent an MRI scan at Emory University, doctors weren't looking for disease.

Instead, brain researchers flashed images -- Madonna, broccoli, sushi, a Ford truck, a golden retriever, Bill Clinton, Coca-Cola -- before the 37-year-old Marietta resident's eyes as he lay inside the coffin-like tube of the magnetic resonance imaging machine.

The scientists discovered a biological clue to what drives consumers: Whenever Graser and a dozen other study volunteers saw a picture they particularly liked, their brains showed increased activity in the medial prefrontal cortex -- an area associated with preference, or sense of self.

According to the affidavit filed with the search warrant, Nichols' defense attorneys filed a motion under seal with the court and further advised prosecutors Culbertson ''may have possession of a video and/or still photographs of a Ryder truck parked in front of the Alfred P. Murrah building before the explosion and during the explosion.''

[...] The Federal Police Officer described two distinct explosions the locations of which are consistent with evidence uncovered in the course of investigating the attack on the Murrah Federal Building.

Freedom, the first pregame extravaganza to be broadcast in its entirety in the Super Bowl's 36-year history . . . For the finale of his current anthem, Freedom, Paul McCartney will be flanked by 500 young people representing the 180 countries that will air the game.

One guy picked the locks protecting the internal printers and memory cards. Another figured out how to vote more than once - and get away with it. Still another launched a dial-up attack, using his modem to slither through an electronic hole in the State Board of Elections software. Once inside, he could easily change vote totals that come in on Election Day.

"My guess is we've only scratched the surface," said Michael A. Wertheimer, who spent 21 years as a cryptologic mathematician at the National Security Agency.