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A personal report. Last night (Wednesday, 11/4/2009) I attended a discussion with former senator Tom Daschle, now advisor on health care to President Obama. The event was held at the Reagan Library in California. What was unique about this event was that the audience was largely comprised of insurance agents who market and service health insurance in California. Also represented at the event were the major insurance companies selling health insurance to Californians, Anthem Blue Cross, Aetna, Kaiser Permanente, Humana, Health Net and others. I am sure that a transcript of the event will be made public, but in general...

Former Secret Service agent opens window into private lives of presidents October 14th, 2009 Jamie Weinstein In his In the President’s Secret Service: Behind the Scenes with Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents they Protect, journalist Ronald Kessler gives us a peek inside the intimate lives of our presidents. Through interviews with over 100 secret service agents from the past and present—dating all the way back to John F. Kennedy—Kessler paints a picture of what our presidents are like when no one is looking. They're always watching. We learn from the agents Kessler interviews that John F....

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL * AUGUST 29, 2009, 5:04 A.M. ET Interrogating the CIA By REUEL MARC GERECHT A clever, streetwise classmate of mine at the Central Intelligence Agency's junior officer training program—a former Delta Force officer—quickly and rudely discovered that counterterrorism in the much-vaunted Reagan years wasn't a serious endeavor at Langley. He had original and provocative ideas on using physical force to scare the bejesus out of terrorist suspects who had American blood on their hands. Although the CIA was then filling up with operatives pretending to be engaged against a growing terrorist menace, Langley's counterterrorist data bank...

Posted: 11:44 am EDT August 3, 2009 Updated: 11:56 am EDT August 3, 2009 ORLANDO, Fla. -- Eyewitness News learned that federal agents are raiding a Colonial Bank building on Pine Street late Monday morning. The agents are taking out boxes of documents from the building in downtown Orlando. WFTV.com will update the story as it develops

Fresno, Calif. (AP) -- Federal and state agents have arrested 83 people for growing more than $1.2 billion worth of marijuana in an ongoing crackdown on illegal pot gardens in California's Sierra Nevada range. Local officials said several Mexican marijuana-growing cartels helped set up the grow sites scattered throughout rocky mountainsides of eastern Fresno County, and warned more arrests were likely as the sweep continues. More than 318,000 marijuana plants were destroyed in the operation, which also netted nearly $41,000 in cash, 25 weapons and two vehicles, Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims said Thursday.

<p>MEXICO CITY – Mexico has extradited two former U.S. Border Patrol agents accused of taking bribes from migrant smugglers.</p> <p>The U.S. Embassy says Raul Villarreal and Fidel Villarreal allegedly fled to Mexico after they learned U.S. authorities were investigating them in 2006. The brothers were veteran agents in the San Diego area.</p>

Ruben Navarrette Jr.: Border agents' release will not wipe away their crime By Ruben Navarrette Jr. Posted: 01/25/2009 12:00:00 AM PST I was glad to see that George W. Bush commuted the prison sentences of former Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean. And frankly, I was a bit surprised I was glad. I never had much sympathy for Ramos or Compean, disgraced law enforcement officers who were convicted of shooting a Mexican drug smuggler and then lying about it. From studying the facts, hearing the arguments of the agents' supporters, and interviewing U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, whose...

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, made a final plea this week to President George Bush to commute the sentences of jailed U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. “Because of the excesses of the prosecution against them, they will continue to sit alone in those cells for another decade,” Cornyn wrote, according to a report in the WorldNetDaily. “That is unless President Bush commutes their unjust sentences. In his remaining days as president, I ask President Bush to show mercy and use his clemency power to give back Agents Ramos and Compean the next 10 years of their lives.”

DANA POINT, Calif. (AP) — Looking ahead to an Obama administration, some baseball agents already are thinking about trying to beat a possible tax increase for their well-paid clients. President-elect Barack Obama has proposed increasing the top federal income tax rate from 35 percent to 39.6 percent, where it was under the Clinton administration. If signing bonuses are paid before Jan. 1, they likely would be taxed at the current rate and would not be subject to any tax increase. "It's something we'll consider," agent Craig Landis said Tuesday at the general managers' meetings. "Besides the federal issue, we have...

Two former Border Patrol agents were arrested in Mexico after more than two years on the run and were charged in the U.S. with taking bribes to help illegal immigrants cross the border, authorities said Monday. A federal indictment unsealed Monday in San Diego accuses brothers Raul and Fidel Villarreal of taking bribes, smuggling illegal immigrants, tampering with witnesses and conspiring to launder money. The brothers were captured by Mexican authorities Saturday at a gated apartment complex near the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana, said Mike Unzueta, special agent in charge of investigations at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San...

Defense Department counterintelligence investigators suspected that Iranian exiles who provided dubious intelligence on Iraq and Iran to a small group of Pentagon officials might have "been used as agents of a foreign intelligence service ... to reach into and influence the highest levels of the U.S. government," a Senate Intelligence Committee report said Thursday. A top aide to then-secretary of defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, however, shut down the 2003 investigation into the Pentagon officials' activities after only a month, and the Defense Department's top brass never followed up on the investigators' recommendation for a more thorough investigation, the Senate report...

U.S. Border Patrol officials say they are on track to beef up their ranks from nearly 16,000 today to 18,319 agents by the end of the year. But some critics say the agency is cutting too many corners to meet the goal set by President Bush two years ago. Facing pressure to do more to curb illegal immigration, Bush announced in May 2006 that the federal government would hire 6,000 more Border Patrol agents. He also sent 6,000 National Guard troops to the border, an assignment scheduled to end in July. As of March 29, about 2,000 agents were deployed...

The United States Border Patrol cannot seem to catch a break. Border Patrol agents have to guard both the US-Canadian Border and the nearly 2,000-mile-long US-Mexico Border, the most frequently crossed international border in the world. Traffic across the southern border is both legal and illegal, and the illegal activity is not just men and women trying to enter the US to earn a better living, albeit by breaking the law. It is also violent drug cartels, whose influence, corruption, and murders in border towns like Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez has spiked recently. THE LOS ANGELES TIMES ran an article...

Two California Republican congressmen yesterday called on President Bush to pardon two former U.S. Border patrol agents sent to prison a year ago this week for shooting a drug-smuggling suspect in the buttocks as he fled back into Mexico. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher accused Mr. Bush of being "arrogant and heartless" for refusing to pardon or commute the sentences of former agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, who were ordered last January to serve 11- and 12-year prison sentences, respectively. He said they had spent the past year in solitary confinement "suffering conditions worse than detainees at Guantanamo Bay. "It...

AUSTIN, Texas - Authorities raided the offices of an influential Democratic donor on Friday, prompting accusations by the donor's attorneys that the raid was politically motivated. The state attorney general's office said it was assisting the Nueces County district attorney in the criminal investigation of Mauricio Celis, 36, who has given money to major Democratic candidates including Hillary Clinton and is the subject of numerous ongoing lawsuits and charges. Attorney General Greg Abbott, a Republican, sued Celis in November, accusing him of practicing law without a license. Agents from Abbott's office were among those involved in the Friday search of...

The U.S. Border Patrol has released photos of attacks on agents that they say have led to the use of pepper spray and tear gas in Mexican border neighborhoods.

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 12.11.2007 A man found dead on the South Side Sunday morning was fatally shot by a U.S. Border Patrol agent after he and three other armed intruders burst into the agent's house, an official said Monday. Christian Gomez, 20, and Mark A. Escobar Jr., 19, along with two other intruders burst into the home of an off-duty Border Patrol agent and his family about 4:50 a.m. Sunday, according to police.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 2, 2007 – Coalition forces killed one terrorist and detained 10 suspects during a series of raids targeting al Qaeda in Iraq in central and northern Iraq today, officials reported. -- An armed terrorist was killed by coalition troops during a raid targeting al Qaeda in Iraq leaders in Kirkuk. Information found at the site enabled coalition forces to target and capture a suspected al Qaeda leader operating in Tamim province. The detainee is linked to explosively formed penetrator attacks on coalition forces and local car-bombing attacks. -- Coalition forces captured the alleged al Qaeda in Iraq...

Just when you thought the disingenuous blathering of the elected class, which typically affords the American people a huge helping of inaction and poor governance, was as bad as it could get, something comes along that makes their political opportunism seem almost acceptable. This time the dysfunctional behavior is between law enforcement agencies and because of it our national security hangs in the balance. A new report by the Inspectors General of the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice spotlights a dysfunctional relationship between agents from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It...

The latest battle in the raw milk wars broke out today in south-central Pennsylvania. A group of ten state police and agents from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) descended on the 100-acre Nature’s Sunlight Farm in Newville, and confiscated about $25,000 worth of raw milk products, along with packaging and equipment. Though Pennsylvania is supposedly one of the more liberal states with regard to raw milk distribution, allowing farmers with permits to sell it not only from their farms and in farmers markets, but also in retail establishments, farmers say the...

WASHINGTON - The House on Wednesday approved a move by conservative Republicans to try to set free two Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a Mexican drug dealer. After a long, emotional debate, the House voted by voice to block the Bureau of Prisons from keeping former agents Ignacio Ramos and Alonso Compean in federal prison. Ramos and Compean are serving 11- and 12-year federal prison sentences, respectively, for the 2005 shooting of Osvaldo Aldrete Davila on the Texas border near El Paso. The case has caused a furor among conservative lawmakers and on talk radio across the country. The...

London - Britain's secretive foreign intelligence service MI6 will take a small step out of the shadows when it places its first-ever advertisement for jobs in The Guardian newspaper on Saturday. Officially the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6 did not even officially exist in government records until 1994, but has changed its image in recent years, launching its own website and accepting online job applications. The advertisement in The Guardian, a left-of-centre national newspaper, marks a further break from MI6's shadowy past in an effort to attract a more diverse talent pool - just five percent of the agency's staff, for...

Elements of Governor Schwarzenegger’s health plan proposal are just as big a threat to an agent’s livelihood as Sheila Kuehl’s single-payer legislation, said Alan Katz, president of Insurance Neighborhood and former senior vice president of WellPoint Health Networks. Addressing the Los Angeles Assn. of Health Underwriters recent Pasadena meeting, he said that one provision would require carriers to spend 85% of premium dollars on medical claims, which limits spending on administrative costs. The 15% administrative spending cap would be calculated the same for all of the products regardless of whether it is an HMO or PPO. It would force carriers...

Edd Hendee and Pat Gray are scheduled to interview U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton in studio at 7:00 today; consider this your “open comment thread” to talk about it while it’s going on and pick it apart afterwards. http://lonestartimes.com/2007/05/10/johnny-sutton-in-studio-thread links to Pat Gray Podcast also.

TUCSON, Ariz. - Federal authorities on Friday raided a construction company accused of hiring illegal immigrants, detaining eight undocumented workers and arresting several other employees. Scores of agents fanned out in Douglas, along the Mexico border, and in Sierra Vista, about 50 miles northwest, in the raid on Sun Dry Wall & Stucco Inc.'s offices, a foreman's home, the home of a suspected counterfeiter and eight work sites. Company president Ivan Hardt, 44; the firm's human resources manager, Carol Hill, 42; and four other employees were taken into custody on federal counts of conspiring to knowingly hire illegal workers and...

LAREDO, Texas (Reuters) - Frustrated by tighter security on the U.S.-Mexico border, illegal immigrants and drug traffickers are taking it out on U.S. agents, increasingly attacking them with guns, rocks and petrol bombs. Assaults against Border Patrol officers rose 10 percent to 843 incidents in the year to September 2006 from the same period a year before, officials say. It is also a near three-fold increase from two years previously. Mexican drug cartels, locked in a turf feud and under pressure from an army crackdown, are lashing out at law enforcement officers in Texas. "The attacks against us are becoming...

Are Putin's agents behind shooting? By Toby Harnden in Washington and Adrian Blomfield, Moscow Correspondent Last Updated: 2:43am GMT 06/03/2007 Speculation of the involvement of Russian agents intent on silencing opponents to President Vladimir Putin's regime, wherever they may be, has increased with an attempted murder in America and an apparent suicide in Moscow. Alexander Litvinenko, who died last November, was a friend of Paul Joyal On the face of it the two incidents appear to have nothing in common, but Paul Joyal, shot in Adelphi, Maryland, on Saturday, is a friend of Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian spy poisoned...

Support Border Partrol Agents, Ramos and Compean! These men were only doing their important job, protecting Americans! Now they sit in cells as targets for hardened criminals while drug dealers and illegal invaders get immunity and amnesty from our government. Our FEDERAL government is lying, covering up & rebuffing a full investigation by Congress. Mr. Bush is still doing NOTHING! These agents need and deserve a FULL Pardon NOW! WE CAN help them! Please JOIN US at our JUSTICE Rally! Castro Valley Feb. 24th - Saturday 1 – 2 :30 PM Corner of Castro Valley Blvd. / Redwood Rd....

With mounting bipartisan criticism from Republican congressmen and California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the Department of Justice has stepped up an unprecedented public relations campaign to defend its prosecution of former Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, now serving 11-and 12-year prison terms. But new facts keep emerging to prove that this prosecution was a gross injustice. CNN judicial expert Jeffrey Toobin described it as “one of the most unusual prosecutions I've ever seen. . . . I am baffled why this case was brought.” So am I. The government prosecuted Ramos and Compean criminally for acts that called...

EL PASO, Texas - A federal report released Wednesday on the shooting of a suspected drug smuggler by Border Patrol agents concurs with prosecutors that the men failed to report the shooting, destroyed evidence and lied to investigators. Some members of Congress have criticized the case against Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, who were fired after their obstruction of justice convictions and have each been sentenced to more than a decade in federal prison. Congressional critics, who say the men were doing their jobs when they injured Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila in 2005 near El Paso, had sought the release of...

State Republican Parties Join Calls To Free Border Agents By Fred Lucas CNSNews.com Staff Writer February 01, 2007 (CNSNews.com) - A growing number of Republicans are calling on President Bush to pardon two U.S. Border Patrol agents who shot and wounded a Mexican man suspected of smuggling drugs into this country. Republican parties in two states have now weighed in on the matter. The case sparked public outrage and prompted three congressional proposals to free agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who this month began serving prison sentences of 11 and 12 years, respectively. At an Arizona Republican Party Convention...

RICHMOND -- A Richmond community organizer alleged Friday that federal immigration agents are being deceitful by representing themselves as police officers in order to gain entry to homes and make arrests. Christina Espinosa of Contra Costa Interfaith Supporting Community Organization, also known as CCISCO, a group of 25 religious organizations, said the tactics of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are jeopardizing efforts by Richmond police to gain the confidence of the city's immigrant community. Espinosa said her group and others have been working with Police Chief Chris Magnus on a community policing program aimed at giving immigrants trust...

PARIS - Iran has thousands of paid operatives working in neighboring Iraq, an Iranian opposition group based in France claimed Friday. The National Council of Resistance's allegations could not be independently verified. A press officer at the Iranian Embassy in Paris, speaking on condition of anonymity because of embassy policy, called the claims "completely false" and said Tehran supports stability in the region. The council is the political wing of the People's Mujahedeen of Iran, deemed a terrorist organization by the United States. Mohammad Mohaddessin, who heads the foreign affairs committee, alleged that thousands of Iraqis are working on Iran's...

Bush vows to attack Iranian agents in Iraq By David Blair, Diplomatic Correspondent Last Updated: 6:57pm GMT 26/01/2007 President George W Bush escalated his rhetorical attacks on Iran today when he authorised American troops in Iraq to take all necessary steps to combat agents deployed by Teheran. George W Bush: 'If somebody is trying to harm our troops, or killing innocent civilians in Iraq, then we will stop them' The Bush administration believes that Iran is fuelling the insurgency in Iraq by supplying Shia militias with weapons, cash, bomb-making equipment and expertise. A list of 31,690 alleged Iranian agents active...

US President George W. Bush has authorised the American military to kill or capture Iranian agents active inside Iraq, The Washington Post reported today, citing government and counterterrorism officials with direct knowledge of the plan. The move, approved last year, is aimed at weakening Iran's influence in the region and forcing Tehran to abandon its nuclear program that the West believes is for nuclear weapons and not energy, the newspaper said, citing the unidentified officials. For more than a year, US forces have held dozens of Iranians for a few days, taking DNA samples from some as well as photographs...

Rep. Dana Rohrbacher, R-Calif., called President Bush a "disgrace" for refusing Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos, who were sentenced to 12 years and 11 years respectively in October, a pardon. "This is the worst betrayal of America defenders I have ever seen," Rohrbacher said of the president.

<p>It is being reported right now on Lou Dobbs on CNN, that the two Border Patrol Agents who shot and wounded a drug smuggler got 11 and 12 years in prison. The drug smuggler was given immunity to testify against the agents.</p>

EL PASO, Texas -- The two former Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a drug smuggler in the buttocks last year were denied a postponement of their sentencing during a heated court hearing Tuesday. Lawyers for the agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, hope that a congressional hearing to review the case, which has been promised for the week of Nov. 13, would reduce the sentencing guidelines that apply in the case. Mary Stillinger, Ramos' lawyer, said her idea was that the hearings, which have not been formally scheduled by the House Judiciary Committee, could lead to legislation to...

Sentencing should be delayed for two Border Patrol agents facing 20 years apiece in jail for shooting a drug smuggler and violating his civil rights, 22 congressmen told the Department of Justice Wednesday. In an official letter, the congressmen asked U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to postpone sentencing and review the case against Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean. "Due to significant concerns over the circumstances surrounding the prosecution of agents Ramos and Compean, the House Judiciary Committee has already recognized the need for a thorough review of this case by calling for congressional hearings and an...

CIA agents insure against torture lawsuits By Francis Harris in Washington (Filed: 12/09/2006) Worried CIA agents are taking out torture insurance as fears grow that they will be targeted by alleged terrorists and their victims in American courts. The £160-a-year policies will provide the spies with about £106,000 in legal costs and about £530,000 towards awards made by the courts if they are sued and lose. The policies cover suits lodged for torture, human rights abuse and professional failings in the lead-up to the September 11 atrocities. CIA spokesman Mark Mansfield told The Washington Post: "It's fair to say that...

In an ongoing effort to fully examine the circumstances behind two Border Patrol agents' convictions for shooting a fleeing drug smuggler, congressional leaders called on the Department of Justice on Thursday to suspend sentencing the agents pending a full congressional investigation and hearing into their case. At a news conference in Washington, D.C., Rep. Walter B. Jones, R-N.C., and five other congressional representatives asked U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to reopen the case of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean and delay the agents' Oct. 18 sentencing hearing. Ramos and Compean are facing up to 20 years in prison for...

Disguises OK'd for terror trial witnessesBy Mike Robinson Associated Press Thursday, August 31, 2006 4:42 PM CDT CHICAGO -- Two Israeli security agents expected to testify at the trial of two men accused of fundraising for the Palestinian militant group Hamas may wear disguises and use aliases on the witness stand, a judge ruled Tuesday. The courtroom will be cleared of everyone but the jury, attorneys, the defendants and their families while the Israeli agents testify, U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve ruled. The ruling came in the case of Muhammad Salah, 53, of suburban Bridgeview and Abdelhaleem Ashquar, 48,...

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein is asking the Senate Judiciary Committee to fully review the case of two Border Patrol agents facing 20 years in prison for violating a drug smuggler's civil rights. Rep. Walter B. Jones, R-N.C., went even further, sending a letter to President Bush asking him to personally review the case. Border Patrol agent Ignacio Ramos broke his 18-month silence on his altercation with the drug smuggler, Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, in an exclusive interview with the Daily Bulletin. His co-worker, Jose Alonso Compean, has been asked by his attorney to not speak to the media while his sentencing hearing...

The House Judiciary Committee Thursday called for congressional hearings and an investigation into the case of two Border Patrol agents convicted of violating an alleged drug smuggler's civil rights. Congressional leaders asked for the investigation during a House field hearing about border security and immigration in El Paso, Texas, after Andy Ramirez, chairman of the Chino-based Friends of the Border Patrol, presented his opening statement, which included the agents' story. Family members of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, the convicted agents, attended the hearing. The agents, who are free pending their sentencing hearings in September, were not allowed to...

A conservative grass-roots organization has gathered nearly 40,000 signatures since Wednesday on a petition to be sent to President Bush on behalf of two Border Patrol agents convicted of violating a drug smuggler's civil rights. Two of the jurors who convicted the agents also are expressing misgivings about the verdict, saying they were pressured by other jury members and the prosecution to reach a quick decision in the case. Grassfire, a nonprofit organization that uses online petitions to affect legislation, has created a special Web link and letter to President Bush for Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, who were...

Hundreds of e-mails and letters from across the country supporting two convicted Border Patrol agents are pouring into a local Border Patrol support organization since the Daily Bulletin reported the agents' story Sunday. Numerous Web sites also are encouraging their users to sign online petitions for a presidential pardon for the two men. Friends of the Border Patrol, a Chino-based non-profit organization that has been following the story of convicted Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alanso Compean, has launched "Pardon the Agents," a national campaign to assist Ramos and Compean. The group also is asking for a congressional...

Two former Border Patrol agents pleaded guilty Friday to accepting nearly $200,000 in bribes for releasing immigrant smugglers and illegal immigrants from federal custody. Mario Alvarez and Samuel McClaren each face up to 18 years in prison when they are sentenced Sept. 29, said U.S. District Judge John Houston. Each pleaded guilty to one count of bribery and one count of filing a false tax return. Alvarez, 45, admitted taking $100,300 from a smuggling organization from June 2003 to March 2006 and underreporting his taxable income as $75,044 in 2004. McClaren, 44, admitted taking $85,940 from the same smuggling organization...

SAN DIEGO — Two U.S. Border Patrol agents under investigation for allegedly smuggling drugs and immigrants abruptly resigned and went into hiding this week after apparently being tipped off to the probe, according to federal law enforcement sources. The agents — brothers Raul and Fidel Villarreal — were veteran officers who patrolled the border near San Diego and had been under suspicion since last year of smuggling illegal immigrants in their government vehicles, among other allegations, sources said. They did not show up for work Monday and later notified supervisors that they had quit because of a family illness. But...

WASHINGTON, June 29, 2006 – The 500 munitions discovered throughout Iraq since 2003 and discussed in a National Ground Intelligence Center report meet the criteria of weapons of mass destruction, the center's commander said here today. "These are chemical weapons as defined under the Chemical Weapons Convention, and yes ... they do constitute weapons of mass destruction," Army Col. John Chu told the House Armed Services Committee. The Chemical Weapons Convention is an arms control agreement which outlaws the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons. It was signed in 1993 and entered into force in 1997. The munitions found...

SAN DIEGO U.S. agents arrested 22 illegal immigrants Wednesday who worked for a company that provided services to the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base. The workers, all Mexican men, were arrested at their homes by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers during an early morning sweep. Agents were looking for 72 illegal workers employed by Burtech Pipeline, Inc., an Encinitas-based business that had a contract at Camp Pendleton, the base near Oceanside that is home to some 40,000 military personnel, ICE spokeswoman Lauren Mack said. None of those arrested had worked at Camp Pendleton, but Mack said some of the...