Free Republic

The FBI on Wednesday arrested two former senior officials who served in the administration of Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló, leading the chairman of the House committee that oversees Puerto Rico to call for the governor to step down. The arrests also spurred concerns on Capitol Hill about the billions of dollars in aid that Congress has approved for the island. The federal indictment says the former officials illegally directed federal funding to politically connected contractors. The arrests come about a month after Congress approved a controversial disaster aid bill that earmarked additional funding for Puerto Rico’s recovery from Hurricane...

The GOP-led panel investigating Solyndra is asking Speaker John Boehner for more staff help as it digs deeper into the solar company's collapse. "We need an accountant," subcommittee Chairman Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) said Friday. "We need a strong accountant because when you look through this stuff you need to understand the accounting aspect of it." "We've got a lot of lawyers, but we need a strong accountant," Stearns added.

Passengers flying through Boston’s Logan International Airport will notice the security screeners are chattier than usual, but it’s not an improved customer service policy. On Tuesday the Transportation Security Administration began a test-run at Logan of its SPOT program, which stands for Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques. SPOT uses trained screeners known as Behavior Detection Officers (BDOs) to determine if passengers are a threat, based on their reactions to a set of routine questions. “The vast majority of passengers will experience a casual greeting conversation with the BDO as they go through identity verification,” a TSA spokesperson said. “A...

Key Issue: ABM-Missile Defense Continue the Sea-Based Terminal-Phase Missile Defense Programby Baker Spring Link to: | PDF (69k) | No. 797 December 19, 2001  Produced by the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies Published by The Heritage Foundation 214 Massachusetts Ave., N.E. Washington, D.C. 20002-4999 (202) 546-4400http://www.heritage.org On December 14, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition Edward C. Aldridge announced that the Department of Defense is canceling the Navy's missile defense program for protecting small areas such as port facilities. This program-until recently known as the Navy Area-Wide (NAW) program-was designed to destroy attacking missiles in...