Free Republic

Complex man that he was, J. Edgar Hoover left nothing to chance. The director shrewdly recognized that building what became known as the world’s greatest law enforcement agency would not necessarily keep him in office. So after Hoover became director, he began to maintain a special Official and Confidential file in his office. The “secret files,” as they became widely known, would guarantee that Hoover would remain director as long as he wished. Defenders of Hoover— a dwindling number of older former agents who still refer to him as “Mr. Hoover”—have claimed his Official and Confidential files were not used...

To read this or any article published by the WS in its entirety instead being limited to only the first paragraphs as is often presented by the WSJ, simply cut and paste the title of the article into Google News search field to be provided the full unexpurgatd version. WASHINGTON—Thousands of secret military documents were released Sunday by a Web-based organization, a gigantic leak of classified information that appeared to present a bleak view of the Afghanistan war and could have a profound impact on the public perception of the conflict. The release of the documents, which were obtained and...

Contrary to early reports from the Obama Administration that it was not aware of the catastrophic nature of the Gulf oil spill, newly-released Coast Guard logs show that the government knew within hours that the spill would be devastating. According to Public Integrity, the government almost immediately assessed that the gusher would emit at least 8000 barrels of oil into the Gulf per day. By April 23 it had revised that estimate significantly upward. And what did Barack Obama know, and when did he know it? The bombshell answer is from the Public Integrity report: Over the first three days...

Last week at least 2 anonymous sources reported to the Conservative Examiner that National Guard troops were on the move inside the country. As the days have progressed more reports surfaced, and several bloggers wrote that troops have been spotted on the move in massive convoys in various parts of the nation. One source reported that U.N. 'peacekeeping' troops were part of the movement. These reports that began as a small trickle of unconfirmed claims have now become a raging dam-burst as citizens in at least a dozen states have reported such unusual movements of troops. Free Press International reported...

President Barack Obama began dismantling the Bush legacy Wednesday, using his first full day to overturn an order that let ex-presidents seal their papers forever. [...] Researchers generally can't get access to White House records for at least five years after a president leaves office. Documents involving national security remain out of reach far longer. [...] Bush issued the controversial order two months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, citing concerns about the premature release of Clinton-era records, and he defended the policy this month in an interview. [...] Obama vowed during the campaign to overturn the order, as part...

(Hartford-AP, July 17, 2002 8:30 PM) _ The state Supreme Court ruled today that the Department of Public Safety cannot charge the Hartford Courant twenty million dollars for a database of criminal convictions. The Hartford Courant requested a copy of the database in 1999. The 850,000 [entries?] in the database give the names, dates of birth, addresses and criminal histories of those who have violated Connecticut law. Public safety officials said the 20 million dollar price tag was based on a state statute that allows police to charge 25 dollars to search for an individual file. The state Supreme Court...