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Returning from a brief vacation to Germany in February, Bill Hogan was selected for additional screening by customs officials at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C. Agents searched Hogan's luggage and then popped an unexpected question: Was he carrying any digital media cards or drives in his pockets? "Then they told me that they were impounding my laptop," says Hogan, a freelance investigative reporter whose recent stories have ranged from the origins of the Iraq war to the impact of money in presidential politics. Shaken by the encounter, Hogan says he left the airport and examined his bags, finding that...

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that border control agents who found child porn on a traveler's laptop didn't violate the man's right to be free from unreasonable searches. "We are satisfied that reasonable suspicion is not needed for customs officials to search a laptop or other personal electronic storage devices at the border," Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain wrote. O'Scannlain went on to say that the defendant "has failed to distinguish how the search of his laptop and its electronic contents is logically any different from the suspicionless border searches of travelers' luggage that the Supreme Court and...

Citing concerns about terrorism, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that airline passengers lose their right to object to a search after they go through initial security screenings. The San Francisco-based court, ruling in a case involving a Hawaii man, said airline passengers couldn't refuse searches once they place their belongings on an X-ray tray or walk through a metal detector. It was the appeals court's second decision in the case of Daniel Kuualoha Aukai because it wanted to clarify an earlier decision on the issue of consent. Last year, the court ruled Aukai couldn't back out...

KAMAS, Utah A group of about 45 people spent two days in the Uinta Mountains searching for the legendary Bigfoot. Members of the Bigfoot Field Research Organization used sophisticated equipment such as parabolic microphones and night vision goggles to search for the beast on Thursday and Friday. BFRO director Matt Moneymaker, a lawyer from Capistrano, Calif., said he founded the organization to be a clearinghouse for Bigfoot sightings nationwide. He says he once was as close as 15 feet from a Sasquatch in 1994 in Portage County, Ohio. "Utah has a reputation of being a place with enough sightings and...

A state appeals court swatted down a challenge by two San Francisco 49ers fans to pat-down searches at the team's stadium Tuesday, saying they tacitly agreed to be checked when they bought their season tickets. The National Football League ordered the searches at all games as an anti-terrorism measure starting in 2005, three years after Super Bowl spectators were first subjected to pat-downs. The policy has survived all legal challenges. Tuesday's 2-1 ruling by the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco sidestepped the plaintiffs' accusation that the searches were an invasion of privacy. Instead, the court said fans...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Government officials and lawmakers say they are fed up with what they feel are unnecessary searches by American troops and private security contractors in the Green Zone and persuaded President Jalal Talabani to take action, his office said Tuesday. The president, a Kurd, set up a committee to develop new security rules and then meet with U.S. officials to agree on a new relationship between American-led coalition forces and all Iraqis, not just government officials and lawmakers. The statement gave no other details, but Shiite legislator, Bassem Sharif, who attended the session at which the committee was...

Terror searches 'to be scaled back' Bt Ben Leapman and Tom Harper, Sunday Telegraph Last Updated: 11:44pm GMT 27/01/2007 Stop-and-search powers for police conducting counter-terrorist operations are to be reviewed after complaints from Muslims that they feel victimised. The move could end the use of "profiling", in which young Asian men are targeted because they fit the expected profile of a terrorist. Commander Richard Gargini of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) admitted that the review might lead to fewer people being searched under powers set out in the Terrorism Act, 2000. He announced the plans in a speech...

France searches N Korean vesselNorth Korean ships can be searched in territorial waters French officials in the Indian Ocean have inspected a North Korean ship under the terms of UN Security Council sanctions adopted against Pyongyang. The ship was examined on the island of Mayotte, but there were no reports it was carrying any illegal cargo. It is believed to be the first time a North Korean vessel has been inspected under Security Council Resolution 1718. The resolution imposed sanctions on North Korea after it carried out a nuclear test in October. The measures are aimed at preventing North Korea...

The Fourth Amendment to our Constitution protects Americans against "unreasonable searches and seizures" and against warrants being issued without "probable cause" that they have done something wrong. While most Americans who might be familiar with this portion of our Bill of Rights probably consider its protections to apply only to criminals and therefore of little consequence to them, the Fourth Amendment actually provides vital protection to all Americans, not just "criminals." In fact, its prefatory language makes this clear, explicitly providing that its goal is to assure that the "right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses,...

KHIMKI, Russia (AFP) - In an anonymous compound next to a suburban Moscow shopping centre a retired Russian army general is planning his next galactic conquest. Georgy Polishchuk, head of the Lavochkin Association, is preparing an unmanned mission to a moon of Mars that will search for signs of life on the red planet and try to unlock the universe's secrets. "We have to find life and whether it can be sustained," Polishchuk said, his eyes glinting as his pen drew out the planned route during an interview this month at the installation. The theory that there may be life...

Isn't it ironic that one of the things our enemies, the Islamofascists, hate about America is the very thing that enables them to operate here? I'm talking about our openness. Our rights to privacy. The many freedoms granted us by the U.S. Constitution. And the protections and even special treatment afforded Muslim organizations in the U.S. We're a society like no other. Take for example last week's decision by Federal District Court Judge James Whittemore of Florida, who ruled in favor of ACLU lawyers last week that pat down searches before football games should be prohibited because they violate fans'...

Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, a low-profile second-term Republican from Florida, last Thursday introduced a resolution repudiating the stand of her leader, Speaker J. Dennis Hastert. It avows that a "Congressional office may be subject to searches and seizures" in an "ongoing criminal investigation" of a House member. It would be hard to find any colleagues who now disagree with her, even though most want to forget the embarrassing subject. "I didn't know if I would be getting an office in the basement [after introducing the resolution]," Brown-Waite told this column. Like other lawmakers, she got an earful from constituents during the...

June 1, 2006 -- In the rift between Congress and the Justice Department, Americans side overwhelmingly with law enforcement: Regardless of precedent and the separation of powers, 86 percent say the FBI should be allowed to search a Congress member's office if it has a warrant. That view is broadly bipartisan, this ABC News poll finds, ranging from 78 percent among Democrats to 94 percent of Republicans. --snip-- Indeed this poll finds broad public skepticism about congressional ethics: Sixty-five percent of Americans give a negative rating to the ethics and honesty of members of Congress. More, 54 percent, rate their...

ZAIDON, Iraq (Feb. 3, 2006) -- The sun was rising on the second day of Operation Trifecta and it was time for Sgt. Chad T. Johnson, a combat engineer attached to 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, and his engineers to impair insurgent operations in the Zaidon area. The Rockford, Ill., native was given the task of helping a platoon from Company F search vast areas of farm land looking for weapons and explosives the insurgents are suspected to have hidden there. “This is one of the primary missions for the engineers in this area of operation,” stated Johnson, a 1994...

Random police searches of riders' bags to deter terrorism in the nation's largest subway system do not violate the Constitution and are a minimal intrusion of privacy, a federal judge ruled Friday. "The risk of a terrorist bombing of New York City's subway system is real and substantial," U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman said in a 41-page ruling tossing out a lawsuit brought by the New York Civil Liberties Union. Citing testimony that up to 50 percent of terrorist acts were directed at transportation systems, he said the need to implement counterterrorism measures was "indisputable, pressing, on-going and evolving."...

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court considered whether police may search a home when one resident says to come in but another objects, in an unusually spirited debate Tuesday that drew out even the usually silent Justice Clarence Thomas. Justices took up a case that arose in a small Georgia town. The wife of a local lawyer invited officers in to search their house after the husband turned them down. The search uncovered evidence of illegal drugs. The Supreme Court has never said whether the Constitution's ban on unreasonable searches covers such a scenario — when one home occupant says enter...

NEW YORK - Former White House counter-terrorism adviser Richard Clarke says the random search by police of bags on New York subways is a program that should be copied in other cities. Terrorists who plan attacks with multiple bombs set to go off at the same time rely on the knowledge that they will not encounter surprises by police, Clarke said last week in a deposition for a federal court case challenging the search program. "They rehearse that, they train it, they do dry runs," Clarke said in response to questions posed by New York Civil Liberties Union Legal Director...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (Oct. 6, 2005) -- The CH-46 D/E Sea Knight helicopter is one of the Marine Corps’ most valuable assets, providing expedient transportation of critical cargo loads as well as providing troop transportation. Because of the valuables these high-powered machines carry, as well as their importance in military efforts such as the Global War on Terrorism, inspections must be conducted continuously to ensure the safety of the passengers and crew. The Marines who conduct these inspections are called non-destructive inspections technicians. Their job is to perform non-destructive testing of various metals in aircraft structures and...

Two of the Moss Landing Harbor residents who were the subjects of random boat searches during Labor Day Weekend say their experiences were closer to armed invasions than the friendly "safety inspections" characterized by U.S. Coast Guard officials. Both residents said search crews entered the harbor in inflatable boats with machine guns mounted on their bows. Then, carrying M-16 rifles, they approached residents and boarded and searched their boats in the name of safety and "homeland security." One resident, who asked not to be identified for fear or retribution, said his experience was "very intimidating, very frightening." "To me it...

NEW YORK (AP) - A large majority of the city's registered voters support random bag searches of bus and subway passengers, according to a poll released Friday. In a Quinnipiac University survey of 1,601 voters, 72 percent favored the searches while 25 percent opposed them. Support was solid among blacks, whites and Hispanics. Random searches of packages and backpacks carried by people entering city subways began last month in the wake of the bomb attacks in London subways. The searches have raised some questions about civil liberties, and most of those polled, 55 percent to 38 percent, said government security...

The New York Civil Liberties Union has sued to stop police from randomly searching some New York City subway riders, charging that it might lead to racial profiling ("Timid on terrorism," Commentary, Aug. 4). But racial profiling -- considering race or ethnicity in determining whom to search -- is itself constitutional if done in accordance with guidelines the U.S. Supreme Court has laid down. The court has frequently held that the government may consider race if it is reasonably necessary to further a "compelling state interest." Recently, it found that race could be considered in college admissions. Obviously, the government's...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 11, 2005 – Iraqi military units uncovered a weapons cache and roadside bombs, and detained several suspects Aug. 9 and 10, according to multinational force reports. Iraqi soldiers were led to a weapons cache in Fallujah while on a dismounted security patrol Aug. 10. Soldiers with 3rd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 1st Iraqi Intervention Force, located followed instructions to the cache from a local Iraqi. The cache consisted of four rocket-propelled grenade launchers, three machine guns, 22 RPG rounds, one rocket, two rifle grenades, RPG fin assemblies, one bag of ammunition, one can of .303 ball/tracer mix, one can...

...Among other lessons of 9/11, we have learned the cost of squeamishness that prevented closer scrutiny of young Arab men entering the country even when their behavior raised suspicions.... [A]n airline ticket-taker recalls being stunned by the strange look on the face of customer Mohamed Atta--particularly the unsettling fury the man exuded. Still, he could not bring himself to raise any alarm: indeed, when he heard later that the plane Atta was on had been one of those that crashed in the terror attacks, the agent felt terrible. Terrible because he had been suspicious of the passenger and thought he...

So the New York Civil Liberties Union has decided to sue the NYPD on the grounds that subway bag searches are unconstitutional. At first glance, there doesn't seem anything surprising or wrong about such a choice. After all, isn't that what civil-liberties unions are supposed to do? Well, yes, except nobody — even civil-liberties unions — is supposed to bring frivolous and harassing lawsuits that clog up the time and energy of those being sued. There is no way the NYCLU can win this suit, because the Supreme Court has already held, in pretty definitive terms, that these sorts of...

The New York Civil Liberties Union will file suit against the city Thursday to keep police from searching the bags of passengers entering the subway, organization lawyers said. The suit, which will be filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, will claim that the two-week old policy violates constitutional guarantees of equal protection and prohibitions against unlawful searches and seizures, while doing almost nothing to shield the city from terrorism. It argues that the measure also allows the possibility for racial profiling, even though officers are ordered to randomly screen passengers. "While concerns about terrorism of course justify -- indeed,...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1, 2005 – Iraqi and coalition soldiers conducted targeted searches for terrorist operatives in Fallujah, Iraq, July 30, military officials reported. Soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 1st Iraqi Intervention Force, and soldiers with the U.S. Army's 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, searched more than 445 homes during the operation. A cache of bomb-making materials was found, including an artillery fuse, 20 blasting caps and five triggering devices. Officials noted that all of the items were found hidden in an air conditioning duct staged on a pile of trash. An Iraqi explosive ordnance disposal team removed the...

There’s a big difference between excuses and arguments. For example, “I can’t do it now, I’ve only seen this part of Roadhouse 612 times” is an excuse for not mowing the lawn. “I mowed the lawn yesterday” is an argument. In the wake of the London bombings, it seems we’re hearing a lot of excuses but not a lot of arguments for why we shouldn’t do certain things. “I just don’t want to” appears to be the animating spirit of opponents to increased preparedness. Take closed-circuit security cameras in public areas, like they have in London. I don’t like the...

London's bombings continue to echo throughout the urban world. In New York City, commuters have been facing random searches of backpacks, duffel bags and briefcases by police officers who are trying to thwart a potential terrorist attack. The extra precautions, originally planned to continue for a few weeks, have already drawn complaints from some civil libertarians. The searches must be done in an evenhanded manner. They must also be done for far longer than a few weeks. Travelers have long since gotten used to extensive searches before they board airplanes, and they should be relieved to see security measures on...

New Yorkers show tolerance on first day of bag searches on subways   By Jim FitzgeraldAssociated Press Writer 07/23/2005     NEW YORK (AP) -- It's generally not a good idea to pick a New Yorker at random, go through his things and slow his rush to the subway. Nobody needs another irritation on a hot, crowded, smelly commute. But city straphangers submitted calmly Friday as police inspected their bags and briefcases after the latest attacks on London's Underground. Some were skeptical, some were critical, but most said they were glad for the extra security. "It doesn't bother me,"...

WHAT'S the point? In the wake of the latest terrorist attacks in London, Mayor Bloomberg and the NYPD announced plans to conduct random searches of packages and backpacks carried by subway riders. "Random," of course, is a synonym for blind. And we all know what it means when you put blind bureaucrats in charge of homeland security: Grannies and toddlers, prepare to be on heightened grope alert. Reassuring al Qaeda operatives everywhere, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly pledged that his officers would not engage in "racial profiling." He also emphasized that passengers would be free to "turn around and leave" instead...

The arrest of al Qaeda’s No. 3 man, Abu Farraj al-Libbi, in Pakistan promises to provide new information on Osama bin Laden’s life on the run and deprives the terror network of its chief operating officer, according to counterterrorism and defense officials. Officials said that if al-Libbi chooses to talk, he is in a position to dish out valuable information about al Qaeda’s current structure, funding sources and attacks in the pipeline. And most importantly, he might provide information that could rekindle leads to bin Laden that have grown cold this year. Al-Libbi is potentially the best source of information...

Thirty-five years after the first Earth Day galvanized environmentalists, the movement is suffering a national identity crisis. Local environmentalists say San Diego County is cultivating a vibrant environmental community interested in preserving open spaces, cleaning up beaches and pressing for cleaner air. But the green establishment can't seem to get its way in Washington, D.C., the cause of much soul-searching in the run-up to Earth Day festivities that will span the globe tomorrow. Critics contend that environmentalists lack a compelling vision and say the movement has become just another special interest. Even though environmental groups' coffers are fat and people...

Grounded: Millionaire John Gilmore stays close to home while making a point about privacy He's unable to travel because he refuses to present a government-approved ID Sunday, February 27, 2005By Dennis Roddy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette SAN FRANCISCO -- John Gilmore's splendid isolation began July 4, 2002, when, with defiance aforethought, he strolled to the Southwest Airlines counter at Oakland Airport and presented his ticket. Dennis Roddy, Post-GazetteJohn Gilmore, beside a graffiti-covered wall, has his morning coffee at a shop that's one block from his San Francisco home. The Bradford native doesn't drive and has other travel restrictions, thanks to his challenge...

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit that sought to block random searches of passengers and vehicles using ferries that cross Lake Champlain. U.S. District Court Judge J. Garvan Murtha said the searches of people seeking to board the Lake Champlain Transportation Co. ferries were not intrusive and were reasonable given terrorism concerns. The lake forms part of the New York-Vermont border and extends into Canada. The searches are required under the National Maritime Transportation Security Act, which took effect July 1. The Coast Guard approved the company's screening protocol, which includes vehicle searches. In...

Throughout the war in Iraq, much has been heard about the alleged desecration of Muslim holy sites by American troops killing terrorists. Even though the terrorists stay in mosques and store their weapons there, protests against American troops have been held around the world and Arab governments have issued statements of condemnation. What goes largely unreported is the fact that Muslims have been attacking, desecrating, and destroying their own mosques, shrines and holy sites. One case involves turning the Prophet Mohammed's childhood home into a public restroom. The Wahhabism form of Islam regards these religious buildings, structures and relics as...

Following are extracts from a letter to TAE's editor from a young West Point-educated Army officer who has been at the center of intelligence operations connected to two of the trickiest and most successful combat actions carried out by the U.S. military in the last half century--August 2004's Battle of Najaf and November's Battle of Fallujah. He provides details on the Fallujah fight, including the previously unreported revelation that Muslim holy warriors traffic in illicit drugs. On November 7, Prime Minister Allawi gave the green light to the American and Iraqi military. All day long, Air Force and Marine Corps...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Federal agents searched the home of state Senate leader Don Perata's son Wednesday as part of an investigation into whether the Oakland lawmaker was involved in influence peddling. A spokesman for the elder Perata, Jason Kinney, confirmed that agents searched the Oakland home of Nick Perata, a political consultant who has worked for his father. Don Perata's attorney, George O'Connell, issued a statement calling the search a "Ken Starr-like publicity stunt" and an example of a "Republican-appointed prosecutor abusing and misusing the legal system in order to inflict maximum partisan political damage." A spokesman for the U.S....

Sorry, All. I am just tired of seeing the same half dozen threads posted a bazillion times.

OUR OPINION: TIGHTEN GUIDELINES OR DITCH INVASIVE SEARCHES In the brief existence of the Transportation Security Administration since the 9/11 terror attacks, airport-security screeners have been endured more than beloved. Now TSA agents have sunk to a new low of public loathing. Some screeners have used new rules that allow pat-down searches of passengers to turn the airport check-in process into a humiliating invasion of personal privacy. Scores of women have complained of unnecessary touching and fondling, of searches that resemble ''breast exams'' and of wands placed too vigorously between their legs. The TSA needs to either impose stricter guidelines...

...Critics of the Act are not calling for full repeal. Only about a dozen of the 150 provisions need to be reformed.... The two most significant problems are sections 213 and 215. The first authorized the use of delayed-notification search warrants.... The Justice Department often claims that this new statutory "sneak and peek" power is innocuous, because the use of such warrants was commonplace before. Actually, the Patriot Act's sneak and peek authority... was available in terrorism investigations. Courts, however, put specific checks on these warrants: They could only be authorized when notice would threaten life or safety (including witness...

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court appeared ready Wednesday to give police officers the right to use drug-sniffing dogs during routine traffic stops to find out whether drivers have illegal narcotics aboard. The Constitution forbids "unreasonable searches" by the police, and the high court in the past has said officers may not search a car for drugs unless they have reason to suspect the motorist is breaking the law. But the court's early rulings neglected a key question: Is a sniff the same as a search? Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a key swing vote on the court, insisted that a "sniff...

MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. (AP) - Federal agents seized financial records from an upstate mayor's office and other city departments Thursday. A city worker said police and federal agents entered Middletown Mayor Joe DeStefano's office Thursday with video cameras, cardboard boxes and a search warrant. The visit comes about a week after authorities charged DeStefano's father with running an illegal sports gambling operation. District Attorney David Huey said an Orange County court decided there was enough evidence of a crime to issue the warrant. The mayor's lawyer, Jim Monroe, said he doesn't believe there has been any wrongdoing and that the mayor...

WHEN IS A SEIZURE A SEARCH? Robert Lidster's bad luck was to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Just after midnight on Aug. 30, 1997, he was driving along a highway in Lombard, Ill., 25 miles west of downtown Chicago. He ran into a police checkpoint -- literally ran into a checkpoint -- and now he's part of the case law construing the Fourth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment protects us from "unreasonable" searches and seizures. The question in Lidster's case is a constantly recurring question before the Supreme Court. Was a given search reasonable or unreasonable? The...

Think of it as an odometer for a search engine. The Web search service Google has quietly started placing a counter on its home page for a small number of its most frequent users. Most Google users do not have it, but a select few now have a no-frills counter that with each search clicks higher, noting "You have done 479 searches," or whatever the actual number. Advertisement For the curious, an explanatory page linked to the counter reveals that this is a test, or limited-sample experiment of a new search counting feature. The counter is placed on computer hard...

<p>Police at airports in the Bay Area and around the country have quietly started to conduct random searches of vehicles under a new federal security mandate to thwart car bombs.</p> <p>Some U.S. airports, concerned that the searches are illegal, are refusing to carry out the directive.</p>

ROME (Reuters) - U.S. navy officials boarded and searched a Tonga-registered merchant vessel in the eastern Mediterranean Wednesday in a hunt some media reports said was linked to finding members of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network. "At about 0400 GMT, USS Monterey conducted a compliant boarding of the merchant vessel Tara, formerly known as Christie, about 70 nautical miles south of Antalya, Turkey, in international waters," Commander Bob Ross, spokesman for the U.S. Sixth Fleet, told Reuters. The vessel's documentation appeared to be in order, no contraband was discovered and nothing was removed from the ship, Ross said, but...

Last week I went to the San Joaquin County (California) Fair... a dismal fair with amateurish displays, few 4-H animals, and surprisingly few commercial hawkers. Usually two to three of the barn-like buildings of the fair are filled with business people trying to sell their wares. This year, only one small building held about a baker's dozen of them. Usually full, this year only half the stalls in the animal barns were in use by 4-H'ers. The normal agricultural and civic pride displays from the county's cities and farm communities were notably absent this year. Why, I don't know. It...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court ruled Monday that police who want to look for drugs or evidence of other crimes do not have to first inform public transportation passengers of their legal rights. The ruling gives police guidance on how to approach and search passengers, a case with renewed interest as officers seek out possible terrorists on public transportation. Justices rejected arguments that passengers, confined to small spaces, might feel coerced. The court ruled 6-3 that officers in Tallahassee, Fla., were within their rights as they questioned and searched two men aboard a Greyhound bus in 1999. Justice Anthony...

Police officers need reasonable suspicion to make a traffic stop -- and an anonymous tip alone doesn't pass that constitutional test, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday. Melvin Berry was charged with carrying a handgun without a license last year after a Marion County sheriff's officer received an anonymous tip. The appeals court ruled that the officer violated Berry's rights under the U.S. and Indiana constitutions, which protect against unreasonable searches and seizures. An officer would need more reliable information from an anonymous tip -- one that included a prediction of future action. Or, the court ruled, the officer...

I am a volunteer firefighter here in Iowa. The other night we we having regional training with representives from state HAZMAT, EPA, Sheriffs, and National Guard on dealing with clandestine meth labs. We do have a problem, especially with a new method of meth manufacture that leaves hazardous chemicals in public places where children can get at them. Anyhow, the Guard representitive got up and told us about how they are now directed in time of national emergency to get a list of suspected illegal drug lab technicians and other subversives from the local sheriffs office. It was quite obvious...