Free Republic

July 23, 2015 The Obama administration formally announced that inspectors general will have to get permission from their agency heads to gain access to grand jury, wiretap and fair credit information — an action that severely limits the watchdogs’ oversight capabilities, independence and power to uncover fraud. An opinion, issued by the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel, says the Inspector General Act of 1978 — which was written by Congress to create the government watchdogs in order to help maintain integrity within their agencies — does not have the authority to override nondisclosure provisions in other laws, most...

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel’s son Zach will celebrate his Bar Mitzvah Sunday at the Davidson Center near the Western Wall but without catering or music. Jerusalem officials accepted a complaint from nationalist activist Itamar Ben-Gvir, who pointed out that the law forbids food and music at the Center, adjacent to the Western Wall

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations, stung by a growing scandal in its purchasing department, imposed job restrictions on Friday on all staff involved in buying goods and services for the world body. The new rules, which take effect immediately, prohibit U.N. employees involved in any aspect of procurement from soliciting or accepting a job offer from any vendor doing business with the United Nations. The regulations also bar departing procurement staff from seeking or accepting a job for a period of one year from anyone involved in selling goods or services or seeking to do so. They also...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The CIA (news - web sites) has decided that about one-third of a U.S. Senate report criticizing prewar intelligence on Iraq (news - web sites) contains secret information that should not be released to the public, intelligence sources said on Tuesday. After reviewing the roughly 400 pages for classified data, the intelligence agency returned the report to the Senate Intelligence Committee with brackets around 30 percent to 40 percent of the contents to signal the information was secret, intelligence sources said. The report examines the intelligence on Iraq before the U.S.-led invasion last year, including estimates that...