The Bush administration said yesterday that it plans to start using the nation's most advanced spy technology for domestic purposes soon, rebuffing challenges by House Democrats over the idea's legal authority.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said his department will activate his department's new domestic satellite surveillance office in stages, starting as soon as possible with traditional scientific and homeland security activities -- such as tracking hurricane damage, monitoring climate change and creating terrain maps.

Administration Set to Use New Spy Program in US

A large and growing burden on the nation’s economy, traffic congestion arises for various reasons, and more than one mechanism is needed to combat it. It is most unlikely, however, that serious inroads to address the problem will be made without fundamental reform in the way consumers are charged for their use of congested highways. Congestion prices are tolls that reflect the economic costs of congestion, including productivity losses from traffic delays, increased accidents, higher emissions, and more. Such prices would help reduce these economic costs, and guide transportation investment resources to their highest and best use—which would include a better balance between highway and transit investment. In addition, such prices would generate revenues to help finance new investment and compensate low-income people and others for whom toll payments are especially burdensome. Requiring federal, state, and local engagement, such reform is a necessary step in the development of an effective, efficient, and sustainable highway system for the twenty-first century.

America’s Traffic Congestion Problem: Toward a Framework for Nationwide Reform

It's hard to imagine another member of the United Nations Security Council, for instance, feeling threatened by Bjork. But when the big-voiced Icelandic pixie shouted "Tibet! Tibet!" from the concert stage in Shanghai - nearly two weeks before any hint of the violence that would roil Lhasa - the official Xinhua news agency reported that the Ministry of Culture would "investigate" her performance, which had "not only broken Chinese laws and regulations and hurt the feeling of Chinese people, but also went against the professional code of an artist."

China is one of the very small number of places on the planet where the political impulses of rock musicians are taken seriously by politicians.

Why China is the only world government scared of Bjork

While the gregarious Mr. Yoo continues to insert himself into the limelight and is now the best-known, it’s clear that his role is subsidiary to that of Haynes and Addington. And Haynes’s role in advocating the decisive Rumsfeld December 2, 2002 order and other documents may yet yield for him the dubious distinction of being the lead torture lawyer.

Over the last four days I’ve shared notes several times with Newsweek’s Michael Isikoff, who tells me he senses a distinct gathering of storm clouds around Haynes.

Torture Lawyer in the Crosshairs

Fareed Zakaria:

The idea of Benazir Bhutto has always been more powerful than the reality.

Bhutto and the Future of Islam

What is surprising, given the recent controversy over Obama’s membership in the Trinity United Church of Christ, is how little the Obamas apparently gave to charity — well short of the biblical 10% tithe for all seven years. In two of the years, the Obamas gave far less than 1% of their income to charity; in three of the years, they gave around 1% of their income to charity. Only in the last two years have they given substantially more as their income skyrocketed — 4.7% in 2005 and 6.1% in 2006. (Of course, it is possible that the Obamas may have made gifts to other worthy causes that were not deductible for federal income tax purposes.)

Obama Releases 2000-2006 Tax Returns

Telephone records contain a large amount of intimate personal information. Recent years have seen a rise in the use of this information for marketing and even for criminal purposes. The purchase and sale of telephone record information, therefore, became a booming business. Websites and data brokers claiming to be able to obtain the phone records for any phone number within a few days abounded.

However, the methods by which these data brokers obtained their information came under intense fire from public interest groups concerned about consumer privacy. Consumer groups and news outlets reported that telephone records were being obtained fraudulently by data brokers or other individuals without the knowledge or consent of the customers to whom the records related. Data brokers are thought to employ three different practices to obtain customer telephone records without the approval of the customer. The first method occurs when an employee of one of the phone companies sells the records to the data broker. The second method occurs through a practice called “pretexting,” where a data broker pretends to be the owner of the phone and obtains the records from the telephone company under false pretenses. The third method is employed when a data broker obtains the customer’s telephone records by accessing the customer’s account on the Internet.

In response to increased concern over the unauthorized disclosure of private telephone records, Congress and other regulatory agencies have taken a number of steps to improve the security of this information. Congress enacted the Telephone Records and Privacy Protection Act of 2006, which makes “pretexting” a federal offense. The Federal Trade Commission has instituted a number of enforcement actions against data brokers. In the 110th Congress, bills have been introduced to ensure greater security of phone records. And the FCC recently amended its regulations governing the disclosure of Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI) in an attempt to address the concerns raised by Congress, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), and other consumer groups regarding the unauthorized disclosure of such information.

This report discusses recent legislative and regulatory efforts to protect the privacy of customer telephone records and efforts to prevent the unauthorized use, disclosure, or sale of such records by data brokers. In addition, it provides a brief overview of the confidentiality protections for customer information established by the Communications Act of 1934. It does not discuss the legal framework for the disclosure by telephone companies of phone records to the government. For an overview of laws that address disclosure of telephone records to the government, see CRS Report RL33424 (PDF; 138 KB), Government Access to Phone Calling Activity and Related Records, by Elizabeth B. Bazan, Gina Marie Stevens, and Brian Yeh. For an overview of federal law governing wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping, see CRS Report 98-326 (PDF; 464 KB, via EPIC), Privacy: An Overview of Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping, by Gina Marie Stevens and Charles Doyle. This report will be updated when warranted.

Selected Laws Governing the Disclosure of Customer Phone Records by Telecommunications Carriers

“Imagine waiting in line for a man whose name you can’t even pronounce.”

Obama As Mr. Fix-It

The Democrats didn't expect so much pain.

Molehill Politics

Reading some of today’s news, it suddenly struck me: we’re living in the age of the anti-Cassandra.

Cassandra had the gift of prophecy — she saw, correctly, what was coming — but was under a curse: nobody would believe her.

Today, our public discourse is dominated by people who have been wrong about everything — but are still, mysteriously, treated as men of wisdom, whose judgments should be believed. Those who were actually right about the major issues of the day can’t get a word in edgewise.

The age of the anti-Cassandra