U.S. Justice Department Now Wants To Have The Authority To Indefinitely Detain Someone During An Emergency

Politico: DOJ seeks new emergency powers amid coronavirus pandemic

One of the requests to Congress would allow the department to petition a judge to indefinitely detain someone during an emergency.

The Justice Department has quietly asked Congress for the ability to ask chief judges to detain people indefinitely without trial during emergencies — part of a push for new powers that comes as the coronavirus spreads through the United States.

Documents reviewed by POLITICO detail the department’s requests to lawmakers on a host of topics, including the statute of limitations, asylum and the way court hearings are conducted. POLITICO also reviewed and previously reported on documents seeking the authority to extend deadlines on merger reviews and prosecutions.

Read more ....

Update: In Sweeping Power Grab, DOJ Seeks Ability To Detain People Indefinitely Without Trial (Zero Hedge)

WNU Editor: The U.S. Justice Department is not denying this story. Never let a crisis go to waste is something that I sense is going to be exploited a lot by many governments around the world in the coming weeks and months.

Update #2: Lora Shiao to Be Acting Head of U.S. Counterterrorism Agency (Bloomberg).

The Larger (Nuclear) Threat -- A Commentary

Washington DC

From The Washington Times:

As important as the economy is, our survival is more important. As FBI Director Robert Mueller has told me, al Qaeda's goal is to wipe us out with nuclear weapons. In considering which presidential candidate would better protect us, we need to understand why we have not had a successful attack in more than seven years.

Many would say it's an accident or luck. They are wrong. The reason we have not been hit is the sweeping changes in the intelligence community initiated by President Bush and the work of the FBI and CIA under his direction.

When Mr. Bush proclaimed any country harboring a terrorist would be considered a terrorist country, Arab countries began cooperating in the war on terror, turning over thousands of terrorists and leads. Mr. Bush made the FBI become more prevention-oriented. Now every case becomes the basis to develop new sources. These informants may be run out for years to infiltrate terrorist groups.

Read more ....

My Comment: This article analysis the changes that will be occurring under a Barack Obama Administration. In short .... there will be a clear difference on how law enforcement and intelligence agencies will operate under an Obama government.

U.S. Policymakers Mull Creation Of

Domestic Intelligence Agency -- CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United Kingdom has MI-5, which roots out spies and terrorists in the British Isles.

Canada has CSIS -- the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

Now Congress is asking: Should the U.S. have its own domestic intelligence agency?

On Monday, at the request of Congress, the RAND Corporation outlined the pros and cons of establishing a domestic intelligence agency. It also discussed different ways to organize a new entity, either as part of an existing department or as a new agency.

But there's one thing you won't find in the report -- a recommendation on what to do.

"We were not asked to make a recommendation, and this assessment does not do so," the report says.

Instead, says RAND's Gregory Treverton, the report provides a "framework" for policymakers to use when deciding whether and how to reorganize counter-intelligence efforts at home.

Read more ....

My Comment: The answer is probably a yes. In the past Canada's domestic agency was run through the RCMP, but this policy was found to have shortcomings in combating domestic terrorism (The FLQ was a terrorist group fighting for Quebec independence). CSIS was established to focus on these threats, and others. Has it worked .... hmmm .... the jury is still out.

Fighting crime is one thing .... fighting terrorism and spying is another. The U.S. will probably benefit from a domestic agency whose responsibility is for terror plots and espionage. The American fear is that such agencies can be abused .... but one can say that such abuse can also occur in any of the other existing agencies.