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Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 20, 2014

Snowden a 'thief who may have had Russian aid,' U.S. lawmaker claims

Edward Snowden, the fugitive former contractor who leaked classified National Security Agency documents, "was a thief" who had possible Russian assistance and has "incredibly harmed" the U.S. military, the House Intelligence Committee chairman said.
WORLD
Dec 22, 2013

U.S. secretly helps Colombia kill rebel leaders

The 50-year-old Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), once considered the best-funded insurgency in the world, is at its smallest and most vulnerable state in decades, due in part to a CIA covert action program that has helped Colombian forces kill at least two dozen rebel leaders, according...
WORLD
Dec 22, 2013

U.S. reasserts need to keep domestic surveillance secret

The government Friday reasserted its claim of state-secrets privilege to keep under wraps what it says are operational details in two long-running lawsuits alleging the National Security Agency's surveillance of Americans' emails and phone calls is unlawful.
COMMUNITY / Issues
Dec 18, 2013

A secrets law for whom? Look who gets a free pass

Ancient Confucian scholars regarded law as a necessary evil, something used on lower orders of people who lacked the moral refinement to act righteously without prompting. Yet this just states a basic truth about law: It is something we do to other people. You and I know how to act properly, right? It's...
EDITORIALS
Dec 15, 2013

Ishiba's ominous words

Statements by LDP Secretary-General Shigeru Ishiba underscore the danger that the new state secrets law could pose to Japanese democracy.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 12, 2013

Government to promulgate new secrets law quickly

The government will promulgate the contentious state secrets law Friday, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet will be tested in its ability to create viable independent overseers to check how the state classifies and declassifies information before the law takes effect within a year.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 1, 2013

Guardian is targeted over Snowden leaks

Living in self-imposed exile in Russia, former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden may be safely out of reach of the Western powers. But dismayed by the continued airing of trans-Atlantic intelligence, British authorities are taking full aim at a messenger shedding light on his secret...
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 30, 2013

Skepticism engulfs secrecy bill

As Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government rammed the controversial state secrecy bill through the Lower House last week, what seemed to become evident is that even his Cabinet ministers lack a coherent understanding of the content, breeding even more skepticism among the public.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 5, 2013

Abe copies China's playbook on protecting state secrets

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is so obsessed with China eclipsing Japan on the global stage that he's adopting some of his neighbor's policies with regard to the protection of 'secrets.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 25, 2013

Talks on body to deal with security begin

The Diet started deliberations Friday on a bill to establish a Japanese version of the U.S. National Security Council, an entity designed to enhance the government's ability to deal with national security and manage crises.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 24, 2013

U.S. keeps Pakistani officials in loop on drone strikes

Despite repeatedly denouncing the CIA's drone campaign, top officials in Pakistan's government have for years secretly endorsed the program and routinely received classified briefings on strikes and casualty counts, according to top-secret CIA documents and Pakistani diplomatic memos obtained by The...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 5, 2013

Abe promotes secrecy, sidelining transparency and open government

Norika Fujiwara, a TV celebrity who serves as goodwill ambassador for the Japanese Red Cross, recently caused a media sensation when she came out against the government's proposed secrecy legislation, saying it would adversely affect citizens.
WORLD
Aug 31, 2013

Secret documents detail U.S. war in cyberspace

The Obama administration's cyber operations sometimes involve what one leaked budget document calls 'field operations' abroad, commonly with the help of CIA operatives or clandestine military forces, 'to physically place hardware implants or software modifications.'
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 25, 2013

On guard against worker betrayal

The debacle of Edward Snowden walking away with electronic copies of thousands of classified documents illustrates the challenge of trusting people in any organization.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 2013

Newspaper rescue defines today's good citizen

It would appear that Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos wants less to own The Washington Post than to set its values free financially, for at least a generation or two.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal / ANALYSIS
Jul 31, 2013

WikiLeaks' founder may be next target

The conviction of U.S. Army Pvt. Bradley Manning on espionage charges Tuesday makes it increasingly likely that the United States will prosecute WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as a co-conspirator, according to his attorney and other civil liberties groups.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jul 19, 2013

Manning trial judge declines to dismiss key charge he 'aided the enemy'

A U.S. military judge on Thursday declined to dismiss a key charge against the army private responsible for the largest leak of classified material in American history, a decision with significant implications for the future publication of secret government material.
EDITORIALS
Jul 4, 2013

Shuffling the books on nursing care

The health ministry's idea of having municipalities provide nursing care services to some elderly people could raise the costs of care while reducing its quality.
WORLD
Jul 2, 2013

Surveillance court judge defends role

Recent leaks of classified documents have pointed to the role of a special court in enabling the government's secret surveillance programs, but members of the court are chafing at the suggestion that they were collaborating with the executive branch.
Japan Times
WORLD / FOCUS
Jun 26, 2013

Snowden files stoke U.S. security concerns

The ability of contractor-turned-fugitive Edward Snowden to evade arrest is raising new concerns among U.S. officials about the security of top-secret documents he is believed to have in his possession — and about the possibility that he could willingly share them with those who assist his escape....
WORLD
Jun 25, 2013

U.S. probes if China played role in Snowden leaks; fugitive not on Cuba flight

U.S. intelligence agencies are investigating whether Edward Snowden's leaks may be a Chinese intelligence operation or whether China might have used his concerns about U.S. surveillance practices to exploit him, according to four American officials.
WORLD
Jun 20, 2013

Surveillance 'foiled more than 50 terrorist attacks' on U.S. soil

The U.S. government's sweeping surveillance programs have disrupted more than 50 terrorist plots in the United States and abroad, including a plan to bomb the New York Stock Exchange, senior Obama administration officials testified Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 19, 2013

Putting to rest five myths about personal privacy

Americans don't have to choose between privacy and terror prevention. They do have to decide how much accountability to demand of government surveillance.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 17, 2013

U.S. intelligence in bed with business

Thousands of technology, finance and manufacturing companies are working closely with U.S. national security agencies, providing sensitive information and in return receiving benefits that include access to classified intelligence, four people familiar with the process said.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 17, 2013

Surveillance controversy illuminated by history

The American public at large is more accepting of the government's involvement in their lives than a 29-year-old former NSA contractor appears to believe.
WORLD
Jun 11, 2013

Post-9/11 outsourcing of security raises risks

The unprecedented leak of National Security Agency secrets by an intelligence contractor, including bombshells about top-secret programs to collect telephone records, email and other personal data, was probably an inevitable consequence of the massive growth of the U.S. security-industrial complex.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 8, 2013

U.S. taps servers in vast data-mining program

The National Security Agency and FBI are tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet firms, extracting audio and video chats, photos, emails, documents and connection logs. U.S. taps firms' servers, mines Internet data
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jun 4, 2013

The widening income gap is affecting higher education

Students from higher income families are squeezing out lower income students in public university enrollments
COMMENTARY / World
May 22, 2013

Five myths about Benghazi

The events surrounding the deaths of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012, look dramatically different depending on your politics. Republicans tend to see a cover-up and a scandal. Democrats see an attempt to damage President Barack Obama and...

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