Government agencies use national security letters to snoop through financial records without the bother of a judicially issued warrant. The NY Times reports that the FBI "has issued thousands of national security letters" since 9/11, distressing news that TalkLeft discussed here.

But it was not previously known, even to some senior counterterrorism officials, that the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency have been using their own “noncompulsory” versions of the letters. Congress has rejected several attempts by the two agencies since 2001 for authority to issue mandatory letters, in part because of concerns about the dangers of expanding their role in domestic spying.

While assuring us that it only investigates terrorism, the Pentagon won't say why it pokes around in domestic financial records. This statement is nonetheless telling:

The jury trial of I. Lewis Scooter Libby begins Tuesday. I intend to follow it closely. However, I don't want TalkLeft to become all Libby, all the time. And, there will be days when I can't monitor live developments.

As I did with the Duke Lacrosse players case, I have set up a TalkLeft forum for those interested in following the trial and commenting on it on a detailed level.

The forum can also be used as a reference section as it has links to documents in the case, other bloggers covering the trial and the archives of several bloggers who have followed the Valerie Plame leak investigation and Scooter Libby Indictment since the beginning.

I will be adding documents to the document section over the weekend.

It is open for posting and registration. Your TalkLeft registration doesn't work on the forums. You will need to do a separate, free registration. You can hide your e-mail address and register using a moniker.

The Washington Post in this great editorial took Cully Stimson to task Friday. Stimson is the deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs.

" MOST AMERICANS understand that legal representation for the accused is one of the core principles of the American way. Not, it seems, Cully Stimson, deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs. In a repellent interview yesterday with Federal News Radio, Mr. Stimson brought up, unprompted, the number of major U.S. law firms that have helped represent detainees at Guantanamo Bay."

"....Mr. Stimson proceeded to reel off the names of these firms, adding, 'I think, quite honestly, when corporate CEOs see that those firms are representing the very terrorists who hit their bottom line back in 2001, those CEOs are going to make those law firms choose between representing terrorists or representing reputable firms, and I think that is going to have major play in the next few weeks. And we want to watch that play out.'"

Stimson hinted at nefarious connections, rather than a desire to do pro bono work, as the firms' motives:

How embarrassing for the President.

Negotiations to build George W. Bush's presidential library at Southern Methodist University have divided the campus, pitting the administration and some alumni against liberal-leaning faculty members who say the project would be an embarrassment to the school.

Some professors have complained that the combined library, museum and think tank would celebrate a presidency that unnecessarily took the country into a war.

This is quite a slap at the Bushes:

First lady Laura Bush is a graduate and is on the board of trustees. Vice President Dick Cheney previously served on the board. Presidential adviser Karen Hughes and former White House counsel Harriet Miers are both graduates.

However the school expects the library to go through claiming the protesting profs are in the minority.

Update: The State Attorney General, Roy Cooper, announced Saturday his office will take the case from Nifong.

Mike Nifong, the prosecutor in the Duke lacrosse player's alleged sexual assault case has asked to be removed and for the appointment of a special prosecutor.

Noelle Talley, a spokeswoman for the attorney general, said Friday in an e-mail that District Attorney Mike Nifong sent a letter requesting the special prosecutor.

As to what this means for the case, I'd say delay, a long one.

A hearing on the defense motion to suppress the accuser's identification of the players is scheduled for February 5. The state attorney general must now appoint a special prosecutor who will need a substantial amount of time to familiarize himself or herself with the case.

The intrepid reporter Murray Waas has a new article in the National Journal exposing what transpired at the grand jury investigating the leak of the identity of former CIA operative Valerie Plame.

In attempting to determine Libby's motives for allegedly lying to the FBI and a federal grand jury about his leaking of Plame's CIA identity to journalists, federal investigators theorized from the very earliest stages of the case that Libby may have been trying to hide Cheney's own role in encouraging Libby to discredit Wilson, according to attorneys involved in the case.

Key among the details is the July 12, 2003 plane trip that Cheney, Libby and Cheney aide Cathie Martin took to Norfolk. I wrote some extensive posts on it here and here.

Murray theorizes, as have many others, myself included, that Libby may have lied to the grand jury to protect Cheney. Murray writes that a senior official has confirmed to him in an interview:

Good news on the Jose Padilla front: His federal court trial has been continued from January 22 until April, so that a full mental evaluation can be performed.

Background here and here.

Oral argument on the judge's decision dismissing the most serious count against him was held before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals this week. The judges were less than hospitable to the defense arguments, but one can never predict how an appeals court will rule.

Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, the one issue politician, is headed to Iowa to test the waters for a possible presidential run in 2008.

Tancredo, known for his outspoken criticism of illegal immigration, will meet with Iowa GOP leaders and grassroots activists to see how they would respond if he ran, Tancredo spokesman Carlos Espinosa said.

....Tancredo views the trip as vital in his decision whether to run, Espinosa said. "A lot hinges on this — this weekend will determine a lot," Espinosa said.

He's also promoting his latest book. And in case you already didn't know this, John McCain also opposes a guest worker program. Just another strike against him in my book.

CNN has released a new poll showing that 2/3 of Americans oppose President Bush's plan for a troop escalation in Iraq. It's the first poll since President Bush's speech Wednesday night.

Two out of three Americans oppose President Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq, a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Friday indicates. Nearly two-thirds of those polled also say Bush has no clear plan for Iraq.

....Asked whether they believe additional troops will help the United States achieve its goals, 48 percent who answered the poll said it will make no difference; 31 percent said it would help, and 18 percent said the United States would be less likely to accomplish its goals in Iraq.

For your Friday entertainment, you may want to read the police reports and documents (linked at Brad Blog) outlining the three crimes (two of them felonies) that might be charged against Ann Coulter, who misrepresented her address when she applied for a driver's license, when she registered to vote, and again when she voted.

Residing in the United States without proper immigration papers isn't usually a crime. Local police have enough actual crime on their hands without worrying about undocumented immigrants. Expecting local police to enforce federal immigration laws is a waste of resources, so it isn't surprising that the Governor of Massachusetts rescinded his predecessor's agreement to use state police to arrest violators of federal immigration laws.

Mr. Patrick said doing away with the arrangement negotiated by Mr. Romney would allow state troopers to maintain a focus on gun-, drug- and gang-related crime. “The wisest and most practical course,” he said, “is for state troopers to focus on enforcing Massachusetts laws.”

The governor was joined at the news conference by the Massachusetts secretary of public safety, Kevin M. Burke, who said state police officials had expressed concern that the increased responsibilities would overburden their officers. “It would definitely have affected, according to their analysis, their ability to deal with their core mission” of enforcing state law, Mr. Burke said.

Kudos to Gov. Patrick for resisting the federalization of local law enforcement.

The facts were bad enough when it seemed that Kathryn Johnston's death was the result of unnecessarily aggressive tactics in executing a search warrant. Now we learn that the warrant was based on lies. Will the officers involved be held accountable?

As TalkLeft reported here and here, Atlanta police officers broke down an elderly woman's door. The frightened woman fired a gun at the intruders, not realizing who they were. The police returned fire and killed Johnston.

The police obtained a warrant to search Johnston's property by claiming that a confidential informant had purchased drugs at her house. That assertion was a lie, invented by a police officer who otherwise had no probable cause to search. A second lie -- that the "dealer" resident had security cameras outside the house -- was used to justify the request for a no-knock warrant.

Lying under oath is perjury. The officer's crime led to the death of Kathryn Johnston. Will Georgia hold him accountable?