By
SB Anderson
2012 FULL-YEAR ANALYSIS TSA finds 1,525 guns at check-in — average of four a day. Complete wrapup, with data, charts, tables. Data below compiled from weekly TSA Blog updates on the number and type of weapons confiscated during carry-on searches at airports. Data is updated weekly (current data through May 9, 2013). (Download CSV file). The number of confiscations was up 14% in the first quarter of this year compared to a year earlier, with … (Continue reading . . .)
By
SB Anderson
Following is a Q&A with Medill’s Josh Meyer, lead instructor for the Oil Change Project and director of education and outreach for the Medill National Security Journalism Initiative. Where did the students travel? The students traveled to the Persian Gulf, the Philippines, Ecuador (the smallest OPEC nation), the U.S. national labs in Berkeley, Calif., the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Louisiana, and other locations. Over the course of the three months, what did the students do, or discover … (Continue reading . . .)
By
NSZ Editor
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a three-month investigation, a team of graduate student reporters from the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communication has found that the United States’ unquenchable thirst for oil has shaped nearly every aspect of the country’s domestic and foreign policy for more than five decades, often in controversial and dangerous ways. The graduate student team today (May 9) begins publication of its findings on the national security implications of U.S. energy policy. … (Continue reading . . .)
By
Josh Meyer
The good news out of today’s annual US Defense Department report on China is that the People’s Liberation Army is partnering up on joint military exercises with the US as never before, including on some humanitarian missions.
The bad news is that despite this veneer of collegiality, China continues to engage in a massive, and often successful, effort to steal US military technology and know-how through sophisticated espionage and cyber-intrusion efforts, according to the DoD.
Some top targets: engines for aircraft and tanks, solid-state electronics and micro-processors, guidance and control systems, and “enabling technologies such as cutting-edge precision machine tools, advanced diagnostic and forensic equipment, and computer-assisted design, manufacturing and engineering.” (Continue reading . . .)
By
Josh Meyer
Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera, the head of Mexico’s notorious Sinaloa Federation, has been a busy man in recent years. Known for leading one of the country’s bloodiest and most successful narco-trafficking groups, Guzman has quietly become the face of another growing phenomenon that extends beyond Mexico’s borders. It’s called deviant globalization.
That’s according to a study just out in the academic journal published by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, the US military academy.
The CTC Sentinel report, by Samuel Logan of the Southern Pulse investigative intelligence firm, traces the expansion of Guzman’s empire as he searched for better narco-products, more secure supply chains and bigger profits. (Continue reading . . .)
By
Josh Meyer
The cyber-ruffians who briefly tanked the stock market recently by faking a news tweet about an attack at the White House showed how much damage can be done with a few well-placed keystrokes. Those who hacked into a Department of Labor website earlier this week could have wreaked even more havoc, say, if they successfully tweaked the monthly jobs report.
Neither seemed particularly sophisticated, or malicious. But they do beg the obvious question: How much damage could a group of well-trained hackers do, economic and otherwise, if they really wanted to?
(Continue reading . . .)
By
Josh Meyer
The Boston Marathon bombing represents an extraordinary confluence of events that makes it a hard story to report. It is the first major terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11 and it happened in broad daylight at one of the most watched and televised marathons in the world.
But a primary lesson of journalism is that it’s better to be correct than to be first. Ideally, it’s even better to be correct and first.
With so much rumor and speculation, and just bad information being written, tweeted and broadcast, some in the media should be ashamed of their coverage over the past few days.
(Continue reading . . .)
By
Tim McNulty
Well into a summer of shelling, street fighting and sniper fire, several of the scores of correspondents covering the Israeli siege of Beirut in 1982 would joke, a bit wistfully, about the “courage not to file.”
That summer was long and, despite the Mediterranean breezes, the air was steamy and fear prevailed one day to the next. Fighting between the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Israelis surrounding the western half of the city was sporadic and intense, and from early June to the end of August stories of the destruction and urban warfare dominated front pages around the world.
Writing about military conflict has its dangers, of course, but adrenaline-infused reporting also carries a strange excitement. Some reporters and photographers become known as “war junkies” because they often move from covering one conflict to another. For many, a quote attributed to a young Winston Churchill describes the experience nicely: “Nothing is as exhilarating as to be shot at without result.” (Continue reading . . .)
By
SB Anderson
We put together a gallery 0f images from a Veterans Benefits Administration inspection of the VA regional office in Winston-Salem, NC that showed so many claims-related folders in storage that it was posing a structural threat to the building. The inspection was in August, 2012 and the report is here (PDF). The Center for Investigative Reporting this week also continued it dogged investigation of the claims delays. The latest: “Internal VA documents, obtained by the … (Continue reading . . .)
By
Ellen Shearer
The use of unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, for commercial and law enforcement use in the United States is under increased scrutiny as the Federal Aviation Administration moves forward on implementing laws to regulate the technology. But the value of the small, relatively inexpensive surveillance technology has not escaped the notice of another group of potential users – journalists.
At least three journalism schools – at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Syracuse University and the University of Missouri – are experimenting with small drones to determine their usefulness and practicality in newsgathering and storytelling. In addition, a few news organizations have also put some drones in the air, as did the Occupy protesters to monitor police action. (Continue reading . . .)
