Colombia appears to be a popular spot for R&R among federal law enforcement agents. A Justice Dept. inspector general report has disclosed that DEA agents participated in “sex parties”—in which the prostitutes were hired by Colombian drug cartels—from 2005 to 2008. The agents were also found to have allowed Colombian police officers to watch over their weapons and property during the parties. Three of the agents were also given money, expensive gifts, and weapons from drug cartel members.   read more

Democrats in Congress have been the most vocal opponents, saying it would give foreign banks as well as pharmaceutical, tobacco and other companies the ability to undermine U.S. sovereignty. “This is really troubling,” said Sen. Charles Schumer. “It seems to indicate that savvy, deep-pocketed foreign conglomerates could challenge a broad range of laws we pass at every level of government." Most GOP lawmakers reportedly favor the agreement.   read more

Pentagon officials had asked for $51 billion for the Overseas Contingency Operations. They got that, and more. Wednesday night, the Republican-controlled House passed a budget plan, authored by Rep. Tom Price, that added $45 billion to the request. Democrats, and even some Republicans, call the OCO a “slush fund” that allows the military too much freedom to spend taxpayer dollars. Democrats labeled the Republican padding of the fund an “abusive loophole.”   read more

The cornerstone of the Bill of Rights is increasingly becoming the property of corporations, says a new study. Supreme Court rulings reveal a “corporate takeover of the First Amendment," said Harvard professor John Coates IV. “Once the patron saint of protesters and the disenfranchised, the First Amendment has become the darling of economic libertarians and corporate lawyers who have recognized its power to immunize private enterprise from legal restraint,” wrote Columbia law professor Tim Wu.   read more

Spearheaded by Attorney General Eric Holder and then-Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the HEAT program ramped up an 18-year effort by their two departments to battle Medicare fraud. Of the $3.3 billion recovered, $1.9 billion was funneled back into the Medicare Trust Fund, $1.2 billion went to the U.S. Treasury, and $155 million to other agencies. Whistleblowers collected $370 million of the funds for helping expose Medicare fraud.   read more

The regulations apply only on public lands and Indian reservations under the administration of the Interior Department. Fracking on private land, where about 75% of it is done, is not affected. • Drillers will be required to encase wells in cement when groundwater supplies could be affected. • Wells must undergo pressure tests to ensure they’ll stand up to fracking without blowing out. • The use of open waste pits to contain fracking fluids will be prohibited in most circumstances.   read more

The provision of the USA Patriot Act (pdf) that allows the data collection, Section 215, is set to expire on June 1, and so far, lawmakers haven’t adopted legislation extending this authority. However, the Obama administration could continue the NSA program by drafting a legal memo authorizing the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) to in turn approve the bulk collection effort until Congress does act.   read more

Sub-critical coal-fired power stations (SCPS) emit 75% more pollutants than more technologically advanced ultra-supercritical type plants. The United States has 75% SCPS in its coal-fired portfolio. The United States has 10 companies—the most of any nation—among the top 25 in SCPS generation.   read more

The U.S. system of oil pipelines has grown in size by nearly 25% over the past decade. This expansion has resulted in more than 11,600 miles of pipeline being laid, much in the western half of the country. Compare that to Keystone, which would stretch only 1,179 miles. Keystone’s oil carrying capacity would be dramatically less than what’s now flowing through many states via the new pipelines. As they expand, regulators have been almost powerless to ensure that existing pipelines are safe.   read more

AP reported federal agencies “took longer to turn over files when it provided any, said more regularly that it couldn't find documents and refused a record number of times to turn over files quickly that might be especially newsworthy.” The administration admitted that in about 30% of the cases in which it kept information hidden, those decisions were wrong and violated the law. The number of unanswered FOIA requests grew by 55% last year, resulting in a current backlog of more than 200,000.   read more

Defense officials have met privately with members of Congress to inform them about the huge loss. “We have to assume it’s completely compromised and gone,” said a legislative aide. The Shiite Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, “have taken over many Yemeni military bases in the northern part of the country, including some in Sana’a that were home to U.S.-trained counter-terrorism units. Other bases have been overrun by fighters from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula,” wrote the Post.   read more

A radiation isotope identifier is used by U.S. Customs to determine if there are nuclear materials on trains and trucks coming into the U.S. But out of 222 rail shipments requiring such examination that went through six ports, 160 of the shipments, or 72% of the total, were not checked. Customs agents “may have failed to require examinations of rail shipments that were at a higher risk to contain...weapons of mass destruction [and] potential instruments of terrorism" from entering the U.S.   read more

The incident baffled investigators because the deadly bacterium managed to travel from an ultra-secure research lab to the hospital, in a separate building five minutes away. The CDC reported that “it's unlikely there is any threat to the general population” from the bioterror bacterium. But one outside review claimed that “too few tests were done...to detect what can be an elusive bacterium.” It can hide in the human body for years and can produce a disease that has a 50% fatality rate.   read more

The Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday approved the Cybersecurity Information Sharing and Protection Act, which would facilitate the sharing of information from private companies to the government. The vote was 14-1 with Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) the lone holdout. Wyden called the bill “a surveillance bill by another name.”   read more

The El Salvadoran defense official who oversaw his country’s national guard when four American churchwomen were raped and murdered 35 years ago is facing deportation from the United States. The Board of Immigration Appeals, part of the Department of Justice, ruled that General Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova should be kicked out of the country for violating a 2004 federal human rights law.   read more

Americans are having a tough time these days feeling really good about many of the country’s institutions. A mere 5% of Americans say they have a great deal of confidence in the legislative branch of government, according to General Social Survey. The Supreme Court reached a new all-time low with only 23% having a great deal of confidence. Things aren’t much better for the executive branch. Only 11% of adults expressed a great deal of confidence in it.   read more