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Adam in the News

July 23, 2015

Setting Reasonable Limits on Campaign Expenditures

In the years since the Supreme Court decided Citizens United, we have seen a massive wave of secret spending in our political system. There was over $100 million in "dark," unregulated and anonymous, money spent in the 2014 midterm election cycle and, with the presidential race right around the corner, that number is expected to balloon to over $600 million. While the problem is easy to identify, the solution is far more difficult to achieve. Reluctantly, I have concluded that it is … Continue Reading


July 21, 2015

Leader of Syria’s Militant Khorasan Group Killed in U.S. Airstrike

by Dion Nissenbaum

WASHINGTON-The leader of an al Qaeda offshoot in Syria accused of helping to plan attacks on American and European targets has been killed by a U.S. airstrike, the Pentagon said on Tuesday. The militant, identified as Muhsin al-Fadhli, was killed on July 8 when a U.S. strike hit a car traveling in northwestern Syria, said Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman. Mr. Fadhli, 34 years old, was said to be the leader of the so-called Khorasan group, a network of former al Qaeda militants that … Continue Reading


July 15, 2015

Congressional bill seeks to essentially ban 'gay conversion' programs across the U.S.

by Mary Ann Toman-Miller

Residential treatment programs for young people that engage in controversial "gay conversion" therapy would face comprehensive federal regulation under a bill introduced Tuesday on Capitol Hill. By prohibiting the facilities from discriminating against LGBT and disabled youths and allowing residents or their families to sue in federal court, the proposed legislation could essentially ban so-called gay conversion therapy nationwide. Many such programs - intended to rehabilitate children … Continue Reading


July 14, 2015

How Much Access Will the World’s Nuclear Watchdog Have in Iran?

by John Hudson, Colum Lynch

In the final stretch of negotiations ahead of Tuesday's historic nuclear accord, both the United States and Iran made concessions on an inspection regime that promises to be an early warning system if Tehran makes a covert sprint to a nuclear weapon. Earlier in the year, the two nations had drawn red lines on the issue of monitors having access to Iran's military facilities. U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said inspectors would have "anywhere, anytime access" to Iran's most sensitive … Continue Reading


July 10, 2015

Some Democrats Grow Livid As OPM Breach Fallout Mounts

by Damian Paletta

Some Democrats sounded alarms on leadership at the Office of Personnel Management that some say has bungled the response to a huge data breach, adding pressure on embattled agency director Katherine Archuleta. Ms. Archuleta resigned from her post on Friday. Rep. Adam Schiff (D., Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said OPM officials gave misleading testimony during a classified briefing in June that he said sought to minimize the impact of a cyberattack that stole … Continue Reading


July 09, 2015

Hack of security clearance system affected 21.5 million people, federal authorities say

by Ellen Nakashima

The massive hack last year of the Office of Personnel Management's system containing security clearance information affected 21.5 million people-current and former employees, contractors and their families and friends, officials said Thursday. That is in addition to a separate hack -also last year-of OPM's personnel database that affected 4.2 million people. That number was previously announced. Together, the breaches arguably comprise the most consequential cyber intrusion in U.S. … Continue Reading


June 22, 2015

U.S. says airstrike killed Islamic State fighter sought in Benghazi attack

U.S. airstrike in Iraq killed an Islamic State fighter suspected of involvement in the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, that resulted in the deaths of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, the Pentagon said late Monday. Ali Awni Harzi's vehicle was hit June 15 in Mosul in northern Iraq, according to the Pentagon. U.S. military officials believe Harzi was responsible for recruiting fighters from North Africa and dispatching them into the … Continue Reading


June 16, 2015

Why ‘decapitation’ strikes have killed terrorist leaders, but not al-Qaeda

In separate strikes last week on veteran al-Qaeda leaders, the United States demonstrated again the extent to which it has perfected an almost eerie capability to find the world's most wanted terrorism suspects in some of the world's most chaotic environments and deliver lethal blows from above. But the continued spread of al-Qaeda's ideology and the emergence of brutal new offshoots, including the Islamic State, have underscored the limitations of a U.S. strategy that remains largely … Continue Reading


June 16, 2015

For U.S., Killing Terrorists Is a Means to an Elusive End

WASHINGTON - Twice in the last week, the United States has focused its vast manhunting machinery on tracking down and striking terrorist leaders in anarchic countries that for the White House once embodied the promise of the Arab revolutions across the Middle East. A drone strike in Yemen killed Nasser al-Wuhayshi, the leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, who had built a terror franchise feared in the capitals of the West. Days later, the Pentagon dispatched F-15 jets to Libya to … Continue Reading


June 11, 2015

House Rejects Democrats' Efforts To Authorize War Against Islamic State

WASHINGTON -- Democrats forced the House to take votes Thursday on authorizing the war against the Islamic State group, making it the first time the House has touched the issue since the U.S.-led bombing campaign began 10 months ago. During debate on a defense spending bill, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) offered an amendment that would have halted funding for the war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, after March 31, 2016, unless Congress passes an Authorization for the Use … Continue Reading


June 11, 2015

House Passes Defense Spending Bill

WASHINGTON (AP) - The House on Thursday approved a $579 billion defense spending bill that reflected deep divisions on budget priorities and whether President Barack Obama needs new war powers to fight Islamic State militants. The vote was 278 to 149 in favor of the bill, which drew stiff opposition from Democrats because it uses a war-fighting account to raise defense spending next year. The measure gives President Barack Obama all the money he requested for defense, but did so by … Continue Reading


June 10, 2015

U.S. to Add Forces in Iraq, but Move Doesn’t Quell Critics

WASHINGTON-The White House, under pressure to fortify President Barack Obama's war policy in Iraq, formally unveiled plans to send hundreds of new U.S. troops to the country, but its choice of a relatively conservative military option didn't quell criticism over its approach. The White House said that in the coming weeks, the Pentagon would send up to 450 new troops to advise and support Sunni forces in Iraq's Anbar province, just weeks after Islamic State militants dealt Iraqi security … Continue Reading


June 10, 2015

US Orders More Troops to Iraq, but No Overhaul of Strategy

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama ordered the deployment of up to 450 more American troops to Iraq on Wednesday in an effort to reverse major battlefield losses to the Islamic State, an escalation but not a significant shift in the struggling U.S. strategy to defeat the extremist group. The U.S. forces will open a fifth training site in the country, this one dedicated specifically to helping the Iraqi Army integrate Sunni tribes into the fight, an element seen as a crucial to driving the … Continue Reading


June 10, 2015

Debate over authorizing force against ISIS to hit House floor

A senior House Democrat plans to offer an amendment to the annual defense spending bill this week to force Congress to vote on authorizing military force against the Islamic State. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, is among the lawmakers who have criticized Congress for failing to take up President Obama's draft authorization of military force (AUMF). Schiff's amendment would require Congress to debate and vote on an AUMF within 180 days, … Continue Reading


June 08, 2015

Cyberattack on federal workers linked to foreign government, Schiff says

The cyberattack on the federal Office of Personnel Management was orchestrated by someone working directly for a foreign government or in concert with a foreign state, a key member of the House Intelligence Committee said Sunday. "There are only two possibilities here with an attack this sophisticated," said Rep. Adam Schiff of Burbank, the top Democrat on the panel. "Either a state actor or a group of private hackers who often work in concert with the state." But Schiff, speaking on "Fox … Continue Reading


June 05, 2015

U.S. Suspects Hackers in China Breached About 4 Million People’s Records, Officials Say

U.S. officials suspect that hackers in China stole the personal records of as many as four million people in one of the most far-reaching breaches of government computers. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing the breach, detected in April at the Office of Personnel Management. The agency essentially functions as the federal government's human resources department, managing background checks, pension payments and job training across dozens of federal agencies. Investigators … Continue Reading


June 04, 2015

Data Breach Linked to China Exposes Millions of U.S. Workers

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration on Thursday announced what appeared to be one of the largest breaches of federal employees' data, involving at least four million current and former government workers in an intrusion that officials said apparently originated in China. The compromised data was held by the Office of Personnel Management, which handles government security clearances and federal employee records. The breach was first detected in April, the office said, but it appears to … Continue Reading


June 02, 2015

Patriot Act Surveillance Powers Reclaimed As Obama Signs Bill Into Law

President Obama signed the USA Freedom Act into law on Tuesday, ending the NSA's authority to sweep up the phone records of millions of Americans and reining in domestic surveillance programs provoked by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. The signing of the bill followed a Senate debate so contentious that portions of the Patriot Act expired after lawmakers failed to resolve their differences by a Monday deadline. Under the new law, federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies will … Continue Reading


June 02, 2015

Senate Advances Bill Renewing Spy Programs With Some Limits

The U.S. Senate is on course to pass legislation that would revive expired anti-terrorism programs with new limits, though any changes would require another House vote before a final version can go to President Barack Obama. The Senate Tuesday advanced, 83-14, the measure renewing spy programs that lapsed a day earlier. Senators plan to vote on amendments and perhaps on final passage later in the day. Any revisions would require the House to again take up the bill, and the surveillance … Continue Reading


May 31, 2015

U.S. Spy Programs Expire Amid Senate Dispute Over Extension

Three U.S. spy programs aimed at stopping terrorists expired early Monday amid a standoff among Senate Republicans over legislation to renew them. For the first time since soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, intelligence and law enforcement agencies can't initiate the use of these tools to monitor communications of suspected terrorists or seize records for counterterrorism investigations. Senators late Sunday advanced a House bill that would extend the three provisions … Continue Reading

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