Just finished listening to Wind of Change, the podcast by @praddenkeefe about whether the CIA wrote the song of the same name by Scorpions. Cool podcast about that & the nature of propaganda. Loved the shoutout to #MuellerMemos and the discussion of the Spy Museum & torture too.
This is actually the first time I've ever listened to a podcast series. I'm a bit of a late adopter...I mean, I still buy CDs. I started fearing I had a concussion yesterday (had a bad fall last week) so I needed something to pass the time that didn't involve a screen or reading.
.@JasonLeopold and I were first to report on the behind the scenes effort by Democratic senators to have the Spy Museum's exhibit changed because of its questionable presentation of the CIA's post-9/11 torture program -- you can read more here:
I learned quite a bit from Wind of Change about the CIA more generally...the concept of "rollback," the fact that agents are placed within major companies & that the companies know about it (salary refunded by the US govt), that the CIA sent other artists to Africa, etc.
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"[T]he problem of foreign actors trying to influence the American electorate is not going away and, given the current partisan divides in this country, may find fertile ground in which to grow in the future.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley just tried to pass his bipartisan bill to update the Foreign Agents Registration Act by unanimous consent in the Senate, but Sen. Bob Menendez objected.
Menendez, the ranking member on the Foreign Relations Committee, said they need to study the issue more.
Grassley's been working for years on updating FARA to help the Department of Justice enforce the 1930s-era law, which hasn't been updated since the 1960s.
In a speech before he asked for UC, Grassley noted that the bill’s bipartisan cosponsors — Sens. Feinstein, Cornyn, Shaheen, Rubio, and Young — sit on the Foreign Affairs, Judiciary, and Intelligence Committees, all relevant to FARA.
Some personal news: A little while ago, I decided to begin the application process for a new US work visa. If all goes well, I’ll be able to work in the US again in a couple months.
So if you’re an editor looking to expand your team, please get in touch! My email is in my bio.
A little about me: I’ve covered national security, federal law enforcement, politics (including Congress), and more in the US. I’ve also covered Canadian governments and news.
I love scoops and doing original, investigative reporting. And I'm bilingual in French and English.
When I was laid off this summer, I lost my previous work visa and came back to Canada to figure out my next steps: either apply for a new visa to return to DC long-term or fly back to DC to pack my things and move back home. After a lot of thought, I chose the former.
It's official: the final version of the NDAA contains major reforms to the United States' anti-money laundering regime. Most notably, shell companies will be forced to disclose their true owners to Treasury -- a major gap in the regime that has been criticized for years.
Statements from @MarkWarner, @SenatorRounds, and @SenDougJones applauding the inclusion of their Illicit Cash Act -- the Senate version of the beneficial ownership legislation -- in the final NDAA:
Finally, I can share the project I worked on for nearly two years at @BuzzFeedNews:
The #FinCENFiles — 1000s of SARs & other docs — offer an unprecedented view of global financial corruption, the banks enabling it & the govt agencies that fail to stop it. buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonl…