scholarly journals Brief Amici Curiae of Experts in the History of Executive Surveillance: James Bamford, Loch Johnson, and Peter Fenn in First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles v. National Security Agency

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer M. Urban
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
National Security ◽  
National Security Agency ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Unitarian Church

scholarly journals Brief Amici Curiae of Experts in the History of Executive Surveillance: James Bamford, Loch Johnson, and Peter Fenn in First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles v. National Security Agency

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Urban
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
National Security ◽  
Executive Branch ◽  
National Security Agency ◽  
Intelligence Agencies ◽  
Surveillance Programs ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Unitarian Church ◽  
The Church

*Abstract: *This case presents pressing questions regarding the executive's power to collect, store, and use Americans' telephony and other personal data for the purposes of conducting surveillance operations.In the wake of recent disclosures revealing National Security Agency data collection programs, the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles and 21 other membership and political advocacy organizations filed this lawsuit to challenge the NSA's collection of telephony data as an infringement of their members' First and Fourth Amendment rights.In this amicus brief, experts in the history of American surveillance -- James Bamford, author of The Puzzle Palace; Peter Fenn, who served as Washington Chief of Staff for Senator Frank Church and as a staff member to the Senate Intelligence Committee; and Dr. Loch Johnson, who served as special assistant to the Church Committee chair and as staff director of the House Subcommittee on Intelligence Oversight -- explain the historical parallels between the executive surveillance programs that are presently coming to light and the development of abusive surveillance practices from the 1940s to the 1970s.All amici were directly involved in the comprehensive review of twentieth-century American intelligence operations completed by the Church Committee in the 1970s, giving them a uniquely thorough understanding of these parallels.Drawing from the experts’ extensive knowledge, the brief explains the clear parallels between the development and growth of the abusive practices of the mid-twentieth century -- when American intelligence agencies helped conduct politically motivated surveillance of Americans ranging from ordinary teachers, journalists and peace activists to civil rights leaders, members of Congress, and a Supreme Court justice -- and today’s vast surveillance programs. History shows that abusive surveillance does not require bad actors to grow and flourish: instead, it is the natural outgrowth of too much secrecy and too little oversight by other branches of government.In light of this clear historical pattern, the brief argues that the court should carefully apply existing legal limits on the government’s surveillance powers to address the risks posed by the executive branch and the intelligence agencies’ claims to expansive power to determine the limits of their own activities.Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2353719

Colossus

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Jack Copeland
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
National Security ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Electronic Computer ◽  
National Security Agency ◽  
World War ◽  
Security Services ◽  
Secret Service ◽  
History Of ◽  
Short Time

The American ENIAC is customarily regarded as the first electronic computer. In this fascinating volume, Jack Copeland rewrites the history of computer science, arguing that in reality Colossus--the giant computer built in Bletchley Park by the British secret service during World War II--predates ENIAC by two years. Until very recently, much about the Colossus machine was shrouded in secrecy, largely because the code-breaking algorithms employed during World War II remained in use by the British security services until a short time ago. Copeland has brought together memoirs of veterans of Bletchley Park--the top-secret headquarters of Britain's secret service--and others who draw on the wealth of declassified information to illuminate the crucial role Colossus played during World War II. A must read for anyone curious about code-breaking or World War II espionage, Colossus offers a fascinating insider's account of the world's first giant computer, the great-great-grandfather of the massive computers used today by the CIA and the National Security Agency.

scholarly journals Before and After Snowden

2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 132-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Murakami Wood ◽  
Steve Wright
Keyword(s):  
National Security ◽  
War On Terror ◽  
National Security Agency ◽  
Current Wave ◽  
Before And After ◽  
History Of ◽  
Transparency And Accountability

This editorial for the Surveillance and Security Intelligence After Snowden issue provides a very brief history of National Security Agency whistleblowers and investigations before Edward Snowden, and sets the current wave of NSA whistleblowing in the context of a growing demand for openness, transparency and accountability opposing the renewed closures and secrecy of the War on Terror. It also provides some links for further research and reading.

Review: Urban Latino Cultures: La Vida Latina en LA by Gustavo Leclerc, Raúl Villa, and Michael J. Dear (eds.)

1999 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 126-128
Author(s):  
Catherine S. Ramirez
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
History Of ◽  
Crime Wave ◽  
Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries ◽  
The City ◽  
History Of Los Angeles

Throughout the twentieth century (and now the twenty-first), the specter of a Latina/o past, present, and future has haunted the myth of Los Angeles as a sunny, bucolic paradise. At the same time it has loomed behind narratives of the city as a dystopic, urban nightmare. In the 1940s Carey McWilliams pointed to the fabrication of a “Spanish fantasy heritage” that made Los Angeles the bygone home of fair señoritas, genteel caballeros and benevolent mission padres. Meanwhile, the dominant Angeleno press invented a “zoot” (read Mexican-American) crime wave. Unlike the aristocratic, European Californias/os of lore, the Mexican/American “gangsters” of the 1940s were described as racial mongrels. What's more, the newspapers explicitly identified them as the sons and daughters of immigrants-thus eliding any link they may have had to the Californias/os of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries or to the history of Los Angeles in general.

The history of neurosurgery at the House Clinic in Los Angeles

2020 ◽  
Vol 133 (3) ◽  
pp. 749-755 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gautam U. Mehta ◽  
Gregory P. Lekovic
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Vestibular Schwannoma ◽  
Video Transmission ◽  
Collaborative Work ◽  
Hearing Preservation ◽  
Auditory Brainstem ◽  
Team Approach ◽  
Middle Fossa ◽  
History Of ◽  
Operative Microscope

Although most widely known as the birthplace of neuro-otology, the House Clinic in Los Angeles has been the site of several major contributions to the field of neurosurgery. From the beginning of the formation of the Otologic Medical Group in 1958 (later renamed the House Ear Clinic), these contributions have been largely due to the innovative and collaborative work of neurosurgeon William E. Hitselberger, MD, and neuro-otologist William F. House, MD, DDS. Together they were responsible for the development and widespread adoption of the team approach to skull-base surgery. Specific neurosurgical advances accomplished at the House Clinic have included the first application of the operative microscope to neurosurgery, the application of middle fossa and translabyrinthine approaches for vestibular schwannoma, and the development of combined petrosal, retrolabyrinthine, and other alternative petrosal approaches and of hearing preservation surgery for vestibular schwannoma. The auditory brainstem implant, invented at the House Clinic in 1979, was the first ever successful application of central nervous system neuromodulation for restoration of function. Technological innovations at the House Clinic have also advanced neurosurgery. These include the first video transmission of microsurgery, the first suction irrigator, the first debulking instrument for tumors, and the House-Urban retractor for middle fossa surgery.

Surveillance

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Sanders
Keyword(s):  
Data Mining ◽  
Cold War ◽  
National Security ◽  
Bush Administration ◽  
The United States ◽  
Search And Seizure ◽  
National Security Agency ◽  
Patriot Act ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Mass Surveillance

This chapter explores shifting patterns of intelligence surveillance in the United States. The Fourth Amendment protects Americans from unreasonable search and seizure without a warrant, but foreign spying is subject to few constraints. During the Cold War, surveillance power was abused for political purposes. Operating in a culture of secrecy, American intelligence agencies engaged in extensive illegal domestic spying. The intelligence scandals of the 1970s revealed these abuses, prompting new laws, notably the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Fearing further recrimination, the national security establishment increasingly demanded legal cover. After 9/11, Congress expanded lawful surveillance powers with the PATRIOT Act. Meanwhile, the Bush administration directed the National Security Agency to conduct warrantless domestic wiretapping. To justify this program, officials sought to redefine unconstrained foreign surveillance to subsume previously protected communications. The Obama administration continued to authorize mass surveillance and data mining programs and legally rationalize bulk collection of Americans’ data.

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