The CIA’s private press pool was a secret even inside the Agency
On September 17th in 1965, an odd memo was sent within the CIA praising nearly a decade’s worth of unofficial briefings with the press. Seemingly out of the blue, numerous contacts between Ray Cline, CIA’s Deputy Director for Intelligence, and the press were suddenly admitted and enumerated. When the memo was first discovered, it was unclear what prompted it, however another, recently unearthed memo implies that it came about because of a threat from a member of the Agency’s private press pool.
FBI investigated a group of Dungeons and Dragons players as part of the Unabomber case
FBI files released to CJ Ciaramella reveal that as that Bureau investigated a group of Dungeons and Dragons players as potential leads in the Unabomber case. A 1995 memo notes that the loosely-knit group of gamers were “armed and dangerous,” as well as “overweight and not neat in appearance.”
“Jane/John Doe” rape kits provide important medical care, but they sit untested in the backlog
Anonymous rape kits allow victims who choose to not press charges to receive critical medical care. But opting out of pressing charges shouldn’t preclude testing, and shouldn’t relegate the kit to sit forgotten on an evidence room shelf.
The short but eventful tenure of the CIA’s Hispanic Program Coordinator
In the mid-1970s, the CIA had an extremely low number of Hispanic employees, which, given the agency’s extensive involvement in Latin and Caribbean nations might come as a surprise. As a solution to the Agency’s disproportionate representation of the nation’s second largest minority, the agency hired a Hispanic Program Coordinator (HPC). Less than four years later, the unnamed and unthanked program coordinator resigned, having increased the Agency’s Hispanic employee population to an entire one percent.
Nevada governor vetoes bill banning private prisons
Nevada’s move to ban for-profit prisons ended in a veto last week. Instead the state, which is dealing with overcrowding in its own facilities, will send prisoners to for-profit operators out-of-state without any anticipated caps on the practice.
Projects See all
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The Private Prison Project
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- 43% funded
- $4335.00 raised
- 103 backers
Despite what you've heard, for-profit detention continues to reap the rewards of an incarceration system filled to the brim and facing an uncertain future. Over the two years, our FOIA requests have released thousands of documents that show how for-profit prisons have leveraged the legal system to their advantage, letting companies pick-and-choose inmates to off-load costs, ignore complaints and concerns, and create dangerous conditions for prisoners and staff alike. This is all done while billions of taxpayer dollars are funneled into these private companies, which then pour millions into politicians' campaigns to keep their growth going. With your help, we can provide needed scrutiny of an industry few are even aware exists. -
Subjects Matter: FBI Files
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- 34% funded
- $1725.00 raised
- 12 backers
From Abbie Hoffman to Malcolm X, Ol' Dirty Bastard to the Insane Clown Posse, FBI files read like a veritable Who's Who of the 20th Century. This project aims to sift through the hundreds of thousands of agency archival material we've managed to get released, so we can better understand why the Bureau had an eye on these people - and through that, better understand who they're keeping tabs on today. -
Counting the Uncounted: The Sexual Assault Evidence Collection Kit Project
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- 35% funded
- $405.00 raised
- 7 backers
- 3 months, 1 week remaining
Despite an estimated 175,000 sexual assault evidence collection kits that sit untested in evidence rooms and crime labs across the country, there is no federal law in place mandating policies or testing of kits, and we don't know how many more go uncounted. This project aims to end that, one city and one kit at a time.