Tag: information

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Politics

Guantánamo Prosecutors Ask to Strike Data Gained From Torture

Guantánamo Prosecutors Ask to Strike Information Gained From Torture

WASHINGTON — Military prosecutors have asked to wipe from the record information gleaned from the torture of a detainee now held at Guantánamo Bay, reversing their earlier position that the information could be used in pretrial proceedings against the man.

By law, prosecutors in a military commission trial are forbidden to submit evidence derived from torture. But in May, the judge, Col. Lanny J. Acosta Jr., ruled that while juries could not see that type of evidence, judges could consider it in determining pretrial matters.

Biden administration lawyers were troubled by the decision because they would be expected to defend the use of such information before appeals courts. The ruling, the first known instance in which a military judge permitted prosecutors to use information gained through torture, also carries larger implications for all cases at Guantánamo.

The chief prosecutor at Guantánamo for a decade, Brig. Gen. Mark S. Martins, had cited a statement obtained through torture, clashing with senior administration officials who questioned his authority to do so. The dispute played a part in his unexpected decision to retire from the Army 15 months early, on Sept. 30.

The detainee, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, is a Saudi man accused of orchestrating Al Qaeda’s bombing of the U.S. Navy destroyer Cole off Yemen in 2000, which killed 17 sailors.

At issue has been an effort by Mr. Nashiri’s lawyers to learn more about the reasons for a U.S. drone strike in Syria in 2015 that killed another man suspected of being a Qaeda bomber, Mohsen al-Fadhli. Pursuing a possible defense argument, they have sought to determine whether the United States has already killed men it considered to be the masterminds of the Cole bombing.

Prosecutors asked the judge to end that line of inquiry, pointing to a classified cable that reported that Mr. Nashiri had told C.I.A. agents as he was being interrogated at a black site in Afghanistan that Mr. Fadhli had had no involvement.

Mr. Nashiri’s lawyers protested the use of the C.I.A. information and added that the prisoner had made the disclosure as interrogators used a broomstick in a particularly cruel way, causing him to cry out.

The judge has yet to decide the overarching question of whether defense lawyers can continue to seek classified information about the drone attack. But he sided with the prosecutors, ruling that he could consider what Mr. Nashiri had said in deciding the matter. In response, defense lawyers filed an emergency appeal with a higher court, seeking a reversal. Government lawyers have yet to respond.

But Friday, prosecutors asked the judge, Colonel Acosta, to remove from the record information about the C.I.A. interrogation. Still, they asked him to retain the essence of his ruling, which found that there were occasions when a judge could consider such information while recognizing that “statements obtained through torture are necessarily of highly suspect reliability.”

Doing so, they wrote in a six-page filing, “can serve judicial economy” and “advance this case toward trial.” It was signed by General Martins and two other prosecutors.

Defense lawyers called the move insufficient and said they would continue to seek a reversal.

“Removing the sentences citing evidence obtained by torture, but not their motion saying the judge is free to use torture pretrial, or the judge’s ruling saying that it is lawful to do so, accomplishes little,” said Capt. Brian L. Mizer of the Navy, Mr. Nashiri’s lead military defense lawyer.

Mr. Nashiri, 56, has been held since 2002, spending four years in C.I.A. custody. His trial had been expected to start in February 2022, but that timetable is in doubt because the coronavirus pandemic has paralyzed progress in the pretrial proceedings at Guantánamo.

The judge has scheduled a two-week hearing in the case starting Sept. 20. The court last convened in January 2020.

Categories
Health

A Key Software in Covid Monitoring: The Freedom of Info Act

A Key Tool in Covid Tracking: The Freedom of Information Act

Times Insider explains who we are and what we do, and provides a behind-the-scenes look at how our journalism comes together.

In the first few months of the pandemic, blocks of data in some U.S. communities suggested that the coronavirus infected and killed blacks and Latinos at much higher rates than whites. A team of New York Times reporters who followed outbreaks across the country believed that the collection of detailed national data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could confirm this trend. There was only one problem: the federal government failed to honor reporters’ email request for the data.

To overcome this hurdle, the Times journalists relied on a decade-old law known as the Freedom of Information Act, which gives the public access to records from almost every federal agency, as well as state open record laws. After reporters received the data, their July article provided a detailed picture of 640,000 infections discovered in nearly 1,000 US states. This was the most comprehensive look at coronavirus cases across the country to date. The report also confirmed that blacks and Latinos actually had the worst pandemic.

Over the past year, dozens of Times journalists denied case-related data have filed more than 400 FOIA or other open records requests with government agencies. Many of these inquiries have enabled reporters to track cases, deaths and uncover locations of Covid-19 outbreaks.

“Having good information, solid data, and a respectful view of the agencies to make sure they are transparent leads to better accountability and, hopefully, better policies,” said Mitch Smith, a correspondent for the National Desk covering the Midwest and one of them was the journalists covering the history of racial inequality.

For the most part, submitting a FOIA request is as easy as writing an email. A reporter can submit a form on the federal or equivalent state FOIA website listing the information they are looking for. FOIA officials will then approve or deny the application despite sometimes not making a decision for an extended period of time – weeks, months, sometimes years.

Updated

April 14, 2021, 5:50 a.m. ET

Journalists can appeal after a rejection or after a deadline for deciding or responding to a request. However, if the appeal fails or an agency fails to respond, journalists can get the information, as the Times did to get the CDC data on which its report on racial inequality is based. Sometimes governments try to put up roadblocks in the form of exorbitant fees for conducting a file search, or requiring a reporter to be in the state where the application is being made, or simply requiring a form to be hand-made is delivered to a post office. Again, in some of these cases, the courts may have recourse.

Danielle Ivory, an investigative reporter for The Times, started filing FOIA and Open Records inquiries shortly after joining the Covid tracking team a year ago. Early on, she and her colleagues filed in almost every state for lists of nursing homes with coronavirus cases and deaths. Ms. Ivory estimated that later, when they reported on coronavirus clusters in universities, they sent over 200 requests to at least 150 colleges for case data alone, which helped them track more than 400,000 Covid cases back to universities by 2020.

“A lot of these places didn’t want to divulge the information,” Ms. Ivory said. “Some places told us they thought it was private. We asked for aggregated information so we disagreed with that assessment and in many cases we were right because some of them ultimately gave it to us. “

When prisons and jails started reporting spikes in coronavirus outbreaks last year, open file requests proved helpful in tracking the spread of cases. Danya Issawi, a member of the team that worked on this project, said filing FOIAs in the sheriff’s offices and local health departments has become almost a daily routine, not just about the number of infections and deaths in these Establish facilities, but also for the population of prisons and information for testing.

“All of this data represents real human life and real human consequences in places where numbers are not easily shared,” said Ms. Issawi. “Every time we file a FOIA and get information back, it seems like you’re filling a small gap with someone who might have a loved one or friend.”

As vaccination efforts continue, FOIA inquiries and other open records requests can continue to play an important role in ensuring that governments are transparent. This year alone, journalists have submitted dozens of FOIA inquiries to The Times looking for distribution patterns or problem areas.

However, Ms. Ivory is always optimistic that it will become easier and easier to discover the value of this data as more and more people realize the value of this data. “To be honest, I’m really hopeful,” she said.

Categories
Health

Covid-19 Vaccine Card Information: Maintaining it Protected, Journey, Data, Passport and Advantages

Covid-19 Vaccine Card Guide: Keeping it Safe, Travel, Information, Passport and Benefits

“Customers were looking for ways to protect their Covid-19 vaccine cards knowing they were likely to be important in the future,” said Craig Grayson, vice president of printing and marketing services at Staples, in an email on Wednesday. “Leveraging our existing in-store functionality seemed like a natural way to provide a free solution.”

Until July 25th, customers can have their finished vaccination cards laminated free of charge in Office Depot and OfficeMax branches across the country under the code 52516714.

Dr. Ikediobi also recommends keeping the card in a safe place like your passport instead of carrying it around with you. “It doesn’t always have to be with you,” she said.

In some cases, yes. Some destinations and cruise lines require travelers to be fully vaccinated prior to travel. Starting March 26, Americans who are fully vaccinated and able to show proof of vaccination will be able to visit Iceland and avoid border measures such as testing and quarantine, according to the country’s government.

The Royal Caribbean cruise line requires passengers and crew 18+ to be vaccinated to board their ships, as do Virgin Voyages, Crystal Cruises, and others. These companies will resume cruise operations in the spring and summer. Neither company has been operating cruises in United States ports to date, as the CDC has not yet given them the guidelines to follow.

Currently, airlines do not require vaccinations to travel. But the idea has been talked about a lot in the industry. In an interview with NBC Nightly News, Ed Bastian, Delta Air Lines’ chief executive officer, said that proof of vaccination will likely be required on international flights. However, it is unclear whether this is a paper certificate or a digital vaccination record.

Governor Andrew Cuomo last week announced the launch of Excelsior Pass, a free app that companies can use to scan a code to confirm whether someone has been vaccinated or tested negative for the coronavirus. To enroll, New York residents should visit the Excelsior Pass website, where they will be asked to enter their name, date of birth, and zip code. A passport – a QR code that companies can scan – is automatically generated using data from government vaccination records or test laboratory data.

Categories
Health

CDC requires airways to gather contact data on vacationers from DRC, Guinea

CDC requires airlines to collect contact information on travelers from DRC, Guinea

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention require airlines to collect contact information for all passengers from Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in two separate Ebola outbreaks in African countries.

As of Thursday, airlines will have to collect and submit contact information to the CDC for all US travelers who have been to the Democratic Republic of the Congo or Guinea in the 21 days prior to their arrival in the US, the CDC said on Tuesday. On Friday, the CDC announced that it would serve travelers from both countries through six US airports in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, the District of Columbia, Newark and Los Angeles.

The risk of Ebola spreading to the US is “extremely small,” the CDC said last week, but health officials are preparing their public health response protocols to ensure the disease does not get into the country.

“For timely public health follow-up care, health officials must have immediate access to accurate and complete contact information for travelers when they arrive in the US,” said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky in a statement. “Any delay in contacting an exposed person can increase the likelihood of the disease spreading.”

Airlines must collect the names, addresses of travelers in the United States, primary contact phone numbers, secondary or emergency contact phone numbers, and email addresses, the CDC said in a statement. It is “the minimal amount of information needed to reliably locate travelers,” added the CDC.

Information provided by travelers is “checked by US government officials upon arrival to ensure that it is correct and complete,” the CDC said. The agency noted that a February 2020 CDC rule empowered the CDC to impose such a requirement on airlines.

“Air travel has the potential to get people, some of whom may have been exposed to a communicable disease, anywhere in the world in less than 24 hours,” said the CDC. “In certain situations, public health officials may need to track travelers who have arrived from a country where an outbreak is occurring, such as the Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Guinea.”

The World Health Organization is responding to two Ebola outbreaks, one in the West African nation of Guinea and one in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in central Africa. Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s health emergencies program, said Monday that 13 cases of Ebola have been confirmed in Guinea, four of which were deemed likely.

The cases in Guinea currently appear to be contained in the remote regions of N’Zerekore and Gueckedou in southern Guinea, Ryan said. He added that 99% of around 500 identified people who have been exposed to the virus are being tracked. More than 1,100 people have been vaccinated against Ebola since its recurrence last month, he added.

Separately, Ryan said eight cases, including four deaths, have been confirmed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. No new cases have been reported there since Feb.22, Ryan said.

In contrast to the highly infectious coronavirus, which can be transmitted by people without symptoms, it is believed that Ebola spreads mainly through people who are already visibly ill. The virus spreads through direct contact with the blood or body fluids of people who are sick or who have died of the disease, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Ebola has an average death rate of 50% which, according to the WHO, can vary depending on the outbreak.

The recurrence of Ebola in Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo has hit global health professionals particularly hard, as these countries are home to the two worst Ebola outbreaks in history. The outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, declared in June, lasted nearly two years. At the time of the end, there were a total of 3,481 cases and 2,299 deaths, according to WHO.

The notorious Ebola outbreak in West Africa began in Guinea in 2014 before spreading across land borders to Sierra Leone and Liberia, according to WHO. By the end of 2016, there were more than 28,000 cases, including over 11,000 deaths, according to the WHO.

During the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the US CDC confirmed 11 cases of Ebola in the US, mostly among medical professionals who had traveled to Africa to help with the response.