spencer ackerman

Writing about the role Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan played in the Bush counterterror surveillance program, Marcy Wheeler, blogging for Glenn Greenwald at Salon today, argues that as NSA adviser, rather than CIA director (a position Brennan was nominated for, but Glenn helped torpedo the nomination by highlighting his previous role in the Bush [...]

The explosive inspectors general report released on Friday makes one thing increasingly clear: the Bush White House knew that it was probably breaking the law.
From the report itself, John Yoo’s Office of Legal Counsel memo — and the lightning-fast reporting of Spencer Ackerman, Marc Ambinder and others on Friday — we now know that President [...]

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SALERNO, Afghanistan — Spencer Ackerman reports from a dangerous region 12 miles from the porous Pakistan border, where Taliban insurgents cross into the country to fire rockets at the base home to 5,500 U.S. troops.

COMBAT OUTPOST ZORMAT, Afghanistan – The Washington Independent’s Spencer Ackerman rides along with the Alpha Cavalry Troop’s First Platoon in search of a Taliban weapons cache.

COMBAT OUTPOST ZORMAT, Afghanistan -– Leaving Salerno, I asked someone what he knew about Zormat, an area in southwestern Paktia Province to the west of the large Khost-Province base where I was heading. He responded immediately: “Lotta IEDs.” Someone else asked me if I was a reporter. I said I was. “Aw, man,” he said. [...]