Citizen Cartwright

NSA said to infiltrate global links to Yahoo, Google data centers

The National Security Agency has secretly broken into the main communications links that connect Yahoo and Google data centers around the world, The Washington Post reports, citing documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and interviews with officials.

The Google and Yahoo operations call attention to an asymmetry in America's surveillance law, says the Post.

While Congress has lifted some restrictions on NSA domestic surveillance on grounds that purely foreign communications sometimes pass over U.S. switches and cables, it hasn't added restrictions overseas, where American communications or data stores now cross over foreign switches.

“Thirty-five years ago, different countries had their own telecommunications infrastructure, so the division between foreign and domestic collection was clear,” says Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. “Today there’s a global communications infrastructure, so there’s a greater risk of collecting on Americans when the NSA collects overseas.”

In absence of federal action, states passing privacy laws

More than 10 states as diverse as Oklahoma and California have passed more than two dozen privacy laws this year, says The New York Times.

Many lawmakers say that news reports of National Security Agency surveillance have led to more support for the bills among the public.

Budget talks open amid news of a drop in the deficit

Senate and House lawmakers opened on Wednesday their formal negotiations to avoid another shutdown, with disagreements over taxes already clear, says The Washington Post.

Meanwhile, the Treasury Department said the deficit has dropped to $680 billion, the smallest since 2008.

The decline is being attributed to an improving economy, fiscal restraint including the expiration of stimulus measures and sequester cuts, and tax increases on high-income households.

More on Obama's 'you can keep your insurance' pledge

Even the president's aides said four years ago, early in the push for his health care law, that he wasn't to be taken literally on the promise, says The Associated Press.

On Wednesday in Boston, Obama said the law is replacing "substandard plans" offered by "bad-apple insurers" with improved coverage that includes more benefits.

"So, if you're getting one of these letters, just shop around in the new  marketplace," he said. For most people, "you're going to get a better deal."

Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius apologized in testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee for problems with the HealthCare.gov website that are making it difficult for people to "shop around."

Also in the news

Syria has destroyed all chemical-weapons-production facilities, watchdog says

Russia denies reports it spied on Group of 20 officials at last month's summit

China, other Asian governments angry over reports of embassy spying

Report says U.S. tapped cardinals’ phones before conclave to choose new pope

Tap on German Chancellor Merkel provides peek at vast spy net

Government is suing company that handled Snowden's background check

Federal Reserve maintains strong stimulus as growth stumbles

Democrats differ on putting congressional aides on Obamacare exchange

New York City is raising the age to buy cigarettes to 21

Earth-size planet discovered with rocky core like ours

FDA finds that 12 percent of spice imports are contaminated

CDC releases first-ever food allergy guidelines for schools

Major report calls for more study of concussions in young athletes

NSA chief hits back at overseas surveillance charges

Gen. Keith Alexander, director of the National Security Agency, testified at a House Intelligence Committee hearing Tuesday that the United States didn't collect European records, as has been reported over the past week.

The surveillance sweep overseas actually was carried out by European governments, not the United States, he said.

Apparently referring to a slide made public by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden that outlined the information, Alexander said Snowden and reporters “did not understand what they were looking at.”

Latest Obamacare mess: People's canceled insurance

So notices are going out to hundreds of thousands of Americans telling them that their current health insurance polices are being canceled as of Dec. 31.

And some say they're finding that Obamacare will cost them more.

The notices appear to contradict President Obama’s pledge that despite the changes resulting from the law, Americans can keep their health insurance if they like it.

Republicans have seized on the cancellations as more evidence that the law is flawed and the president has been disingenuous.

The White House says that people whose policies will be canceled will, in most cases, be automatically shifted to plans with better protections.

The notices are a result of provisions in the law that created new minimum requirements for coverage sold in the individual market, says the Los Angeles Times.

Under Obamacare, policies sold or renewed after Jan. 1 have to cover maternity care and mental health. They can't deny coverage because of preexisting conditions or charge higher premiums based on gender.

Plans that don't meet these standards are grandfathered in, but only if they were bought before the law was signed in March 2010 and haven't changed since that time.

The timing of the notices is “unfortunate,” says Larry Levitt, a health insurance expert at the Kaiser Family Foundation. “The law does provide tax credits. The problem is that people are getting these cancellation letters at the same time, and yet, they aren’t able to get on the website to find out what their options are.”

When he was pushing the law, Obama was mostly interested in reassuring the vast majority of Americans who are insured through their employers or federal programs that they could keep their insurance, says The Washington Post.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., says he doesn't think Obama's message was wrong, but "It was not precise enough."

Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testifies Wednesday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee in her first congressional appearance since Obamacare's October 1 rollout.

On Tuesday, Medicare chief Marilyn Tavenner apologized before the House Ways and Means Committee for the Obamacare website's problems.

Obama: Massachusetts health care law's start was slow, too

The president is to make that point Wednesday in a speech at Boston's historic Faneuil Hall, where Massachusetts Republican Gov. Mitt Romney was joined by the late Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy to sign the state's health care overhaul bill back in 2006.

Jonathan Gruber, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology economics professor who advised both Romney and Obama on the development of their laws, says just 123 paying consumers signed up the first month after the Massachusetts program rolled out, with 36,000 signed up by the time penalties kicked in for failing to have insurance.

Some congressional staff may be able to avoid Obamacare coverage

I've written before of my surprise when I went to work for a congressman long ago and learned of the many laws from which lawmakers had exempted themselves and their staffs.

There's been less of that over the years, but here's a current example.

Under rules created for Obamacare, House and Senate personal office staffers — deemed “official office” aides by the House administrative office — are supposed to get their health insurance through the District of Columbia's health insurance exchange, says Politico.

Committee and leadership staffers — labeled “official staff” — are allowed to keep their current health insurance plan, administered by the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program.

But in what members of both parties say is a surprise, guidance on Tuesday from the chief administrative officer of the House said lawmakers can privately designate personal office aides as not “official,” meaning they don't have to go on the exchange and can keep their current plan.

Really?

Also in the news

Syrian security official cites 'starvation until submission campaign'

Bipartisan group of senators warns Obama that Maliki may be leading Iraq back toward civil war

Business-conservative alliance presses House GOP for immigration action

Lawmakers seek to prevent parents from giving unwanted adopted children to strangers met online

Senate confirms two nominees for Federal Communications Commission

JPMorgan’s $13 billion settlement deal with Justice Department may be coming apart

Report: Big jump in mergers of law firms

Alabama, civil rights groups reach settlement on immigration law

Scientists invent a sticker that spots salmonella on vegetables, fruit