Douglas Caddy

Phone-hacking scandal – the movieLeveson inquiry will feature an all-star cast of celebrities taking the stand to do a reverse kiss-and-tell on the media

By Amelia Hill

guardian.co.uk,

Tuesday 15 November 2011 17.23 EST

When the inevitable Hollywood blockbuster is made of the phone-hacking scandal, directors risk bankrupting their studio when casting this, the most glittering public inquiry in history.

On Tuesday, we heard that over the next two weeks, Hugh Grant, Sienna Millar, JK Rowling, Steve Coogan and 17 other high-profile core participants will take the stand to do a reverse kiss-and-tell on the media.

Some of the celebrities are more verbose than others, it emerges: Max Mosley, apparently, has submitted 450 pages of evidence – others, just a few paragraphs. It's bound to liven things up in an inquiry already losing momentum: despite having been long-awaited, just two days in, the press gallery of the courtroom was half-empty yesterday.

The annex, a massive tent erected in the courtyard of the Royal Courts of Justice with space for around 180 members of the public, was virtually empty on the first day of the Inquiry – and was entirely empty today.

For those keen to discover what had become of the Trojan Horse virus that had apparently infiltrated the computer of David Sherborne QC yesterday, the morning bought glad tidings.

"The message on Mr Sherborne's screen has been investigated," Lord Justice Leveson announced, as he took his seat. It was, it seems, nothing but a message from the lawyer's anti-virus software. "It does not mean that the inquiry's systems were accessed unlawfully but rather demonstrates that the system was working as it should," Leveson emphasised as Sherborne, looking abashed beneath his tan, fiddled with his maligned computer.

Rhodri Davies, the lawyer acting for News International, took to his feet to make a no-holds-barred apology for the illegal activities of News of the World – before making the startling admission that while the News of the World's publishers now accepted phone hacking was "wrong, shameful and should never have happened", the practice might well have continued at the newspaper for another couple of years after Clive Goodman was jailed in 2007.

"It does look as if lessons were learned when Mr Goodman and Mr Mulcaire went to jail," he said. Hopefully. Sounding uncannily like Mr Salter from Scoop, Evelyn Waugh's satire of sensationalist journalism, he added torturously: "I am not going to give any guarantees that there was no phone hacking by or for the News of the World after 2007.

"If phone hacking continued after that it was not, as it appears, what Mr Jay [counsel for the inquiry] described [yesterday] as the 'thriving cottage industry' which existed beforehand," he added.

He could just have quoted the magnificent Salter directly: "Up to a point, Lord Copper," would have been an equally clear response to the question of whether it had taken the arrest and imprisonment of one of their journalists to bring NoW publishers to the realisation that hacking and deleting the voicemails of a murdered schoolgirl wasn't an entirely honourable way to source stories.

The Daily Telegraph got its knuckles elegantly rapped by Leveson for inaccurately interpreting a past judgement of his, to suggest that the judge did not favour state regulation "lest it have a chilling effect on responsible journalism".

"It's not generally dangerous to quote a judge, is it?" Leveson asked, his basilisk eyes drilling into Gavin Millar QC. Leveson is not a man who wears his reputation lightly.

Millar was appropriately contrite: "If you cut and paste it in that way – if you take part of a judge's sentence out of context – you can get yourself into a mess, sometimes."

"We didn't intentionally spin part of your judgement," he added, pleadingly. "That makes us more devious and perhaps more clever than we are. But we do understand that this was how it appeared to you and we do, of course, apologise for that but it was inadvertent."

It was a short day. There was a touch of refined heckling, when a woman got to her feet at the back of the courtroom and tried to make a statement. Leveson made short work of her. "You don't have any standing in front of me," he said witheringly. "You've been told that if you wanted to submit a statement, you could do. You don't have a standing in the inquiry. Thank you very much."

Tomorrow it is the turn of Sherborne to take the stand, representing the 51 victims. Computer glitches allowing, of course.

I have placed the five remaining parts of Daniel Sheehan's speech in the Forum's "Political Conspiracies" section as these deal primarily with a subject not related to the JFK assassination or to Watergate. The link to these parts is below. I am still attempting to determine the venue and date of his speech.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=18360

Daniel Sheehan – Conspiracy Theories and the UFO phenomenon

Here are the five remaining parts of the speech by Daniel Sheehan. I posted the first four parts in the Forum’s JFK Assassination and Watergate topics under the title “How the JFK Assassination and Watergate are related.” Mr. Sheehan’s speech represents a ‘unified theory’ of both subjects.

The parts below are fascinating but contain only a few remarks by Sheehan on the JFK assassination and Watergate, these dealing specifically with John Kennedy, Jr. and Spiro Agnew.

All nine parts – the five here and the four posted in the other Forum topics – were uploaded last year to YouTube under the title, “Daniel Sheehan – Conspiracy Theories and the UFO phenomenon.” I am still attempting to determine the venue of his speech and the date it was delivered.

Douglas and Bill,

Since this is a recording of government communications, assocaited with the military, and was most likely originally captured on government purchased tape media, equipment, and on government time...by an on duty military member, how could a private entity claim ownership and make a money demand for a government originated, historically significant sound recording?

Why doesn't this "news" trigger a military or LEO investigation into possible theft and deliberate concealment? Does the ARRB or its non-existent congressional oversight have any jurisdiction here? Is there potential to activate the ignored responsibility for oversight by contacting relevant legislative representatives? If this consisted of emerging autopsy X-Rays or photos, wouldn't there be a more pro-active reaction than a private offer to sell what is probably evidence in the assassination investigation?

Tom, all your questions and comments are quite pertinent. I am sure that we have not seen the end of this story. At a minimum it would appear that the Kennedy Library would have a claim to the tape. The whole idea of the sale is repugnant and shocking.

However, it does make one wonder what other relevant evidence is out there in private hands waiting for disclosure some day.

AP Exclusive: Lost JFK assassination tapes on sale

By JOANN LOVIGLIO | November 15, 2011 09:35 AM EST | Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA — A long-lost version of Air Force One recordings made after President John F. Kennedy's assassination, with more than 30 minutes of additional material not in the official version in the government's archives, has been found and is for sale.

There are incidents and code names described on the newly discovered two-plus hour recording. It predates a shorter recording formerly thought to be the only surviving version.

The Raab Collection, a Philadelphia historic documents dealer, is selling the reel-to-reel tape for $500,000.

The tape comes from the estate of Army Gen. Chester "Ted" Clifton Jr., a Kennedy aide who was in the Dallas motorcade when the president was assassinated.

Clifton died in 1991. The Raab Collection acquired the items after the death of Clifton's wife in 2009.

Phone hacking 'may have continued after prosecution'

Daily Telegraph

November 15, 2011

The News of the World's publishers admitted today that they could not guarantee the paper stopped hacking phones after one of its journalists was jailed for the illegal practice.

A lawyer for News International told the Leveson Inquiry into press standards "lessons were learned" when the Sunday tabloid's royal editor, Clive Goodman, received a prison sentence for intercepting royal aides' voicemail messages in 2007.

But he conceded phone hacking may have continued at the News of the World after this on a much smaller scale.

Police believe illegal voicemail interception at News International had begun by 2002 and continued until at least 2009, the inquiry heard yesterday.

The hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London was also told notebooks seized from disgraced private detective Glenn Mulcaire suggest at least 28 of the publisher's employees commissioned him to hack phones.

Robert Jay QC, counsel to the inquiry, said: "I suggest that it would not be unfair to comment that it was at the very least a thriving cottage industry."

"No doubt that will be explored during the evidence, and we note that Mr Jay said the police thought the last instance was in 2009.

"Nonetheless it does look as if lessons were learned when Mr Goodman and Mr Mulcaire went to jail.

"If phone hacking continued after that it was not, as it appears, what Mr Jay described as the 'thriving cottage industry' which existed beforehand."

Earlier, Mr Davies apologised on behalf of New International for the phone hacking scandal saying it was "wrong, shameful and should never have happened".

He said the company now accepted that hacking was not carried out by a single "rogue reporter" and that it was not properly investigated until police launched a new inquiry in January this year.

But he appeared to question the claim that 28 NI staff were involved in the practice

Leveson inquiry: NoW owner disputes 28 staff commissioned phone hacking

News International's barrister asks inquiry to check counsel's statement and admits hacking could have continued after 2007

By James Robinson

guardian.co.uk,

Tuesday 15 November 2011 08.48 EST

The News of the World's former owner has disputed whether there is evidence that 28 of the paper's employees commissioned a private investigator to hack into mobile phones.

News International's barrister, Rhodri Davies QC, told the Leveson inquiry into press standards at the high court on Tuesday that the company "would like to have this information rechecked".

Davies also said the company now accepted that phone hacking "was not the work of a single rogue reporter". The practice was "wrong", "shameful" and "should never have happened", he said.

"The News of the World managed to plumb both the depths and the heights," he added. "The depths, I need hardly say, are taken up by phone hacking."

The inquiry heard on Monday that the names of at least 28 News International employees – former royal editor Clive Goodman and 27 others – were written in the page corners of notebooks belonging to Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator jailed in January 2007 for intercepting voicemail messages on behalf of the News of the World. That suggests the practice was employed by far more than a handful of News of the World journalists, as the company has claimed.

Davies said that the statement, by the inquiry's counsel Robert Jay, "has occasioned some surprise on our side".

He added that Jay had referred to "at least 27 other NI [News International] employees … this is a context where NI means the News of the World".

News International was aware that five News of the World journalists were named in the notes – Goodman, who was jailed along with Mulcaire in January 2007, and four others, who Davies did not name.

Davies said the company believed Scotland Yard had also identified the names of other News of the World staff in Mulcaire's notes but "our understanding is it does not add up to 27".

"We have never seen the whole set of Mulcaire notebooks," Davies pointed out. "I believe the only people who have are the police."

The inquiry was told on Monday that four individuals at the News of the World instructed Mulcaire to carry out 2,143 out of a total of 2,266 "taskings" the investigator conducted for the paper.

Several jobs were commissioned by names that are ineligible, while others were marked "private" by Mulcaire. Goodman also requested some of those taskings.

Davies expressed surprise that the remaining 123 "taskings" could have been requested by as many as 21 other News of the World staff. But he added: "2,266 taskings is 2,266 too many."

He also said that the Sun "disputed" a claim brought against the paper by actor Jude Law, who is also suing the News of the World for breach of privacy, but added that he could not go into detail because of confidentiality rules imposed by the judge who is hearing the case.

Davies told that inquiry hearing that, following Goodman and Mulcaire's jailing in 2007, the paper had put its house in order. While he could not guarantee that no phone hacking took place after that date, he said: "If phone hacking continued after that it was not … the thriving cottage industry which existed beforehand."

He added that the decision to place MPs on the Commons culture, media and sport committee and lawyers representing alleged victims of hacking under surveillance was "unacceptable", saying "it wasn't journalism at all".

The inquiry also heard on Tuesday from Jonathan Caplan QC, for Daily Mail owner Associated Newspapers.

Caplan warned Leveson against putting forward changes to the current system of press regulation based on what had happened in the industry in the recent past.

"We need to be clearly aware that any recommendations … are not simply introduced on the basis of historic transgressions which no longer occur," he said. Caplan added that as far as the publisher was aware: "No journalist at Associated Newspapers has engaged in phone hacking."

Addressing the use of Steve Whittamore, another private investigator who was the subject of a police investigation, and who was used by the Daily Mail, he said there was no evidence that its journalists had asked him to do anything illegal.

Whittamore had mostly been asked to obtain telephone numbers that were already publicly available by busy journalists who did not have the time to find them, Caplan added. "There simply is no evidence that they ever asked Mr Whittamore to do anything illegal."

The private investigator was also used by several other national newspapers, including the Observer, the Guardian's sister paper.

I am attempting to determine the location and date of the speech delivered by Daniel Sheehan. It was not included on the YouTube videos.

Meanwhile I am posting the video below in which Mr. Sheehan describes his background:

I am attempting to determine the location and date of Daniel Sheehan's speech. The YouTube vidoes do not provide this information but I feel certain that ultimately I can secure it. The videos were uploaded to YouTube last year, so I assume his speech was given in 2010.

Mr. Sheehan was one of the attorneys who represented James McCord in Watergate. James McCord was the director of security for the Committee to Re-elect the President at the time of his arrest at Watergate and was a longtime CIA employee. My guess -- and it only a guess -- is that much of the information related by Mr. Sheehan in his speech about the JFK assassination and Watergate was obtained an an outgrowth of representing Mr. McCord.

Meanwhile I am posting the video below in which Mr. Sheehan describes his background:

Pattern of Illegality Is Cited at Paper

The New York Times

By SARAH LYALL

November 14, 2011

LONDON —As a government-commissioned inquiry into Britain’s journalistic practices opened on Monday, its chief lawyer delivered a series of bombshell revelations about what he called a “thriving cottage industry” of illegality at the defunct News of the World tabloid.

In addition, said the chief lawyer, Robert Jay, police evidence showed that hacking was not limited to The News of the World, which was summarily closed by its owner, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, in July. Instead, he said, two other tabloids — the Murdoch-owned Sun, and The Daily Mirror, owned by the Trinity Mirror Group — had also illegally intercepted people’s voice-mail messages, employing the same private investigator as The News of the World.

But those papers’ potential malfeasance appears to have paled beside that of The News of the World, according to Mr. Jay, chief counsel to the investigation, the Leveson Inquiry, a far-reaching examination into the practices and regulation of the British news media.

Mr. Jay said that 11,000 pages in notebooks belonging to the private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire, reveal that he conducted 2,266 investigations on behalf of at least 28 different employees of News International, the British newspaper arm of News Corporation, over several years. Four of those employees — listed in the notebooks under various code letters — apparently commissioned 2,143 of those investigations. The most prolific of the four commissioned 1,453 alone.

Until early this year, executives at News International repeatedly told the police, Parliament and other news media outlets that phone hacking was limited to a single “rogue reporter” at The News of the World. That was Clive Goodman, the paper’s royal correspondent, who was jailed in 2007, along with Mr. Mulcaire, for intercepting voice-mail messages of members of the royal household.

But the information from Mr. Mulcaire’s notebooks, seized by the police in 2006, contradicts News International’s claim, Mr. Jay said, suggesting instead a pattern of “wide-ranging illegal acts within the organization.”

“It is clear that Goodman was not a rogue reporter,” he said. He added: “Aside from the number of individuals potentially inculpated, we also have evidence of a significant quantity of illegal activity over a relatively lengthy time period. There are a number of ways in which this activity might collectively be characterized. I suggest that it would not be unfair to comment that it was, at the very least, a thriving cottage industry.”

Mr. Jay said that a total of 690 audio tapes were seized from Mr. Mulcaire’s office, along with records of 586 recordings of voice-mail messages intended for 64 different people. The notebooks listed a total of 5,795 names of people who could be potential victims of phone hacking.

He also said that the inquiry had seen documents suggesting that phones were being hacked as early as May 2001 — at least a year earlier than previously disclosed — and that the practice continued until 2009, two years after Mr. Goodman and Mr. Mulcaire were jailed.

The inquiry, led by Lord Justice Leveson, is one of three started since The Guardian newspaper disclosed in July that The News of the World had illegally hacked into the phone of a murdered teenager, Milly Dowler, in 2002, while she was missing but before her body had been found. The disclosure caused a wave of revulsion and led, ultimately, to the closing of The News of the World, the resignation of top officials at News International and the Metropolitan Police Service, the withdrawal of News Corporation’s $12 billion bid to acquire the satellite company British Sky Broadcasting, and the dissolution of the close ties between News Corporation and the British political establishment.

Other investigations are being conducted by the police and by a parliamentary panel, which last week interviewed James Murdoch, News Corporation’s deputy chief operating officer and a son of Rupert Murdoch, for the second time since July. James Murdoch told the panel that no one had ever told him about the extent of the hacking at The News of the World — not even in 2008, when he agreed to authorize a payment of more than $1 million to settle a lawsuit brought by a hacking victim, Gordon Taylor, against The News of the World.

On Monday, Mr. Jay said that one of the questions at hand was how high up in News International “the metaphorical buck stops.”

“Is there a culture of denial — or even worse, a cover-up — at News International?” he asked.

The Leveson inquiry will examine the relationship between privacy and freedom of the press, the newspapers’ code of conduct and whether Britain’s self-regulating news media should have governmental oversight.

In his opening remarks, Justice Leveson said that his team would monitor news coverage in the next months to ensure that no one speaking at the inquiry would be threatened by or punished in the news media. In the past, Britain’s tabloids have made it standard practice to print damaging articles about their critics and those who refused to cooperate with them.

Among the likely witnesses are 46 celebrities, politicians, sports stars and other public figures who have complained about media intrusion. They include J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books; the actors Hugh Grant and Sienna Miller; and a number of lawmakers, including Lord Prescott, former deputy leader of the Labour Party.

One of the issues the judge will consider is the ties between politicians and the news media — particularly the erstwhile coziness between lawmakers and News International.

The inquiry is scheduled to fall into two parts, the first a general review of media culture and ethics. The second, into illegal activity, is meant to begin only when the police investigations and potential prosecutions are finished.

So far, 16 people have been arrested in the phone hacking inquiry, including Andy Coulson, the former editor of The News of the World and the former chief spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron.

Earlier this month, a journalist at The Sun was arrested on suspicion of making illegal payments to police officers, the first sign that the scandal had spread beyond The News of the World.

Alan Cowell contributed reporting.

Leading article: Leveson must remember the laws we already have

The Independent

Tuesday, 15 November 2011

Two events occurred simultaneously yesterday that have great bearing on the future of newspapers. One was the opening of Lord Justice Leveson's inquiry into the "culture, practices and ethics of the press" and the efficacy of press self-regulation. The other was the Society of Editors' annual conference at a hotel at Runnymede, site of the signing of Magna Carta, and billed by the organisers as also occurring at a historic juncture for their industry.

While Leveson issued stern warnings to editors, telling them not to victimise witnesses who speak out against press intrusion, at their gathering the editors were contemplating beefing up the regulator, the Press Complaints Commission, in a belated attempt to head off the worst that his lordship may recommend when his inquiry finally concludes.

All the editors were agreed on the need to avoid statutory interference, that we cannot have a system of state control, that press freedom is rightly sacrosanct. For that is the fear with Leveson – that having been handed a remit so broad by David Cameron he will respond in kind, and what had its origins in the furore surrounding phone hacking by a small group of rogue journalists has spiralled into something much bigger and all-encompassing. And unnecessary.

It seems to be forgotten that we already have tight laws in place to deal with press malpractice. Hacking has been a criminal offence since 2000; trespass, burglary and theft a lot longer. We have a strict law of libel – indeed too onerous, say many of those in the UK media and certainly one of the most severe when compared with other jurisdictions. We have punitive rules about contempt of judicial proceedings. We have the PCC and its code, to which most newspaper journalists are signatories. Now, we are to get the findings of Leveson.

That some reporters and their executive bosses apparently chose to ignore the existing ethical and legal framework is conveniently overlooked. In any walk of life there will be bad apples. No amount of judicial scrutiny is going to change that.

The Leveson omens are not promising. The panel is comprised of people without frontline journalistic experience; the first two days of pre-inquiry hearings, when senior members of the press gave their thoughts, merely highlighted the gulf between, on the one hand, Leveson and his team, and, on the other, the media.

Last week, Leveson went on fact-finding visits to newsrooms. If he was disappointed not to come across bunches of renegade hacks whispering phone numbers to private detectives, their desks awash with wads of cash, he did not say. There again, all is not so clear-cut: it could be that if he had, those journalists were investigating a scandal of enormous public significance, one that when it is exposed may reform our society for the good. This, too, is something Leveson must determine: the distinction between the public interest and what interests the public. The two are very different.

What is undeniable is that the standing of the press in the eyes of the public has been dealt a severe blow by hacking. But it should not be forgotten that those who listened to Milly Dowler's voicemail are being pursued by the police – belatedly, it is true (and the cosiness of relations between the police and elements of the press is another subject for Leveson's groaning in-tray), but they are at least being tackled.

Quite where Leveson leads remains to be seen. Such is the opprobrium (or is it apathy?) that politicians and public are not perturbed. But imagine: if, after Bloody Sunday, Lord Saville had been asked to probe not just the 1972 Londonderry shootings but the conduct of the entire British Army. The uproar would have been deafening. Good luck to Leveson, he is going to require it – all the more so if Britain is not to emerge the poorer.

My attention has been called by a friend who is not a member of the Forum that in my posting of the four videos, I inadvertently listed part 5 twice and omitted concluding part 6. Below is the link to part 6.

This completes Daniel Sheehan’s presentation of how Watergate was a direct outgrowth of the Kennedy assassination as a result of President Nixon’s desire in 1972 to make certain Larry O’Brien as head of the Democratic National Committee had not come into possession of the key information about the assassination from his former employer, Howard Hughes. Nixon feared that if O’Brien had the information, it would be used against him in his reelection campaign.

In the first video, part 3, Sheehan refers to the boast of William Pawley in June 1963 after a failed operation in Cuba that Kennedy would soon be killed.

Here is the biography of William Pawley:

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKpawley.htm

Note that the biographical sketch contains this paragraph near its end:

“In June, 1963, a small group, including Pawley, Eddie Bayo, William (Rip) Robertson, John Martino, and Richard Billings, a journalist working for Life Magazine, secretly arrived in Cuba. They were unsuccessful in their attempts to find these Soviet officers and they were forced to return to Miami. Bayo remained behind and it was rumored that he had been captured and executed. However, his death was never reported in the Cuban press.”

Sheehan points in the first video (part 3) that William (Rip) Robertson is shown in Dealey Plaza tipping his hat to signal that the shooting should begin just before Kennedy’s limousine passes by him.

I am interested in the assessments by Forum members of what Sheehan relates in his four-part presentation. I can only state that I found impressive his statements about Watergate. I shall have more comments about this later.

My attention has been called by a friend who is not a member of the Forum that in my posting of the four above videos, I inadvertently listed part 5 twice and omitted concluding part 6. Below is the link to part 6.

This completes Daniel Sheehan’s presentation of how Watergate was a direct outgrowth of the Kennedy assassination as a result of President Nixon’s desire in 1972 to make certain Larry O’Brien as head of the Democratic National Committee had not come into possession of the key information about the assassination from his former employer, Howard Hughes. Nixon feared that if O'Brien had the information, it would be used against him in his reelection campaign.

In the first video, part 3, Sheehan refers to the boast of William Pawley in June 1963 after a failed operation in Cuba that Kennedy would soon be killed.

Here is the biography of William Pawley:

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKpawley.htm

Note that the biographical sketch contains this paragraph near its end:

“In June, 1963, a small group, including Pawley, Eddie Bayo, William (Rip) Robertson, John Martino, and Richard Billings, a journalist working for Life Magazine, secretly arrived in Cuba. They were unsuccessful in their attempts to find these Soviet officers and they were forced to return to Miami. Bayo remained behind and it was rumored that he had been captured and executed. However, his death was never reported in the Cuban press.”

Sheehan points in the first video (part 3) that William (Rip) Robertson is shown in Dealey Plaza tipping his hat to signal that the shooting should begin just before Kennedy’s limousine passes by him.

I am interested in the assessments by Forum members as experts on JFK's assassination of what Sheehan relates in his four-part presentation. I can only state that I found impressive his statements about Watergate. I shall have more comments about this aspect later.

Tom Watson attacks BBC's Nick Robinson over phone hacking

Tom Watson, the Labour MP, has accused BBC political editor Nick Robinson of being too busy “kissing Andy Coulson’s a---” to investigate the phone hacking scandal.

Daily Telegraph

By Victoria Ward

4:34PM GMT 14 Nov 2011

Mr Watson criticised the journalist in a blog post in which he explained that he was taking legal advice after being told that every member of the culture select committee on which he sits had been put under surveillance by the now defunct Sunday tabloid.

He also attacked Lord Patten, chairman of the BBC Trust, who told the annual Society of Editors conference that the corporation could not pursue the story as vigorously as others because it would be construed as political bias.

Mr Watson, who had been due to appear at the conference, wrote: “Had I been there, I would have made the case for editors getting on the front foot and coming up with their own reform position – one that protects the noble tradition of robust, no-nonsense journalism that typifies the British newspaper industry but that ensures editors put matters right when they get them wrong.

“I would also have taken a pot shot at Lord Patten’s lugubrious speech justifying the BBC not being able to adequately investigate the phone hacking scandal. The DCMS committee published a report that found Rupert Murdoch’s executives guilty of ‘collective amnesia’.

“We found it ‘inconceivable’ that others were not involved in hacking. Where was Nick Robinson, the most powerful political editor in the land, during this period? Kissing Andy Coulson’s a---”.

Mr Coulson, a former News of the World editor, resigned as Prime Minister David Cameron’s communications director earlier this year before he was arrested in connection with phone hacking and making corrupt payments to police officers.

Mr Watson, who accused News International chief James Murdoch of being a “mafia boss”, claimed that he had been the target of covert surveillance by News Corp at least three times.

He has previously accused Mr Robinson of “missing the story of his life”, claiming that BBC political journalists had not taken the phone hacking story seriously.

The latest allegation was made by Roy Greenslade, a media commentator, who said News of the World staff were scrambled to follow “every single member” of the committee investigating phone hacking in mid-2009.

The surveillance reportedly lasted between three and 10 days before it was abandoned when various News International staff voiced concerns about the resources it would involve.

Louise Mensch, a Tory MP and fellow committee member, said: "If it's true then it's very, very serious. Members will want to know if their families and children were under surveillance

Computer Hacking: Former News Of The World Executive Alex Marunchak Linked To Mail On Sunday

News of the World is at the centre of phone and computer hacking claims

Huffington Post UK Huffington Post Reporter

First Posted: 14/11/11 11:23 GMT Updated: 14/11/11 11:23 GMT

A former senior executive at News of the World worked for the Mail on Sunday days before he was linked to computer hacking, it has emerged.

Alex Marunchak, who worked at the now defunct News International title between 1981 and 2006, was paid for a series of stories which were published in the MoS in January and February this year.

His last story - "My Chinese bosses sacked me for being British, says lawyer who is suing firm for racism" - was published on 26 February.

Two weeks later, on 14 March, he was accused by BBC's Panorama of obtaining emails hacked into by a private detective.

According to the BBC, Marunchak - whose copy was also used by the Mail Online - was sent ex-British intelligence officer Ian Hurst's private emails in 2006.

During last Thursday's media and culture select committee hearing, MP Tom Watson revealed Hurst had himself been hacked by News of the World.

Marunchak, the News of the World's former Irish edition editor, has previously denied these allegations.

"It is absolutely untrue any unlawfully obtained material was ever received by me at the News of the World's offices in Dublin," he told the BBC in March.

This week James Murdoch told the select committee that he was unaware of computer hacking taking place at News of the World.

Neither the Mail Online or the Mail on Sunday would comment on the payment of Marunchak.

But it is understood that he filed stories in the same way as other freelancers and was not commissioned to do work.

"He would have been paid the normal freelance rate and he only filed a handful of stories. This was all before the computer hacking claims were made and he wouldn't be used now," a source told The Huffington Post UK.

Marunchak's location is currently unknown and he was not answering calls to his UK mobile phone.

In July it emerged Marunchak had also moonlighted as an interpreter for the Metropolitan Police between 1980 and 2000 translating for Ukrainian suspects.

At the weekend it was revealed every single member of the parliamentary committee investigating phone hacking was followed for three days by private investigators and staff at News of the World as recently as February.

Leveson Inquiry analysis: who watches the watchmen?

Quis Custodiet Custos Ipsos? Lord Leveson does.

Daily Telegraph

By James Kirkup, Deputy Political Editor

10:36AM GMT 14 Nov 2011

Who watches the watchmen? The question first posed by the Roman poet Juvenal has hung over every society where power is dispersed between institutions.

In Western democracies, some of that power rests with the media, and in Britain, that still largely means newspapers.

For centuries, papers have had the power to scrutinise, to reveal and to condemn.

For politicians, that power is often irksome and sometimes career-ending.

Many now argue that Britain's free Press has been too free, that the system of self-regulation has failed and some outside body or authority must now be created to oversee journalists' activities.

As the cliche says, with power comes responsibility. Has every newspaper journalist used the power of the Press properly? The closure of the News of the World gives an obvious answer. But what of the rest of the industry?

Lord Leveson today starts to consider that question.

Already, the inquiry and its authors have come under fire. Some say the Leveson panel is too narrow, and contains no one with experience of today's industry. The danger is that newspapers are held to an impossible standard, a rose-tinted and unreliable memory of a bygone trade.

Others suspect David Cameron and other politicians of hoping to use Leveson as a way to curb a troublesome Press: some MPs privately regard the inquiry as journalists' just deserts for exposing their expenses. They observe that once, MPs were sovereign, able to set their own rules, yet now they must bow to an independent expenses watchdog. They say that if those who make the rules are subject to such checks, how can mere hacks justify continuing with self-regulation?

The counter-argument is that the more constraints are put on the Press, the easier it will be for those with real power to misuse it. Some of the watchmen have erred. How does it benefit our society to respond by blinding the rest?

The inquiry then must balance any number of powerful imperatives and forces: the freedom of the Press and the freedom of the individual; the politicians' demand to hold the Press to account and journalists' continued ability to hold the politicians to account.

For Lord Leveson, wisdom may be found not in Roman classics but in the words of Thomas Carlyle, writing in the 1840s:

"The Germans say, 'you must empty-out the bathing-tub, but not the baby along with it.' Fling-out your dirty water with all zeal, and set it careering down the kennels; but try if you can keep the little child.

Leveson: Sun and Mirror journalists' names found in Glenn Mulcaire's notebooks

Private detective Glenn Mulcaire's notebooks suggest he hacked phones for the Sun and the Daily Mirror as well as for a series of News of the World journalists, the press standards inquiry heard today.

Among those who could be called to give evidence are Sienna Miller, Hugh Grant and JK Rowling Image 1 of 3Lord Justice Leveson Photo: AP

Among those who could be called to give evidence are Sienna Miller, Hugh Grant and JK Rowling

Daily Telegraph

1:47PM GMT 14 Nov 2011

The investigator wrote first names in the top left-hand corner of his notes recording details of the telephone voicemails he illegally intercepted.

Some of these corresponded to News of the World employees, one of whom - referred to only as ''A'' - apparently made 1,453 separate requests for information from Mulcaire.

But the private detective also wrote ''The Sun'' and a name relating to the Daily Mirror in his notebooks, the inquiry was told.

Mulcaire was jailed with the News of the World's former royal editor Clive Goodman in January 2007 after they admitted intercepting voicemail messages left on phones belonging to members of the royal household.

The inquiry heard that the investigator's notes relating to the royal aides are marked ''Clive'', ''private'' and with the name of ''A'', who cannot be named for fear of prejudicing the ongoing police investigation into phone hacking.

Robert Jay QC, counsel to the inquiry, noted: ''One possible inference to be drawn is that 'A' was working with or for Goodman, and he or she may have instructed Mulcaire to carry out an interception.

''It might be argued that 'A' could have been acting independently of Goodman, but that would not make much sense since Goodman was the royal editor.''

Mulcaire also pleaded guilty to hacking the phones of publicist Max Clifford, football agent Sky Andrew, chairman of the Professional Footballers Association Gordon Taylor, MP Simon Hughes and supermodel Elle Macpherson.

His notes for Mr Clifford feature the name ''A'' and ''private''; for Mr Andrew a person referred to as ''I''; for Mr Taylor ''A''; for Mr Hughes ''A'' and people named only as ''B'' and ''C''; and for Ms Macpherson ''B'' and ''private''.

In total about 28 legible corner names are legible in the 11,000 pages of notes that police seized from Mulcaire, which relate to a total of 2,266 taskings and the names of 5,795 potential victims, the inquiry heard.

''A'' requested information from the private investigator on 1,453 occasions, followed by ''B'' on 303, ''C'' on 252, and someone identified as ''D'' on 135.

Mr Jay said: ''We have a range of corner names. I know the names in each case, but obviously do not know anything about the corner name 'private' or its significance.

''We only have the first name in each of the cases, but they happen to tie up with the first names of employees of News International.''

The inquiry heard that actor Jude Law has brought a claim against the Sun for allegedly hacking his phone.

Mr Jay said: ''Part of the evidential matrix in support of his case is a corner name in the Mulcaire notebook which simply states 'the Sun' without specifying the individual working there.''

The barrister added: ''There is also documentary evidence which we have seen of another corner name relating to the Mirror.''

Opening his public inquiry, Lord Justice Leveson warned newspapers that he will closely study the way they cover the people who speak to his inquiry.

Expected witnesses to the inquiry include the parents of Milly Dowler, the actor Hugh Grant and the author JK Rowling.

"I particularly thank those who allege they have been the subject of press intrusion," Lord Justice Leveson said.

Some had expressed concerns that they could be targeted with adverse coverage and personal scrutiny because they had helped the inquiry, he said.

In that context, he said, “I anticipate that monitoring will take place of press coverage."

"If it appears that those concerns are made out, without objective justification, it might be appropriate to draw the conclusion that these vital rights are being abused."

Phone hacking: Tom Watson seeks legal advice over alleged surveillance of MPs

Labour MP pulls out of editors' conference over claims that News International investigators targeted select committee members

By Josh Halliday

guardian.co.uk,

Monday 14 November 2011 08.29 EST

Labour MP Tom Watson has pulled out of the Society of Editors conference over fresh claims that MPs on the Commons select committee investigating phone hacking were targeted by private investigators working for News International.

Watson said that he was withdrawing from the annual conference to seek legal and constitutional advice over the alleged surveillance. Watson claimed the surveillance took place six months ago, but the Guardian understands it took place in mid-2009.

He made the comment in a letter to the SoE published in a blogpost on Monday. Watson said: "Under the circumstances, I have to spend the day seeking advice from the Speaker and discussing the matter with fellow members of the DCMS select committee as to our legal and constitutional position."

Watson's claim marks the second occasion on which he believes he was targeted by private investigators working for News International.

Tory MP Louise Mensch claimed during James Murdoch's appearance before the committee last week that private investigators had tailed members of the select committee, including Watson, and "all members" of the original select committee inquiry into phone hacking in 2009.

The surveillance in mid-2009 is alleged to have been carried out for between three and 10 days, before it was abandoned after a number of News International staff protested at the huge resource it required.

Watson told Murdoch last week that officers from Operation Tuleta, the Metropolitan police investigation into claims of computer hacking at the NoW, contacted him earlier this month to say that his name appears on seized electronic devices.

Murdoch told MPs that he was aware of the surveillance of Watson, a long-time critic of News International over phone hacking, but not about the Operation Tuleta claim.

"I am aware of the case of the surveillance of Mr Watson; again, under the circumstances, I apologise unreservedly for that," he told MPs.

"It is not something that I would condone, it is not something that I had knowledge of and it is not something that has a place in the way we operate. I think it is important to note that certain surveillance of prominent figures in investigative journalism and things like that is acceptable but, in this case, that is absolutely not acceptable.

"You have my unequivocal statement to that effect and my apology on behalf of the company – even though I did not condone it, would not condone it and don't agree with it."

Phone hacking: 'nearly 30 NI staff named in Glenn Mulcaire notes'

Leveson inquiry hears details of investigator's work for News of the World, and suggestion he may have worked for Daily Mirror

By James Robinson and Josh Halliday

guardian.co.uk,

Monday 14 November 2011 09.11 EST

The names of 28 News International employees appear in notebooks belonging to Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator who worked for the News of the World, the Leveson inquiry into press standards heard on its first day at London's high court.

Lord Justice Leveson's inquiry also heard that Mulcaire wrote the words "Daily Mirror" in his notepad, which suggests he may have carried out work for the paper.

Robert Jay QC, counsel for the inquiry, told the high court that "at least 27 other News International employees" are named in Mulcaire's paperwork, as well as former News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman, who was jailed for phone hacking along with the private investigator in January 2007.

Jay also told the inquiry, which began formal hearings at the high court on Monday: "The inquiry is beginning to receive evidence to indicate that phone hacking was not limited to that organisation [News International]."

He said the number of News International names and the scale of the activity indicated there was a culture of phone hacking at the company. "Either management knew what was going on at the time and therefore, at the very least, condoned this illegal activity," he said, or there was "a failure of supervision and oversight".

Mulcaire received a total of 2,266 requests from News International journalists, Jay said, 2,142 of which were made by four unnamed reporters. The most prolific of them made 1,453 of those requests.

A total of 690 audio tapes were also recovered from Mulcaire's office, Jay revealed, and there was a record of 586 recordings of voicemail messages intended for 64 individuals. The evidence was seized by Metropolitan police officers during a raid in 2006.

Mulcaire's 11,000 pages of notes mentioned 5,795 names, he confirmed, who could be potential phone-hacking victims.

Jay also said the inquiry had seen documents that suggest Mulcaire was hacking into phone messages ago as early as May 2001.

It had been thought until today that the earliest phone hacking by Mulcaire occurred in 2002. The new date is potentially significant because it falls before the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

It has been alleged that News International instructed private investigators in the US to target relatives of the victims of the 9/11 attacks, although no proof has so far emerged that this took place.

The Sun is also named in Mulcaire's notes, Jay said. Jude Law had cited the Sun along with its former sister paper the News of the World in his civil case against News International, although the Sun has since been dropped from his claim.

Several public figures are believed to be preparing civil cases against the Daily Mirror, but none have so far come to court.

The paper's publisher, Trinity Mirror, continues to insist that its journalist operate within the law and follow the Press Complaints Commission's code of conduct.

A Trinity Mirror spokesman said the company has "no knowledge of ever using Glenn Mulcaire".

Jay said the Mulcaire notes showed a "thriving cottage industry" and that the "scale of activity gives rise to the powerful inference that it must have occupied Mulcaire full time".

Outlining the vast remit of the inquiry, Jay described a "root and branch" investigation of the press that would not be cowed by the powerful range of institutions in the media.

He said the inquiry would consider granting "protected measures" to whistleblowers who were afraid of criticising their employer or speaking truthfully about press ethics.

The inquiry will not be limited to phone hacking, Jay said, adding that Leveson was keen to learn about all "unlawful and unethical" newsgathering methods, including subterfuge and blagging.

The former News of the World undercover reporter, Mazher Mahmood, has submitted written evidence and will give oral evidence to the inquiry at a later date, Jay said.

Opening the hearing, Leveson said he had "absolutely no wish" to stifle freedom of speech and expression, and that the inquiry would monitor media coverage to see if it appears that anyone who speaks out is being "targeted adversely

Well Elenin and YU55 have come and gone and despite Richard C. Hoagland’s assertions of their historical cosmic purpose, nothing occurred. He has yet to formally and officially acknowledge this and probably never will.

He bet the ranch on these two entities being supremely significant and lost completely. There is no doubt that even his most ardent fans will examine his speeches and writings with far great caution in the future.

These days Hoagland uses his Facebook page, where he now has over 27,000 Friends, to communicate daily, no longer putting much emphasis on his website, www.enterprisemission.com

I find his Facebook page to be full of fascinating and valuable postings on all types of subjects. Almost all of the posts are made by his Friends and not by Hoagland himself but frequently Hoagland will comment on them. His knowledge of science and aerospace is broad and a lot can be learned from what he writes when he is not caught up in a specific foray, such as Elenin and YU55. He is always courteous and gentlemanly in his comments, so there is no way that one cannot come to like him as person while still disagreeing whenever that occasion arises.

Here is a post made a few hours ago by one of his Friends, which reflects the mindset of many others in the wake of his recent debacle:

“As to the "Richard is God / an imposter debate ... Look. RCH is obviously intelligent, informed and intuitive ... but still human, so not perfect, infallible. I enjoy his wonderful input, but don't automatically take it as absolute gospel. Does not an open mind require healthy skepticism?”

How the JFK assassination and Watergate are related

The speaker is Daniel Sheehan. Here is his biography:

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKsheehan.htm

I am posting only the first four parts of his speech. There are four additional parts on another subject that I found equally fascinating. In one of these parts Sheehan talks about John Kennedy, Jr. I can post these four other parts if Forum members indicate an interest.

How the JFK assassination and Watergate are related

The speaker is Daniel Sheehan. Here is his biography:

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKsheehan.htm

I am posting only the first four parts of his speech. There are four additional parts on another subject that I found equally fascinating. In one of these parts Sheehan talks about John Kennedy, Jr. I can post these four other parts if Forum members indicate an interest.

Five myths about J. Edgar Hoover

Washington Post

By Kenneth D. Ackerman,

Published: November 9

1Hoover was a gay cross-dresser

Despite rampant speculation — that Hoover was gay, a cross-dresser or had no sex life — the truth about his sex life is nearly impossible to pin down. Hoover was married to his job and zealously protective of his public image. He lived in an era when being outed as gay would cost anyone his career and reputation, and he was not one to risk such consequences.

The story that Hoover, a lifelong bachelor, participated in cross-dressing, all-male sex parties in New York hotel rooms, as reported by British writer Anthony Summers in a 1993 biography, has been widely debunked by historians. The story’s source, the wife of a businessman and Hoover confidante, had a grudge from a contested divorce, and other investigations of the story came up empty.

If Hoover did have a gay relationship, most likely it was with his longtime FBI associate director, Clyde Tolson, another lifelong bachelor — but even this is disputed. Hoover and Tolson worked together more than 40 years. They traveled on vacation and official business, rode to work together, shared lunch nearly every day at Washington’s Mayflower hotel and sometimes even wore matching suits. Hoover, at his death, left Tolson most of his estate. Their relationship, by all appearances, was stable, discreet and long-lasting. But what they did physically behind closed doors, if anything, they kept between them.

Hoover did have some high-profile female friendships, including with actress Dorothy Lamour. In his 2004 biography of Hoover, Richard Hack cites sources claiming that he was discovered spending the night with Lamour in a Washington hotel — an isolated incident — and that when she was asked later about a sexual relationship between them, she said, “I cannot deny it.”

2 Hoover’s secret files kept presidents from firing him.

Hoover had particularly good relationships with at least two presidents he served under: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson. Of the others, Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon all considered sacking him, but, files aside, they had good political reasons for keeping Hoover. Even in the 1960s, he had a strong public image as an honest, competent law enforcement technocrat. While his relationship with John and Robert Kennedy was often tense — yes, it was Hoover who, through wiretaps of Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana, discovered President Kennedy’s affair with mob-connected socialite Judith Campbell Exner — Hoover also could have been covering up embarrassing secrets for Camelot.

Still, Hoover built his FBI files into an intimidating weapon, not just for fighting crime but also for bullying government officials and critics and destroying careers. The files covered a dizzying kaleidoscope — Supreme Court justices such as Louis Brandeis and Felix Frankfurter, movie stars Mary Pickford and Marilyn Monroe, first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, physicist Albert EinsteinZionist leader Chaim Weizmann and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller III, among others — often replete with unconfirmed gossip about private sex lives and radical ties.

By 1960, the FBI had open, “subversive” files on some 432,000 Americans. Hoover deemed the most sensitive files as “personal and confidential” and kept them in his office, where his secretary, Helen Gandy, could watch them. Today, with few exceptions, Hoover’s FBI files are open for any American to see at the National Archives. They make fascinating reading and paint a stark portrait of power run amok.

3 Hoover was a coward.

Critics often accused Hoover of cowardice, pointing, for instance, to the fact that he didn’t join the military in June 1917, when he finished law school and the country was entering World War I. Instead, he took a draft-exempt job at the Justice Department.

Hoover, by most signs, would have preferred to join his contemporaries going “over there” to fight the Germans. At Central High School in Northwest Washington, he joined the cadet corps and was its captain during his senior year. He relished the pomp and ceremony, marching in uniform and palling around with his fellow cadets.Later, at the Justice Department’s Radical Division, Hoover’s craving for action led him to participate in a raid in February 1920 against one of the most dangerous leftist groups of that period, the L’Era Nuova gang in Paterson, N.J. The agents carried guns and confiscated plenty of weapons and explosives. Hoover interrogated the group’s leader and extracted the only direct evidence about the 1919 anarchist bombings that prompted that year’s Red Scare.

Rather than fleeing the draft, the more likely reason that Hoover took the Justice Department job in 1917 was that his 61-year-old father, Dickerson Naylor Hoover, who suffered from mental illness, had been forced to leave his job as a government clerk without a pension, making young J. Edgar financially responsible for the family. If anything, Hoover’s guilt over staying behind probably added to his later zeal against subversives at home.

4 Hoover was African American.

There are two theories that Hoover had African American heritage. One has it that he was born to an African American mother and secretly adopted by the Hoover family, a theory based on discrepancies in certain birth and census records. However, genealogist George Ott investigated the claim, failed to substantiate it and said he believes it to be false.

More plausible are stories like that told by writer Millie McGhee in her 2000 book “Secrets Uncovered: J. Edgar Hoover — Passing for White?” McGhee, an African American, claims that, based on family stories and genealogical records, she and Hoover had a common ancestor, a great-grandfather, making him a distant cousin. Hoover’s father’s family had roots in Virginia and Mississippi in the antebellum South, where interracial liaisons were not uncommon. Some mixing in his family tree is a possibility but remains unproven.

Hoover’s attitudes on race reflected those in the old Washington, where he grew up, a largely segregated Southern city. As FBI director, he repeatedly refused to involve the bureau in investigating anti-black race riots or protecting black civil rights workers in the South, insisting that these were matters for local police, even after the Supreme Court’s 1954Brown v. Board of Education decision.

5 Hoover’s legacy is a stain on the FBI’s reputation.

Hoover leaves a bipolar legacy. For better or worse, he built the FBI into a modern, national organization stressing professionalism and scientific crime-fighting. For most of his life, Americans considered him a hero. He made the G-Man brand so popular that, at its height, it was harder to become an FBI agent than to be accepted into an Ivy League college.

But he also stands as a reminder that 48 years of power concentrated in one person is a recipe for abuse. It was mostly after his death that Hoover’s dark side became common knowledge — the covert black-bag jobs, the warrantless surveillance of civil rights leaders and Vietnam-era peace activists, the use of secret files to bully government officials, the snooping on movie stars and senators, and the rest. Hoover’s name, carved in stone at the FBI headquarters on Pennsyl­vania Avenue, should serve as a caution to the public and the dedicated professionals who work inside. The FBI’s license to intrude into people’s lives gives it a special public trust. If the daily reminder of Hoover’s excesses can help impart that message, it will be the best safeguard for the positive side of his legacy: a modern, professional, science-based and accountable detective force serving the public interest.

Kenneth D. Ackerman, a D.C.-based lawyer at OFW Law, is the author of “Young J. Edgar: Hoover and the Red Scare, 1919-1920.”