The Washington Post’s Dana Priest and Amy Goldstein have part two in a series that started Sunday on detained U.S. immigrants. These immigrants are sent to obscure compounds run by the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement arm.

The 33,000 detainees look to have fewer legal rights and medical care than even people at maximum-security prisons or Guantanamo Bay. This is despite the fact that most have never been convicted of a crime.  Most are accused of either overstaying visas or abetting criminal actions. Priest and Goldstein argued in part one that this is what happens when government, as embodied in the post-9/11 Dept. of Homeland Security, conflates immigration with terrorism.  Read Priest and Goldstein here.  MB

The Washington Post’s Walter Pincus delves into the projects behind the $3.3 billion that the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Project Agency is requesting from Congress. These include computerized maps that are already being used in Baghdad and other new technology designed for urban warfare. The array of sensor and radar programs even includes a computerized language translation system. It’s less clear whether the Pentagon has this stuff ready for the battlefield — or whether it’s really just a bunch of cool ideas.  Read Pincus here.  MB

Quick — name the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies. Let’s hope Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, can. McConnell, who already has power over personnel at the 16 agencies, may soon get the power of the purse through a presidential order. 

The Wall Street Journal’s Siobhan Gorman explains that McConnell’s position got its considerable clout from a law following 9/11 commission recommendations for a stronger interagency process. Most in Washington praised the 9/11 commission. But faithfully implementing their plan for intelligence sharing continues to spark fierce bureaucratic battles between the Pentagon, CIA, FBI and Dept. of Homeland Security.  Read Gorman here.  MB