More soldiers mired in debt
Like the other branches of the military, the Army is seeing a marked increase in the number of troops stripped of their security clearances because they are so deep in debt, according to military data obtained by the Associated Press.
Soldiers need security clearance when they work with secret information and sometimes when they are sent overseas. The Pentagon says financial problems can distract personnel from their duties or make them vulnerable to bribery and treason.
The Associated Press reported in October that growing numbers of Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force troops are so deep in debt they are losing their security clearances. The Army refused to supply data at the time, but later complied with a Freedom of Information Act request from the AP.
Over the past five years, 400 Army soldiers have been stripped of their clearances for financial reasons; during that span, the Army granted 747,000 clearances. After hovering at around 70 revocations per year since 2002, the number jumped to 149 in the fiscal year that ended in September.
Des Moines, Iowa
Microsoft execs’ testimony limited
Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates must travel to Iowa only once to defend his company in a class-action antitrust case beginning Thursday that accuses him of running a monopoly that overcharged Iowans millions of dollars.
The company has denied the allegations and said it will prove customers received high-quality software for a reasonable price.
In a ruling filed Wednesday, Polk County District Court Judge Scott Rosenberg said that Gates and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer must testify only once.
The plaintiffs’ attorney, Roxanne Conlin of Des Moines, wanted to present her case in its entirety – including calling Gates and Ballmer to the witness stand – without allowing the company’s attorneys to question them directly. That would have required the two top executives of the Washington-based software maker to travel to Iowa a second time if their own attorneys wanted to question them directly.
The judge ruled all questioning of the men will occur at one time.
San Francisco
Yahoo won’t give Google book info
Yahoo Inc. has rebuffed Google Inc.’s attempt to learn more about its efforts to create digital copies of books, dealing the Internet search leader another setback as it prepares to fight against a copyright infringement suit.
In rejecting Google’s request, Yahoo adopted the same stance taken last month by Internet retailer Amazon.com Inc.
Google believes it can defend its plans to provide online access to millions of library books by obtaining more details about similar projects involving some of its biggest rivals.
A group of publishers and the Authors Guild sued Google in a New York federal court last year, alleging the Mountain View-based company didn’t get proper approval to make copies of books available to anyone with an Internet connection.