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Newer News: February 2011

January 2011 Intelligence News

• China Expands Student Spying Network, Says CIA by Massimo Calabresi, Time Swampland blog, January 24. "After Tiananmen, the Communist Party in China unveiled the Student Information System, whose nominal goals were to improve the quality of college and university teaching and increase student involvement in education. 'In practice, however, the SIS's principal objective is to monitor and control teachers and students,' says a new CIA report.
• Life away from CIA still tangled, lonely for indicted ex-spy by Todd C. Frankel, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 23. "The spy came in from the cold nearly a decade ago. He seemed to be adjusting well to his new life, a regular life, one lived out in the open. Jeffrey A. Sterling no longer needed to tell people he worked for the U.S. State Department when, in fact, he had been employed by the Central Intelligence Agency."
• WikiLeaks Views Won’t Get Military Computers Wiped by Spencer Ackerman, WIRED Danger Room, January 20. "Work for the military? Couldn’t help but view a purloined WikiLeaks cable on your desktop? The Pentagon has to insist you delete it. But don't worry about having the rest of your files scrubbed in a fit of information-security hysteria."
• Pentagon Eases WikiLeaks Security Measures by Sharon Weinberger, AOL News, January 20. "Pentagon employees and contractors who have peeked at classified documents released by WikiLeaks will no longer have to have their work computers scrubbed by information security professionals."
• Report urges Defense to collect genome data on all troops by Bob Brewin, NextGov, January 18. "The Defense Department should collect human genome sequence data from military personnel to help determine their genetic traits, which could improve performance and cut medical costs, a Defense scientific advisory panel recommended in a report released in December 2010."
• Genetic Soldiers? Advisory Group Urges Pentagon To Map Genes Of All Personnel by Dan Froomkin, Huffington Post, January 14. "A new report from a secretive, highly influential group of scientists is urging the Department of Defense to begin collecting and mapping the full genome of all military personnel -- a move that could well give the Pentagon the ability to select for certain genetic predispositions."
• Obama's Drone Memo Dilemma by Nick Baumann, Mother Jones, January 11. "The Obama administration released Bush-era legal opinions authorizing torture. Will it make public its own rationale for targeting US citizens for death?"
• Former CIA Officer Arrested for Alleged Unauthorized Disclosure of National Defense Information, Justice Department news release, January 6. "Jeffrey Alexander Sterling, 43, of O’Fallon, Mo., was charged with six counts of unauthorized disclosure of national defense information, and one count each of unlawful retention of national defense information, mail fraud, unauthorized conveyance of government property and obstruction of justice."
• White House asks agencies to review data security by Kevin Johnson, USA Today, January 6. "In an attempt to tighten control of classified information, the Obama administration has issued government-wide guidelines urging officials to be wary of 'insider threats' and suggesting how supervisors can evaluate employee 'trustworthiness'."
• U.S. tells agencies: Watch 'insiders' to prevent new WikiLeaks by Michael Isikoff, MSNBC, January 4. "Trying to prevent more WikiLeaks embarrassments, the Obama administration is telling federal agencies to take aggressive new steps to prevent leaks of classified documents, including instituting 'insider threat' programs to ferret out disgruntled employees who might be inclined to leak classified documents.
• Rumsfeld Memoir Highlights VIP Access to Government Files by Sharon Weinberg, AOL News, January 2. "Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, confirmed that Rumsfeld, as a former presidential appointee, has the right to request certain records separate from the FOIA process, although that access is 'limited to records they originated, reviewed, signed or received during their tenure, regardless of classification,' Whitman told AOL News."