“For those who believe in transparent government and fact-driven legislation, the power shift in the U.S. Congress represents a unique opportunity to open up one important Congressional institution — the Congressional Research Service — and bring back another one — the Office of Technology Assessment — twelve years after it was disbanded,” suggests Christian Beckner in Homeland Security Watch.
The Army Science Board has drastically reduced public disclosure of its unclassified advisory studies, Inside the Army reported. And by doing so, it may have undermined the impact of its own work. See “Citing Security, Army Tightens Reins On Science Board Research” by Fawzia Sheikh, Inside the Army, November 13.
The unprecedented prosecution of two former pro-Israel lobbyists who are charged with improperly receiving and disseminating classified information has unpleasant implications for reporters who cover national security, among others. The case was reviewed by civil libertarian Nat Hentoff in “Bush Revives Espionage Act,” Village Voice, November 10.
“The mainstream news media is too fond of articles in which it is said some flavor of demonical terror menace can be put together from cookbooks found on the Internet,” George Smith blasts on his Dick Destiny blog.
Federal Computer Week did a profile this week of, ahem, me. See “A career as a secrecy watchdog” by Aliya Sternstein, FCW, November 13.
The emerging federal metascience community is asking fascinating questions that are equally vital for democratic legitimacy: beyond “did this program work” to “how does the federal R&D enterprise itself work, and how could it work better?”
If you’re new to the climate intervention space, welcome! The TL;DR: if we can’t stop the most catastrophic impacts of climate change with current tools quickly enough, then we need a bigger toolbox.
After months of delay, the council tasked by President Trump to review the FEMA released its final report. Our disaster policy nerds have thoughts.
FAS and FLI partnered to build a series of convenings and reports across the intersections of artificial intelligence (AI) with biosecurity, cybersecurity, nuclear command and control, military integration, and frontier AI governance. This project brought together leaders across these areas and created a space that was rigorous, transpartisan, and solutions-oriented to approach how we should think about how AI is rapidly changing global risks.