The U.S. Army today restored public access to the Reimer Digital Library, as it had promised to do in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from the Federation of American Scientists.
At first glance, the site appears to be complete. Or at least as complete as it was before it was closed to the public last month. But there are some anomalies.
Among the items listed under “New Documents” is Field Manual Interim (FMI) 3-04.155, “Army Unmanned Aircraft System Operations.” Oddly, the link to this document is marked as Restricted, and it cannot be downloaded from the Reimer site. However, Secrecy News obtained a copy independently, and it is posted here (9 MB PDF file). The document is clearly marked “approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.”
Seemingly arbitrary restrictions on public access to online records continue to appear, and we try to swat them down when we can.
Yesterday, the Federation of American Scientists filed a Freedom of Information Act request (pdf) asking the U.S. Marine Corps to release all of the unclassified contents of its online doctrine library. That site, which had previously been available to the public, no longer is.
At a time when universities are already facing intense pressure to re-envision their role in the S&T ecosystem, we encourage NSF to ensure that the ambitious research acceleration remains compatible with their expertise.
FAS CEO Daniel Correa recently spoke with Adam Marblestone and Sam Rodriques, former FAS fellows who developed the idea for FROs and advocated for their use in a 2020 policy memo.
In a year when management issues like human capital, IT modernization, and improper payments have received greater attention from the public, examining this PMA tells us a lot about where the Administration’s policy is going to be focused through its last three years.
Congress must enact a Digital Public Infrastructure Act, a recognition that the government’s most fundamental responsibility in the digital era is to provide a solid, trustworthy foundation upon which people, businesses, and communities can build.