FAS Roundup: August 11, 2014

From the Blogs

Congress Grapples with Classification Issues: A bill introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) would direct the President to reduce the amount of classified information by 10%. It is one of several new congressional initiatives seeking to rectify perceived defects in the national security classification system. Most prominently, the Senate Intelligence Committee is engaged in an ongoing dispute with the Administration over declassification of the Committee’s report on the CIA’s post-9/11 detention and interrogation program.

Asylum for Unaccompanied Children and More from CRS: Secrecy News has obtained recently released CRS reports on topics such as U.S.-Russia economic relations, asylum for unaccompanied children and the EPA’s proposed CO2 rule for power plants. 

Naval Reactors and HEU

FAS President Charles D. Ferguson gave a presentation on August 5th at Oak Ridge National Laboratory on the use of highly enriched uranium (a weapons-usable fissile material) in naval reactors. He discussed an ongoing FAS-led task force (funded by the MacArthur Foundation) that includes about a dozen leading experts in nuclear engineering, nuclear security, and nuclear safeguards. Specifically, he asked for Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s experts to advise him on this study. Dozens of people attended his presentation and several gave thoughtful advice and raised useful questions. 

Presentation slides are available here (PDF). 

FAS in the News

• Aug 9: Washington Post, “For Kitchen Staff At Federal Agencies, Background Checks Are A Must-Order Item”
• Aug 8: Washington Post, “CIA Shouldn’t Get Away With Redacting Torture Report”
• Aug 7: The Daily Beast, “White House Must Decide Who Will Be Named In The CIA ‘Torture Report'”
• Aug 6: The Guardian, “Shrewd Feinstein Shows Restraint In Bid To Reverse CIA Torture Report Redactions” 
• Aug 4: Huffington Post, “Pentagon Training Still Says Dissent Is A Threat ‘Indicator'”
• Aug 4: Defense News, “China Developing Capability To Kill Satellites, Experts Say”