The Military Role in Combating COVID-19 April 22, 2020
There is a bewildering amount of official guidance on the role of the military in circumstances such as the current pandemic. But the practical impact of that guidance, whatever it…
Read moreDisinfoblog
Spanish-language vaccine news stories hosting malware disseminated via URL shorteners
Key Highlights Compared to our September report, this update discovered a much larger Spanish-language news network of COVID-19 vaccine stories with embedded malware files for all major vaccines. Now, through link-shortening services such as bit.ly, a third-party has disseminated vaccine-related malware across Latin America. The news of a possible adverse…
Read moreStrategic Security
Trump Administration Again Refuses To Disclose Nuclear Weapons Stockpile Size
The Trump administration has denied a request from the Federation of American Scientists to disclose the size of the US nuclear weapons stockpile and the number of dismantled warheads. The denial was made by the Department of Defense Formerly Restricted Data Declassification Working Group (FDR DWG) in response to a…
Read moreSecrecy News
Trump Jr: “Declassify Everything!!!”
On November 8 Donald J. Trump Jr., the President's oldest son, tweeted: "DECLASSIFY EVERYTHING!!!" adding "We can't let the bad actors get away with it." This was not an actual policy proposal and it was not seriously intended for classification officials or even for Trump's own father, who as President is…
Read moreA Decade After Signing, New START Treaty Is Working April 8, 2020
By Hans M. Kristensen On this day, ten years ago, U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitri A. Medvedev signed the New START treaty during a…
Read moreSkyGuardian Drone Takes Flight Over Southwest US April 8, 2020
General Atomics’ SkyGuardian drone, a non-weaponized variant of the military’s MQ-9 Reaper, last week completed a test flight through civil airspace from Palmdale, California to Yuma, Arizona,…
Read moreThe Urgency of Military History April 7, 2020
The task of the military historian differs from that of the academic historian because military history has an operational dimension. It is supposed to help inform current military operations with…
Read morePentagon Asks to Keep Future Spending Secret March 30, 2020
Updated below The Department of Defense is quietly asking Congress to rescind the requirement to produce an unclassified version of the Future Years Defense…
Read moreFreedom of Information in the Time of COVID-19 March 29, 2020
In principle, the COVID-19 outbreak could provide a compelling new justification for expediting the processing of certain Freedom of Information Act requests related to the pandemic. But it is more…
Read morePolicy Impacts of COVID-19 (CRS) March 23, 2020
New resources from the Congressional Research Service add some depth to current news reporting on how the COVID-19 outbreak is affecting — and being addressed by — US policy.
Read more“Strengthening Deterrence” with More Nuclear Bombs? February 18, 2020
Earlier this month the Department of Defense acknowledged that it has recently begun to deploy low-yield nuclear warheads on certain submarine ballistic missiles. “This supplemental capability…
Read more