CIA Says Redaction of Commodore Amiga Cost was an Error
The CIA should not have redacted the amount that was paid for a Commodore Amiga portable computer in 1987 from a recently declassified article, a CIA official said today. (CIA: Cost of Personal Computer in 1987 is a Secret, Secrecy News, September 29).
“The redaction of the cost of the Commodore Amiga computer was in fact an error,” said Joseph W. Lambert, Director of CIA Information Management Services.
“Although we would normally redact budget figures, this clearly does not constitute a budget figure and should not have been redacted. The mistake was made in a high volume court deadline environment,” he said, referring to a FOIA lawsuit brought by former CIA official Jeffrey Scudder.
“I have instructed my folks to make the appropriate corrections by lifting the redactions in question and then subsequently re-post the document to our website,” Mr. Lambert said via email. The revised document should be posted tomorrow. (Update: The document with cost figures restored is now posted here.)
The Scudder lawsuit was not settled by the latest releases of hundreds of articles from CIA’s Studies in Intelligence journal. The parties told the court on Monday that Scudder intends to challenge some of CIA’s withholdings.
As Congress considers broader packages to advance critical minerals production and supply chain resilience, science diplomacy vehicles must be part of that conversation, not as an afterthought, but as an intentional and foundational pillar of any strategy.
“Structured partnerships with our allies on critical minerals innovation can ensure that the best science and the best talent are working together towards shared security and economic prosperity.”
This is a bipartisan, commonsense measure to reauthorize the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) before it expires in September 2026.
Many states are introducing AI policies and task forces, but lack the “AI-native” personnel to build and maintain initiatives. To address this in the short term, states should establish AI Resilience Cohorts to embed early-career technologists in key offices to support state AI initiatives. Right now, Virginia and New Jersey have the opportunity to take […]