At the request of Sen. Carl Levin, the Department of Defense has declassified most of its February 2007 Inspector General report (large pdf) on the pre-Iraq war activities of the DoD Office of Special Plans, led by Douglas Feith.

“It is important for the public to see why the Pentagon’s Inspector General concluded that Secretary Feith’s office ‘developed, produced and then disseminated alternative intelligence assessments on the Iraq and al-Qaeda relationship,’ which included ‘conclusions that were inconsistent with the consensus of the Intelligence Community,’ and why the Inspector General concluded that these actions were ‘inappropriate’,” Sen. Levin said.

“Until today, those details were classified and outside the public’s view.”

See this news release from Sen. Levin, with a link to the newly declassified report.

Mr. Feith’s Office issued a January 2007 rebuttal (pdf) to a draft version of the IG report.

“Congressional Access to Classified National Security Information” is the subject of a report prepared by Kate Martin of the Center for National Security Studies on the occasion of a March 30 forum on the subject sponsored by OpenTheGovernment.org and the Center for American Progress.

Government attorneys defended (pdf) their contention that some evidence to be presented to the jury in the upcoming trial of two former AIPAC officials should be withheld from the public, a position criticized by the defense as prejudicial and unconstitutional. See the government brief (first reported April 5 by the New York Sun) here.

Having declassified some eight million pages of historical records relating to Nazi and Japanese Imperial Army war crimes, the largest single-subject declassification program has now come to a close, the National Archives noted in an April 2 news release.

As a public service, the National Archives posts a new daily document of historical interest each day on its web site. Not all of them will be of interest to everyone, but the series as a whole has the potential to serve as an educational stimulus for students and citizens. Today’s (April 5) document is a 1940 photograph of “Leon Trotsky and American admirers.”

An eagerly awaited book on the history of the Chinese nuclear weapons program will not be published due to objections from the Central Intelligence Agency, which said it contains classified information.

A federal court last week ruled (pdf) that the CIA was within its rights to block disclosure of 23 sections of a manuscript by former Los Alamos intelligence specialist Danny B. Stillman, who had brought a lawsuit asserting his First Amendment right to publish the volume.

During the 1990s, Mr. Stillman traveled to China nine times, including six trips that took place after his retirement in 1993. He visited nuclear weapons facilities and “engaged in extensive discussions with Chinese scientists, government officials, and nuclear weapons designers,” resulting in a 506-page manuscript entitled “Inside China’s Nuclear Weapons Program.”

Since he was a Los Alamos employee prior to retirement, and maintained a security clearance thereafter, he submitted his manuscript to the government for pre-publication review, as required by the non-disclosure agreements that he had signed.

His book was written for publication and did not include classified information, in the author’s judgment.

Significantly, the Department of Energy, which has principal classification authority over nuclear weapons design data, concurred. After initial resistance, DOE gave its approval for publication of the entire volume.

But the Central Intelligence Agency, DIA and DoD were opposed.

In a March 30 ruling, Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the DC District Court wrote that the non-disclosure agreements signed by Mr. Stillman contain “incredibly broad language” with regard to protection of classified information.

And upon review, the Court said it was persuaded that “the government has properly classified the twenty-three passages in Stillman’s manuscript.”

Since those passages constitute about 15% of the total manuscript and include some of the most interesting and valuable information that he gathered in his travels to China, the author said he would not publish the remainder.

A study (pdf) performed recently for the U.S. Department of Agriculture documented the search for geospatial information — satellite imagery, maps, aerial photography and other records — on Haiti.

In so doing, the authors provided a template and a guide to accessing the wealth of worldwide geospatial data that is now in the public domain. Detailed information on products and sources is given.

See “Geospatial Data Availability for Haiti: An Aid in the Development of GIS-Based Natural Resource Assessments for Conservation Planning” by Maya Quiñones, William Gould, and Carlos D. Rodríguez-Pedraza, U.S. Department of Agriculture, February 2007.

The Dual Axis Radiographic Hydro-Test facility (DARHT) at Los Alamos Laboratory was the subject of a technical assessment from the mysterious JASON defense science advisory panel.

A copy of the October 2006 study, simply entitled “DAHRT,” is here (pdf).

It was first reported on April 1 in the Albuquerque Journal by John Fleck, who also blogs here.

Some recently updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include the following (all pdf).

“Declarations of War and Authorizations for the Use of Military Force: Historical Background and Legal Implications,” updated March 8, 2007.

“The Iran Sanctions Act (ISA),” updated January 25, 2007.

“Homeland Security: Compendium of Recommendations Relevant to House Committee Organization and Analysis of Considerations for the House, and 109th and 110th Congresses Epilogue,” updated March 2, 2007.

“Cuba: U.S. Restrictions on Travel and Remittances,” updated February 27, 2007.

“Kosovo and U.S. Policy,” updated February 27, 2007.

“Industrial Competitiveness and Technological Advancement: Debate Over Government Policy,” updated March 19, 2007.

Gary Sellers, who was an attorney, a cherry farmer, a former congressional aide, husband, father and many other things, died last month in a car accident.

“He was very interested in openness in government,” his wife Sally Determan said, and so the family asked fellow mourners to give donations to the FAS Project on Government Secrecy in lieu of flowers.

One of the first “Nader’s Raiders” who supported Ralph Nader’s consumer advocacy campaigns in the late 1960s, Sellers pleaded with Nader unsuccessfully in 2000 not to campaign against Al Gore in battleground states, the Washington Post noted in a March 24 obituary.

As a congressional staffer and attorney, he was instrumental in the creation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and in the development of miner safety laws.

“Millions of American workers who will never know his name are safer today because of Gary Sellers,” said one colleague.

A crowded March 30 memorial service for Mr. Sellers at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington contained much more laughter than might have been expected, but not any fewer tears.

Mr. Sellers was known to be generous to friends and strangers.

“At the end of the season, he always gave away what was left of his [cherry] crop,” the Rappahannock News reported on March 14.

Now his family and friends are expressing their own generosity with donations to the FAS Project on Government Secrecy to help promote open government in his memory. And that’s what we’re going to do.

Global climate change “represents a clear and present danger to the security and economy of the United States,” according to a bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate yesterday, and it therefore warrants the focused attention of U.S. intelligence agencies.

“For years, many of us have examined global warming as an environmental or economic issue,” said Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL). “We also need to consider it as a security concern. Our bill begins this process by requiring a National Intelligence Estimate to assess the strategic challenges presented by the world’s changing climate.”

“In this legislation, we ask for the intelligence community to provide a strategic estimate of the risks posed by global climate change for countries or regions that are of particular economic or military significance to the United States or that are at serious risk of humanitarian suffering,” Senator Durbin said. “This NIE will assess the political, social, agricultural, and economic challenges for countries and their likely impact.”

The new bill is jointly sponsored by Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).

“Senator Durbin and I differ on policy initiatives designed to reduce the impact of climate change,” said Sen. Hagel. “We do agree, however, on the need to assess potential impacts of the changing climate on U.S. national security interests so that our Nation can develop responsible, forward-thinking policies that ensure the continued safety and prosperity of the American people.”

See their March 28 introductory statements and the text of the new bill (S. 1018) here.

Among the eleven “policy coordinating committees” at the National Security Council that were established by President Bush’s National Security Presidential Directive 1 in February 2001 is one on “Global Environment.” But this NSC committee has left no identifiable public trace on U.S. policy.

A newly updated doctrinal publication (pdf) from the Joint Chiefs of Staff describes the various types of geospatial intelligence products produced by U.S. intelligence agencies and their role in the conduct of joint military operations.

Geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) includes imagery, maps and other data that characterize a target or area of intelligence interest.

The new publication “covers the foundation and evolution of GEOINT; discusses GEOINT support to operations; provides a complete discussion of the roles and responsibilities for GEOINT; discusses GEOINT in terms of the intelligence process;” and more.

See “Geospatial Intelligence Support to Joint Operations,” Joint Publication 2-03, 22 March 2007 (135 pages, 2.3. MB PDF).

A “sharp decline” in the U.S. population of honey bees is examined in a new report (pdf) from the Congressional Research Service.

“This phenomenon first became apparent among commercial migratory beekeepers along the East Coast during the last few months of 2006, and has since been reported nationwide,” the CRS report said.

Various potential causes have been postulated, including parasites, pathogens, chemical contaminants, poor nutrition, and “stress.”

The declining bee population is the subject of a hearing today before the House Subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture.

See “Recent Honey Bee Colony Declines,” Congressional Research Service, March 26, 2007.

Despite the best efforts of CRS management to impede public access to CRS products, the following CRS reports were obtained by Secrecy News (all pdf).

“Federal Advisory Committees: A Primer,” updated March 20, 2007.

“Critical Infrastructures: Background, Policy and Implementation,” updated March 13, 2007.

“Defense Acquisition: Use of Lead System Integrators (LSIs) — Background, Oversight Issues, and Options for Congress,” March 26, 2007.

A Wall Street Journal column on March 26 reported that the Congressional Research Service “will no longer respond to requests from members of Congress on the size, number of background of [budget] earmarks.” The new CRS policy, the Journal article alleged, “is helping its masters hide wasteful spending.”

“The article is replete with mischaracterizations of CRS work and policies,” wrote CRS Director Daniel P. Mulhollan in a memo to all CRS staff (pdf). “Such attacks on our independence cannot go unanswered.”

Mr. Mulhollan defended his agency in a letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal, circulated with his March 26 memo. A copy was obtained by Secrecy News.

The Journal article “gratuitously alludes to issues related to public access to CRS work,” Mr. Mulhollan wrote in his letter. “The restriction on publication of CRS work was established long ago by Congress. CRS internal policies regarding distribution of its products ensure compliance with congressional directives. We leave to Members and committees the discretion to share CRS products how and when they wish.”

“CRS has recently been subjected to much scrutiny because we have not shied away from analysis of controversial issues,” Director Mulhollan told CRS staff.

The forthcoming trial of two former officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee who are charged with mishandling classified information “won’t be a closed trial,” said Judge T.S. Ellis III at a March 15 hearing (pdf), notwithstanding some “hyperbolic” suggestions to the contrary.

But there is an open question as to whether the prosecution may employ something called the “silent witness” rule. That refers to the practice of providing evidence to the defense and to the jury, but withholding it from the public.

Such a procedure would amount to “closing” the courtroom in effect, the defense argued, “because, once inside, the public and press would not, in any meaningful sense, actually hear the central evidence in the case.”

The government proposal is “unworkable, prejudicial and fundamentally unfair,” the defense stated in a March 21 motion (pdf). It “will not only make meaningful cross-examination of critical government witnesses impossible, but will send a continuous message to the jury that the information at issue is [national defense information] deserving of protection — the very issue that the jury must itself decide.”

“I have to resolve this significant issue about whether this is really constitutional,” Judge Ellis said on March 15. He ordered additional briefs on the subject from both parties. The defense brief, filed March 21, is here. The government brief, due March 28, is not yet available. The transcript of the March 15 hearing is here.

The closely-watched trial is scheduled to begin on June 4.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that “the FBI was considering expanding its investigation into AIPAC and classified information leaks in early 2005 when the pro-Israel lobbying powerhouse fired two staffers already under scrutiny.” See “Defense: Feds eyeballed AIPAC until it cut off Rosen, Weissman” by Ron Kampeas, March 27.