The Central Intelligence Agency continues to make a mockery of its legal obligations under the Freedom of Information Act and the national security classification system.
The Project on Government Oversight recently asked the CIA to undertake a declassification review of the Iraqi declaration on weapons of mass destruction that was presented to the United Nations Security Council in December 2002.
Incredibly, CIA official Scott Koch rejected the request by claiming that “the CIA can neither confirm nor deny the existence or nonexistence of records responsive to your request.”
See “We Know That You Know” on the POGO blog.
A copy of the Table of Contents from the 12,000 page Iraqi declaration, which plainly does exist, was obtained by Secrecy News.
Satellite imagery of RAF Lakenheath reveals new construction of a security perimeter around ten protective aircraft shelters in the designated nuclear area, the latest measure in a series of upgrades as the base prepares for the ability to store U.S. nuclear weapons.
It will take consistent leadership and action to navigate the complex dangers in the region and to avoid what many analysts considered to be an increasingly possible outcome, a nuclear conflict in East Asia.
Getting into a shutdown is the easy part, getting out is much harder. Both sides will be looking to pin responsibility on each other, and the court of public opinion will have a major role to play as to who has the most leverage for getting us out.
How the United States responds to China’s nuclear buildup will shape the global nuclear balance for the rest of the century.