Mumbai Attacks, Official Secrets, and Soviet Centrifuges
The Congressional Research Service has issued — but has not publicly released — a new report on “Terrorist Attacks in Mumbai, India, and Implications for U.S. Interests” (pdf), December 19, 2008.
The history of official secrets legislation in the United Kingdom is set forth in a new memorandum (pdf) from the UK House of Commons Library, which also provides background on notable cases involving unauthorized disclosures of classified government information (flagged by Docuticker.com). See “Official Secrecy,” December 30, 2008.
The challenges and benefits of improving intelligence sensor data integration are discussed in a new joint report from the Defense Science Board and the Intelligence Science Board. See “Integrating Sensor-Collected Intelligence” (pdf), November 2008.
A 1957 account (pdf) of centrifuge research in the Soviet Union by Austrian physicist Gernot Zippe, translated (and partially redacted) by the Central Intelligence Agency, is now available online. See “The Problem of Uranium Isotope Separation by Means of Ultracentrifuge in the USSR,” 8 October 1957.
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.