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.
This is not the first time Google has agreed to censor imagery at the behest of governments, but be warned: obfuscation at this broad level poses a direct threat to the public’s ability to monitor and scrutinize government operations.
America’s affordability problem is bigger than home prices and rents. The best housing policies make it easier to build homes, and recognize how housing connects to other domains.
America’s affordability problem, for instance, is bigger than home prices and rents. How we build affects household costs like insurance and utilities.
As humans expand our geographic reach, encroach on untouched natural territories, and interact more with animal populations, we will encounter novel zoonotic diseases that threaten the human body. The sooner we act to address these risks, the better.