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.
There is no question this is a Big Deal. If you are a university or research lab, or aspire to work in one, or are simply an enthusiast of federally-funded research, what’s next will matter.
The emerging federal metascience community is asking fascinating questions that are equally vital for democratic legitimacy: beyond “did this program work” to “how does the federal R&D enterprise itself work, and how could it work better?”
If you’re new to the climate intervention space, welcome! The TL;DR: if we can’t stop the most catastrophic impacts of climate change with current tools quickly enough, then we need a bigger toolbox.
After months of delay, the council tasked by President Trump to review the FEMA released its final report. Our disaster policy nerds have thoughts.