The ODNI Open Source Center has imposed some rather ferocious controls on its unclassified products in order to shield them from public access.
Even when its publications are not copyrighted, they are to be “treated as copyrighted” and in any case they “must not be disseminated to the public.”
The following notice was recently posted on the password-protected OSC website:
“Content available via this website must not be disseminated to the public. All content available via this website is treated as copyrighted material and is provided for U.S. Government purposes only. Such purposes may include rebroadcast, redistribution, dissemination, copying, and hyper-linking provided it is for official U.S. Government purposes only. Any removal or redistribution of content outside of official U.S. Government channels requires the advance authorization of OSC. Information under the control of external websites to which OSC may provide hyperlinks may have separate restrictions and shall be accessed only in accordance with any usage policies and restrictions applicable to those sites.”
“Authorized system users may use the content available via this website to support official U.S. Government business and may disseminate this information to other U.S. Government components. In disseminating this content for other U.S Government component use, U.S. Government personnel must use a password-protected email system. System users who are partners (e.g. those who have a formal relationship with OSC), may also use the content, as authorized by OSC, to support their official business and must use a password-protected email system. Contractors with access to this site may only have that access during the time period as required to fulfill their contract responsibilities.”
Meanwhile, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has scheduled a conference on open source intelligence on September 11-12 in Washington, DC which will be open to the public (advance registration required).
Yesterday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed revoking its 2009 “endangerment finding” that greenhouse gases pose a substantial threat to the public. The Federation of American Scientists stands in strong opposition.
Modernizing ClinicalTrials.gov will empower patients, oncologists, and others to better understand what trials are available, where they are available, and their up-to-date eligibility criteria, using standardized search categories to make them more easily discoverable.
The Federation of American Scientists supports H.R. 4420, the Cool Corridors Act of 2025, which would reauthorize the Healthy Streets program through 2030 and seeks to increase green and other shade infrastructure in high-heat areas.
The current lack of public trust in AI risks inhibiting innovation and adoption of AI systems, meaning new methods will not be discovered and new benefits won’t be felt. A failure to uphold high standards in the technology we deploy will also place our nation at a strategic disadvantage compared to our competitors.