Bill Leonard, the esteemed former director of the Information Security Oversight Office and the principal overseer of the government secrecy system, now has his own blog where readers may look for his views and his insights on secrecy policy as the process of classification reform gets underway in earnest.
The House Judiciary Committee rebuffed a Republican proposal for a “resolution of inquiry” to require the Administration to produce documents concerning the use of Miranda warnings given to detainees captured in Afghanistan. The Committee’s adverse report, dated June 26, is available here.
The Defense Department has issued a newly updated policy statement (pdf) on reporting “questionable” intelligence activities. “It is DoD policy that senior leaders and policymakers within the Government be made aware of events that may erode the public trust in the conduct of DoD intelligence operations,” the June 17, 2009 memorandum states. Some such questionable activities are to be reported to the Intelligence Oversight Board, a component of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board. However, the efficacy of any such reporting is limited by the fact that that Board currently has no sitting members. (“White House Intel Advisory Board Has No Members,” Secrecy News, June 15, 2009).
With strategic investment, cross-sector coordination, and long-term planning, it is possible to reduce risks and protect vulnerable communities. We can build a future where power lines no longer spark disaster and homes stay safe and connected — no matter the weather.
A lack of sustained federal funding, deteriorating research infrastructure and networks, restrictive immigration policies, and waning international collaboration are driving this erosion into a full-scale “American Brain Drain.”
With 2000 nuclear weapons on alert, far more powerful than the first bomb tested in the Jornada Del Muerto during the Trinity Test 80 years ago, our world has been fundamentally altered.
As the United States continues nuclear modernization on all legs of its nuclear triad through the creation of new variants of warheads, missiles, and delivery platforms, examining the effects of nuclear weapons production on the public is ever more pressing.