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).
Coordination among federal science agencies is essential to ensure government-wide alignment on R&D investment priorities. However, the federal R&D enterprise suffers from egregious siloization.
Don’t like the Chinese-backed EVs that are undercutting your market? Start with a well-designed statute to strengthen market oversight and competition while also providing American companies with support.
Cities and states are best positioned to design policies to accelerate clean energy, innovation, and economic development because they can design approaches that work in different social, political, and economic contexts.
Outcome-Based Contracting reframes procurement around the staged achievement of measurable mission outcomes rather than the delivery of predefined technical artifacts.