Scattered Castles: IC Directive on Personnel Security
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence today released a series of policy documents governing security clearances and access to classified information for intelligence community employees.
Intelligence Community Directive 704 (pdf) and five accompanying policy guidance documents set forth policy on security clearance background investigations, adjudicative guidelines, clearance revocation and appeal processes, reciprocal acceptance of security clearances, and more.
Intelligence Community Policy Guidance 704.5 (pdf) identifies “Scattered Castles” as a comprehensive database of IC security clearance authorizations, which can be used to verify clearances.
With minor technical changes, the new directive and accompanying guidance appear to closely replicate the previous policy under Director of Central Intelligence Directive 6/4.
See ICD 704 and the supporting guidance, along with other IC Directives, here.
Current scientific understanding shows that so-called “anonymization” methods that have been widely used in the past are inadequate for protecting privacy in the era of big data and artificial intelligence.
China is NOT a nuclear “peer” of the United States, as some contend.
China’s total number of approximately 600 warheads constitutes only a small portion of the United States’ estimated stockpile of 3,700 warheads.
The Federation of American Scientists strongly supports the Modernizing Wildfire Safety and Prevention Act of 2025.
The Federation of American Scientists strongly supports the Regional Leadership in Wildland Fire Research Act of 2025.