Newly published hearing records and Pentagon directives concerning intelligence policy include the following.
A House Intelligence Subcommittee examined intelligence community personnel security policy in “Security Clearance Reform,” February 27, 2008.
“National Security Letters: The Need for Greater Accountability and Oversight” was the subject of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on April 23, 2008.
The Senate Intelligence Committee considered “Modernization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act” in a May 1, 2007 hearing.
“DoD Implementation of the Joint Intelligence Community Duty Assignment (JDA) Program” is the response to a DNI policy to promote employee rotations throughout the intelligence bureaucracy. See DoD Instruction 1400.36 (pdf), June 2, 2008.
Another new DoD Instruction (3305.16) addresses “DoD Measurement and Signature Intelligence (MASINT) Training” (pdf), June 12, 2008.
Satellite imagery of RAF Lakenheath reveals new construction of a security perimeter around ten protective aircraft shelters in the designated nuclear area, the latest measure in a series of upgrades as the base prepares for the ability to store U.S. nuclear weapons.
It will take consistent leadership and action to navigate the complex dangers in the region and to avoid what many analysts considered to be an increasingly possible outcome, a nuclear conflict in East Asia.
Getting into a shutdown is the easy part, getting out is much harder. Both sides will be looking to pin responsibility on each other, and the court of public opinion will have a major role to play as to who has the most leverage for getting us out.
How the United States responds to China’s nuclear buildup will shape the global nuclear balance for the rest of the century.