The possible near-term declassification of historical intelligence satellite programs was examined by Dwayne Day in “A Paler Shade of Black,” The Space Review, September 20. The author also noted the pending Fundamental Classification Guidance Review that is supposed to purge obsolete classification requirements from the system.
An initiative led by Public Citizen to gain release of grand jury testimony presented in 1975 by former President Richard Nixon was discussed by John W. Dean in “Releasing Nixon’s Grand Jury Testimony: It Could Change History,” FindLaw, September 17.
The new Army Field Manual 3-28 addresses “Civil Support Operations” (pdf), referring to domestic military operations in support of civilian authorities within the United States.
The Department of Defense issued new guidance on “Use of Animals in DoD Programs” (pdf), DoD Instruction 3216.01, September 13.
In a September 15 report to the House on legislative actions to reduce waste, fraud and abuse, House Intelligence Committee chairman Silvestre Reyes cited House support for increasing the role of the Government Accountability Office in intelligence oversight, a measure opposed by the Obama Administration.
The Pentagon decided to purchase and destroy thousands of copies of Anthony Shaffer’s book Operation Dark Heart at a reported cost of nearly $50,000, while a censored version of the text is released in its place. But since numerous copies of the original version are already in the public domain, this move seems futile and counterproductive.
In anticipation of future known and unknown health security threats, including new pandemics, biothreats, and climate-related health emergencies, our answers need to be much faster, cheaper, and less disruptive to other operations.
To unlock the full potential of artificial intelligence within the Department of Health and Human Services, an AI Corps should be established, embedding specialized AI experts within each of the department’s 10 agencies.
Investing in interventions behind the walls is not just a matter of improving conditions for incarcerated individuals—it is a public safety and economic imperative. By reducing recidivism through education and family contact, we can improve reentry outcomes and save billions in taxpayer dollars.
The U.S. government should establish a public-private National Exposome Project (NEP) to generate benchmark human exposure levels for the ~80,000 chemicals to which Americans are regularly exposed.