In the last quarter, the Department of Energy (DOE) reviewed over 690,000 pages of publicly available records at the National Archives and found 590 pages containing classified nuclear weapons information that it said should not have been disclosed, according to a newly released report to Congress (pdf).
At Congressional direction, DOE has proceeded on the assumption that absolutely no disclosure of classified nuclear information is tolerable, no matter how old or obsolete it may be. This is a poor premise for security policy and it ensures that scarce resources will be diverted from their optimal use.
See the Twenty-Fourth Report to Congress on Inadvertent Disclosures of Restricted Data and Formerly Restricted Data, February 2007 (redacted version released March 2007).
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The U.S. Navy is seeking to expedite its technology development and acquisition practices to meet “urgent capability needs” arising from the “global war on terrorism.”
“The GWOT” — the expansive Bush Administration term for everything from the pursuit of al Qaeda to the attempted suppression of violent sectarian disputes in Iraq — “has generated rapidly evolving military needs that require responsive materiel solutions,” according to a new Navy Notice (pdf).
The March 8, 2007 Notice from the Secretary of the Navy specifies that the Naval Innovation Laboratory (NaIL), a virtual organization, “will bring together, on demand, multidisciplinary teams to develop and deliver rapid, innovative solutions to [an urgent capability need] and will …develop, integrate, test and deliver fieldable prototypes for use by the warfighter.”
See SECNAV Note 5000, “Rapid Development and Deployment Response to Urgent Global War on Terrorism Needs.”
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Recently published hearing records from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence include the following.
“Current and Projected National Security Threats to the United States,” February 2, 2006.
“Confirmation Hearing of Kenneth L. Wainstein to be Assistant Attorney General for National Security,” May 16, 2006.
“Confirmation Hearing of General Michael V. Hayden to be the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency,” May 18, 2006.
Denice Ross, former U.S. Chief Data Scientist and Data Policy Institute lead at the Federation of American Scientists, will be honored for her stewardship of public data by the National Academy of Public Administration, where she has been named a Fellow.
Confirmation that the construction of the security perimeter and associated security infrastructure at RAF Lakenheath are still ongoing once again raises questions about whether U.S. nuclear weapons have already been deployed to the base.
Alaskans are sensibly pulling back from the vogue for bans and returning to a western tradition that has worked for more than half a century – one that welcomes innovation but also oversees it closely.
The strength of our nation’s data policy isn’t just in the rules we write, but in how effectively we translate those rules into a system that prioritizes the public good. Join us in this movement to design and build more resilient national data policies.