Over the objections of its authors, the Department of Homeland Security classified a 2007 report from the National Academy of Sciences on the potential vulnerability of the U.S. electric power system until most of it was finally released yesterday. The report generally concluded, as other reports have, that the electric grid is lacking in resilience […]
New or newly updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include the following. Privacy: An Abbreviated Outline of Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping, October 9, 2012 Privacy: An Overview of Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping, October 9, 2012 Privacy: An Overview […]
President Obama’s declared goal of making his “the most transparent Administration in history” generated successive waves of enthusiasm, perplexity, frustration, and mockery as public expectations of increased openness and accountability were lifted sky high and then — often, not always — thwarted. Every Administration including this one presides over the release of more government information […]
Selected reports from the Congressional Research Service on veterans’ affairs which Congress has not made readily available to the public include the following. “Who is a Veteran?” — Basic Eligibility for Veterans’ Benefits, January 23, 2012 Employment for Veterans: Trends and Programs, October 23, 2012 GI Bills Enacted Prior to 2008 and Related Veterans’ Educational […]
In a new case of alleged mishandling of classified materials, a Navy contract linguist who served in Bahrain until earlier this year was charged with unlawful retention of national defense information after several classified documents were found in his possession. But although James F. Hitselberger, an experienced Arabic translator, was charged under an Espionage Act […]
New and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that Congress has not made available to the public include the following. Natural Gas in the U.S. Economy: Opportunities for Growth, November 6, 2012 The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act: Title VII, Derivatives, November 6, 2012 Same-Sex Marriages: Legal Issues, November 5, 2012 […]
The Department of Defense Inspector General (IG) announced that it will begin to review the Department’s classification practices, as required by the 2010 Reducing Over-Classification Act. The review will evaluate the policies and procedures “that may be contributing to persistent misclassification of material.” It will also address “efforts by the Department to decrease over-classification,” wrote […]
The members of the Electoral College who formally enact the election of the President are expected or even required to represent the wishes of the voters who elected them, but sometimes they don’t! “Notwithstanding the tradition that electors are bound to vote for the candidates of the party that nominated them, individual electors have sometimes […]
Updated below The New York Times reported last week that the Congressional Research Service had withdrawn a report that found no correlation between reduced tax rates and increased economic growth after some Republican Senators took exception to it. (“Nonpartisan Tax Report Withdrawn After G.O.P. Protest” by Jonathan Weisman, November 1.) But “withdrawn” here means withdrawn […]
The U.S. electric power system is vulnerable to a variety of threats, from natural disasters to operational errors to sabotage or terrorist attack, a newly disclosed report from the Congressional Research Service says. Over the years there have actually been tens of thousands of recorded attacks on electric power targets, CRS notes, but usually due […]
For the second year in a row and for only the second time in the post-9/11 era, total intelligence spending declined last year to $75.4 billion, according to figures released yesterday by the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Defense (Bloomberg, Wash Times, Reuters). Total spending had peaked in FY2010 at $80.1 billion, […]
As often happens, the Federal Bureau of Investigation invoked national security a few years ago to justify withholding certain information from a Freedom of Information Act requester named Deirdre McKiernan Hetzler. But as rarely happens, a court last month critically assessed the FBI national security claim and ordered the Bureau to release some of the […]