Nearly two years after President Obama issued a National Insider Threat Policy “to strengthen the protection and safeguarding of classified information” against espionage or unauthorized disclosure, the effort is still at an early stage of development. Only last week, the U.S. Air Force finally issued a directive to implement the 2012 Obama policy. (AF Instruction […]
New products from the Congressional Research Service that Congress has withheld from online public distribution include the following. Safe at Home? Letting Ebola-Stricken Americans Return, CRS Insights, August 5, 2014: 2014 Quadrennial Homeland Security Review: Evolution of Strategic Review, CRS Insights, August 6, 2014 Reducing the Budget Deficit: Overview of Policy Issues, August 7, 2014 […]
A bill introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) would direct the President to reduce the amount of classified information by 10%. It is one of several new congressional initiatives seeking to rectify perceived defects in the national security classification system. Most prominently, the Senate Intelligence Committee is engaged in an […]
New products from the Congressional Research Service that Congress has withheld from online public distribution include the following. Asylum Policies for Unaccompanied Children Compared with Expedited Removal Policies for Unauthorized Adults: In Brief, July 30, 2014 EPA’s Proposed CO2 Rule for Existing Power Plants: How Would It Affect Nuclear Energy?, CRS Insights, August 4, 2014 […]
By Hans M. Kristensen The United States yesterday publicly accused Russia of violating the landmark 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. The accusation was made in the State Department’s 2014 Compliance Report, which states: “The United States has determined that the Russian Federation is in violation of its obligations under the INF Treaty not to […]
“Identity intelligence” is a relatively new intelligence construct that refers to the analysis and use of personal information, including biometric and forensic data among others, to identify intelligence targets of interest and to deny them anonymity. The term began to appear a few years ago and was included, for example, in a 2012 Defense Intelligence […]
New and updated products of the Congressional Research Service obtained by Secrecy News include the following. U.S.-Russia Economic Relations, CRS Insights, July 29, 2014 Russia Sanctions: Options, CRS Insights, July 28, 2014 Protecting Civilian Flights from Missiles, CRS Insights, July 28, 2014 Possible Missile Attack on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, CRS Insights, July 28, 2014 […]
In preparing its recent report on the Section 702 surveillance program, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) demonstrated an unusual mode of declassification, in which one executive branch agency asks another agency to declassify information. In this case, the process was remarkably productive, and it may offer a precedent for future declassification efforts. […]
New or newly updated publications from the Congressional Research Service that Congress has withheld from online public distribution include the following. Free Exercise of Religion by Closely Held Corporations: Implications of Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., July 23, 2014 What Is the Farm Bill?, July 23, 2014 Deploying 5G (Fifth Generation) Wireless Technology: Is […]
In 2000, both houses of Congress passed legislation that would have made any leak of classified information a felony. The provision, contained in the FY2001 intelligence authorization act, was designed “to ensure the prosecution of all unauthorized disclosures of classified information.” said Sen. Richard Shelby, the primary sponsor of the provision, at the time. While […]
New publications from the Congressional Research Service that Congress has withheld from online public distribution include the following. U.S. Sanctions on Russia in Response to Events in Ukraine, July 18, 2014 Use of Force Considerations in Iraq, July 15, 2014 The Kurds and Possible Iraqi Kurdish Independence, July 15, 2014 Unaccompanied Alien Children: A Processing […]
Updated below The National Security Agency would be required to prepare an unclassified report on “all NSA bulk collection activities,” the Senate Appropriations Committee directed in its report on the Fiscal Year 2015 Department of Defense Appropriations bill, published yesterday. The Committee told the NSA to prepare a report “describing all NSA bulk collection activities, […]