Late at night on Thursday, May 29, Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) introduced an amendment to the FY 2015 Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations bill to provide a near-absolute shield for reporters against compulsory disclosure of their confidential sources. “None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to compel a journalist or […]
In 2012, the number of newly created national security secrets (or “original classification decisions”) dropped by a startling 42% from the year before, according to the Information Security Oversight Office. It was the largest annual drop ever reported by ISOO, yielding the lowest annual production of new secrets since such numbers began to be collected […]
Intelligence community whistleblowers would have been able to submit their complaints to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) under a proposed amendment to the intelligence authorization act that was offered last week by Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI). This could have been an elegant solution to the whistleblowing conundrum posed by Edward Snowden. It made […]
The population of Syria is 17,951,639, according to the CIA World Factbook. That figure (oddly identified as a “July 2014” estimate) is wrong, according to everyone else. The discrepancy was noted yesterday in the intelligence newsletter Nightwatch. “NightWatch consulted six separate sources for the total population of Syria. They agreed that it is between 22 […]
The Department of Defense prepares and trains for military operations in environments in which communications and surveillance are denied or obstructed, a new report to Congress says. Combatant commanders “spend many man-hours… developing frameworks and procedures for using alternative methods, diversifying communications paths and media, and pursuing the ability to use distributed operations in a […]
New and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that Congress has withheld from online public distribution include the following. Defense Acquisitions: How DOD Acquires Weapon Systems and Recent Efforts to Reform the Process, May 23, 2014 Defense Acquisition Reform: Background, Analysis, and Issues for Congress, May 23, 2014 U.S. Air Force Bomber Sustainment and […]
Of the many lessons to be learned from the unauthorized disclosures of classified intelligence information by Edward Snowden, one of them is that the congressional intelligence oversight process did not function properly in the years leading up to those disclosures. It seems indisputable that the intelligence oversight committees did not accurately comprehend or effectively represent […]
A new report from the Congressional Research Service “provides an analytic overview of the professional experiences and qualifications of those individuals who are currently serving as active U.S. circuit court judges.” See U.S. Circuit Court Judges: Profile of Professional Experiences Prior to Appointment, May 9, 2014. Other recently updated CRS reports include these: Deepwater Horizon […]
“Without accurate and predictive intelligence, it is often better to not act than to act.” That note of prudence and restraint recurs throughout the newly revised U.S. Army Field Manual 3-24 on “Insurgencies and Countering Insurgencies” that was published this month. The new manual replaces the celebrated 2006 edition of FM 3-24 (then simply entitled […]
New and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that Congress has withheld from online public distribution include the following. Nigeria’s Boko Haram: Frequently Asked Questions, May 20, 2014 The Lord’s Resistance Army: The U.S. Response, May 15, 2014 Libya: Transition and U.S. Policy, May 19, 2014 U.S. International Broadcasting: Background and Issues for Reform, […]
By Hans M. Kristensen One of the last Chinese Second Artillery brigades with the old liquid-fuel DF-3A intermediate-range nuclear ballistic missile appears to have been upgraded to the newer DF-21 road-mobile, dual-capable, medium-range ballistic missile. A new satellite image posted on Google Earth from May 4, 2014, reveals major changes to what appears to be […]
By Hans M. Kristensen Less than a week after Russia carried out a nuclear strike exercise, the United States has begun its own annual nuclear strike exercise. The exercises conducted by the world’s two largest nuclear-armed states come in the midst of the Ukraine crisis, as NATO and Russia appear to slide back down into a […]