Most public controversy concerning the Congressional Research Service revolves around the question of whether Congress should authorize CRS to make its reports publicly available, or whether unauthorized access to CRS reports is a satisfactory alternative. But a more urgent question is whether CRS itself will survive as a center of intellectual and analytical vitality. Already […]
By Hans M. Kristensen Shortly before President Barack Obama is scheduled to arrive for his historic visit to Hiroshima, the first of two Japanese cities destroyed by U.S. nuclear bombs in 1945, the Pentagon has declassified and published updated numbers for the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile and warhead dismantlements. Those numbers show that the Obama administration […]
In April 2015, President Obama issued Executive Order 13694 declaring a national emergency to deal with the threat of hostile cyber activity against the United States. But six months later, the emergency powers that he invoked to punish offenders had still not been used because no qualifying targets were identified, according to a newly released […]
Current and former intelligence community employees (as well as some other government employees) are obliged to submit their writings for official review prior to publication in order to screen them for classified information. This is often an onerous, time-consuming and frustrating process. It sometimes appears to authors to be conducted in bad faith. The House […]
New and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made publicly available online include the following. The Federal Prison Population Buildup: Options for Congress, May 20, 2016 Zika Response Funding: Request and Congressional Action, May 20, 2016 Pay Equity: Legislative and Legal Developments, May 20, 2016 The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery […]
A definitive accounting of the number of lawsuits in which the U.S. Government has invoked the state secrets privilege cannot be provided because some of those cases may be too sensitive to acknowledge or disclose, the Department of Justice told Congress in newly released correspondence from 2013. “Some matters involving classified or sensitive information may […]
Last week, the House Appropriations Committee rejected two amendments to improve authorized public access to reports of the Congressional Research Service. However, unauthorized public access remains robust. The latest Congressional Research Service reports include the following. RICO: A Brief Sketch, May 18, 2016 Federal Reserve: Legislation in the 114th Congress, May 19, 2016 U.S.-EU Data […]
By Hans M. Kristensen The Pentagon’s latest annual report on Chinese military developments mainly deals with non-nuclear issues, but it also contains important new information about developments in China’s nuclear forces. This includes: The size of China’s ICBM force has been relatively stable over the past five years China has deployed a new version of a medium-range […]
Department of Defense procedures for collecting biometric data are presented in a newly updated manual, which also provides some insight into the military and intelligence applications of such data. “Biometrics are the measurable physical and behavioral characteristics that can establish and verify an individual’s identity,” the manual explains. “Operators currently collect facial images, fingerprints, iris […]
In a worst-case scenario, the United States could be left without a launch vehicle needed to deploy national security space payloads within the next several years. The ongoing turbulence within national security space policy is reviewed in a new report from the Congressional Research Service. See National Security Space Launch at a Crossroads, May 13, […]
A directive signed by the Director of National Intelligence yesterday formally authorizes the use of social media by official investigators who are conducting background investigations for security clearances. See Collection, Use, and Retention of Publicly Available Social Media Information in Personnel Security Background Investigations and Adjudications, Security Executive Agent Directive 5, May 12, 2016. The […]
There is a lack of consensus about what the U.S. military officer corps should look like, a new report from the Congressional Research Service says. Divergent views exist about what type of military officers the country needs, what skills they should have, how they should be distributed by grade, what criteria should be used for […]