Science and technology policy issues that may soon come before Congress were surveyed in a new report from the Congressional Research Service. Overarching issues include the impact of recent reductions in federal spending for research and development. “Concerns about reductions in federal R&D funding have been exacerbated by increases in the R&D investments of other […]
The National Security Agency is proposing to expand and modernize its headquarters site at Fort Meade, Maryland. “For NSA/CSS to continue leading the Intelligence Community into the next 50 years with state-of-the-art technologies and productivity, its mission elements require new, centralized facilities and infrastructure,” according to a newly released Final Environmental Impact Statement for the […]
A new report from the Congressional Research Service examines the judicial record of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil M. Gorsuch in advance of his Senate confirmation hearing. “The report begins by discussing the nominee’s views on two cross-cutting issues — the role of the judiciary and statutory interpretation. It then addresses fourteen separate areas […]
The Central Intelligence Agency formally asserted the state secrets privilege this week in order to prevent disclosure of seven categories of information concerning its post-9/11 interrogation program, and to prevent the deposition of three CIA officers concerning the program. The move was first reported in the New York Times (“State Secrets Privilege Invoked to Block […]
“The recent announcement by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions that he would recuse himself from any investigations into President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign has raised questions about how often recusals by the Attorney General have happened in the past.” “While there is no official compilation of recusals, it appears that Attorneys General of the […]
Updated below The National Declassification Center has completed declassification review of more than half of the classified files from the U.S. Embassy in Djakarta, Indonesia from the turbulent years of 1963-1966. The remainder of the task is expected to be completed by this summer. So far, 21 of 37 boxes of classified Djakarta Embassy files […]
Subcritical nuclear tests remain useful for maintaining the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile in the absence of nuclear explosive testing, the JASON defense advisory panel affirmed in a letter report last year. But “a gap exists in the current US capability to carry out and diagnose such experiments,” the panel said. Subcritical experiments simulate aspects of […]
A new report from the Congressional Research Service provides a comprehensive overview of government efforts to combat money-laundering, discussing the scope of the money-laundering problem, the strategies employed to combat it, and the resources that have been made available for that purpose. The US government has provided anti-money laundering support to more than 100 countries. […]
By Hans M. Kristensen Under the cover of an otherwise legitimate life-extension of the W76 warhead, the Navy has quietly added a new super-fuze to the warhead that dramatically increases the ability of the Navy to destroy hard targets in Russia and other adversaries. In a new article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Matthew […]
In confronting Russia and rebutting its claims, the United States is hampered by unnecessary or inappropriate classification of national security information, according to former Pentagon official and Russia specialist Evelyn Farkas. “We are not very good at declassifying and reclassifying information that is not propaganda, showing pictures of what the Russians are doing,” Dr. Farkas […]
New and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service include the following. Iran Policy and the European Union, CRS Insight, February 27, 2017 The European Union: Current Challenges and Future Prospects, updated February 27, 2017 The United Arab Emirates (UAE): Issues for U.S. Policy, updated February 28, 2017 Military Retirement: Background and Recent Developments, updated […]
By Hans M. Kristensen Today I spoke at the Nuclear Deterrence Summit about the role and challenges of US-Russian nuclear arms control efforts. My panel partner was Mark Schneider from NIPP and we were under the competent chairmanship of Vice Admiral Van Mauney (US Navu, Ret.), the former deputy commander of US Strategic Command. My […]