The move by Congress to renew the FISA Amendments Act for five more years without amendments came as a bitter disappointment to civil libertarians who believe that the Act emphasizes government surveillance authority at the expense of constitutional protections. Amendments that were offered to provide more public information about the impacts of government surveillance on […]
New and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that Congress has not made available to the public include the following items on tax policy. International Corporate Tax Rate Comparisons and Policy Implications, December 28, 2012 Reform of U.S. International Taxation: Alternatives, December 27, 2012 Distributional Effects of Taxes on Corporate Profits, Investment Income, and […]
Two Updates/Corrections below The Senate passed the FY2013 intelligence authorization act on December 28 after most of the controversial provisions intended to combat leaks had been removed. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the bill was revised in order to expedite its passage. “Since the bill was reported out,” she […]
A forthcoming Nuclear Regulatory Commission rule on the physical protection of radioactive “byproduct materials” — not including uranium or plutonium — is discussed in a new report from the Congressional Research Service. “The rule will have broad impacts across the country and across most if not all aspects of industries that use radioactive material, including […]
Yesterday former Navy contract linguist James Hitselberger, who has been charged under the Espionage Act with mishandling classified records, was ordered released under supervision while awaiting trial. Mr. Hitselberger is a multi-lingual translator and collector of rare documents, including records that are now housed in a dedicated collection at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. […]
Certain nuclear weapons-related information that has been removed from the category of Restricted Data (RD) and designated as Formerly Restricted Data (FRD) can now be restored to the RD category, under a provision approved by Congress in the FY 2013 national defense authorization act. Until now, the removal of information from the Restricted Data category […]
New and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that Congress has not made available to the public include the following. Offshoring (or Offshore Outsourcing) and Job Loss Among U.S. Workers, December 17, 2012 Chemical Weapons: A Summary Report of Characteristics and Effects, December 13, 2012 Party Leaders in the United States Congress, 1789-2012, December […]
It is plainly true that executive branch officials will sometimes disclose classified information to reporters and other uncleared individuals. But this practice is not explicitly authorized in any official statement of classification policy. In fact, with an exception for life-threatening emergencies, it is usually understood to be prohibited. How can the obviously flexible practice and […]
New and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that Congress has directed CRS not to release to the public include the following. Rising Economic Powers and U.S. Trade Policy, December 3, 2012 Unauthorized Aliens Residing in the United States: Estimates Since 1986, December 13, 2012 DOD Alternative Fuels: Policy, Initiatives and Legislative Activity, December […]
Intelligence community officials have been meeting with representatives of the National Archives to discuss the anticipated declassification and release of intelligence imagery from the KH-9 satellite dating between 1971 and 1984. Officials have been negotiating the transfer of the original negatives from the KH-9 system and the provision of finding aids, according to a newly […]
The latest report from the elite JASON science advisory panel is devoted to the subject of “compressive sensing.” This term generally refers to the use of sensors for imaging (or other sensing) of an object in a manner that uses a limited subset of the available data in order to improve efficiency or conserve resources. […]
New and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that Congress has not made available to the public include the following. Intellectual Property Rights Violations: Federal Civil Remedies and Criminal Penalties Related to Copyrights, Trademarks, and Patents, December 13, 2012 The President’s State of the Union Address: Tradition, Function, and Policy Implications, December 17, 2012 […]