James F. Hitselberger, a Navy contract linguist who was charged under the Espionage Act for mishandling classified records, yesterday asked a court to release him from pre-trial detention. His release would pose no hazard, and he is not a flight risk, his public defenders said. Mr. Hitselberg allegedly removed classified records from a secure facility […]
On January 6, 2013 Congress will convene to count electoral votes and to formally certify the results of the last presidential election. The process was detailed by the Congressional Research Service in Counting Electoral Votes: An Overview of Procedures at the Joint Session, Including Objections by Members of Congress, November 30, 2012. The declining economic […]
President Obama’s declared commitment to provide “an unprecedented level of openness in government” has often been criticized and mocked. Depending on how one measures it, overall secrecy has actually increased rather than declined. Criminalization of unauthorized disclosures of information to the press has risen sharply, becoming a preferred tactic. Efforts to promote public accountability in […]
The extraordinary rise in income inequality among Americans is painstakingly documented in a newly updated report from the Congressional Research Service. In the past few decades, the rich have gotten a lot richer as “those at the very top have reaped disproportionately larger gains from economic growth.” “Based on the limited data that are comparable […]
Air Force personnel perform New START Treaty inspection training on a Minuteman III ICBM payload section at Minot AFB in 2011. Nearly two years into the treaty, there have been few reductions of U.S. deployed strategic nuclear forces. . By Hans M. Kristensen The U.S. State Department today released the full (unclassified) and detailed aggregate […]
In almost every year since 2007, Congress appropriated less money for diplomatic security than had been requested. In FY2012, the State Department sought $2.9 billion for security, and Congress enacted $2.6 billion. The diplomatic security function, including its funding profile, was discussed in the light of recent attacks of U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya […]
In a series of newly updated reports presumably intended for new Members of Congress who are unfamiliar with basic features of the federal budget, the Congressional Research Service presented the very rudiments of the budget process. See: Basic Federal Budgeting Terminology, November 26, 2012 Overview of the Authorization-Appropriations Process, November 26, 2012 Baselines and Scorekeeping […]
A study performed for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) “chronicles the policy history of civil and commercial remote sensing from 1960 through 2008.” The study “highlights the difficulties in establishing a consistent government role in a field where public good and private profit exist side-by-side, and where business interests have the potential to contribute to […]
The first contract was signed yesterday for the development of the guided tail kit that will increase the accuracy of the B61 nuclear bomb. This conceptual drawing illustrates the principle of adding a guided tail kit assembly to the gravity bomb. . By Hans M. Kristensen The U.S. Air Force’s new precision-guided nuclear bomb B61-12 […]
Executive branch decisions to classify national security information are subject to judicial review in Freedom of Information Act cases, government attorneys acknowledged in a brief filed yesterday. That potentially explosive question arose following an extraordinary ruling by a federal judge ordering the U.S. Trade Representative to release a one-page classified document that had been requested […]
New and newly updated reports from the Congressional Research Service obtained by Secrecy News that have not been made publicly available include the following. Does Foreign Aid Work? Efforts to Evaluate U.S. Foreign Assistance, November 19, 2012 Congressional Redistricting: An Overview, November 21, 2012 Update on Controlling Greenhouse Gases from International Aviation, November 19, 2012 […]
Linton Brooks and I discussed nuclear modernization at a November 13 panel organized by BASIC. . By Hans M. Kristensen BASIC invited me to discuss nuclear weapons modernization with Linton Brooks at a Strategic Dialogue panel held at the Capitol Hill Club on November 13, 2012. We’re still waiting for the official transcript, but BASIC […]