The notion of “intelligence transparency,” which once would have been considered an oxymoron, is instead becoming institutionalized with the establishment of a new Intelligence Transparency Council. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper signed the Charter of the new Council on April 5. The Council includes representatives of each of the 17 Intelligence Community member agencies. […]
New and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service include the following. Brazil in Crisis, CRS Insight, April 6, 2016 Peru: Politics, Economy, and Elections in Brief, April 6, 2016 Cuba: U.S. Restrictions on Travel and Remittances, updated April 6, 2016 United States Supreme Court: Criminal Law Cases in the October 2015 Term, April 6, […]
There are approximately 80 distinct “security cooperation” programs and statutory authorities by which the U.S. provides security assistance to foreign security forces, according to a Department of Defense tally. The legal and institutional framework for delivering U.S. security aid to foreign countries is detailed in a new report from the Congressional Research Service. “Over the […]
Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper threw his weight behind the upcoming Fundamental Classification Guidance Review (FCGR), which requires executive branch agencies to review all of their classification guidance and to eliminate obsolete secrecy requirements every five years. (On the FCGR, see “Secrecy System to Undergo ‘Thoughtful Scrutiny’,” Secrecy News, March 28). In an […]
The total number of employees and contractors holding security clearances for access to classified information at the Department of Defense dropped by a hefty 900,000 between 2013 and 2016 — or 20% of the total cleared population at DoD. At the start of the current Fiscal Year, DoD had a remaining 3.7 million cleared personnel. […]
By Hans M. Kristensen I was reading through the latest Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and wondering what I should pick to critique the Obama administration’s nuclear policy. After all, there are plenty of issues that deserve to be addressed, including: – Why NNSA continues to overspend and […]
Corrected below The White House announced last week that the U.S. inventory of highly enriched uranium (HEU) as of September 2013 has been declassified. “The newly declassified information shows that, from 1996 to 2013, U.S. HEU inventories decreased from 740.7 metric tons to 585.6 metric tons. This reflects a reduction of over 20 percent,” according […]
The Department of Energy budget request for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) would again increase spending on nuclear weapons in Fiscal Year 2017. “The budget request for FY2017 seeks $9,243.1 million for Weapons Activities within a total budget of $12,884 million for NNSA,” according to a new report from the Congressional Research Service. “This […]
The Central Intelligence Agency has formally rescinded its widely-criticized plan to destroy the email records of all but 22 senior agency officials, the National Archives said last week. The CIA proposal generated controversy when it became public in 2014 because of its surprisingly narrow scope, which would have precluded preservation of vast swaths of CIA […]
A new U.S. Army manual addresses the challenges of intelligence support for air and missile defense programs. “A large number of adversary countries possess or are trying to acquire TBMs [tactical ballistic missiles] and Advanced Air Breathing Threats (ABTs) (i.e. Fixed-Wing (FW) aircraft, Rotary-Wing (RW) aircraft, Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), Anti-Radiation Missiles (ARMs), and Cruise […]
By Hans M. Kristensen [Updated April 3, 2016] Russia continues to increase the number of strategic warheads it deploys on its ballistic missiles counted under the New START Treaty, according to the latest aggregate data released by the US State Department. The data shows that Russia now has almost 200 strategic warheads more deployed than […]
For the coming decade, the Department of Defense Military Intelligence Program (MIP) will focus its new investments “on space protection, enhancing capabilities that provide intelligence in Anti-Access / Area Denial environments, improving intelligence support to Cyber operations, and improving Security.” So says the FY 2016 Congressional Budget Justification Book for the MIP, which was released […]