Secrecy News stated yesterday that the decline in the number of pages reviewed for declassification last year (as reported by the Information Security Oversight Office) means that the goal set by President Obama of reviewing the entire backlog of 25 year old historical records by December 2013 will not be achieved. But that is not […]
The total number of pages of government records that were reviewed for declassification last year, as well as the number that were actually declassified, declined slightly from the year before, according to the 2011 annual report from the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) that was published today. Not only is this trend line unfavorable in […]
An initiative that was started two years ago to declassify significant rulings of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court regarding domestic intelligence surveillance has produced no declassified records, a Justice Department official confirmed last week. In response to complaints about the rise of “secret law,” the Justice Department and the Office of the Director of National […]
The former director of the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) asked a federal court yesterday for permission to disclose a National Security Agency document that he said represented an egregious example of overclassification. J. William Leonard was the ISOO director, or what is sometimes called the “classification czar,” from 2002-2008. In that role, he was […]
The publication of leaked classified documents by WikiLeaks continues to confound government officials and to generate some unusual legal tangles. Last month, attorneys for a Guantanamo prisoner asked a federal court to nullify the restrictions that the government has imposed on access to and dissemination of the leaked records, so that the prisoner can prepare […]
New and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that Congress has not made available to the public include the following. Table Egg Production and Hen Welfare: The UEP-HSUS Agreement and H.R. 3798, May 14, 2012 Intelligence Authorization Legislation: Status and Challenges, May 21, 2012 Central Asia: Regional Developments and Implications for U.S. Interests, May […]
In a directive issued last week, Secretary of the Army John M. McHugh established a new Army Special Programs Directorate (ASPD) to administer and oversee special access programs and other “sensitive activities” conducted by the Army. “I expect all Army commands, organizations and personnel to be proactive in affording the ASPD and the other members […]
The House of Representatives last week adopted an amendment to require the Attorney General to conduct a criminal investigation into “leaks of sensitive information involving the military, intelligence, and operational capabilities of the United States and Israel.” Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), who sponsored the amendment to the FY2013 defense authorization act, cited stories based on […]
New and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that Congress has instructed CRS not to release to the public include the following. Proliferation of Precision Strike: Issues for Congress, May 14, 2012 By one official reckoning, there were 35 terrorist incidents in the United States between 2004 and 2011. See The Domestic Terrorist Threat: […]
At the Chicago Summit NATO will once again reaffirm nuclear status quo in Europe . By Hans M. Kristensen Does NATO have a hard time waking up from its nuclear past? It would seem so. Similar to the movie Groundhog Day where a reporter played by Bill Murray wakes up to relive the same day […]
The Department of Defense today issued an Instruction that established the DoD Civil Liberties Program. “It is DoD policy to protect the privacy and civil liberties of DoD employees, members of the Military Services, and the public to the greatest extent possible, consistent with its operational requirements,” the Instruction states. DoD commits itself to considering […]
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization will hold its 2012 summit meeting in Chicago on May 20-21. The meeting, hosted by President Obama, will be closed to the public. The assembled heads of state are expected to discuss the future of the conflict in Afghanistan; NATO defense issues, including the possible reconsideration of the role of […]