The difficulty that the military has in allocating the efficient use of the electromagnetic spectrum for military operations is aggravated by the fact that some of those uses — involving intelligence platforms and sensors — are secret even from military planners themselves, a new Pentagon doctrinal publication notes. “Coordination with intelligence units and agencies can […]
Though it does not mention anything about Secret Service agents hiring prostitutes in Colombia last week, a newly updated report from the Congressional Research Service provides a timely discussion of The U.S. Secret Service: An Examination and Analysis of Its Evolving Missions, April 16, 2012 Some other new or newly updated CRS reports obtained by […]
Jesselyn Radack’s memoir “Traitor: The Whistleblower and the American Taliban” presents the moving story of a young attorney’s unexpected encounter with official misconduct, and the excruciating ordeal that ensued when she decided to challenge it. In 2001, Ms. Radack was a Justice Department attorney and specialist in legal ethics. In response to an official inquiry, […]
Newly updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that Congress has not made readily available to the public include the following. Millennium Challenge Corporation, April 12, 2012 The G-20 and International Economic Cooperation: Background and Implications for Congress, April 12, 2012 U.S. Trade Deficit and the Impact of Changing Oil Prices, April 13, 2012 Teenage […]
By Hans M. Kristensen The organization Reaching Critical Will has published a collection of articles about the nuclear weapons modernization programs that are underway in the various nuclear weapons states around the world. My modest contribution is the chapter on France (pages 27-33). The report – Assuring Destruction Forever – illustrates that although the Cold War […]
Former CIA officer John C. Kiriakou is to be arraigned today on charges of leaking classified information to the press in violation of the Espionage Act and the Intelligence Identities Protection Act — charges that he denies. See The Case of An Accused Leaker: Politics or Justice? by Carrie Johnson, National Public Radio, April 13. […]
Last week, the Department of Defense published the 2012 edition of the Manual for Courts-Martial (MCM). The Manual contains the Rules for Courts-Martial (RCM), the Military Rules of Evidence (MRE), and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The latest edition incorporates legislative amendments and other changes introduced since the previous edition was published in 2008. […]
The elimination of the congressional Office of Technology Assessment in 1995 was a self-inflicted wound that left Congress with diminished capacity to evaluate the challenging scientific and technological issues that continue to confront it. But the need for such an enterprise to support the legislative process has not gone away, and to a limited extent […]
On April 3, the National Reconnaissance Office successfully launched a classified intelligence satellite into orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base. Notwithstanding the usual operations security measures, amateur satellite trackers were able to locate the satellite in orbit within a few hours and even to videotape its passage overhead. Last week’s launch is the first of […]
New reports from the Congressional Research Service that Congress has not made publicly available include the following. Lean Finely Textured Beef: The “Pink Slime” Controversy, April 6, 2012 Government Procurement in Times of Fiscal Uncertainty, April 9, 2012 An Analysis of STEM Education Funding at the NSF: Trends and Policy Discussion, April 9, 2012 Federal […]
It is possible to imagine all kinds of changes in government secrecy policy that would make the secrecy system smaller, more efficient, more susceptible to error correction, and more attuned to shifting security requirements. Such changes might include, for example, self-cancelling classification markings, numerical limits on classification activity, broadly distributed oversight and declassification authority, new […]
New and newly updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include these. U.S. Oil Imports and Exports, April 4, 2012 Navy Irregular Warfare and Counterterrorism Operations: Background and Issues for Congress, April 6, 2012 Navy Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Program: Background, Issues and Options for […]