Former CIA officer John C. Kiriakou was indicted yesterday on charges of leaking classified information to the press in violation of the Espionage Act and the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. He had been charged on January 23 but the indictment was not filed and unsealed until yesterday. Kiriakou is accused of violating the Intelligence Identities […]
Dale R. Corson, a nuclear physicist who died last week, is best remembered as the Cornell University President who peacefully led his campus through the turmoil and upheaval of the Vietnam era. But he also played an influential role in deliberations over the role of secrecy in scientific research. Dr. Corson chaired a 1982 committee […]
New or newly updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include the following. The U.S. Infant Mortality Rate: International Comparisons, Underlying Factors, and Federal Programs, April 4, 2012 The Peace Corps: Current Issues, April 4, 2012 Women in Combat: Issues for Congress, April 5, 2012 […]
Newly updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include the following. Navy Virginia (SSN-774) Class Attack Submarine Procurement: Background and Issues for Congress, April 2, 2012 China and Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction and Missiles: Policy Issues, March 30, 2012 Fannie Mae’s and Freddie […]
The growing emphasis on Asia as a focus of U.S. national security planning, known as the “pivot to the Pacific,” is discussed in a new report from the Congressional Research Service. “Underlying the ‘pivot’ is a conviction that the center of gravity for U.S. foreign policy, national security, and economic interests is being realigned and […]
Certain types of life science research involving “high consequence pathogens and toxins” would be subject to new review and risk mitigation procedures which might include classification of the research or termination of the funding, according to a U.S. government policy issued yesterday by the National Institutes of Health. The policy applies to research involving 15 […]
The factors that could influence an Israeli decision to attack Iranian nuclear targets and the implications of such an act were assessed in a new report from the Congressional Research Service. The report surveys the multiple dimensions of the issue at length, though it does not appear to provide much new information or original analysis. See Israel: Possible […]
Constitutional government in the United States is alive and well. At least, that is the hopeful conclusion of Jack Goldsmith’s stimulating new book “Power and Constraint.” Goldsmith, a former head of the Bush Administration’s Office of Legal Counsel, disputes the widely accepted view that traditional checks and balances have been diminished by the war on […]
The latest issue of the Army’s Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin is devoted to the Human Terrain System (HTS), which is a U.S. Army program to conduct social and cultural studies in support of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Bulletin provides theoretical and practical accounts from HTS personnel in the field. Thus, HTS analyst […]
The Open Society Foundations will host a discussion on “National Security Secrecy and Surveillance: Defending the Public’s Right to Know” on April 4 in New York City. I will moderate a panel of speakers including NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake, Jesselyn Radack of the Government Accountability Project, investigative journalist Timothy Shorrock, and ACLU attorney Jameel Jaffer. […]
Updated below A certain technology that could extend the mission duration and capabilities of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) was favorably assessed last year by scientists at Sandia National Laboratories and Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation. But they concluded regretfully that “current political conditions will not allow use of the results.” The assessment was carried out to […]
The Government Accountability Office has overcome longstanding opposition to its role in intelligence oversight, and has been conducting several projects involving oversight of intelligence agencies. A classified GAO review of FBI counterterrorism programs has been completed, and a GAO investigation of the role of contractors in intelligence is in progress. Last year, acting at congressional […]