By Hans M. Kristensen It is worth your time reading Joe Cirincione’s article in Foreign Affairs: Obama’s Turn on Nuclear Weapons. And I’m not just saying this because Joe is president of the Ploughshares Fund, one of my funders. He does a great job in describing the Obama administration’s ongoing nuclear targeting review and its place in […]
Over the past decade, the number of U.S. special operations forces (SOF) personnel has nearly doubled, while budgets for special operations have nearly tripled, and overseas deployments have quadrupled, according to a newly updated report from the Congressional Research Service. “Special Operations Forces are elite military units with special training and equipment that can infiltrate […]
A handful of historical intelligence satellite images were declassified last month to coincide with a new display of the GAMBIT and HEXAGON spy satellites at the National Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The GAMBIT and HEXAGON satellites were formally declassified last September on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the National […]
A newly revised U.S. Air Force directive on continuity of operations under emergency circumstances refers matter-of-factly to Raven Rock Mountain Complex, a largely restricted U.S. government facility in Pennsylvania. See Air Force Continuity of Operations (COOP) Program, Air Force Instruction 10-208, 15 December 2011. Raven Rock, also known as Site R, has been operational since […]
More than two years ago, President Obama set a December 31, 2013 deadline for completing the declassification processing of a backlog of more than 400 million pages of classified historical records that were over 25 years old. But judging from the limited progress to date, it now seems highly unlikely that the President’s directive will […]
The possibility of increasing U.S. investment in the Middle East as a way to encourage democratic political transitions was examined in a new report from the Congressional Research Service. See U.S. Trade and Investment in the Middle East and North Africa: Overview and Issues, January 20, 2012. Other new or updated CRS reports that have […]
The new defense budget has “no cuts” in nuclear forces. . By Hans M. Kristensen “There are no cuts made in the nuclear force in this budget.” That clear statement was made yesterday by deputy defense secretary Ashton Carter during the Pentagon’s briefing on the defense budget request for Fiscal Year 2013. We’ll have to […]
Updated below Former CIA officer John Kiriakou this week became the latest person to be charged under the Espionage Act with unauthorized disclosures of classified information. But unlike the previous defendants, Mr. Kiriakou was also charged with violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act for allegedly disclosing the identity of a covert intelligence officer to a […]
The use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) within the United States is certain to increase in the years to come, as a new Army policy has recently made clear. (“Army Foresees Expanded Use of Drones in U.S. Airspace,” Secrecy News, January 19.) But in fact the use of unmanned aircraft or drones within U.S. airspace […]
President Obama has used “signing statements” to take exception to provisions of law enacted by Congress with significantly less frequency than did President George W. Bush. He has also abandoned reference to the “unitary executive” concept that was favored by the Bush Administration. In most other respects, however, the Obama Administration’s use of signing statements […]
A government agency’s decision to revoke an employee’s security clearance cannot be reviewed by a federal court even if the decision is based on ethnic discrimination or religious prejudice or other unconstitutional grounds, a court said last week. Judge James C. Cacheris of the Eastern District of Virginia dismissed a lawsuit brought by Mahmoud M. […]
New or updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include the following (all pdf). Afghanistan Casualties: Military Forces and Civilians, January 18, 2012 FY2012 National Defense Authorization Act: Selected Military Personnel Policy Issues, January 5, 2012 Spectrum Policy in the Age of Broadband: Issues for […]