The Nuclear Regulatory Commission reported in July that it is “retiring” classification guides on three topical areas as a result of the ongoing Fundamental Classification Guidance Review. The cancelled classification guides pertain to “national security information concerning nuclear materials and facilities”; “assessing nuclear threat messages”; and “information dealing with the release and dispersion of radioactive […]
Reporting on intelligence can be a challenge even for an experienced national security reporter, observed Dana Priest in her book “Top Secret America” (co-authored with William Arkin). “Having traveled the world with the military, I just didn’t understand why I was failing to progress with [reporting on] the CIA,” she wrote (p. 19). “Maybe I […]
Mahmoud M. Hegab was a well-regarded budget analyst at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) until last year when his Top Secret/SCI security clearance was abruptly revoked. Among the issues precipitating his loss of clearance were the fact that his newlywed wife had graduated from an Islamic school, that she had participated in an anti-war protest, […]
By Darren Ruch, 1st Lt, MA ANG USAF* In 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the United States was armed with a stockpile of over 18,300 nuclear weapons.[1] Since then, the US Air Force (USAF) has conducted a range of military operations while maintaining a nuclear deterrence […]
Former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling, who is accused of leaking classified information to reporter James Risen, should not be permitted to argue at trial later this month that he was unfairly singled out for prosecution, government attorneys urged in an October 4 motion. “The Court should bar the defendant [Sterling] from presenting any evidence, argument […]
“The Soldier’s Guide,” which is something like the U.S. Army equivalent of the Boy Scout Handbook, was updated last month. The 436 page Guide is filled with instruction and lore about life in the U.S. Army. It covers Army history, traditions, and professional development. In places the text limps. Thus, “The Army’s core values are […]
. Back in the late-1970s, U.S. nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines suddenly started conducting port visits to South Korea. For a few years the boomers arrived at a steady rate, almost every month, sometimes 2-3 visits per month. Then, in 1981, the visits stopped and the boomers haven’t been back since. At the time the […]
The Department of Defense this year cancelled 82 security classification guides as a result of the ongoing Fundamental Classification Guidance Review, a focused effort to combat overclassification of national security information. The cancelled guides can no longer be used to authorize classification of DoD information. The Fundamental Classification Guidance Review, which must be performed by […]
The leading Chinese think tank known as CICIR, or China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, “is affiliated with China’s top intelligence agency,” according to a profile (pdf) prepared by the DNI Open Source Center (OSC), “although this fact is rarely acknowledged in PRC media.” The OSC report presents a detailed description of the structure, leadership […]
Recent moves by Russia to reform its military were assessed by the Congressional Research Service in a new report (pdf). “This report… provides basic information about the [Russian] military’s leadership and structure, the arms industry and efforts to modernize weaponry (including through foreign arms technology transfers), power projection efforts, and the military budget.” The CRS […]
FAS published a new Issue Brief, “A Nuclear-Free Mirage? Obstacles to President Obama’s Goal of a Nuclear Weapons Free World.” Dr. Robert Standish Norris, Senior Fellow for Nuclear Policy at FAS was interviewed by Charles Blair, Director of FAS’s Terrorism Analysis Project, about the obstacles to the implementation of the Obama administration’s Nuclear Posture Review (NPR). After twenty […]
Led by the United States, arms-exporting nations are competing ever more intensely to win lucrative sales contracts in a shrinking global marketplace, according to a new report (pdf) from the Congressional Research Service. “Worldwide weapons sales declined generally in 2010 in response to the constraints created by the tenuous state of the global economy,” the […]