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U.S.-Egypt Relations, and More from CRS

New and newly updated publications from the Congressional Research Service that Congress has withheld from online public access include the following. Egypt: Background and U.S. Relations, updated June 27, 2013 Mixed-Oxide Fuel Fabrication Plant and Plutonium Disposition: Management and Policy Issues, June 25, 2013 Ballistic Missile Defense in the Asia-Pacific Region: Cooperation and Opposition, June […]

07.02.13 | 1 min read
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FAS
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Pentagon Reverts to Nuclear Stockpile Secrecy

In May 2010, the Department of Defense disclosed that the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal consisted of 5,113 warheads (as of September 30, 2009). This was a disclosure of great significance, the Pentagon explained:  “Increasing the transparency of global nuclear stockpiles is important to non-proliferation efforts, and to pursuing follow-on reductions after the ratification and entry […]

07.01.13 | 2 min read
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FAS
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NSA Surveillance and the Failure of Intelligence Oversight

Recent disclosures of NSA collection of records of US telephone and email traffic have some unfortunate parallels and precedents in the early history of the Agency that were thought to have been repudiated forever. “After World War II, the National Security Agency (NSA) established and directed three programs that deliberately targeted American citizens’ private communications,” […]

07.01.13 | 2 min read
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FAS
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Intelligence Accountability Reviews: An Unused Oversight Tool

In 2007, Congress passed legislation to grant the Director of National Intelligence “new authority to conduct accountability reviews of significant failures or deficiencies with the Intelligence Community.”  Up to now, however, that authority has never been exercised. In 2011, the DNI issued Intelligence Community Directive (ICD) 111 on “Accountability Reviews.” That recently disclosed Directive “establishes […]

06.27.13 | 2 min read
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FAS
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Science and Technology in the 113th Congress, and More from CRS

New and newly updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that Congress has withheld from online distribution include the following. Science and Technology Issues in the 113th Congress, June 20, 2013 What Is the Farm Bill?, June 21, 2013 Independent Counsels, Special Prosecutors, Special Counsels, and the Role of Congress, June 20, 2013 Transforming Government […]

06.26.13 | 1 min read
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Secrecy System Shows Signs of Contraction

The creation of new national security secrets dropped sharply in 2012, recently released government data show.  While the proper boundaries of official secrecy remain a matter of intense dispute, the secrecy system itself is showing surprising new signs of restraint and even contraction. In 2012, the number of original classification decisions, or decisions to classify […]

06.25.13 | 4 min read
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Global Risk
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New Nuclear Weapons Employment Guidance Puts Obama’s Fingerprint on Nuclear Weapons Policy and Strategy

By Hans M. Kristensen President Barack Obama’s Berlin speech failed to capture the nuclear disarmament spirit of the Prague speech four years ago. And no wonder. Back then Obama had to contrast with the Bush administration’s nuclear policies. This time Obama had to upstage his own record. The only real nuclear weapons news that was […]

06.20.13 | 8 min read
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Global Risk
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Radiological Ray Gun: More Buck Rogers Fantasy than Risk to Real People

The June 18th arrest of two men for allegedly plotting to build a bizarre yet potentially deadly radiological device once again highlights the potential nexus of non-state actors with so-called weapons of mass destruction (WMD). However, much like this year’s troika of ricin-laced letters addressed to government facilities (including one to the CIA) and public […]

06.20.13 | 8 min read
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FAS
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A Candid Look at the Senate Intelligence Committee

Much of the continuing controversy over intelligence surveillance policy revolves around whether the sweeping collection of U.S. telephone data by intelligence agencies violates constitutional norms.  But it is also an occasion to assess the quality of intelligence oversight, and to review the performance of oversight mechanisms in representing the public and defending its interests. So […]

06.18.13 | 4 min read
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Armed Conflict in Syria, and More from CRS

Newly updated reports from the Congressional Research Service include the following. Armed Conflict in Syria: U.S. and International Response, June 14, 2013 Syria’s Chemical Weapons: Issues for Congress, June 14, 2013 U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces: Background, Developments, and Issues, June 14, 2013 The Trans-Pacific Partnership Negotiations and Issues for Congress, June 17, 2013

06.18.13 | 1 min read
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FAS
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Hundreds of Classified Leaks Under Review by IC Inspector General

Hundreds of cases of unauthorized disclosures of classified information were under review by the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Intelligence Community as of last year, according to a 2012 report that was recently declassified. “The Investigations Division [of the IC Office of the Inspector General] is reviewing 375 unauthorized disclosure case files,” […]

06.17.13 | 3 min read
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FAS
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National Security Secrecy and the Right to Know

While almost everyone would agree that national security secrecy has a role to play in an open society, such secrecy must be carefully circumscribed if robust public access to government information is to be preserved.  A set of principles that open societies around the world can use to help guide and limit the application of […]

06.13.13 | 3 min read
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