The government’s treatment of former National Security Agency official Thomas Drake was abusive and akin to acts of British tyranny in pre-Revolutionary War days, said Judge Richard D. Bennett at the July 15 sentencing hearing which concluded the Drake case, one of the Obama Administration’s record number of anti-“leak” prosecutions. A transcript (pdf) of that […]
Although the indictment of Thomas Drake on charges of mishandling classified information has been dismissed, the case continues to generate significant new ripples. Today, the Drake defense team filed a motion (pdf) to remove the court-imposed restrictions on one of the documents that Mr. Drake was accused of unlawfully possessing so that the purported classification […]
“Congress must take the lead in challenging the laws and practices that have allowed excessive secrecy to become the dominant feature of our national security culture,” the American Civil Liberties Union urged in a new report on government secrecy. “The excessive secrecy that hides how the government pursues its national security mission is undermining the […]
Public cynicism about politics in general and about Congress in particular should not be allowed to obscure an appreciation of the vital role of Congress in our system of government, writes constitutional scholar Louis Fisher in his latest book, “Defending Congress and the Constitution.” “Without a strong Congress, we cannot speak of democracy,” he says. […]
ABOUT THIS REPORT (click to show) At some point, most security analysts face the dilemma of balancing expediency with analytical thoroughness. Such is the case with Norway’s Anders Breivik. As his victims await burial, Breivik’s treatise—the 1500 page, 2083: A European Declaration of Independence (click here for PDF link)—became available only a few days ago. […]
Updated below Last month the National Security Agency announced the declassification of various historic records as evidence of its “commitment to meeting the requirements” of President Obama’s policy on openness and transparency. Among the newly declassified records was a 200 year old publication on cryptology. (“NSA Declassifies 200 Year Old Report,” Secrecy News, June 9, […]
The latest volume of the State Department’s Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series documents U.S. Mideast policy before, during and immediately after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. It was published this month following a four year declassification review that lasted from 2006 to 2010. Among numerous topics of historic and current interest, the 1200 […]
In the past 18 months, the National Declassification Center has completed processing of less than 5% of the 400 million page backlog of 25 year old historical records that are awaiting declassification. Still, the Center “remain[s] confident” that it will meet the December 2013 deadline set by President Obama for processing the entire backlog. The […]
In a step that will shape the future course of U.S. government secrecy policy, President Obama approved the appointment of John P. Fitzpatrick, a security official at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, to be the next Director of the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), effective August 1. The ISOO Director, sometimes referred […]
Government attorneys said last week that a proposal by former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling to subpoena former staff members from the Senate Intelligence Committee to show that they, not he, leaked classified information was “frivolous” and should be denied. Prosecutors also suggested that the Sterling defense motion actually strengthened their own argument that New York […]
Congress opposes direct public access to most Congressional Research Service reports, so people who care to read the reports on current policy issues must work around the Congressional barrier. Some noteworthy new reports from CRS include the following (all pdf). The U.S. Export Control System and the President’s Reform Initiative, July 14, 2011 A Balanced […]
By Hans M. Kristensen Steve Pifer was kind enough to invite me to participate in a panel discussion at the Brookings Institution about NATO’s nuclear future and the issue of non-strategic nuclear weapons in the Alliance’s current Defense and Deterrence Posture Review (DDPR). Steve presented his excellent paper NATO, Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control, Frank […]