Department of Defense special access programs (SAPs) will normally remain classified for at least 40 years, according to newly issued DoD SAP marking guidance. SAPs are established to protect particularly sensitive government information by imposing access requirements that exceed those for other classified information. “SAP documents, dated prior to January 1, 1982, shall be declassified […]
New and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that Congress has withheld from online public distribution include the following. The FY2014 Government Shutdown: Economic Effects, November 1, 2013 Legislative Actions to Repeal, Defund, or Delay the Affordable Care Act, October 30, 2013 Membership of the 113th Congress: A Profile, October 31, 2013 Salaries of […]
Disclosure of U.S. intelligence surveillance activities in Germany and other allied countries has aroused angry public reaction in those countries, and has prompted discussion of the possibility of negotiating “no spy zones” abroad in which certain types of intelligence collection would be renounced and prohibited. Some have spoken of extending to Germany or other countries […]
“Some of our adversaries will say or do anything to advance their cause; we will not.” That’s what a Top Secret National Security Agency document says, as reported by the New York Times over the weekend (“No Morsel Too Minuscule for NSA” by Scott Shane, November 2). But the list of things that U.S. intelligence […]
In 1973, the Director of Central Intelligence ordered CIA officials to prepare a descriptive account of all CIA activities that were “outside the legislative charter of this Agency,” which is to say unauthorized or illegal. The purpose of the exercise was to identify operations that had “flap potential,” meaning that they could embarrass the Agency […]
Total U.S. intelligence spending last year declined by more than 10%. Intelligence spending has been on a downward slope for the last few years since its peak in 2010. But last year’s drop, disclosed yesterday in newly declassified budget data for FY2013, was the steepest one-year decline in intelligence spending since at least the end […]
New and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that Congress has withheld from online public distribution include the following. Sovereign Debt in Advanced Economies: Overview and Issues for Congress, October 28, 2013 Foreign Assistance: Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), October 28, 2013 Oil and Natural Gas Industry Tax Issues in the FY2014 Budget Proposal, October 30, […]
There were 139 new “secrecy orders” granted on patent applications during Fiscal Year 2013, according to new data released under the Freedom of Information Act by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Under the Invention Secrecy Act of 1951, secrecy orders may be imposed by government agencies on patent applications if their disclosure would be […]
New or newly updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that Congress has withheld from online public distribution include the following. Army Drawdown and Restructuring: Background and Issues for Congress, October 25, 2013 Afghanistan: Post-Taliban Governance, Security, and U.S. Policy, October 23, 2013 Chemical Regulation in the European Union: Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals, […]
By Hans M. Kristensen With every official statement about the B61 nuclear bomb life-extension program, the capabilities of the new version (B61-12) appear to be increasing. Previously, officials from the DOD, STRATCOM, and NNSA said the program is a consolidation of the B61-3, B61-4, B61-7, and B61-10 gravity bombs that would provide no additional military […]
The Department of Defense Inspector General yesterday released its Evaluation of Over-Classification of National Security Information. Unfortunately, the new report is superficial, incomplete and sheds little light on either the problem of overclassification or any potential solution. Like other Inspectors General who have recently been evaluating classification policy under the Reducing Over-Classification Act, the DoD […]
New or updated reports from the Congressional Research Service obtained by Secrecy News include the following. Carbon Capture: A Technology Assessment, October 21, 2013 Social Security: What Would Happen If the Trust Funds Ran Out?, October 21, 2013 Video Relay Service: Program Funding and Reform, October 22, 2013 Mandatory Minimum Sentencing: Federal Aggravated Identity Theft, […]