Recent reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include the following (all pdf). FY2012 National Defense Authorization Act: Selected Military Personnel Policy Issues, June 20, 2011 The U.S.-Canada Energy Relationship: Joined at the Well, June 17, 2011 Foreign Assistance: Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), June 13, 2011 Considerations […]
According to President Obama, he has no higher duty than to protect the American people. But that’s not what the Constitution says. “As President, I have often said that I have no greater responsibility than protecting the American people,” wrote President Obama in the new “National Strategy for Counterterrorism” (pdf) that was released by the […]
A federal court said that a former CIA clandestine services officer had breached his secrecy agreement by publishing a critical account of the CIA without obtaining prior Agency authorization. Judge Gerald Bruce Lee of the Eastern District of Virginia ruled at a June 15 hearing (pdf) that the CIA officer, who goes by the pseudonym […]
Congress has directed the Congressional Research Service not to make its reports directly available to the public. This policy does not make any practical sense and does not command respect inside or outside of government, but it has proven easier to work around the policy than to change it. Here are some new CRS reports […]
On May 26 Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero announced that the Pentagon Papers, the famous history of the Vietnam War, had been formally declassified and would be released — except for eleven words that remained classified. But then on June 13, the Papers were published in full with no redactions at all. […]
Fifty years ago this week, on June 29, 1961, an electrical generator driven by nuclear energy was launched into space for the first time. The SNAP-3 radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) powered by the natural decay heat of plutonium-238 provided a minuscule 2.7 watts of power to the Navy’s Transit 4A navigational satellite, which was placed […]
A substantial new report from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) considers the potential threat posed by radiological dispersal devices or “dirty bombs.” At the direction of Congress, the CRS does not make its publications directly available to the public. The “dirty bomb” report, as well as a shorter, abridged version of the report, and the […]
Attorneys for New York Times reporter James Risen yesterday asked a court to quash a subpoena requiring him to testify in the case of former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling, who is accused of leaking classified information to Mr. Risen. “Because the information sought by the Government is protected by the reporter’s privilege under the First […]
An intelligence reform proposal to establish a stand-alone budget appropriation for intelligence spending would be blocked if a provision in the House version of the Fiscal Year 2012 defense appropriations bill is enacted into law. Instead, intelligence spending would remain concealed in the defense budget. “None of the funds appropriated in this or any other […]
The Congressional Research Service is prohibited by congressional secrecy policy from making its reports directly available to the public. These new CRS reports on various topics of current interest were obtained by Secrecy News (all pdf). “Severe Thunderstorms and Tornadoes in the United States,” May 26, 2011. “Defense: FY2012 Budget Request, Authorization and Appropriations,” June […]
The government yesterday filed a formal response (pdf) in federal court in opposition to the public use of WikiLeaks documents by a habeas attorney who represents a client in U.S. military detention at Guantanamo Bay. Those documents are or may be classified, the government insisted, and must continue to be treated as such. In an […]
The Department of Defense has created a new DoD Laboratory Network (pdf) to coordinate existing programs on the assessment of and response to the use of weapons of mass destruction. The new Network is intended “to provide timely, high-quality, actionable results for early detection, confirmation, response, and effective consequence management of acts of terrorism or […]