Investment banker Maurice Sonnenberg was appointed this week to the National Commission for the Review of the Research and Development Programs of the U.S. Intelligence Community. The most surprising thing about the appointment was its predictability. If national commissions on intelligence were a TV game show, Maurice Sonnenberg would be Kitty Carlisle or Orson Bean. […]
“Litigation Under the Federal Open Government Laws 2010” is the latest edition of a classic handbook for Freedom of Information Act litigants. It provides an updated summary of the relevant case law and a discussion of many of the most commonly encountered issues and obstacles a FOIA litigator may face. Any FOIA requester or attorney […]
A few Senators are preventing US inspectors from verifying the status of Russian nuclear weapons. By Hans M. Kristensen The ability of a few Senators to delay ratification of the New START treaty is gambling with national and international security. At home the delay is depriving the U.S. intelligence community important information about the status […]
The use of access control markings such as the Transportation Security Agency’s “Sensitive Security Information” (SSI) to limit disclosure of unclassified records has been criticized from time to time as arbitrary and self-serving. But now, due to a subtle change in the recent executive order on “Controlled Unclassified Information,” SSI and other such markings should […]
In a revealing failure of Administration commitments to transparency, an official history of the U.S. government’s post-war pursuit of (or sometimes accommodation with) Nazi war criminals was obtained by the New York Times after the Department of Justice refused to release an unexpurgated version under the Freedom of Information Act. The secret history was reported […]
The rationale for the New START Treaty between the United States and Russia on reductions in nuclear weapons was addressed at length in an October 1 report from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. On September 16, the Committee recommended ratification of the Treaty, which awaits consideration by the full Senate. The 141-page Committee report (large […]
by Ivanka Barzashka After a year-long stalemate, Iran and the P5+1 seem to have agreed on a day for holding political talks – December 2. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed last week that the meeting “will not include discussions on fuel swap” – the deal with France, Russia and United States, also known as the […]
The Senate should vote on the New START during the “lame duck” session. The New START arms control treaty, negotiated between the United States and Russia and signed by the presidents of both countries last April, is awaiting ratification by the United States Senate. Objections to the treaty rest primarily upon misunderstandings or misrepresentation. In […]
. By Hans M. Kristensen It’s interesting scary what you can find on the Internet: On Thursday, a Canadian calling himself SinoSoldier posted a report on the Pakistani web site Pakistan Defense claiming that China had test launched a JL-3 submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) from a submarine in the Atlantic (!). Different versions allegedly have […]
Like many techie sorts interested in military matters, I was caught up in the great California missile plume mystery. I first heard about it when a reported called with questions and she sent a link to a video. A traffic helicopter, an often underappreciated source of strategic intelligence, working for a local news station, KCAL, […]
“Prompt global strike” refers to the possibility of destroying a target anywhere on Earth within minutes or hours using bombers, cruise missiles or ballistic missiles armed with conventional warheads. The prompt global strike mission and its various implications were examined in a new report (pdf) from the Congressional Research Service. Some argue that a conventional […]
The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks between the U.S. and the Soviet Union that led to the signing of the SALT I Treaty in 1972 were documented in exhaustive detail in the latest volume of the official State Department publication Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS). The new FRUS volume (pdf), which is more than […]