The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the U.S. intelligence agency that is responsible for developing and operating the nation’s intelligence satellites, has released a redacted version of its Congressional Budget Justification Book for the current fiscal year in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. “NRO systems allow users to quickly focus multiple sensors on […]
Noteworthy new and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made available to the public include the following. Presidential Reorganization Authority: History, Recent Initiatives, and Options for Congress, December 11, 2012 Presidential Appointee Positions Requiring Senate Confirmation and Committees Handling Nominations, November 15, 2012 Legal Protections for Subcontractors on Federal Prime […]
The Senate moved last week to restrain the rapid growth of the Defense Clandestine Service, the Pentagon’s human intelligence operation. Under a provision of the FY2013 defense authorization act that was approved on December 4, the Pentagon would be prohibited from hiring any more spies than it had as of last April, and it would […]
Members of the public are invited to develop and submit ideas to an essay contest on the potential uses of open source information and technology to support international arms control initiatives. The State Department is sponsoring the contest in partnership with the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies and the Moscow-based Center for Policy Studies. […]
Noteworthy new and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that Congress has not made publicly available include the following. Iran’s Ballistic Missile and Space Launch Programs, December 6, 2012 Syria’s Chemical Weapons: Issues for Congress, December 5, 2012 Egypt: Background and U.S. Relations, December 6, 2012 In Brief: Next Steps in the War in […]
In a long-awaited report to the President, the Public Interest Declassification Board urged the White House to take the lead in fixing the national secrecy system. The Public Interest Declassification Board is an advisory committee that was established by Congress to help promote possible access to the documentary record of significant U.S. national security decisions […]
Congressional concerns arising from China’s holdings of U.S. government debt, including the potential for economic destabilization or diplomatic coercion, are examined in a report from the Congressional Research Service that was updated today. See China’s Holdings of U.S. Securities: Implications for the U.S. Economy, December 6, 2012. Relatedly (though not newly updated), see Foreign Holdings […]
James F. Hitselberger, a Navy contract linguist who was charged under the Espionage Act for mishandling classified records, yesterday asked a court to release him from pre-trial detention. His release would pose no hazard, and he is not a flight risk, his public defenders said. Mr. Hitselberg allegedly removed classified records from a secure facility […]
On January 6, 2013 Congress will convene to count electoral votes and to formally certify the results of the last presidential election. The process was detailed by the Congressional Research Service in Counting Electoral Votes: An Overview of Procedures at the Joint Session, Including Objections by Members of Congress, November 30, 2012. The declining economic […]
A country with few natural resources, first Japan began to develop nuclear power technologies in 1954. Nuclear energy assisted with Japanese economic development and reconstruction post World War II. However, with the fear of lethal ash and radioactive fallout and the lingering effects from the 2011 accident at Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, there are many concerns related to Japanese nonproliferation, security and nuclear policy.
President Obama’s declared commitment to provide “an unprecedented level of openness in government” has often been criticized and mocked. Depending on how one measures it, overall secrecy has actually increased rather than declined. Criminalization of unauthorized disclosures of information to the press has risen sharply, becoming a preferred tactic. Efforts to promote public accountability in […]
The extraordinary rise in income inequality among Americans is painstakingly documented in a newly updated report from the Congressional Research Service. In the past few decades, the rich have gotten a lot richer as “those at the very top have reaped disproportionately larger gains from economic growth.” “Based on the limited data that are comparable […]