The financial costs of national security classification-related activities continued to rise in 2009, reaching a record high of $9.93 billion for the combined costs of protecting classified information in government and industry, the Information Security Oversight Office reported today (pdf). Classification-related costs include not simply the act of classification, but also everything that follows from […]
One of the simplest and most effective ways to strengthen congressional oversight of intelligence agencies would be to task cleared staffers from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which is the investigative arm of Congress, to undertake specific audits or investigations of intelligence programs. Perhaps the clearest indication of the power of this approach is the […]
The term “overclassification” is used in two distinct senses: The classification of information that should not be classified at all, and the classification of information at a higher level than is justified. Both are problematic, though in different ways. The second form of overclassification, which unnecessarily limits the sharing of information by cleared persons, is […]
China recently opened to the public a massive underground former nuclear weapons facility known as Project 816 in Chongqing, and video footage of the site was featured in a recent report (pdf) from the DNI Open Source Center. The Chongqing facility, which began construction in 1967 (some say 1966), was originally intended to house plutonium […]
One thing that is even more impressive than China’s nuclear history is its emerging green energy future. “China has set ambitious targets for developing its… renewable energy resources with a major push of laws, policies and incentives in the last few years,” according to a new report (pdf) from the Congressional Research Service. “The wind […]
The role of scientific research in weapon development was explored through four case studies written in 1984 by arms control scholar Milton Leitenberg. The case studies examine the development of anti-satellite weapons; weather modification; Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicles (MIRVs); and biological weapons research. Military research does not cause arms races, Leitenberg argued, nor is it […]
Missile Watch A publication of the FAS Arms Sales Monitoring Project Vol. 3, Issue 2 June 2010 Editor: Matt Schroeder Contributing Author: Scoville Fellow Matt Buongiorno Contents: Global News: Survey of black market prices for shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles reveals large differences in missile prices Afghanistan: No shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles in seized Afghan arms caches, confirms […]
The Federal Bureau of Investigation identified 14 suspected “leakers” of classified U.S. intelligence information during the past five years, according to newly disclosed statistics (pdf). Between 2005 and 2009, U.S. intelligence agencies submitted 183 “referrals” to the Department of Justice reporting unauthorized disclosures of classified intelligence. Based on those referrals or on its own initiative, […]
As a matter of law and policy, the Congressional Research Service does not make its products directly available to the public. The following CRS reports were obtained by Secrecy News (all pdf). “Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan: Presidential Authority and the Separation of Powers,” June 4, 2010. “Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan: Defamation and the […]
The global trade in ammunition for small arms and light weapons is worth an estimated $4.3 billion, according to a comprehensive new study released today. Findings from the study, which is co-authored by Matt Schroeder of the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), appears as a chapter in Small Arms Survey 2010: Gangs, Groups, and Guns. […]
The ongoing failure to establish a robust, reliable and productive declassification program is steadily eroding the study of intelligence history and may lead to the collapse of the entire field, one intelligence historian told the National Security Agency last month. “I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that we’re at a crisis point in […]
The House of Representatives yesterday passed the “Grid Reliability and Infrastructure Defense Act” which is intended to bolster that national electric grid against terrorist attacks, cyber threats, electromagnetic pulse weapons and solar storms. The Act authorizes the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to issue emergency orders to protect critical electric infrastructure, and to take other measures […]