by Ivanka Barzashka and Ivan Oelrich After a cascade of disclosures and official announcements, followed by a great deal of conjecture from experts and the media, the Fordo enrichment plant, Iran’s newest enrichment facility located in the mountains near Qom, opened its doors on October 25 to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections. The US, […]
Some of the steps that are favored by the Obama Administration to open up government to public access and participation may be “useful” but they are nevertheless “prohibited” on U.S. Air Force web sites, according to a new Air Force policy instruction. In a January 21, 2009 memorandum on transparency and open government, President Obama […]
Whatever its archaic publication policy may say, the U.S. Air Force still manages to generate and publicly release documents of significant policy interest. A new manual on the Open Skies Treaty explores the origins, development, and implementation of the Open Skies regime, which permits the overflight and inspection of member nations’ territory and facilities. See […]
From time to time, publishers send us review copies of new books. We are glad to receive them, even if we cannot always read the books promptly or produce substantial reviews. New receipts include these: “Nuclear Insights: The Cold War Legacy” by Alexander DeVolpi, volume 2: Nuclear Threats and Prospects, 2009. “Preventing Catastrophe: The Use […]
A House Subcommittee is reviving a decade-old debate over the need to expeditiously replace the older security locks on safes for storing classified documents with new, more sophisticated electromechanical locks. “The secure storage of classified information is a matter of paramount importance to the national security of the United States,” wrote Rep. John F. Tierney […]
The records of several noteworthy congressional hearings that were held in the past two years have been published in the last few weeks, including these: “A Report Card on Homeland Security Information Sharing,” House Homeland Security Committee, September 24, 2008. “Turning Spy Satellites on the Homeland: The Privacy and Civil Liberties Implications of the National […]
The DNI Open Source Center has produced a colorful profile of Raymond Wong Yuk-man, a former talk show host who was elected to Hong Kong’s Legislative Council in 2008. Known as “Mad Dog” for “his virulent criticism of the Communist Party of China,” Wong is a member of the “radical pro-democracy League of Social Democrats […]
The total number of invention secrecy orders that the U.S. government imposed on patent applications rose again this year, reaching 5,081 by the end of last month, the highest figure since 1996. Under the Invention Secrecy Act of 1951, U.S. government agencies may restrict the disclosure of a patent application whenever its publication is deemed […]
“Over time, the Supreme Court has become more diverse in some ways and more homogeneous in others,” a recent Congressional Research Service report (pdf) observed. “When first constituted, and throughout most of its history, no women or minorities served on the Court… The religious affiliations of the Court’s members also have changed over time. For […]
Stewart D. Nozette, who was arrested and charged this week under the Espionage Act, is an unusually gifted and accomplished technologist. The allegation that he provided classified information to an FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer in exchange for cash is distressing on several levels. Among other things, Nozette had exceptionally broad access […]
No preemptive nuclear options, according to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. By Hans M. Kristensen During an interview with Ekho Moskvy Radio last week, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was asked if “the American [nuclear] doctrine incorporate[s] preemptive nuclear strikes against an aggressor?” The Secretary’s answer was: “No, no.” Ahem…. Secretary Clinton’s denial that […]
President Barack Obama, here shown speaking to the United Nations in September, is seeking to delay a UN Resolution calling for De-Alerting Nuclear Forces. . By Hans M. Kristensen The Obama administration has asked four countries to postpone a resolution at the United Nations calling for reducing the alert-level of nuclear weapons. The intervention apparently […]