Noteworthy new and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that Congress has not made readily available to the public include the following. Carbon Capture and Sequestration: Research, Development, and Demonstration at the U.S. Department of Energy, April 23, 2012 Members of Congress Who Die in Office: Historic and Current Practices, April 25, 2012 Hydraulic […]
The Senate Intelligence Committee has been reviewing the post-9/11 detention and interrogation practices of the Central Intelligence Agency for four years and is still not finished. But the end appears to be in sight. “The review itself is nearing completion — before the end of summer — but is not over yet,” a spokesperson for […]
Government attorneys yesterday asked a court for an extension of time to respond to two Freedom of Information Act lawsuits seeking disclosure of records pertaining to “alleged targeted lethal operations” conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency, including the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki. The attorneys’ request seems to portend a possible change in the government’s persistent […]
At a pre-trial hearing this week in the case of Pfc. Bradley Manning, who is suspected of releasing classified records to WikiLeaks without authorization, a military judge will consider several motions filed by Manning’s defense that seek to reduce the charges against him, or to have them dismissed altogether. The defense motions, filed by attorney […]
As is often remarked, the number of individuals charged with Espionage Act violations by the Obama Administration for disclosing information to the media without authorization is unprecedented and exceeds all previous cases in all prior Administrations combined. But why is that? There are several possible explanations. One answer is that the sources of unauthorized disclosures […]
We note with sadness the death last week of Congressional Research Service analyst Stephen Daggett, who tutored generations of Members and congressional staff in the intricacies of U.S. military spending. Although I did not know him personally, I read his work and learned from him for many years. Our condolences to his family and his […]
Following years of controversy, the Government Accountability Office this week released an unclassified version of its long-awaited report on FBI Counterterrorism. The report itself comes as an anti-climax, but it is the first GAO report involving intelligence-related matters to be completed since the issuance of an intelligence community directive last summer which authorized GAO to […]
The difficulty that the military has in allocating the efficient use of the electromagnetic spectrum for military operations is aggravated by the fact that some of those uses — involving intelligence platforms and sensors — are secret even from military planners themselves, a new Pentagon doctrinal publication notes. “Coordination with intelligence units and agencies can […]
Though it does not mention anything about Secret Service agents hiring prostitutes in Colombia last week, a newly updated report from the Congressional Research Service provides a timely discussion of The U.S. Secret Service: An Examination and Analysis of Its Evolving Missions, April 16, 2012 Some other new or newly updated CRS reports obtained by […]
Jesselyn Radack’s memoir “Traitor: The Whistleblower and the American Taliban” presents the moving story of a young attorney’s unexpected encounter with official misconduct, and the excruciating ordeal that ensued when she decided to challenge it. In 2001, Ms. Radack was a Justice Department attorney and specialist in legal ethics. In response to an official inquiry, […]
Newly updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that Congress has not made readily available to the public include the following. Millennium Challenge Corporation, April 12, 2012 The G-20 and International Economic Cooperation: Background and Implications for Congress, April 12, 2012 U.S. Trade Deficit and the Impact of Changing Oil Prices, April 13, 2012 Teenage […]
By Hans M. Kristensen The organization Reaching Critical Will has published a collection of articles about the nuclear weapons modernization programs that are underway in the various nuclear weapons states around the world. My modest contribution is the chapter on France (pages 27-33). The report – Assuring Destruction Forever – illustrates that although the Cold War […]