Certain types of life science research involving “high consequence pathogens and toxins” would be subject to new review and risk mitigation procedures which might include classification of the research or termination of the funding, according to a U.S. government policy issued yesterday by the National Institutes of Health. The policy applies to research involving 15 […]
The factors that could influence an Israeli decision to attack Iranian nuclear targets and the implications of such an act were assessed in a new report from the Congressional Research Service. The report surveys the multiple dimensions of the issue at length, though it does not appear to provide much new information or original analysis. See Israel: Possible […]
Constitutional government in the United States is alive and well. At least, that is the hopeful conclusion of Jack Goldsmith’s stimulating new book “Power and Constraint.” Goldsmith, a former head of the Bush Administration’s Office of Legal Counsel, disputes the widely accepted view that traditional checks and balances have been diminished by the war on […]
The latest issue of the Army’s Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin is devoted to the Human Terrain System (HTS), which is a U.S. Army program to conduct social and cultural studies in support of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Bulletin provides theoretical and practical accounts from HTS personnel in the field. Thus, HTS analyst […]
The Open Society Foundations will host a discussion on “National Security Secrecy and Surveillance: Defending the Public’s Right to Know” on April 4 in New York City. I will moderate a panel of speakers including NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake, Jesselyn Radack of the Government Accountability Project, investigative journalist Timothy Shorrock, and ACLU attorney Jameel Jaffer. […]
Updated below A certain technology that could extend the mission duration and capabilities of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) was favorably assessed last year by scientists at Sandia National Laboratories and Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation. But they concluded regretfully that “current political conditions will not allow use of the results.” The assessment was carried out to […]
The Government Accountability Office has overcome longstanding opposition to its role in intelligence oversight, and has been conducting several projects involving oversight of intelligence agencies. A classified GAO review of FBI counterterrorism programs has been completed, and a GAO investigation of the role of contractors in intelligence is in progress. Last year, acting at congressional […]
Updated below Scientist Stewart Nozette has pleaded guilty to attempted espionage and will be sentenced this week to an anticipated 13 year prison term. But he never committed espionage in fact and he would never have considered the possibility if he had not been “manipulated and exploited” by FBI agents, his attorneys wrote in a lengthy […]
Some new or updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that Congress has not made readily available to the public include the following. Congressional Oversight of Agency Public Communications: Implications of Agency New Media Use, March 14, 2012 The Global Climate Change Initiative (GCCI): Budget Authority and Request, FY2010-FY2013, March 15, 2012 Russia’s March 2012 […]
The American soldier who is accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians is under the legal jurisdiction of the U.S. government and is immune from prosecution under Afghan law, says a newly updated report from the Congressional Research Service. Afghan officials had said they wanted the soldier to be tried in Afghanistan, not in an American […]
After former CIA officer Ishmael Jones wrote a book about the CIA without gaining prior approval from the Agency, the government sought and won a judicial ruling that Jones had acted in violation of his CIA secrecy agreement, and that he could be held liable for the breach. But the government’s current efforts to seize […]
Income inequality in the United States is more pronounced than in other developed countries, a new report from the Congressional Research Service finds, while the possibility of economic mobility is more constrained than commonly believed. “Based on the limited data that are comparable across nations, the U.S. income distribution appears to be among the most […]