The Pentagon’s new report on China’s military forces significantly reduces transparency of China’s missile force by eliminating specific missile numbers previously included in the annual overview. . By Hans M. Kristensen The Pentagon has published its annual assessment of China’s military power (the official title is Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of […]
A federal court yesterday rejected (pdf) multiple defense motions to dismiss Espionage Act charges against former State Department contractor Stephen Kim, who is accused of leaking classified information to a Fox News reporter. Mr. Kim’s defense team had marshalled a series of seemingly ingenious arguments for dismissal. The use of the Espionage Act to punish […]
On August 22 (“Some New Wrinkles in Nuclear Weapons Secrecy”), Secrecy News mistakenly wrote that the SILEX uranium enrichment process is “a unique case in which information that was privately generated was nevertheless classified by the government. As far as could be determined, the decision to classify this non-governmental information under the Atomic Energy Act […]
The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which builds, launches and operates the nation’s intelligence satellites, has been unusually active over the past year. “We are nearly through the most aggressive launch campaign in over 25 years,” said Betty J. Sapp, the NRO Principal Deputy Director, at a March 15, 2011 hearing of the House Armed Services […]
If the Obama Administration wants to advance the cause of open government, one particularly fruitful way to do so would be to share unclassified open source intelligence publications with the public. The Federation of American Scientists offered that suggestion in response to a White House call for public input into the development of the pending […]
The battle for public access to open source intelligence may have been lost before most people even knew it began, judging from the new book, “No More Secrets: Open Source Information and the Reshaping of U.S. Intelligence” by Hamilton Bean (Praeger, 2011). “No More Secrets” is an academic work, not an expose. But it is […]
New and updated reports on China and Taiwan from the Congressional Research Service include the following (all pdf). China-U.S. Trade Issues, August 10, 2011 U.S.-Taiwan Relationship: Overview of Policy Issues, August 4, 2011 China’s Currency: A Summary of the Economic Issues, August 3, 2011 Taiwan: Major U.S. Arms Sales Since 1990, August 2, 2011 U.S.-China […]
A newly released intelligence guide to document classification markings explains the meaning and proper use of control markings to designate classified information. See “Authorized Classification and Control Markings Register” (pdf), CAPCO, Volume 4, Edition 2, May 31, 2011. (See also the associated Implementation Manual of the same date.) This material is very detailed, comprehensive and […]
Prosecutors in the case of former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling, who is accused of leaking classified information, should not be permitted to present their evidence at trial in modified or redacted form and should also not be able to employ other extraordinary security measures, defense attorneys argued in an August 19 pleading (pdf). Specifically, the […]
Recent reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include the following (all pdf). “The European Union: Foreign and Security Policy,” August 15, 2011 “Standard & Poor’s Downgrade of U.S. Government Long-Term Debt,” August 9, 2011 “The Obama Administration’s Cybersecurity Proposal: Criminal Provisions,” July 29, 2011
There can be such a thing as too much security, the Navy said in a new Instruction on “Operations Security” (pdf) or OPSEC. OPSEC refers to the control of unclassified indicators that an adversary could use to derive “critical information” (CI) concerning military or intelligence programs. “Properly applied, OPSEC contributes directly to operational effectiveness by […]
While information sharing among government agencies has increased dramatically over the past decade, it still falls short in some areas. Due to “impediments to intelligence information sharing between U.S. forces and coalition partners,” information sharing with U.S. allies in Afghanistan has faltered to the detriment of the military mission, the Inspector General of the Department […]