An article in the Russian edition of Forbes magazine this week somewhat facetiously considered the tourism potential of Russia’s secretive and tightly secured closed cities. “In today’s Russia there are 42 closed administrative territorial entities — or ZATOs — surrounded by rows of barbed wire and guarded by armed patrols. They belong to the Ministry […]
In 2005, the U.S. Army issued a new field manual on the military use of dogs, which it said were being “employed in dynamic ways never before imagined.” The field manual was approved for public release and marked for unlimited distribution. See FM 3-19.17, “Military Working Dogs” (pdf), 6 July 2005. But in May 2011, […]
A proposed new rule published for comment by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) last week would establish updated new procedures for the declassification of historical records containing national security information. The proposed rule tracks fairly closely with President Obama’s December 2009 executive order 13526, and thus highlights some of the limitations of that […]
Government attorneys yesterday told a federal court that most of last year’s grand jury proceedings in which New York Times reporter James Risen was subpoenaed to testify should remain secret in the public interest. The grand jury subpoena against Risen was ultimately quashed in a November 30, 2010 order (pdf) that was unsealed last week. […]
Recent reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include the following (all pdf). Enforcement of Congressional Rules of Conduct: An Historical Overview, June 14, 2011 Mandatory Spending Since 1962, June 15, 2011 Veterans and Homelessness, June 15, 2011 Iran Sanctions, June 22, 2011 Congressional Oversight Manual, […]
To admit the possibility of a “good leak” of classified information would undermine the entire classification system, government attorneys told a court (pdf) last week, and therefore it should not do so. The government’s statement was presented in a response to New York Times reporter James Risen’s June 21 motion to quash a subpoena to […]
The latest issue of the Journal of National Security Law & Policy (vol. 5, no. 1) presents several papers on secrecy, disclosure, and related topics by authors including David Kris, Louis Fisher, Geoffrey Stone and Stephen Vladeck, among others. Titles include “The Publication of National Security Information in the Digital Age,” “Burn After Viewing: The […]
Recent reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include the following (all pdf). FY2012 National Defense Authorization Act: Selected Military Personnel Policy Issues, June 20, 2011 The U.S.-Canada Energy Relationship: Joined at the Well, June 17, 2011 Foreign Assistance: Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), June 13, 2011 Considerations […]
According to President Obama, he has no higher duty than to protect the American people. But that’s not what the Constitution says. “As President, I have often said that I have no greater responsibility than protecting the American people,” wrote President Obama in the new “National Strategy for Counterterrorism” (pdf) that was released by the […]
A federal court said that a former CIA clandestine services officer had breached his secrecy agreement by publishing a critical account of the CIA without obtaining prior Agency authorization. Judge Gerald Bruce Lee of the Eastern District of Virginia ruled at a June 15 hearing (pdf) that the CIA officer, who goes by the pseudonym […]
Congress has directed the Congressional Research Service not to make its reports directly available to the public. This policy does not make any practical sense and does not command respect inside or outside of government, but it has proven easier to work around the policy than to change it. Here are some new CRS reports […]
On May 26 Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero announced that the Pentagon Papers, the famous history of the Vietnam War, had been formally declassified and would be released — except for eleven words that remained classified. But then on June 13, the Papers were published in full with no redactions at all. […]