The ongoing release of U.S. diplomatic communications by the Wikileaks organization is “embarrassing” and “awkward,” said Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates yesterday, but its consequences for U.S. foreign policy are likely to be “fairly modest.” “I’ve heard the impact of these releases on our foreign policy described as a meltdown, as a game-changer, and […]
As confidential U.S. diplomatic documents continue to enter the public domain, it is worth remembering that not everything that is written down in a government document, even (or especially) in a classified document, is necessarily true. “Truth telling” involves a bit more than trafficking in official records. Any historian or archival researcher knows that. So […]
Nuclear physicist Sam Cohen died Sunday at age 89, the Washington Post reported in an obituary today. Cohen, a veteran of the Manhattan Project, conceived, designed and advocated development of the neutron bomb, a high-radiation anti-personnel weapon. He cordially despised the Federation of American Scientists, which didn’t stop him from writing and calling us regularly […]
Noteworthy new documents from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include the following (all pdf). “Changes in Airport Passenger Screening Technologies and Procedures: Frequently Asked Questions,” November 23, 2010. “North Korea’s 2009 Nuclear Test: Containment, Monitoring, Implications,” November 24, 2010. “Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty: Background and Current Developments,” […]
The massive disclosure of a quarter million diplomatic records by Wikileaks this weekend underscores the precarious state of the U.S. national security classification system. The Wikileaks project seems to be, more than anything else, an assault on secrecy. If Wikileaks were most concerned about whistleblowing, it would focus on revealing corruption. If it were concerned […]
Senator Kit Bond, Republican of Missouri, gave a speech in the Senate on the New START treaty. Eli Lake’s summary is in the Washington Times. He made accusations of serious shortcomings in the treaty. I address these points because they appear to be substantive and earnest, unlike some of the hysteria and outright silliness coming […]
Updated below U.S. efforts to promote the rule of law in Afghanistan are expanding and accelerating. Nearly a billion dollars has been spent in the past decade to strengthen Afghanistan’s legal infrastructure, rising from $7 million in FY2002 to an estimated $411 million in FY2010. In July 2010, a new Ambassador-rank position was created to […]
Noteworthy new reports from the Congressional Research Service include the following (all pdf). “Countering Terrorism in East Africa: The U.S. Response,” November 3, 2010. “Latin America: Terrorism Issues,” October 26, 2010. “U.S.-South Korea Relations,” November 3, 2010.
An unclassified U.S. Army history of military intelligence that was formerly used as a textbook in officer training at the Army Intelligence Center at Fort Huachuca is now publicly available online (large pdf). The 1973 volume has been superseded in many or even most respects by subsequent research and publication. But it retains some interest […]
NATO General Secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen presents the alliance’s new Strategic Concept By Hans M. Kristensen The new Strategic Concept adopted today by NATO represents one step forward and a half step backward for the alliance’s nuclear weapons policy. The forward-leaning part of the nuclear policy pledges to actively try to create the conditions for […]
A $60 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia — the largest in U.S. history — is poised to proceed despite questions raised by some members of Congress. In a November 16 letter to Congress (pdf), Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton defended the deal: “This proposed sale will directly support […]
The Supreme Court will decide next year whether corporations are entitled to “personal privacy” and whether they may prevent the release of records under the Freedom of Information Act on that basis. FOIA advocates say that assigning personal privacy rights to corporations could deal a crippling blow to the Act. The case before the Court […]