In its ongoing consideration of policy options for “transforming classification,” the Public Interest Declassification Board has produced three short new papers that are intended to prompt further discussion. The new papers discuss Simplifying the Declassification Review Process for Historical Records, Discretionary Declassification and Release of Contemporary National Security Information, and Regularizing the Declassification Review of […]
The first six days of Odyssey Dawn, the US war in Libya, cost an estimated $400 million, according to a new report (pdf) from the Congressional Research Service. “Using operational details provided by DOD and DOD cost factors, a ‘bottoms-up’ estimate of the cost of initial operations suggests that in the first six days of […]
Most NATO countries support withdrawal of U.S. nuclear weapons from Europe, only three oppose, according to interviews with NATO officials. . By Hans M. Kristensen Two researchers from the Dutch peace group IKV Pax Christi have published a unique study that for the first time provides the public with an overview of what individual NATO […]
The U.S. intelligence community will prepare a National Intelligence Estimate on the implications of the continuing decline in U.S. manufacturing capacity, said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) citing recent news reports. “Last month Forbes reported that the continued erosion of the U.S. manufacturing base has gotten so serious that the Director of National Intelligence has begun […]
Despite a requirement of law, the U.S. State Department has failed to produce two retrospective volumes of the Foreign Relations of the United States Series documenting U.S. covert action in Iran (1952-54) and the Congo (1960-68). See Stephen R. Weissman, “Why is US withholding old documents on covert ops in Congo, Iran,” Christian Science Monitor, […]
In a process that will shape the future of secrecy policy for better or for worse, a search for a new Director of the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), which oversees the national security classification system, has formally begun. “NARA seeks a Director of the Information Security Oversight Office with responsibility for policy and oversight […]
The decision to impose a no-fly zone on Libya is scrutinized from various perspectives in a new report (pdf) from the Congressional Research Service. The report distinguishes “authorization” to establish a no-fly zone from the “legality” of the move, and also from its “legitimacy.” “The three concepts overlap but are all distinct,” the report says. […]
The Director of National Intelligence is calling for the “integrated defense” of intelligence community (IC) information and systems to protect against unauthorized disclosures of intelligence sources and methods. While every intelligence agency already has its own security procedures, a new Intelligence Community Directive (pdf) issued by the DNI would require a more coordinated and consistent […]
It is nearly a decade since the Central Intelligence Agency embarked on its controversial post-9/11 program of prisoner detention and interrogation, which included “enhanced” procedures that would later be repudiated and that were widely regarded as torture. But even now, an accurate and complete account of that episode remains unavailable. It is more than two […]
Under extreme circumstances, U.S. military force may be turned against American civilians. An unusually explicit 1945 U.S. military field manual (pdf) described tactics for suppressing riots or protests when State and local officials are unable to control the situation. “Domestic disturbances are manifestations of civil unrest or tension which take the form of demonstrations or […]
U.S. officials say that aggregate numbers of the New START treaty will be made publicly available but that these may be very general numbers and a decision still has to be made. For a copy of the final START aggregate numbers, click here. . By Hans M. Kristensen The first data exchange of the New […]
Does the secrecy system function according to its own autonomous principles? Is it beyond the rule of law and outside of presidential control? Not exactly. If that were true, then there would never be involuntary changes to classification policy and there would be no compulsory declassification of classified information. Fortunately, that is not consistently the […]