Updated below In June 2009, Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) asked the Obama Administration to rescind certain classified legal opinions issued by the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) that asserted legal justifications for the Bush Administration’s warrantless wiretapping program. But more than a year and a half later, those OLC opinions remain under review […]
William J. Bosanko, the director of the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), has been appointed to lead a new organization at the National Archives called Agency Services. In that capacity, he will “lead the National Archives efforts to service the records management needs of Federal agencies, and represent the public’s interest in the accountability and […]
Dozens of public interest groups wrote to the Librarian of Congress last week to urge him to appoint a new Director of the Congressional Research Service who would work with Congress to promote public access to CRS reports. “The public needs access to these non-confidential CRS reports in order to discharge their civic duties,” the […]
By Hans M. Kristensen The Center on National Security and the Law and the Federal Legislation and Administrative Clinic co-hosted an event at Georgetown University Law Center on Tuesday, March 1st: Next Steps after New START: A Treaty on Tactical Nuclear Weapons. The event included a keynote speech by Edward Warner, the Senior Advisor to the under […]
Millions of feet of film of historical imagery from intelligence satellites may be declassified this year, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) said. “The NGA is anticipating the potential declassification of significant amounts of film-based imagery… in 2011,” according to an NGA announcement that solicited contractor interest in converting the declassified film into digital format. It […]
The awkwardness of using the Espionage Act to penalize the unauthorized disclosure of classified information to the press is again becoming apparent in the case of Jeffrey A. Sterling, a former CIA officer who was indicted last December in one of the several leak cases that are now underway. An initial difficulty for the prosecution […]
In the vast literature of intelligence-related memoirs, the new book “Long Strange Journey” by Patrick G. Eddington stands out in several ways. Eddington entered the intelligence arena as an imagery analyst for the CIA’s National Photographic Intelligence Center. Imagery analysis is a predominately technical activity and is not normally considered a hotbed of intrigue or […]
by Matt Schroeder The Federation of American Scientists has acquired two previously unreleased US government reports on arms transfers, one on recent sales of US weapons and the other on arms purchased for the Afghanistan government with US military aid. Both documents were acquired under the Freedom of Information Act. The first report, which is […]
The Obama Administration has taken several initial steps to modernize the national security classification system and to combat overclassification. But those halting efforts are being undermined by the Department of Defense, which is not implementing the President’s policy. DoD, which is the government’s largest producer of classified information, has failed to update its internal regulation […]
The implications of a shutdown of the federal government due to funding gaps are discussed in a newly updated report (pdf) from the Congressional Research Service. “Failure of the President and Congress to reach agreement on interim or full-year funding measures occasionally has caused government shutdowns, the longest of which lasted 21 days, from December […]
“The Indian social media scene represents a fast-emerging and influential domain of information exchange involving nearly 60% of the 83 million Internet users in the country,” according to a recent report (pdf) from the DNI Open Source Center. Indian public attention to social media was galvanized by the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, “when citizens became […]
The academic journal “Research in Social Problems and Public Policy” has devoted its latest issue to the topic of “Government Secrecy.” The special issue was edited by Susan L. Maret. The table of contents may be found here (pdf). Two probing congressional examinations of the Espionage Act, its application and its possible reform have recently […]