Though many Americans might not realize it, “The United States is an Arctic nation,” President Bush declared this week, “with varied and compelling interests in that region.” U.S. policy towards the Arctic region, which includes a portion of Alaska, was vigorously formulated in what is likely to be the Bush Administration’s last National Security Presidential […]
In a revealing conflict of views between outgoing and incoming Justice Department officials, Attorney General Michael Mukasey recently told Congress that a proposal that was conceived by Prof. Dawn Johnsen to require expanded reporting to Congress concerning Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) opinions is unconstitutional. Prof. Johnsen has been designated by President-elect Obama […]
The second report from the Schlesinger Task Force goes beyond fixing nuclear problems to promoting new nuclear weapons. By Hans M. Kristensen For nuclear weapon advocates, the Minot incident in August 2007, where the Air Force lost track of six nuclear-armed cruise missiles for 36 hours, was a gift sent from heaven. No other event […]
Most U.S. Government spending on nuclear weapons-related programs is unclassified. But it is functionally secret since such spending is widely dispersed across many programs in several agencies and it is not formally tracked or reported. A new study prepared for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace estimated that the cost of U.S. nuclear weapons and […]
“In May 1974, the U.S. government received its first serious nuclear threat,” recalls author Jeffrey T. Richelson. “A letter demanding that $200,00 be left at a particular location arrived at the FBI. Failure to comply, it claimed, would result in the [detonation] of a nuclear bomb somewhere in Boston.” The threat was soon exposed as […]
Science and technology export controls that are rooted in Cold War geopolitical realities are now both anachronistic and counterproductive, a report from the National Research Council said last week. “As currently structured, many of these controls undermine our national and homeland security and stifle American engagement in the global economy, and in science and technology,” […]
The destruction by Central Intelligence Agency officials of videotapes showing the interrogation of suspected terrorists is the subject of “an ongoing criminal investigation” that is expected to conclude in the near future, according to a prosecution official. “Investigators are now in the process of scheduling interviews with the remaining witnesses to be interviewed in this […]
Updated below. The Central Intelligence Agency did provide a copy of intelligence files relating to the Bay of Pigs to President Nixon in response to his request, an official of the National Archives and Records Administration said yesterday. He said that the statement to the contrary in Secrecy News on January 5, citing the new […]
The Congressional Research Service has issued — but has not publicly released — a new report on “Terrorist Attacks in Mumbai, India, and Implications for U.S. Interests” (pdf), December 19, 2008. The history of official secrets legislation in the United Kingdom is set forth in a new memorandum (pdf) from the UK House of Commons […]
The impending transfer of Bush Administration records to the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) will challenge the capacity of the Archives to absorb them because of their enormous volume and the diverse formats of various electronic records. But there is also a fundamental question concerning the integrity of the transfer process, […]
What does it say about the American political system that someone like George W. Bush was able to ascend to the highest office in the land, despite his meager and ambiguous record? In pursuit of an answer to that question, investigative journalist Russ Baker has constructed a full-fledged counterhistory of the last half-century as it […]
A federal appeals court in Oregon will hold a hearing next month on a government appeal of a 2007 judicial ruling that said the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is unconstitutional. The FISA is a statute that regulates domestic intelligence, and generally requires judicial authorization for intelligence search and surveillance within the United States. Critics […]