By Ivan Oelrich and Hans M. Kristensen Only one week before Barack Obama is expected to win the presidential election, Defense Secretary Robert Gates made one last pitch for the Bush administration’s nuclear policy during a speech Tuesday at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. What is the opposite of visionary? Whatever, that’s the word […]
A range of presidential transition policy issues — including records management, budget preparation and the role of executive orders — is explored in a new report from the Congressional Research Service. See “Presidential Transitions: Issues Involving Outgoing and Incoming Administrations” (pdf), October 23, 2008. Other noteworthy new CRS reports obtained by Secrecy News that were […]
The Director of National Intelligence today disclosed the 2008 budget for the National Intelligence Program: $47.5 billion. That figure does not include spending for the Military Intelligence Program, which is at least another $10 billion. The disclosure marks only the fourth time that the intelligence budget has been officially disclosed. The aggregate intelligence budget figure […]
The Director of National Intelligence issued a directive (pdf) this month that will make it easier for a person whose spouse or immediate family is not a U.S. citizen to gain a security clearance for access to intelligence information. The new policy lowers a barrier that has long impeded intelligence agency hiring of qualified area […]
Could terrorists use Twitter, the instant messaging and micro-blogging service? Presumably so, just as they could use credit cards and can openers. The potential use of Twitter and other communications technologies by terrorists is considered in a new draft Army intelligence paper, based on a review of jihadist web sites and other public sources. The […]
On October 23, President Bush named former CIA information officer Herbert Briick to the Public Interest Declassification Board, and also reappointed former CIA general counsel Elizabeth Rindskopf Parker. The Board will hold its next public meeting at the National Archives on Friday, October 31, where it will discuss how to identify and prioritize “historically valuable” […]
Executive branch agencies often classify information inconsistently or unnecessarily. But when challenged, they will sometimes modify their practices. These elementary but important facts were illustrated recently by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine, who described the process by which his office’s investigative reports are reviewed by agency officials prior to release. “We have seen […]
Pentagon officials say that the Department of Defense and its contractors are failing to adequately protect “controlled unclassified information” (CUI) that may have significant military or technological value to adversaries or competitors. “Simply stated, hostile actors can exfiltrate large volumes of unclassified program information in a single attack that can potentially net enough information to […]
“Why are Docs From the Bailout Being Redacted?” by Ben Protess, ProPublica, October 22. “U.S. Army delays, alters medical studies under little-known scientific censorship program” by Bryant Furlow, EPINews, October 21. “GeoEye’s New Satellite Offers Unprecedentedly Sharp Images” by William Matthews, Defense News, October 20. “IG: Army is lax in overseeing issuance of contractor ID […]
Sorry, can’t tell! The size of the nuclear weapons stockpile is secret, but not hard to figure out. . By Hans M. Kristensen In a letter to the editor in Boston Globe, Thomas D’Agostino, the administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), writes that the United States is reducing its nuclear weapons and that, […]
In August 2005, Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) were indicted under the Espionage Act on the extraordinary charge that they had improperly received and transmitted classified information that was provided to them by a government official. More than three years later, their case has still not gone […]
New reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include the following (all pdf). “Economic Development Assistance for Communities Affected by Employment Changes Due to Military Base Closures,” October 16, 2008. “Financial Turmoil: Comparing the Troubled Asset Relief Program to the Federal Reserve’s Response,” October 8, 2008. […]