The Federation of American Scientists yesterday asked (pdf) a federal court to enforce a court order directing the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to process a Freedom of Information Act request for unclassified budget information after the NRO said it had “decided” not to do so. In a July 24, 2006 order, D.C. District Judge Reggie […]
Last week it emerged that the Department of Justice had adopted the unprecedented tactic of employing a subpoena in order to recover copies of a classified document that had been provided without authorization to the American Civil Liberties Union. Yesterday, in a swift and somewhat farcical conclusion to the controversy, the government withdrew the subpoena […]
The new Army Field Manual on Counterinsurgency doctrine has been downloaded from the Federation of American Scientists web site at an extraordinary rate — more than 250,000 times since it was posted on Friday morning. But unlike previous drafts obtained by Secrecy News, the new manual is no secret. It has been published and actively […]
“Bosnia and the European Union Military Force (EUFOR): Post-NATO Peacekeeping” (pdf), updated December 5, 2006. “Mad Cow Disease and U.S. Beef Trade” (pdf), updated December 6, 2006.
On December 17 the New York Times published a correction of a December 3 Times story which said that polonium-210 had been used to power U.S. spacecraft after a December 14 Secrecy News story showed that the claim was almost certainly incorrect: “An article on Dec. 3 about the many uses of polonium 210 referred […]
The U.S. Army has completed a long-awaited new manual (large pdf) presenting military doctrine on counterinsurgency. It is the first revision of counterinsurgency doctrine in twenty years. In several respects, the new doctrine implicitly repudiates the Bush Administration’s approach to the war in Iraq. “Conducting a successful counterinsurgency campaign requires a flexible, adaptive force led […]
There is an urgent need to reach consensus on how to configure the future U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, says a new report (pdf) of the Defense Science Board (DSB). “We are already late in addressing [stockpile] needs and the current pace of progress in defining, approving, and implementing the needed capabilities is not encouraging.” The […]
Updated Below: Government attorneys reached deep into their legal bag of tricks to devise a subpoena (pdf) against the American Civil Liberties Union demanding “any and all copies” of a classified document that was leaked to the ACLU in October. Questioned by an ACLU attorney as to the authority for this demand, a government attorney […]
In considering the future of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, the government must decide between two basic courses of action, explains a new report (pdf) from the Congressional Research Service: either it must seek to extend the functional lifetime of existing nuclear weapons, or it must develop a new generation of warheads. The CRS report […]
Updated Below When the New York Times mentioned in passing recently that polonium-210 had once been used to power U.S. spacecraft, it caused a furrowing of the brow among the seven or so people who dwell on the history of space nuclear power, since it is almost certainly not correct. “President Eisenhower, eager to promote […]
A recent report from the secretive JASON scientific advisory group considers the feasibility of using microorganisms to produce fuels as a metabolic product, such as hydrogen or ethanol. “Microorganisms present a great opportunity for energy science,” the JASON report (pdf) to the Department of Energy said. “Microorganisms are simpler than plants; they have smaller genomes […]
Updated Below A recently updated U.S. Army regulation (pdf) defines the parameters of legitimate military intelligence activities and outlines procedures for identifying “questionable” intelligence operations. Among the permissible activities, for example, military intelligence “may conduct nonconsensual physical surveillance of U.S. persons who are– military personnel on active duty status; present or former intelligence component employees; […]