Last week, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) placed a “hold” on all of the Obama Administration nominations that are pending before the Senate, thereby preventing a vote on their confirmation. There are said to be at least 70 such nominations awaiting Senate action, including those of several senior defense and intelligence officials. Sen. Shelby, a man […]
Several recent reports from the Congressional Research Service provide descriptive profiles of the present and past composition of Congress by race, ethnicity, gender, education, religion and occupation (all pdf). “Membership of the 111th Congress: A Profile,” February 4, 2010. “Women in the United States Congress: 1917-2009,” December 23, 2009. “Asian Pacific Americans in the United […]
New reports from the Congressional Research Service include the following (pdf): “Al Qaeda and Affiliates: Historical Perspective, Global Presence, and Implications for U.S. Policy,” February 5, 2010. “The Rum Excise Tax Cover-Over: Legislative History and Current Issues,” January 20, 2010.
In testimony this week before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair declared unequivocally that Al Qaeda would attempt to attack the United States within the next six months. “The priority is certain, I would say,” he told the Committee. This recalls nothing so much as the startling August 6, 2001 […]
Some new reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not previously been made available to the public include the following (all pdf). “Social Networking and Constituent Communications: Member Use of Twitter During a Two-Month Period in the 111th Congress,” February 3, 2010. “Metropolitan Transportation Planning,” February 3, 2010. “Veterans Health Care: Project HERO Implementation,” […]
Several noteworthy new hearing volumes on national security policy have recently appeared (all pdf). In most cases, the published volumes include valuable new supplementary material for the record. “Examining the State Secrets Privilege: Protecting National Security While Preserving Accountability,” Senate Judiciary Committee, February 13, 2008 (published December 2009) (large pdf). “Coercive Interrogation Techniques: Do They […]
Websites and blogs dealing with military issues in Taiwan were surveyed in a recent report from the DNI Open Source Center that has not been publicly released. See “Taiwan: Unofficial Military Websites” (pdf), Open Source Center Media Aid, January 12, 2010.
Peace activists walked one kilometer onto a US nuclear weapons storage site in Belgium for more than one hour before security personnel reacted. Click image for larger version. (For an update to this map, go here) . By Hans M. Kristensen A group of people last week managed to penetrate deep onto Kleine Brogel Air Base […]
On 13 January, Ivanka Barzashka and I gave a briefing at the AAAS on our work regarding Iran’s uranium enrichment capacity. Joshua Pollack also gave a briefing, which he has described. Joshua’s analysis is thorough and interesting but I think I would use a different distinction than the “actual” and “nominal” values that he defines. […]
Members of Congress are urging the Obama Administration to activate the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, an independent agency that is supposed to monitor and defend civil liberties in the development and implementation of counterterrorism policies. Last week, Rep. Bennie Thompson and Rep. Jane Harman wrote to the President and asked him to appoint […]
Senator George V. Voinovich (R-OH) wanted to know: What is the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) doing to improve the status of women in the Muslim world, and to better engage women around the world on counterterrorism issues? “The response to this question is classified,” replied NCTC Director Michael Leiter in a written response that has […]
At a 2008 Senate hearing, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III was effusively praised for standing by the ailing Attorney General John Ashcroft in his hospital bed in 2004 and helping him to resist White House pressure to reauthorize the Bush Administration’s domestic surveillance program. “It is hard to imagine in America circumstances in which […]