In his provocative new book “Bomb Power” (Penguin Press, 2010) historian Garry Wills argues that the rise of the National Security State and the ongoing expansion of presidential authority, including the spread of government secrecy, are rooted in the development of the atomic bomb in World War II. “At the bottom of it all has […]
The American Physical Society will feature a session of “physics and secrecy” at its annual meeting in Washington DC on February 13. I will be one of the three presenters. In one sense, the whole enterprise of physics is a contest with secrecy and an attempt to discern the order that is hidden in natural […]
The search for signs of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe should not only focus on detection of electromagnetic signals, but should also seek evidence of the physical artifacts that an intelligence life form might produce, a scientist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory suggested in a paper (pdf) last month. “Searching for signatures of […]
Last year, the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah in the Arabic acronym) led by Palestinian National Authority president Mahmoud Abbas gathered in Bethlehem and approved a revision of its charter for the first time since the 1960s. That revised charter (pdf) has recently been translated into English by the DNI Open Source Center. The document […]
Noteworthy new reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include the following (all pdf). “Terrorist Attacks on Commercial Airlines: Federal Criminal Prohibitions,” January 22, 2010. “Project BioShield: Authorities, Appropriations, Acquisitions, and Issues for Congress,” January 22, 2010. “Charitable Contributions for Haiti’s Earthquake Victims,” January 22, 2010. […]
Last year the Senate Judiciary Committee considered a proposal by Senator Patrick Leahy to establish a formal “commission of inquiry” that would investigate the conduct of the post-9/11 war on terrorism, including detention, rendition and interrogation policies. The record of a Senate hearing on the proposal was published earlier this month, but that seems to […]
Unmanned aerial systems (UASs) like the Predator drone, which are increasingly in demand for U.S. military missions in Afghanistan and elsewhere, involve challenges to mission control, according to a new Pentagon publication on joint air operations (pdf). “Recent operations have demonstrated that UASs can be critical to the success of dynamic targeting missions and prosecution […]
Katsuya Okada and Hillary Clinton met in September 2009. By Hans M. Kristensen The Japanese government has officially rejected claims made by some that Japan is opposed to the United States retiring the nuclear Tomahawk Land-Attack Missile (TLAM/N). The final report of the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States from May […]
Noteworthy new reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include the following (all pdf). “Earthquakes: Risk, Detection, Warning, and Research,” January 14, 2010. “Haiti Earthquake: Crisis and Response,” January 15, 2010. “U.S. Immigration Policy on Haitian Migrants,” January 15, 2010. “The Future of NASA: Space Policy […]
A federal court yesterday declined (pdf) to issue an injunction requiring the Congressional Research Service to immediately reinstate Col. Morris Davis, who was fired from CRS after publishing his personal opinions on the subject of military commissions. But DC District Judge Reggie Walton said that, based on the record so far, Davis’s claim that his […]
The Department of Defense has issued a new publication (pdf) to update and clarify its doctrine on “psychological operations.” Psychological operations, or PSYOP, are intended to “convey selected information and indicators to foreign audiences to influence their emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of foreign governments, organizations, groups, and individuals. The purpose of […]
Newly published congressional hearing volumes on national security-related topics include the following. “Nomination of Leon Panetta to be Director of Central Intelligence Agency,” Senate Intelligence Committee, February 5-6, 2009. “Nomination of David S. Kris to be Assistant Attorney General for National Security,” Senate Intelligence Committee, March 10, 2009. “Nomination of J. Patrick Rowan to be […]