Today in a hearing of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce it was revealed by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that the Department of Homeland Security’s plan to move foot and mouth disease research to the mainland United States is based on faulty assumptions. Foot and mouth disease is caused by the most infectious […]
The National Cyber Security Initiative, which is “the single largest… and most important initiative” in next year’s budget, is being conducted under “excessive classification,” the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) said in its new report on the 2009 intelligence authorization act. For the cyber security program to function as intended, “it will require […]
A new searchable index of hundreds of thousands of documents held by the Air Force Historical Research Agency has been created by private researchers and posted online. The index does not provide access to the underlying documents, which must be requested from AFHRA. Nevertheless, it has several interesting features. For one thing, it represents a […]
The National Archives and Records Administration today announced the establishment of a new Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) Office that is intended to lead the implementation and oversight of a new White House policy on CUI, which is unclassified information that is deemed to require protection from disclosure. The CUI Office, to be headed by Information […]
Noteworthy new reports from the Congressional Research Service, obtained by Secrecy News, include the following (all pdf). “U.S. Nuclear Cooperation With India: Issues for Congress,” updated May 20, 2008. “Nuclear Weapons: The Reliable Replacement Warhead Program,” updated May 19, 2008. “Suits Against Terrorist States By Victims of Terrorism,” updated May 1, 2008. “Syria: Background and […]
U.S. defense intelligence agencies should aim to “eliminate” the capabilities of opponents to operate effectively against the United States from outer space or cyber space, according to a new Pentagon strategy for defense intelligence (pdf). Defense intelligence shall “eliminate any advantage held by our adversaries to operate from and within the space and cyber domains,” […]
Intergovernmental contacts between North Korean and Syrian officials during the last two years were scrutinized by the DNI Open Source Center (pdf), but even in retrospect the available record presents no indication of joint work on a secret nuclear facility destroyed by Israel last September (large pdf). “A review of available North Korean and Syrian […]
Compared to all the excitement created by the US-Indian nuclear trade deal, the Russian equivalent, submitted last week, created barely a ripple [caution: big file to download]. While FAS strongly opposes the US-Indian nuclear trade agreement, the Russian case is much more complex. There are reasons to oppose the Russian deal and reasons to support […]
U.S. intelligence employees who are collecting open source intelligence online should do more to ensure that they are not identified as intelligence personnel, the House Armed Services Committee said in its new report on the 2009 Defense Authorization Act. Failure to conceal the identity of open source intelligence collectors could conceivably lead to spoofing, disinformation […]
The ODNI Open Source Center has imposed some rather ferocious controls on its unclassified products in order to shield them from public access. Even when its publications are not copyrighted, they are to be “treated as copyrighted” and in any case they “must not be disseminated to the public.” The following notice was recently posted […]
Noteworthy new reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include the following (all pdf). “Defense Contracting in Iraq: Issues and Options for Congress,” updated May 6, 2008. “The National Security Council: An Organizational Assessment,” updated April 21, 2008. “Homeland Security Department: FY2009 Request for Appropriations,” May […]
The new National Cyber Security Initiative that is intended to reduce the vulnerability of government information networks and to devise an information warfare doctrine is so highly classified that it is undermining the deterrent value of the project, the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) said in a new report. “It is difficult to conceive how […]