by: Alicia Godsberg The First Committee of this year’s 64th United Nations General Assembly (GA) just wrapped up a month of meetings. The GA breaks up its work into six main committees, and the First Committee deals with disarmament and international security issues. During the month-long meetings, member states give general statements, debate on such […]
by Matt Schroeder Photos of firearms seized from criminals in Colombia are poignant reminders of the importance of strong controls on government arsenals. The photos, which were provided to the FAS’ Arms Sales Monitoring Project by the Colombian National Police, are of firearms reportedly seized in the department of Narino from a paramilitary group called […]
The U.S. intelligence community is making steady progress towards “an advanced state of intelligence integration and information sharing” regarding potential threats to the U.S. and its allies from the sea and the air, according to a new report from the Director of National Intelligence. “Threats that terrorists and other illicit actors pose to the nation’s […]
Last year, scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory thought they had successfully rebuffed a controversial government attempt to impose new background investigations on JPL employees under NASA’s interpretation of President Bush’s Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12. A federal appeals court concurred (pdf) with the scientists that the new investigations into employee personal histories were intrusive, […]
Noteworthy new reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include the following (all pdf). “National Security Letters: Proposed Amendments in the 111th Congress,” October 28, 2009. “U.S. Fossil Fuel Resources: Terminology, Reporting, and Summary,” October 28, 2009. “Unconventional Gas Shales: Development, Technology, and Policy Issues,” October […]
Scripps College in Claremont, CA has been holding a semester-long series of lectures, films and other programs on the theme of “Secrets in a Democracy.” I will be speaking there on November 11.
By Ivanka Barzashka FAS has posted a report on “Enrichment Supply and Technology Outside the United States” by S. A. Levin and S. Blumkin from the Enrichment Department of the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, operated at the time by Union Carbide. The document, prepared for the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration, reviews international […]
The government’s proposed use of the state secrets privilege in a pending lawsuit was reviewed under the new state secrets policy that was established in September to limit use of the privilege, Attorney General Eric Holder announced on October 30. But upon review the government decided that it was necessary and appropriate to assert the […]
Attempts to predict the occurrence or the likelihood of extreme acts of terrorist violence on the scale of 9/11 should be discouraged because the available data are too sparse to permit the reliable modeling of such “rare events,” according to a new report to the Pentagon (pdf) from the JASON defense advisory panel. In a […]
A new book delves into “the secret history of federal drug law enforcement” and the role of the Drug Enforcement Administration. See “The Strength of the Pack: The Personalities, Politics and Espionage Intrigues that Shaped the DEA” by Douglas Valentine, TrineDay, 2009. Former Congressional Research Service scholar Morton Rosenberg authored a detailed account of the […]
During the course of World War I, tens of thousands of photographs were withheld from publication by the U.S. military. These included images that might have revealed troop movements or military capabilities, pictures that were liable to be used in enemy propaganda, or those that could adversely affect military or public morale. The development of […]
The decision last week by the Director of National Intelligence to declassify the FY2009 budget for the National Intelligence Program is inconsistent with other ODNI classification actions and highlights the confusion over the proper scope of national security secrecy that prevails in the U.S. intelligence community today. On October 30, DNI Dennis C. Blair announced […]