The Federal Bureau of Investigation identified 14 suspected “leakers” of classified U.S. intelligence information during the past five years, according to newly disclosed statistics (pdf). Between 2005 and 2009, U.S. intelligence agencies submitted 183 “referrals” to the Department of Justice reporting unauthorized disclosures of classified intelligence. Based on those referrals or on its own initiative, […]
As a matter of law and policy, the Congressional Research Service does not make its products directly available to the public. The following CRS reports were obtained by Secrecy News (all pdf). “Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan: Presidential Authority and the Separation of Powers,” June 4, 2010. “Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan: Defamation and the […]
The global trade in ammunition for small arms and light weapons is worth an estimated $4.3 billion, according to a comprehensive new study released today. Findings from the study, which is co-authored by Matt Schroeder of the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), appears as a chapter in Small Arms Survey 2010: Gangs, Groups, and Guns. […]
The ongoing failure to establish a robust, reliable and productive declassification program is steadily eroding the study of intelligence history and may lead to the collapse of the entire field, one intelligence historian told the National Security Agency last month. “I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that we’re at a crisis point in […]
The House of Representatives yesterday passed the “Grid Reliability and Infrastructure Defense Act” which is intended to bolster that national electric grid against terrorist attacks, cyber threats, electromagnetic pulse weapons and solar storms. The Act authorizes the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to issue emergency orders to protect critical electric infrastructure, and to take other measures […]
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has released the unclassified portions of its Congressional Budget Justification Book for Fiscal Year 2008 (pdf), in response to a three year old Freedom of Information Act request from the Federation of American Scientists. Most of the substance of the document and all of the budget figures […]
Noteworthy new reports from the Congressional Research Service obtained by Secrecy News that have not previously been made available online include the following (all pdf). “Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Selected Issues for Congress,” May 27, 2010. “Deferred Examination of Patent Applications: Implications for Innovation Policy,” May 27, 2010. “Post-Employment, ‘Revolving Door,’ Laws for Federal Personnel,” […]
The United Nations Human Rights Council last week presented a new set of institutional and policy practices for intelligence agencies that it said would help to improve accountability and protection of human rights in intelligence policy. The new “Compilation of good practices on legal and institutional frameworks and measures to ensure respect for human rights […]
The U.S. Army has arrested Spc. Bradley Manning of Potomac, Maryland for unauthorized disclosure of classified information. Among other things, he is suspected of having provided the video of a 2007 Apache helicopter strike in Baghdad that killed several civilians to the Wikileaks web site, which published it online in April of this year. The […]
“German security authorities reported a substantial increase in crime and attacks on police in 2009 related to left-wing political groups and individuals,” said a new report (pdf) from the DNI Open Source Center. “According to Germany’s Interior Ministry, more extremist crimes and acts of violence occurred in 2009 than in any year since 2001. The […]
By Hans M. Kristensen The world’s nuclear weapon states possess an estimated 22,600 nuclear weapons, of which more than 7,500 are deployed. This and much more according to a chapter I co-authored in the latest yearbook from the Swedish International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Copyright prevents us from making a copy of the chapter available here, […]
In a move that may help to discourage habitual secrecy in military-funded research, the Department of Defense last week reaffirmed a Reagan-era policy that the products of fundamental scientific research should normally be unrestricted. However, the policy also said that if national security required imposing controls on such research, then formal classification was the only […]