“The historic, sustained rise in [the U.S. prison population] has broad implications, not just for the criminal justice system, but for the larger economy. About 770,000 people worked in the corrections sector in 2008 [and this number is expected to grow]…. By comparison, in 2008 there were 880,000 workers in the entire U.S. auto manufacturing […]
The Biological Sciences Experts Group (BSEG) is a group of non-governmental scientists who advise the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) on activities to counter biological threats and weapons. Aside from the fact of its existence, nearly everything about the group is classified, but a few details of the enterprise have lately emerged. The BSEG is supposed […]
The Federal Bureau of Investigation will co-host a conference (pdf) this month “to promote positive continuous dialogue between the U.S. Intelligence Community and the academic community.” The conference will be held at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory on April 29. Topics of discussion will include the National Security Higher Education Advisory Board, which “has been […]
A new report (pdf) from the DNI Open Source Center profiles Turkey’s subversive “Ergenekon” movement. “‘Ergenekon’ is the name of an alleged illegal neonationalist organization accused of planning to oust the pro-Islamic Justice and Development Party (AKP) government through a military coup. The organization, in turn, has been linked to the so-called ‘Deep State,’ alleged […]
Israeli Stores Stop Selling Book That Denounces Settlers by Robert Mackey, New York Times The Lede, April 12. “An Israeli bookstore chain announced on Sunday that it would stop selling ‘The National Left,’ a political manifesto by two Israeli authors.” Who watches WikiLeaks? by Chris McGreal, The Guardian, April 9. “This week a classified video […]
On Tuesday, the Secretary of Defense released the new Nuclear Posture Review (NPR). I was quite disappointed in the document, thinking it is timid and gradualist. So you can imagine how distracting it is when I am part way through writing a blog trashing the new doctrine for not going far enough that I see […]
by Ivanka Barzashka and Ivan Oelrich Iran and the rest of the world are stalemated. Obama’s deadline for Tehran to address concerns about its nuclear program passed at the end of 2009, so the White House is moving to harsher sanctions. But the US is having trouble rallying the needed international support because Iranian intentions […]
The Nuclear Posture Review enshrines nuclear disarmament as a real goal for U.S. nuclear weapons policy for the first time. By Hans M. Kristensen It’s finally here! Hot off the press after a three months delay. For the first time since the end of the Cold War, the United States has published a Nuclear Posture […]
In what may be the Obama Administration’s single most significant reduction in national security secrecy to date, the Department of Defense this week published the first unclassified Nuclear Posture Review. The Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) defines U.S. nuclear weapons policy, strategy and force structure. As such, it is one of the most important national security […]
In May 2009, North Korea announced that it had conducted its second nuclear explosive test. Although the event generated a seismic signature consistent with a nuclear explosion, it produced no detectable release of radioactive gases or particulates (fallout). This either means that North Korea actually conducted a non-nuclear simulation of a nuclear test, or else […]
The Russian-language internet is increasingly subject to control by the Russian government and its allies in the private sector, according to a new report (pdf) from the DNI Open Source Center (OSC). Except for a vocal minority of bloggers and human rights activists, the Russian public is mostly indifferent to or even supportive of government […]
The U.S. Army is still struggling to come to grips with the unusually high rate of suicide within its ranks. “The Army ratios are above the national average and in some months recently, there have been more suicides in the Army than combat deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan,” observed Nancy Youssef of McClatchy News last […]