On Thursday, famed arms merchant Victor Bout was arrested at a Thai hotel on charges of selling weapons to Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a 40-year-old insurgent group known for drug trafficking and terrorist attacks. In recent years, Bout and his affiliates have been accused of arranging illicit arms transfers in Africa, Latin America, Central […]
Since 2006, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has assumed growing responsibilities as a collector of foreign intelligence, FBI budget documents (pdf) indicate. “In May 2006, the Director of the Office of National Intelligence tasked the FBI to use its collection authorities, consistent with applicable laws and protection of civil liberties, to collect FI [foreign intelligence] […]
The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), which is responsible for interpreting the law for executive branch agencies, has played an influential role in the development of Bush Administration policy, and an unusually secretive one. In a December 7 floor statement, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) described the contents of three OLC opinions that he […]
Sunshine Week, a national campaign to promote openness and access to information, is March 16-22, 2008. Numerous events at the national and local level, as well as online, have been scheduled to encourage a public dialogue on transparency. More information and abundant resources can be found here. National Freedom of Information Act day will be […]
China’s nuclear weapons arsenal has increased by 25 percent since 2006, Pentagon reports indicate, due to deployment of new ballistic and cruise missiles. By Hans M. Kristensen Updated April 8, 2008 The Pentagon’s 2008 annual report to Congress on China’s military power indicates, when compared with previous versions, that China has increased its nuclear arsenal […]
The U.S. Army today restored public access to the Reimer Digital Library, as it had promised to do in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from the Federation of American Scientists. At first glance, the site appears to be complete. Or at least as complete as it was before it was closed to […]
Using open sources and a wiki-based approach, students at Mercyhurst University prepared an unofficial “intelligence estimate” on the role of Non-State Actors in Sub-Saharan Africa in the next five years. The exercise in collective, collaborative analysis was coordinated by Mercyhurst Professor Kristan J. Wheaton, who described the background to the activity in his blog.
The distinguished scientist Frederick Seitz who died this week was not only an accomplished physicist, global warming skeptic and tobacco industry-funded medical researcher, as obituaries in the New York Times and Washington Post observed. He was also an early, incisive critic of government secrecy. In 1969-70, Dr. Seitz chaired the Defense Science Board Task Force […]
U.S. intelligence agencies could do more to incorporate commercial satellite capabilities into the U.S. intelligence satellite architecture, an advisory panel told the Directors of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) in a study last year. The report (pdf) laid out several scenarios for integrating commercial capabilities into the government’s “National […]
I.F. Stone (1907-1989), the celebrated journalist and iconoclast who was renowned for his independence, is being remembered in the service of the values he embodied. The Nieman Foundation at Harvard University today announced the establishment of an I.F. Stone Award for journalistic independence, integrity and courage. A richly detailed new website devoted to I.F. Stone […]
Noteworthy new or updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include the following (all pdf). “Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI),” updated February 4, 2008. “Botnets, Cybercrime, and Cyberterrorism: Vulnerabilities and Policy Issues for Congress,” updated January 29, 2008. “Executive Order 13,438: Blocking Property of Certain Persons […]
The Government Accountability Office maintains an office at the National Security Agency but it remains unused since no one in Congress has asked GAO to perform any oversight of the Agency, the head of GAO disclosed last week. Despite multi-billion dollar acquisition failures at NSA and the Agency’s controversial, possibly illegal surveillance practices, Congress has […]