Last year, the Supreme Court refused to hear a case brought by the ACLU against the National Security Agency challenging the constitutionality of the Terrorist Surveillance Program. Sen. Arlen Specter wrote to Judge Sonia Sotomayor this week asking the Supreme Court nominee to be prepared at her confirmation hearing next week to say, among other […]
Presidents Obama and Medvedev sign a joint understanding on a START follow-on treaty. By Hans M. Kristensen The Joint Understanding for the START Follow-on Treaty signed by President Obama and Medvedev on July 6, 2009, commits the United States and Russia to “reduce their strategic warheads to a range of 1500-1675, and their strategic delivery […]
Last month, the House Intelligence Committee complained that the Department of Defense has blurred the distinction between traditional intelligence collection, which is subject to intelligence committee oversight, and clandestine military operations, which are not. Because they are labeled in a misleading manner, some DoD clandestine operations that are substantively the same as intelligence activities are […]
The increasing capability of high-resolution military and intelligence sensors is producing ever growing quantities of data that could overwhelm the capacity to analyze them without new approaches to data management and analysis, according to a newly released report (pdf) from the JASON defense advisory panel. “As the amount of data captured by these sensors grows, […]
A new Joint Chiefs of Staff publication presents updated doctrine on intelligence preparation of the operational environment — which, confusingly enough, is not the same thing as “operational preparation of the environment” (OPE). See “Joint Intelligence Preparation of the Operational Environment” (pdf), Joint Publication JP 2-01.3, June 16, 2009. The Caribbean nation of Saint Vincent […]
By Hans M. Kristensen Can they do it? Expectations are high for the July Moscow Summit to produce an agreement to extent the START Treaty and commit to additional nuclear weapons reductions in the future. The following provides quick access to information about nuclear weapons numbers: Overview of World Nuclear Forces Global Nuclear Stockpiles, 1945-2006 […]
PACOM Commander Admiral Keating is “unaware” of the Japanese interest in the nuclear Tomahawk cruise missile reported by the Congressional Strategic Posture Commission. By Hans M. Kristensen Admiral Timothy J. Keating, who is Commander of U.S. Pacific Command, said Monday that he is “unaware of specific Japanese interests in the” nuclear-armed Tomahawk Land-Attack Missile. That’s […]
Although people have been complaining about abuse of the national security classification system for decades, such complaints have rarely been translated into real policy changes. More than half a century ago, a Defense Department advisory committee warned that “Overclassification has reached serious proportions.” But despite innumerable attempts at corrective action over the years by official […]
The House Intelligence Committee last week filed its report on the FY 2010 intelligence authorization act, including many interesting and potentially important intelligence policy provisions. Perhaps the most significant measure is the proposed creation of a statutory inspector general for the intelligence community. Other steps include a requirement to report on the number of Federal […]
Bill Leonard, the esteemed former director of the Information Security Oversight Office and the principal overseer of the government secrecy system, now has his own blog where readers may look for his views and his insights on secrecy policy as the process of classification reform gets underway in earnest. The House Judiciary Committee rebuffed a […]
More than anything else, Judge Sonia Sotomayor is a judicial conservative who has hewed closely to established precedent, according to a new analysis by the Congressional Research Service of appellate court decisions authored by President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court. “Perhaps the most consistent characteristic of Judge Sotomayor’s approach as an appellate judge has […]
At the request of the National Security Advisor, a public meeting has been scheduled for July 8 to solicit public comments and recommendations concerning proposed revisions to executive branch classification and declassification policies. The meeting was announced in a June 23 Federal Register notice. The Public Interest Declassification Board, which is hosting the July 8 […]