Tsien Hsue-shen, the 96-year-old architect of China’s ballistic missile program, was once a promising student of aeronautics in the United States, a protégé of Theodore von Kármán, and then a leading expert in the field, until he came under suspicion of espionage and was deported in September 1955. According to a declassified 1998 Defense Intelligence […]
“The CIA requires all current and former Agency employees and contractors, and others who are obligated by CIA secrecy agreement, to submit for prepublication review to the CIA’s Publications Review Board (PRB) all intelligence-related materials intended for publication or public dissemination,” according to a 2007 regulation (pdf) on the subject. The scope of the requirement, […]
Last week, Malaysia ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), bringing the total number of Treaty ratifications to 143, according to a CTBT Organization news release. Among Southeast Asian nations, “Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam have now ratified the CTBT, whereas Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand have […]
In a small step that could nevertheless have far-reaching consequences for government information policy, the Department of Defense is preparing to eliminate various markings such as “For Official Use Only” and “Limited Distribution” that regulate disclosure of unclassified documents and will replace them with a new standardized marking. The DoD move (pdf) anticipates near-term Presidential […]
The United States intervened to block South Korea from developing nuclear weapons in the 1970s, according to newly declassified Korean government documents. South Korea was seeking to acquire nuclear reactors from Canada and nuclear reprocessing technology from France in support of a weapons program, but U.S. pressure led to cancellation of the latter purchase. See […]
Noteworthy new reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include the following (all pdf). “The Gulf Security Dialogue and Related Arms Sale Proposals,” January 14, 2008. “Foreign Ownership of U.S. Financial Assets: Implications of a Withdrawal,” January 14, 2008. “Laos: Background and U.S. Relations,” January 7, […]
Much of the criticism directed at government secrecy is predicated on the idea that secrecy impedes government accountability and degrades public participation in the deliberative process. But the secrecy system is also subject to growing internal criticism on altogether different grounds (pdf): namely, that it “has become dysfunctional in the face of current needs of […]
The growing use of the state secrets privilege could threaten basic constitutional rights, according to one recent critical analysis. If current trends in government reliance on the state secrets privilege are allowed to continue, “it is questionable whether any constitutional complaint against the government involving classified information will ever be allowed to be adjudicated,” concluded […]
Noteworthy new reports from the Congressional Research Service obtained by Secrecy News include the following (all pdf). “Emerging Trends in the Security Architecture in Asia: Bilateral and Multilateral Ties Among the United States, Japan, Australia, and India,” January 7, 2008. “Trafficking in Persons: U.S. Policy and Issues for Congress,” January 10, 2008. “Perjury Under Federal […]
Only the President of the United States may authorize the use of riot control agents in war, even for defensive purposes, according to official U.S. military doctrine (pdf), although the Secretary of Defense may authorize their use for the protection or recovery of nuclear weapons. So it was anomalous to say the least when employees […]
Noteworthy new publications from the Congressional Research Service include the following (all pdf): “China’s ‘Soft Power’ in Southeast Asia,” January 4, 2008. “How Crime in the United States Is Measured,” January 3, 2008. “Democracy Promotion: Cornerstone of U.S. Foreign Policy?,” December 26, 2007.
In a report (pdf) issued today, a Presidential advisory board proposed dozens of steps to promote a more rational, uniform and productive process for declassification of historical records. Declassification policy must “take into account the interest of ordinary citizens in having as ‘thorough, accurate, and reliable’ a record of their country’s history as soon as […]