For better or worse, contractors are now an indispensable part of the U.S. intelligence workforce, and greater attention is needed to manage them effectively, argues a recent study by a military intelligence analyst (pdf). The author presents criteria for evaluating contractor support to various intelligence functions, and applies them in a series of case studies. […]
If foreign terrorists set out to undermine confidence in the American legal system as an arbiter of justice, they could hardly do more damage than the Bush Administration has done by its use of the “state secrets” privilege. Khaled el-Masri, who alleged that he was abducted and tortured by the Central Intelligence Agency, will not […]
At the end of Fiscal Year 2007, there were a total of 5,002 invention secrecy orders in effect under the Invention Secrecy Act of 1951, up from 4,942 the year before. U.S. government agencies imposed secrecy orders on 53 patent applications filed by private inventors in FY 2007, prohibiting their disclosure or export, according to […]
The Information Security Oversight Office has published an expanded guide explaining how to properly mark classified documents. See “Marking Classified National Security Information” (pdf), October 2007. A 1972 monograph prepared at the National Archives reviews the history of information control markings on military documents back to the 19th century and traces their development up to […]
Last week, the Jasons, a group of distinguished scientists who advise the Department of Defense, released the unclassified summary of their review of the Reliable Replacement Warhead, or RRW. Walter Pincus covered the report in the Washington Post. The summary is posted on the FAS website. Although almost everything about nuclear weapons and their design […]
Last week the House of Representatives passed a bill to extend federal legal jurisdiction to crimes committed abroad by U.S. contractors in war zones such as Iraq, so that such crimes could be prosecuted in U.S. courts. But before the bill (H.R. 2740) was passed, it triggered alarms by those who were concerned that its […]
A decade ago Congress established an advisory committee to examine the very issues of contractor liability in war zones abroad that have recently been in the headlines again. The Overseas Jurisdiction Advisory Committee spent a year analyzing the state of the law, found “significant jurisdictional gaps” in the government’s ability to prosecute crimes committed abroad […]
A federal appeals court on Friday granted a temporary injunction blocking implementation of a policy that would require scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to undergo intrusive background investigations as a condition of continued employment. The requirement stems from President Bush’s Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12, under which all federal employees and contractors are obliged […]
China appears to have launched two more SSBNs. By Hans M. Kristensen (BLOG UPDATED OCTOBER 10, 2007) China appears to have launched two more ballistic missiles submarines from the Bohai shipyard at Huludao approximately 400 km east of Beijing. This could bring to three the number of Jin-class (Type 094) nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) […]
Congressional oversight of intelligence should be augmented by the assistance of specially-cleared investigative teams from the Government Accountability Office, say some congressional leaders, and GAO officials appear eager to assume the task. “The need for more effective oversight and accountability of our intelligence community has never been greater,” said Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI) earlier this […]
Democratic Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama “will reverse this [Bush Administration] policy of secrecy,” his campaign stated this week, and he addressed the subject in a high-profile address at DePaul University on October 2. “I’ll lead a new era of openness,” he said. “I’ll turn the page on a growing empire of classified information, and […]
The use of U.S. military assets and capabilities in a domestic, civilian context is both politically and legally sensitive. A new Defense Department publication (pdf) defines military doctrine concerning such “civil support” missions, which might include disaster relief, emergency response or support to law enforcement. “Introducing federal forces into an otherwise civil response situation requires […]