The release of President Obama’s first Presidential Policy Directive on “Organization of the National Security System” was reported by Karen DeYoung in the Washington Post and by Josh Gerstein in Politico. “Secretary of Defense Robert Gates lifted a blanket ban on news media coverage of the honor guard ceremonies that mark the return of military […]
Noteworthy new and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include the following (all pdf). “Presidential Records: Issues for the 111th Congress,” February 17, 2009. “F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Program: Background, Status, and Issues,” updated February 17, 2009. “Strategic Arms Control After […]
A federal appeals court dealt another setback to prosecutors in the case of two former employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) who are charged under the Espionage Act with improperly receiving and transmitting national defense information. The appeals court rejected (pdf) a pre-trial appeal by the prosecution and affirmed the lower court […]
The Obama Administration has launched two new series of Presidential directives on national security policy. Presidential Policy Directives (PPDs) will define and direct the implementation of new presidential policies. Presidential Study Directives (PSDs) will initiate policy review and development procedures. Presidential Study Directive-1 (pdf), issued February 23, 2009, is entitled “Organizing for Homeland Security and […]
Department of Defense officials who are involved in preparation of the Fiscal Year 2010 budget request are required to sign a non-disclosure agreement pledging not to divulge budget-related information to unauthorized persons. A copy of the non-disclosure agreement, which was obtained by Defense News, is available here (pdf). In President Obama’s January 20, 2009 inaugural […]
North Korean officials confirmed on February 24 that their country is making preparations to launch a communications satellite, a move that would also constitute a new test of North Korean missile capabilities. The DNI Open Source Center recently reviewed indications in the North Korean press (pdf) that preparations for a new missile test might be […]
Hundreds of times in the last 210 years, the United States has deployed its military forces in conflicts abroad, although the U.S. has only formally declared war on eleven occasions. A newly updated tabulation of those military deployments (pdf) — which do not include covert actions, disaster relief, or military training exercises — has recently […]
By Ivan Oelrich and Ivanka Barzashka Last week, the New York Times and the Financial Times USA ran stories that implied that Iran had been hiding enriched uranium and had been caught red-handed during the most recent International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) physical inventory inspection. While supposedly based on the IAEA report (GOV/2009/8), the articles […]
Smugglers continue to construct tunnels beneath U.S. borders to transport drugs, illegal aliens and other contraband, according to an internal briefing prepared by a U.S. Northern Command Task Force. Dozens of tunnels have been found in recent years, including some of remarkable sophistication, but it is likely that others remain undetected. Overall, between 1990 and […]
A detailed and rather opinionated assessment of French media outlets was prepared last year by the Open Source Center (OSC) of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. “Many of the estimated 37,000 French journalists see themselves more as intellectuals than as reporters. Instead of merely reporting events, they often try to analyze developments […]
A federal court this week ruled that J. William Leonard, the former director of the Information Security Oversight Office, may testify for the defense in the long-running prosecution of two former officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) who are charged with illicitly receiving and transmitting classified information that prosecutors say is protected […]
The Open Source Center (OSC) of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence consistently generates a wealth of informative analytic and bibliographic products. But for reasons that are hard to understand, such materials are generally withheld from public disclosure even when they are unclassified and not subject to copyright. The following OSC publications (both […]