A new report from the Congressional Research Service provides an extensive overview of the U.S. war in Afghanistan, and the choices that confront U.S. policy makers. “The U.S. Government faces key strategic and operational decisions about its further engagement in the war in Afghanistan. These may include clarifying U.S. national interests in Afghanistan and the […]
“I think that trying to understand secrecy through geography helps make the subject more real,” writes Trevor Paglen in a new book about secret government. “Thinking about secrecy in terms of concrete spaces and practices helps us to see how secrecy happens and helps to explain how secrecy grows and expands.” Paglen, a geographer, writes […]
“It is incumbent upon all levels of government, as well as public and private parties within the U.S., to prepare for” a nuclear detonation in a U.S. city, according to a new U.S. government document. “Planning Guidance for Response to a Nuclear Detonation” (pdf) was drafted by an interagency team and published by the Homeland […]
Ambitious new interagency structures that are supposed to provide an improved intelligence response to maritime and air threats to national security are described in a newly-disclosed Intelligence Community Directive. The directive establishes what it calls Communities of Interest (COI) “to maximize intelligence collection and all-source analytic coordination.” “IC stakeholders in the maritime and air COIs […]
The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff have issued updated military doctrine on space operations (pdf) that includes new material on “offensive space control” and “proximity operations.” Offensive space control “entails the negation of enemy space capabilities through denial, deception, disruption, degradation, or destruction.” “Adversaries — both state and non-state actors — will exploit increased access […]
“There is a great deal of over-classification,” admitted Adm. Dennis C. Blair, the nominee to be the next Director of National Intelligence, at his confirmation hearing last week. “Some of it, I think, is done for the wrong reasons, to try to hide things from the light of day. Some of it is because in […]
Secrecy News last week misquoted a line in President Obama’s inaugural speech. He did not say: “And those of us who manage the public’s knowledge will be held to account….” What he said was “And those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account….” The erroneous reference to “public knowledge” was […]
. By Hans M. Kristensen A Chinese government defense white paper for the first time describes how China’s nuclear forces would gradually be brought to increased levels of alert during a crisis to deter an adversary and retaliate to nuclear attack. The paper describes a growing portfolio of deterrence and counterattack capabilities with an ambitious […]
In a breathtaking series of statements and executive actions, President Barack Obama yesterday announced “the beginning of a new era of openness in our country.” “For a long time now there’s been too much secrecy in this city,” he told reporters at a January 21 swearing-in ceremony. “The old rules said that if there was […]
“The Bush administration has left in its wake a demoralized national-security press corps, battered by leak investigations, subpoena-happy prosecutors, and a shift in the legal and wider culture away from the previous understanding of journalism’s mission and First Amendment protections,” writes Laura Rozen in the Columbia Journalism Review. See her story “Hung Out to Dry” […]
Updated below President Barack Obama found room in his inaugural address to affirm a commitment to open, accountable government. “And those of us who manage the public’s knowledge dollars will be held to account, to spend wisely, reform bad habits and do our business in the light of day, because only then can we restore the […]
The structure and functions of the normally somewhat opaque Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are illuminated in a 238-page briefing book (pdf) that was prepared for the presidential transition. “The FEMA 2009 Presidential Transition Binder… is intended to serve as a reference for FEMA leadership and employees to help orient them to its organizational structure, […]