A Bush Administration plan to require a standardized identification system for federal employees poses “severe threats to the privacy rights of scientists and others,” employees at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) wrote to Congress last week (pdf). In August 2004, President Bush issued Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD) 12, “Policy for a Common Identification Standard […]
When the government asserts the state secrets privilege in the course of litigation, the judiciary must independently evaluate the purported secret that is at issue and should not simply defer to the executive branch, several public interest groups argued in an amicus curiae brief (pdf) this week. The brief, to which the FAS Project on […]
Updated below A new U.S. Army regulation (pdf) on Operations Security (OPSEC) would sharply restrict the ability of soldiers to participate in public life without supervision and authorization from superior officers. The regulation also encourages Army personnel to view attempts by unauthorized persons to gather restricted information as an act of subversion against the United […]
The planning and performance of Joint Special Operations are described in some detail in a new publication (pdf) from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Joint special operations (SO) are conducted by SOF [special operations forces] from more than one Service in hostile, denied, or politically sensitive environments to achieve military, diplomatic, informational, and/or economic objectives […]
“Air Force intelligence components do not engage in experimentation involving human subjects for intelligence purposes,” a new Air Force Instruction (pdf) states categorically. Except for the exceptions. “Any exception would require approval by the Secretary or Under Secretary of the Air Force and would be undertaken only with the informed consent of the subject and […]
“During calendar year 2006, the Government made 2,181 applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for authority to conduct electronic surveillance and physical search for foreign intelligence purposes,” according to the latest Justice Department report to Congress on implementation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (pdf). The court approved 2,176 applications, making substantive modifications to […]
Click on figure to open full fact sheet. For an updated stockpile estimate, go here. The Bush administration announced in 2004 that it had decided to cut the nuclear weapons stockpile “nearly in half” by 2012, but has refused to disclose the actual numbers. Yet a fact sheet published by the Federation of American Scientists […]
With one remarkable exception noted below, no one believes that congressional oversight of intelligence has served the nation well in recent years or that it has been adequate to the momentous demands of the time. While the country has been roiled by debates over detention and interrogation policies, warrantless domestic intelligence surveillance, extraordinary rendition, the […]
Across the globe from Iraq and Afghanistan to Africa to Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago, U.S. Special Operations Forces are deployed to conduct unconventional warfare, psychological operations, and other activities in support of U.S. military and foreign policy objectives. In Fiscal Year 2007, U.S. Special Operations Command has total authorized manpower of 47,911 persons, according […]
Earlier this month, the National Security Agency released several brief historical essays that had been prepared for the Agency’s Cryptologic Almanac on the occasion of its 50th anniversary in 2002. The essays were declassified on April 10 in response to a Mandatory Declassification Review request from Michael Ravnitzky. They include (all pdf): “Quis Custodiet Ipsos […]
On January 26, 2007, the Deputies Committee of the National Security Council approved the establishment of a National Exercise Program (NEP) that would conduct management exercises to help senior government officials prepare for national crises from terrorism to natural disasters. In a briefing last month (pdf), the Department of Homeland Security presented a proposed Five […]
The U.S. Army yesterday issued a new Field Manual on “Sensitive Site Operations” (FM 3-90.15, 25 April 2007). The document itself is restricted and the Army would not immediately provide a copy to Secrecy News. But a few blanks can nevertheless be filled in. “A sensitive site is a designated, geographically limited area with special […]