Nuclear bombs in Asia at the time of the Taiwan Strait crisis are listed (red box) in this Strategic Air Command document obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Click on image above to download PDF copy of list. . By Hans M. Kristensen Thanks to the efforts of Bill Burr at the National […]
Iran continues to enrich uranium. Enrichment is the process that makes natural uranium useable in a nuclear reactor or, if carried further, a nuclear bomb. Iran claims that the motivation for its enrichment program is entirely peaceful but almost no one outside of Iran believes this. With the United States shouting from the sidelines, the […]
The White House last week issued a long-awaited policy on “controlled unclassified information” (CUI) to provide a uniform government-wide system for safeguarding unclassified information that is deemed sensitive. The CUI framework is supposed to replace the numerous individual agency control markings — “sensitive but unclassified,” “for official use only,” and over a hundred other designations […]
New limitations and reporting requirements should be imposed on intelligence contractors, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence said in its new report on the 2009 Intelligence Authorization Act. “Several provisions of the bill are aimed at reducing the overall use of contractors by the Intelligence Community. The Committee believes these provisions are necessary for financial […]
A recent Senate hearing on the subject of “secret law” drew an appreciative review today from syndicated columnist and first amendment champion Nat Hentoff. “So important was an April 30 hearing before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution that it should have been on front pages around the country,” he wrote. “Titled ‘Secret Law […]
In January 2008, the ODNI Open Source Center (OSC) published a report on “Recent Worldwide Research on Animal Pox Viruses” principally authored by Dr. Alfred D. Steinberg of the MITRE Corporation. Secrecy News has been trying unsuccessfully to obtain a releasable copy of the document. A request to ODNI was forwarded to the Central Intelligence […]
Noteworthy new reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made publicly accessible online include the following (all pdf). “Defense: FY2009 Authorization and Appropriations,” May 5, 2008. “Second FY2008 Supplemental Appropriations for Military Operations, International Affairs, and Other Purposes,” updated May 8, 2008. “Director of National Intelligence Statutory Authorities: Status and Proposals,” updated […]
An interagency program established in 2006 by a classified Presidential directive is working to gather information on the status and security of nuclear materials around the world and to characterize them for forensic purposes. Remarkably, such a thing had never been done before in a rigorous way. “On August 28, 2006, the national-level Nuclear Materials […]
It is impossible to entirely separate a civilian nuclear power program from a potential nuclear weapons program. President Bush knows this, which is why he is so concerned about Iran’s nuclear energy program. And this is why our country should not undercut nonproliferation goals by restarting a domestic reprocessing program, now called the Global Nuclear […]
A bill introduced in the House of Representatives would require U.S. intelligence agencies to report to Congress on the total number and cost of contractors that they employ and to provide detailed information on the services that contractors perform. Some controversial intelligence contractor activities would be prohibited outright, including arrest, interrogation and detention. “Contracting in […]
The Director of National Intelligence last week issued several new Intelligence Community Directives (ICDs) that implement new community-wide personnel practices, including a performance-based compensation policy that rewards superior job performance. The new payment policy “links performance-based pay increases and bonuses to individual accomplishments, demonstrated competencies, and contributions to organizational results.” “Higher performance and greater contribution […]
The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) generates some of the most sensitive and most consequential records in the U.S. Government, along with an enormous volume of ephemeral material. Managing this endless flow of records efficiently and effectively is a challenge. Close students of OSD records management policy will find useful reference data in […]