A new “Information Sharing Strategy” (pdf) from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence warns that traditional security practices that restrict disclosure of information have become counterproductive. “The Intelligence Community’s ‘need to know’ culture, a necessity during the Cold War, is now a handicap that threatens our ability to uncover, respond, and protect against […]
A 2003 memo from the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel that appears to authorize abusive interrogation of suspected unlawful combatants outside the United States was declassified this week. The memo (pdf) concludes that criminal statutes that would preclude torture and other forms of physical abuse “do not apply to properly-authorized interrogations of enemy combatants.” […]
The Open Society Institute, a philanthropic foundation founded by George Soros that works to promote democratic governance, is seeking to hire a program director for its work on transparency in the U.S. (Secrecy News has received funding from OSI.) The OSI transparency program “will use a combination of grantmaking strategies and programmatic initiatives to ensure […]
Noteworthy new reports from the Congressional Research Service which have not been made readily available to the public include the following (all pdf). “The REAL ID Act of 2005: Legal, Regulatory, and Implementation Issues,” April 1, 2008. “The Social Security Number: Legal Developments Affecting Its Collection, Disclosure, and Confidentiality,” updated February 21, 2008. “Congressional Authority […]
For the first time in six years, the Government Accountability Office has been asked by a congressional intelligence committee to perform an intelligence oversight-related function. On March 11, Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), an intelligence subcommittee chairwoman, called upon the GAO to review security […]
FAS just launched an online compilation of more than 500 documents on the US ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). The Archive (/blog/cw) includes a timeline of CWC negotiations, a history of its signing and ratification, and current news and commentary on the CWC. In addition to the documents, Cheryl Vos, FAS Biology Research […]
The likely responses of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey to Iranian acquisition of a nuclear weapon were considered in a new staff report (pdf) from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “How are these three countries responding today to the Iranian nuclear program? How would Riyadh, Cairo, and Ankara respond if Tehran were to cross the […]
“Far too often, court-approved secrecy agreements hide vital public health and safety information from the American public, putting lives at stake,” observed Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI). “The secrecy agreements even prevent government officials or consumer groups from learning about and protecting the public from defective and dangerous products.” “Legislation that I’ve introduced… seeks to restore […]
In what might seem like an April Fool’s Day indulgence but isn’t, the New York Times today probed further into the emblems that circulate officially or unofficially around classified Defense Department programs. The emblems and patches, gathered by author Trevor Paglen, “reveal a bizarre mix of high and low culture where Latin and Greek mottos […]
The U.S. Marine Corps has agreed to restore public access to unclassified doctrinal documents on its web site. The official Marine Corps doctrine web site remains inaccessible. But in response to a Federation of American Scientists request (pdf) under the Freedom of Information Act, the Marine Corps said that all releasable contents would soon be […]
Last month the Director of National Intelligence issued a new Intelligence Community Directive (ICD) on “Technical Surveillance Countermeasures” (pdf) (TSCM). TSCM “represents the convergence of two distinct disciplines — counterintelligence and security countermeasures,” the directive explained. Its purpose is “to detect and nullify a wide variety of technologies used to gain unauthorized access to classified […]
To its credit, the Defense Intelligence Agency promptly withdrew an official DIA history that mistakenly described the 1981 Israeli attack on an Iraqi nuclear reactor in the 1980s as an attack on Iran. As soon as the error became public, DIA replaced the entire document with an updated account. In an email message yesterday to […]