The next President of the United States could single-handedly do what years of advocacy, investigation, legislation and litigation have yet to fully accomplish, namely to uncover the concealed record of the Bush Administration’s two terms in office on everything from warrantless wiretapping to extraordinary rendition. In an essay published in the Nieman Watchdog today, I […]
Noteworthy new reports from the Congressional Research Service include the following (all pdf). “Homeland Security: Roles and Missions for United States Northern Command,” January 28. “Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons: Proliferation and Security Issues,” updated January 14, 2008. “Pakistan’s Political Crises,” updated January 3, 2008. “Navy Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Program: Oversight Issues and Options for Congress,” […]
The DNI Open Source Center, which gathers, translates, analyzes, and distributes unclassified open source intelligence from around the world, is steadily growing in capability and impact, according to Doug Naquin, the Center’s Director. The Open Source Center, which replaced the CIA’s Foreign Broadcast Information Service, is doing more analysis and outreach than its predecessor and […]
Government agencies are still laboring to devise “common standards for preparing terrorism information for maximum distribution,” in response to a December 2005 directive from the President. Recently the Program Manager for the ODNI Information Sharing Environment issued a memorandum (pdf) describing the implementation of such common standards. See “Common Terrorism Information Sharing Standards (CTISS) Program,” […]
The case of Maher Arar, the Canadian national who was mistakenly identified as an Islamist extremist and deported from the United States to Syria for interrogation under torture, was explored in a Congressional hearing last October. The record of that hearing (pdf) has just been published. “The refusal of the Bush administration to be held […]
President Bush this week ordered executive branch agency heads to respond to dozens of recommendations that were issued earlier this month by the Public Interest Declassification Board, an official advisory group, regarding the declassification of historical records. The Board’s report, “Improving Declassification” (pdf), presented 49 recommendations to increase the utility and productivity of declassification, such […]
A coalition of historians is petitioning a federal court in New York to release sealed grand jury records from the 1951 indictment of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were convicted of spying for the Soviet Union and executed in 1953. The Rosenberg case, a crucible of atomic secrets, American communism, Soviet spying, U.S. counterespionage, and […]
Russia’s Okno and Krona space surveillance systems are profiled in a newly updated open-source documentary collection (pdf) by former CIA analyst Allen Thomson. The precise location of the Okno facility, which is in Tajikistan, has not been publicly identified. But last year, observed Mr. Thomson, a new “Krona-N radar site near Nakhodka was found in […]
A new U.S. Army Field Manual presents an introduction for soldiers to “the warrior ethos” (large pdf). “Modern combat is chaotic, intense, and shockingly destructive,” the document states. “In your first battle, you will experience the confusing and often terrifying sights, sounds, smells, and dangers of the battlefield–but you must learn to survive and win […]
Espionage remains “a very real threat to U.S. national security,” a House Judiciary Committee panel was told this week. “Since the end of the Cold War, there have been 78 individuals arrested for espionage or espionage-related crimes and since the 21st century began, there have been 37 individuals arrested in the US as agents of […]
Author Max Holland takes an advance peek at a new, not-yet-published book about the 9/11 Commission. “In a revelation bound to cast a pall over the 9/11 Commission, [New York Times reporter] Philip Shenon will report in a forthcoming book that the panel’s executive director, Philip Zelikow, engaged in ‘surreptitious’ communications with presidential adviser Karl […]
Noteworthy new and newly updated reports from the Congressional Research Service include the following (all pdf). “Presidential Transitions,” updated December 27, 2007. “Engineered Nanoscale Materials and Derivative Products: Regulatory Challenges,” January 22, 2008. “NATO in Afghanistan: A Test of the Transatlantic Alliance,” updated January 7, 2008. “The Changing U.S.-Japan Alliance: Implications for U.S. Interests,” updated […]