By an overwhelming majority, the House of Representatives voted yesterday to approve a limited federal shield law that would enable reporters to protect the confidentiality of their sources from compulsory disclosure under most circumstances. See the record of the October 16 House debate here. The White House issued a strong statement of opposition and suggested […]
Noteworthy legal, regulatory and other publications from the Department of Defense include the following (all pdf). “Forged in the Fire: Legal Lessons Learned During Military Operations, 1994-2006,” Center for Law and Military Operations, September 2006 (439 pp, 28 MB PDF file). “Defense Civilian Intelligence Personnel System (DCIPS),” DoD Directive 1400.35, September 24, 2007. “Minimum Security […]
China’s new Jin-class SSBNs at Huludao shipyard. (click on image for higher-resolution picture) By Hans M. Kristensen The two new Jin-class SSBNs I discovered on Google Earth earlier this month have now been photographed in port by an anonymous photographer. The photograph, which has appeared on several Chinese web sites (here and here) and sent […]
Upon lawful request and for a thousand dollars, Comcast, one of the nation’s leading telecommunications companies, will intercept its customers’ communications under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The cost for performing any FISA surveillance “requiring deployment of an intercept device” is $1,000.00 for the “initial start-up fee (including the first month of intercept service),” according […]
Much of the doctrinal literature concerning Army special operations is restricted from public disclosure, often for good reasons and sometimes for reasons that are hard to understand. But one new special operations manual has been approved for unrestricted public disclosure. As the title indicates, “Airdrop of Supplies and Equipment: Rigging Loads for Special Operations” (FM […]
The disclosure of a clandestine network of U.S. military officers that diverted classified documents from military agencies and illegally provided them to law enforcement agencies serves as a vivid reminder that improved information sharing within the government is a goal that has still not been achieved. “Marine Gunnery Sgt. Gary Maziarz said patriotism motivated him […]
Noteworthy new reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include the following. “China-U.S. Relations: Current Issues and Implications for U.S. Policy,” updated October 1, 2007. “North Korean Refugees in China and Human Rights Issues: International Response and U.S. Policy Options,” September 26, 2007. “Saudi Arabia: Terrorist […]
For better or worse, contractors are now an indispensable part of the U.S. intelligence workforce, and greater attention is needed to manage them effectively, argues a recent study by a military intelligence analyst (pdf). The author presents criteria for evaluating contractor support to various intelligence functions, and applies them in a series of case studies. […]
If foreign terrorists set out to undermine confidence in the American legal system as an arbiter of justice, they could hardly do more damage than the Bush Administration has done by its use of the “state secrets” privilege. Khaled el-Masri, who alleged that he was abducted and tortured by the Central Intelligence Agency, will not […]
At the end of Fiscal Year 2007, there were a total of 5,002 invention secrecy orders in effect under the Invention Secrecy Act of 1951, up from 4,942 the year before. U.S. government agencies imposed secrecy orders on 53 patent applications filed by private inventors in FY 2007, prohibiting their disclosure or export, according to […]
The Information Security Oversight Office has published an expanded guide explaining how to properly mark classified documents. See “Marking Classified National Security Information” (pdf), October 2007. A 1972 monograph prepared at the National Archives reviews the history of information control markings on military documents back to the 19th century and traces their development up to […]
Last week, the Jasons, a group of distinguished scientists who advise the Department of Defense, released the unclassified summary of their review of the Reliable Replacement Warhead, or RRW. Walter Pincus covered the report in the Washington Post. The summary is posted on the FAS website. Although almost everything about nuclear weapons and their design […]