Last week the House of Representatives passed a bill to extend federal legal jurisdiction to crimes committed abroad by U.S. contractors in war zones such as Iraq, so that such crimes could be prosecuted in U.S. courts. But before the bill (H.R. 2740) was passed, it triggered alarms by those who were concerned that its […]
A decade ago Congress established an advisory committee to examine the very issues of contractor liability in war zones abroad that have recently been in the headlines again. The Overseas Jurisdiction Advisory Committee spent a year analyzing the state of the law, found “significant jurisdictional gaps” in the government’s ability to prosecute crimes committed abroad […]
A federal appeals court on Friday granted a temporary injunction blocking implementation of a policy that would require scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to undergo intrusive background investigations as a condition of continued employment. The requirement stems from President Bush’s Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12, under which all federal employees and contractors are obliged […]
China appears to have launched two more SSBNs. By Hans M. Kristensen (BLOG UPDATED OCTOBER 10, 2007) China appears to have launched two more ballistic missiles submarines from the Bohai shipyard at Huludao approximately 400 km east of Beijing. This could bring to three the number of Jin-class (Type 094) nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) […]
Congressional oversight of intelligence should be augmented by the assistance of specially-cleared investigative teams from the Government Accountability Office, say some congressional leaders, and GAO officials appear eager to assume the task. “The need for more effective oversight and accountability of our intelligence community has never been greater,” said Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI) earlier this […]
Democratic Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama “will reverse this [Bush Administration] policy of secrecy,” his campaign stated this week, and he addressed the subject in a high-profile address at DePaul University on October 2. “I’ll lead a new era of openness,” he said. “I’ll turn the page on a growing empire of classified information, and […]
The use of U.S. military assets and capabilities in a domestic, civilian context is both politically and legally sensitive. A new Defense Department publication (pdf) defines military doctrine concerning such “civil support” missions, which might include disaster relief, emergency response or support to law enforcement. “Introducing federal forces into an otherwise civil response situation requires […]
Last week the National Archives announced the release of the final report to Congress (pdf) on implementation of the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act, which is said to be the largest single-subject declassification program ever performed by the U.S. government. Millions of pages of records from World War II and the early Cold War years […]
There are significant uncertainties associated with the design of the Reliable Replacement Warhead, the proposed new nuclear weapon, according to the JASON defense science advisory panel. The unclassified executive summary (pdf) of the new JASON report, first reported by Walter Pincus in the Washington Post on September 30, is here. Related background is available in […]
U.S. Army intelligence has issued an updated version of its handbook on terrorism in the 21st century. “The handbook is a high level terrorism primer that includes an overview of the history of terrorism, descriptions of terrorist behaviors and motivations, a review of terrorist group organizations, and the threat posed to our forces, both in […]
Noteworthy new reports from the Congressional Research Service obtained by Secrecy News include the following (all pdf). “Instances of Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad, 1798-2007,” updated September 12, 2007. “The Military Commissions Act of 2006: Analysis of Procedural Rules and Comparison with Previous DOD Rules and the Uniform Code of Military Justice,” updated […]
J. William Leonard, the director of the Information Security Oversight Office, is resigning from that position effective January 2008, leaving a significant void in the fragile mechanism for overseeing the government’s national security classification system. The move was announced today in a National Archives news release. Mr. Leonard’s letter of resignation is here (pdf). Since […]