Attorneys for Khaled El-Masri, who was allegedly subjected to “extraordinary rendition” by the Central Intelligence Agency, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the dismissal of his lawsuit against the Agency last year on asserted “state secrets” grounds. If the petition (pdf) is granted, the Court’s review has the potential to alter the judiciary’s handling […]
The the Institute for Animal Health has confirmed a positive test for foot-and-mouth in Surrey, just outside London. The latest report that I could find indicated that they had ordered the slaughter of 300 animals in the area of the outbreak and that all cattle movement and exports had been halted. The site of the […]
Critics of the new Protect America Act who wonder if it will be used to conduct warrantless surveillance of Americans have misunderstood the legislation, according to a Department of Justice official, but he also admitted the law may be susceptible to such a misunderstanding. “Contrary to some reports, the new legislation does nothing to change […]
“Legacy of Ashes,” the best-selling new history of the Central Intelligence Agency by Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Tim Weiner, has been almost universally praised by prestigious book reviewers as a ground-breaking, comprehensive, reliable and insightful account of the CIA from its inception to the present. It was favorably cited in Secrecy News too. In a […]
Notable new reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include the following (all pdf). “India-U.S. Economic and Trade Relations,” August 31, 2007. “U.S.-China Military Contacts: Issues for Congress,” updated August 20, 2007. “United States Military Casualty Statistics: Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom,” updated August […]
Unauthorized disclosures of classified information in the press led to the imprisonment of a CIA source and other damaging consequences, said Central Intelligence Agency Director Michael Hayden in a speech last week. “Some say there is no evidence that leaks of classified information have harmed national security. As CIA Director, I’m telling you there is, […]
Two editions of the President’s Daily Brief (PDB) dating from the Johnson Administration may be withheld from disclosure by the CIA, a federal appeals court ruled last week (pdf). The court deferred to a CIA argument that despite their age, the 40 year old records could compromise protected intelligence methods. However, the court rejected a […]
The Dominican Republic this month became the 140th nation to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty that would prohibit all nuclear explosions, the CTBT Organization announced last week. The Treaty has not been ratified by North Korea, China, Iran, Israel, India, Pakistan or the United States, among others.
The organizational structure of the United States Army may be confusing to anyone who is not routinely involved with it, and probably also to some who are. A new Army Regulation aims to clarify the missions and functions of each Army Command, as well as defining command relationships within and among the Commands. See “Army […]
The World Law Bulletin is a monthly publication of the Law Library of Congress that reports on significant or interesting legal developments in countries around the world. For its own peculiar reasons, the Law Library has declined to make this serial available to the public. (In response to insistent pleas, a derivative publication called the […]
The Air Force is reported to have loaded and flown five (some say six) nuclear-armed Advanced Cruise Missiles on a B-52H bomber – by mistake. This image shows a B-52H will a full load of 12 Advanced Cruise Missiles under the wings. By Hans M. Kristensen Michael Hoffman reports in Military Times that five (some […]
The latest FAS-NRDC estimate of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile has been published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. By Hans M. Kristensen The U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile currently contains an estimated 9,900 nuclear warheads of 15 different versions of nine basic types, according to the latest FAS-NRDC Nuclear Notebook published in the Bulletin […]