Some noteworthy new (or newly acquired) reports of the Congressional Research Service include the following (all pdf). “Homeland Security Department: FY2008 Request for Appropriations,” May 17, 2007. “U.S.-Funded Assistance Programs in China,” May 18, 2007. “North Korean Provocative Actions, 1950-2007,” updated April 20, 2007. “North Korea: Terrorism List Removal?,” updated April 6, 2007. “The North […]
The Department of Defense did a poor job of investigating and addressing reports of detainee abuse committed in Iraq by U.S. military personnel, according to a newly declassified report (pdf) of the DoD Inspector General. “Allegations of detainee abuse were not consistently reported, investigated, or managed in an effective, systematic, and timely manner,” the IG […]
According to the Director of National Intelligence, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978, the law that regulates domestic intelligence surveillance, desperately needs to be updated to accommodate the latest technologies. “Technology and threats have changed, but the law remains essentially the same,” wrote DNI Mike McConnell in a Washington Post op-ed on May […]
Some recently updated reports of the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include the following (all pdf). “Congressional Oversight Manual,” updated May 1, 2007. “China and Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction and Missiles: Policy Issues,” updated May 9, 2007. “Sea-Based Ballistic Missile Defense — Background and Issues […]
Updated Below More than five years after it was completed, the Department of Energy last year finally released a landmark historical account of U.S. production of highly enriched uranium (HEU) from 1945 to 1996. Conceived a decade ago as a bold initiative to set a new standard for international transparency and government accountability, the HEU […]
U.S. Government plans to establish a new military command to be known as AFRICOM with responsibility for U.S. military forces in Africa are described in a new report (pdf) from the Congressional Research Service. “As defined by the Department of Defense, AFRICOM’s mission will be to promote U.S. strategic objectives by working with African states […]
Delay and dysfunction in the personnel security clearance system are an old story, and the Government Accountability Office has been describing and updating that story for at least two decades, including new congressional testimony today (pdf) focusing on Department of Defense (DOD) contractors. “DOD is responsible for about 2.5 million security clearances issued to servicemembers, […]
New guidance on declassification marking (pdf) of documents and materials originating in Department of Defense special access programs was issued by the new Under Secretary of Defense (Intelligence) James R. Clapper, Jr. on April 26. A Joint Chiefs of Staff publication presents doctrine on “barrier, obstacle, and mine warfare.” The document, newly updated, “greatly expands […]
On Thursday, Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) introduced a new bill that would require the Pentagon to establish a pilot program “to determine the feasibility and desirability” of equipping turbojet planes in the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) with anti-missile systems. The CRAF is a Defense Department program that draws on civilian passenger and cargo aircraft […]
Although it “has stirred significant controversy in recent years,” the Congressional Research Service policy of restricting direct dissemination of its products to members of Congress is well-founded, argued CRS director Daniel P. Mulhollan in a lengthy internal memorandum (pdf) last month. “The reasons for limiting public distribution of our work can be summarized as follows,” […]
For now, the Congressional Research Service still does not make its products directly available to the public. Americans who want online access to CRS reports have to make their own arrangements. Some noteworthy new CRS reports obtained by Secrecy News include the following (all pdf). “Defense: FY2008 Authorization and Appropriations,” May 11, 2007. “Nuclear Weapons: […]
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration earlier this year attempted to block public access to a comprehensive report on planetary defense against asteroids, but the document found its way into the public domain anyway. NASA undertook the study in response to a 2005 Congressional mandate “to provide an analysis of alternatives to detect, track, catalogue, […]