Nuclear weapons are surprisingly prominent in the Pentagon’s new offensive Global Strike mission, according to the new FAS report Global Strike: A Chronology of the Pentagon’s New Offensive Strike Plan. The 250-page report traces the development of Global Strike through a comprehensive compilation of guidance documents, public statements, budget program descriptions, contracts, and declassified military […]
The government’s use of the problematic “sensitive but unclassified” (SBU) designation to restrict access to information that does not warrant classification is coming under new scrutiny. “Federal agencies do not use uniform definitions of SBU information or have consistent policies for safeguarding or releasing it,” a new study from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) observed. […]
Some other notable publications from the Congressional Research Service include the following. “Iran: U.S. Concerns and Policy Responses,” updated March 10, 2006. “Homeland Security: Protecting Airliners from Terrorist Missiles,” updated February 16, 2006. “Military Aviation: Issues and Options for Combating Terrorism and Counterinsurgency,” January 27, 2006.
“Intelligence in the Civil War” is the topic of a new study published by the Central Intelligence Agency (PDF). The technical challenges facing the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and a research agenda to help meet those challenges were described in a new report from the National Research Council. See “Priorities for GEOINT Research at the […]
President Bush this week said that a newspaper — the Los Angeles Times — had published details of a new technology used to defend against improvised explosive devices, and that jihadists used details from that newspaper story to develop techniques for defeating the new technology. Noah Shachtman of DefenseTech.org argues that there is reason to […]
In an effort to improve the sharing of intelligence information, the Director of National Intelligence last year authorized the use of a new marking for intelligence documents: RELIDO, or Releasable by Information Disclosure Official. RELIDO is intended “to facilitate information sharing through streamlined, rapid release decisions by authorized disclosure officials,” DNI John D. Negroponte wrote […]
Democratic proposals to initiate a congressional investigation of the National Security Agency warrantless surveillance program have been repeatedly rebuffed by Republican leaders in Congress. This month, House Committees have produced no fewer than four adverse reports on Democratic “resolutions of inquiry,” which sought executive branch records on domestic intelligence surveillance. In the Senate, a proposal […]
“Sources and Methods of Foreign Nationals Engaged in Economic and Military Espionage” is the title of a September 15, 2005 hearing of a House Judiciary Subcommittee which has just been published. Defense Department policy on Operations Security has been updated in a new directive. Operations Security (OPSEC) refers to the identification and reduction of tell-tale […]
The latest issue of U.S. News and World Report (March 20) features an interview with me on the subject of government secrecy. It is part of the observance of Sunshine Week, which is a nationwide effort to focus public attention on the virtues of open government. My not-so-smiling face can also be seen in light […]
The Espionage Act is “in many respects incomprehensible,” wrote Harold Edgar and Benno C. Schmidt, Jr. in a definitive law review article (large pdf) three decades ago which explored the potential use of the Act to prosecute leaks to the media. The espionage statutes are “so sweeping as to be absurd,” they argued (previously noted […]
(Updated Below) Some new details on the preparation of the President’s Daily Brief (PDB) and its presentation to the President and a small number of other officials are discussed in a Central Intelligence Agency declaration (pdf) filed last week in the prosecution of former Vice Presidential aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby. “Six mornings a week, […]
U.S. Army intelligence has produced a handbook (pdf) that is intended “to provide soldiers with a basic overview of Arab culture.” It begins with “Where is the Arab World?” and “What is an Arab?” and proceeds onward to brief and elementary discussions of Arabic language, culture, and politics. Viewing the Arab world in this way, […]