Welcome to the inauguration of the Federation of American Scientists’ Web Log on national security issues. We are very excited about this new blog. The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) was founded by scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project to develop the first atomic bombs. The birth of the atomic bomb was, or course, […]
The National Security Agency has 46 million pages of historically valuable classified records more than 25 years old that are subject to automatic declassification by the end of December 2006, according to a new NSA declassification plan. Another 4.5 million pages of 25 year old records have been categorically exempted from automatic declassification because they […]
To promote intelligence accountability in new democracies and elsewhere, a new publication addresses the principles of intelligence oversight and presents draft legal provisions to govern intelligence. The document is being published in seven languages from Albanian to Ukrainian. See “Making Intelligence Accountable: Legal Standards and Best Practice for Oversight of Intelligence Agencies” by Hans Born […]
In a startling pronouncement that can only heighten tensions between the press and the government, a federal judge said last week that the laws governing classified information apply to anyone who is in receipt of such information, including reporters who are the recipients of “leaks.” “Persons who have unauthorized possession, who come into unauthorized possession […]
The Bush Administration rejected a Congressional initiative in 2002 that would have lowered the legal threshold for conducting surveillance of non-US persons under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act from “probable cause” that the target is a terrorist or agent of a foreign power to “reasonable suspicion.” Administration officials said at the time that the legislative […]
The Central Intelligence Agency has selectively declined to publish on its web site at least three unclassified reports produced by the Center for the Study of Intelligence that present an unflattering picture of the Agency, US News reported this week. See “A Tangled Web Woven,” by David E. Kaplan, US News and World Report, January […]
The rules and procedures for protecting classified information in Congress — which differ in the House and the Senate — are described in another new CRS report. See “Protection of Classified Information by Congress: Practices and Proposals,” updated January 11, 2006.
A new report from the Congressional Research Service presents a skeptical overview of the development of kinetic energy interceptors — anti-missile missiles — for defense against incoming ballistic missiles. “The data on the U.S. flight test effort to develop a national missile defense (NMD) system are mixed and ambiguous. There is no recognizable pattern to […]
The existing controversy over reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act — portions of which will “sunset” if they are not renewed — acquired a new dimension with the disclosure last month of an NSA domestic surveillance operation. Some now argue that the Patriot Act should not be reauthorized before the Bush Administration’s claims of inherent […]
The rudiments of Congressional oversight — its legal basis, its functions, and the diverse forms it takes — are concisely described in a newly updated report from the Congressional Research Service. “Congressional oversight refers to the review, monitoring, and supervision of federal agencies, programs, activities, and policy implementation…. Congress’s oversight authority derives from its ‘implied’ […]
The National Security Agency has issued new guidance to assist officials in redacting (censoring) documents in Microsoft Word format and producing unclassified Adobe Portable Document (PDF) files without inadvertently disclosing sensitive information. “MS Word is used throughout the DoD and the Intelligence Community (IC) for preparing documents, reports, notes, and other formal and informal materials. […]
When he signed the 2006 Defense Appropriations Act, which included a prohibition against torture of detainees in U.S. custody, President Bush issued a signing statement implying that he could disregard the new prohibition in his capacity as commander in chief. “The executive branch shall construe [the statute], relating to detainees, in a manner consistent with […]