The Department of Defense has revised and supplemented its polygraph program to include non-polygraph techniques for detecting deception. A new Pentagon directive (pdf) introduces the term “Credibility Assessment (CA),” which refers to “The multi-disciplinary field of existing as well as potential techniques and procedures to assess truthfulness that relies on physiological reactions and behavioral measures […]
Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are a major source of U.S. and allied casualties in Iraq. Military doctrine for confronting and defeating the IED threat is set forth in a 2005 U.S. Army field manual (excerpt, pdf). “The proliferation of IEDs on the battlefield in both Iraq and Afghanistan has posed the most pervasive threat facing […]
The transfer of sensitive government communications security (COMSEC) information and equipment to industry is the subject of a newly revised U.S. Navy Instruction (pdf). “Government cryptographic equipment operations will ordinarily be conducted by the Government,” the Instruction states. “However, when there is a valid need and it is clearly in the best interest of the […]
The decline of arms control as an instrument of policy in the Bush Administration is charted in a new report (pdf) from the Congressional Research Service, which surveys the evolution of the field over the last several decades. “The Bush Administration has altered the role of arms control in U.S. national security policy,” the CRS […]
The 2007 intelligence authorization bill was approved without amendment on February 8 by the Senate Armed Services Committee with a recommendation that it be passed into law. The Senate bill would notably require public disclosure of the annual intelligence budget total, an objective long sought by open government advocates and classification reformers. Although there is […]
A new compilation (large pdf) of official records, news releases and other documentation provides a fairly comprehensive account of the Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX), an ambitious missile defense program intended to track warheads in flight and to cue ground-based interceptor missiles. The SBX, constructed aboard a modified semi-submersible oil platform, departed Hawaii last month and […]
Noteworthy new publications from the U.S. Army on military doctrine and regulation include these (all pdf). “Intelligence Support to Capability Development,” Army Regulation AR 381-11, 26 January 2007. “Army Field Support Brigade Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures,” Field Manual Interim FMI 4-93.41, February 2007. “Mortuary Affairs Operations,” Field Manual FM 4-20.64, January 2007.
Recent reports of the Congressional Research Service that are not readily available in the public domain include the following (all pdf). “Navy Aegis Cruiser and Destroyer Modernization: Background and Issues for Congress,” February 1, 2007. “FY2008 Appropriations for State and Local Homeland Security,” February 5, 2007. “Military Airlift: C-17 Aircraft Program,” updated January 25, 2007.
The interagency Nuclear Weapons Council (NWC) has formally decided to endorse the proposed Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) concept as the basis of the future U.S. nuclear arsenal, a new report (pdf) from the Congressional Research Service revealed today. In November 2006, “the NWC determined that the RRW is to be adopted as the strategy for […]
Some more noteworthy new reports from the Congressional Research Service that are not readily available in the public domain include these (all pdf). “Freedom of Information Act Amendments: 110th Congress,” updated February 1, 2007. “Critical Infrastructures: Background, Policy and Implementation,” updated January 8, 2007. “Earthquakes: Risk, Monitoring, Notification, and Research,” February 2, 2007.
It is the policy of the United States to develop medical countermeasures that could be used in response to an attack involving chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons, according to a new Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD-18) issued by President Bush on Medical Countermeasures Against Weapons of Mass Destruction. A bill introduced in the House […]
In an extraordinary internal challenge to the unruly Office of the Vice President (OVP), the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) has formally petitioned the Attorney General to direct the OVP to comply with a requirement that executive branch organizations disclose statistics on their classification and declassification activity to ISOO. For the last three years, Vice […]