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Automatic Declassification Deadline Looms

In his March 2003 executive order 13292, President Bush affirmed that on December 31, 2006, with certain limitations, “all classified records that (1) are more than 25 years old and (2) have been determined to have permanent historical value under title 44, United States Code, shall be automatically declassified whether or not the records have […]

12.21.06 | 2 min read
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Security Clearances for “Meritorious” Former Criminals

In a well-intentioned but clumsy legislative maneuver known as the Smith Amendment, Congress in 2000 generally prohibited the Department of Defense from granting security clearances to individuals who had been convicted of a crime and sentenced to prison for more than a year. “Because of the severity of the Amendment, many long-time, faithful employees of […]

12.21.06 | 2 min read
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FAS
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Key Foreign Affairs Issues for the 110th Congress (CRS)

A new report from the Congressional Research Service presents a comprehensive 80-page survey of foreign policy and national security issues that will face the next Congress. See “Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade: Key Issues for the 110th Congress” (pdf), December 20, 2006. Also newish from CRS is “Bioterrorism Countermeasure Development: Issues in Patents and Homeland […]

12.21.06 | 1 min read
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Covert Action Against the Soviet Union, 1969-1970 (FRUS)

The Nixon Administration gave high priority to covert action against the Soviet Union and its interests around the world, according to newly published declassified records (pdf). “With respect to black operations, the President enjoined me to hit the Soviets, and hit them hard, any place we can in the world,” wrote CIA director Richard Helms […]

12.21.06 | 1 min read
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Global Risk
Blog
Bush Administration cancels anthrax vaccine contract.

The same day that President Bush signed the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act into law, the government canceled their contract for the production of 75 million doses of anthrax vaccine. The contract, with VaxGen, was the most significant from the much criticized Bioshield program. But the cancellation was anticipated by many after VaxGen, who has […]

12.20.06 | 2 min read
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Global Risk
Blog
Venezuela’s Military Build-up: Who’s Watching the Guns?

On November 29th, Venezuela received the final shipment of the 100,000 AK-103 assault rifles that it purchased from Russia last year. Despite the high-profile nature of this sale, little is known about Venezuela’s plans for safeguarding the rifles, which would be a hot commodity on the region’s vibrant black market. It’s time to start asking […]

12.19.06 | 1 min read
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FAS
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FAS Asks Court to Compel NRO Compliance with FOIA

The Federation of American Scientists yesterday asked (pdf) a federal court to enforce a court order directing the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to process a Freedom of Information Act request for unclassified budget information after the NRO said it had “decided” not to do so. In a July 24, 2006 order, D.C. District Judge Reggie […]

12.19.06 | 1 min read
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FAS
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Govt Withdraws Subpoena Against ACLU

Last week it emerged that the Department of Justice had adopted the unprecedented tactic of employing a subpoena in order to recover copies of a classified document that had been provided without authorization to the American Civil Liberties Union. Yesterday, in a swift and somewhat farcical conclusion to the controversy, the government withdrew the subpoena […]

12.19.06 | 1 min read
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FAS
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Counterinsurgency Manual Flies Off the Shelf

The new Army Field Manual on Counterinsurgency doctrine has been downloaded from the Federation of American Scientists web site at an extraordinary rate — more than 250,000 times since it was posted on Friday morning. But unlike previous drafts obtained by Secrecy News, the new manual is no secret. It has been published and actively […]

12.19.06 | 1 min read
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FAS
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Stray Bits from the Congressional Research Service

“Bosnia and the European Union Military Force (EUFOR): Post-NATO Peacekeeping” (pdf), updated December 5, 2006. “Mad Cow Disease and U.S. Beef Trade” (pdf), updated December 6, 2006.

12.19.06 | 1 min read
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FAS
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The Grandeur of Error Correction

On December 17 the New York Times published a correction of a December 3 Times story which said that polonium-210 had been used to power U.S. spacecraft after a December 14 Secrecy News story showed that the claim was almost certainly incorrect: “An article on Dec. 3 about the many uses of polonium 210 referred […]

12.19.06 | 1 min read
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Global Risk
Blog
Entrenched Views of the Defense Science Board

Hans Kristensen has just posted an excellent analysis of the new Defense Science Board (DSB) report Nuclear Capabilities. The report presents what is known to the military as a “target rich environment” so we might make a few more comments over the next couple of days. I want to focus here on the section, starting […]

12.15.06 | 1 min read
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