In the event of an attack against the United States involving weapons of mass destruction, National Guard units known as WMD civil support teams (CST) would be called upon to respond. “The mission of the WMD CST is to support civil authorities at a domestic CBRNE [chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive] incident site […]
(Updated Below) “The U.S. Armed Forces disposed of chemical weapons in the ocean from World War I through 1970,” the Congressional Research Service recalled in a valuable new report (pdf). “At that time, it was thought that the vastness of ocean waters would absorb chemical agents that may leak from these weapons. However, public concerns […]
The prosecution of Thomas C. Butler, the distinguished scientist who was convicted in 2004 of exporting plague bacteria to Tanzania without proper authorization and of various contract violations, came to a final conclusion last month when the U.S. Supreme Court denied his petition (pdf) to review the matter. Yet the Butler case may endure as […]
In his 1995 executive order 12958, President Clinton directed that most historically valuable classified records be automatically declassified as they become 25 years old. The onset of this automatic declassification process was deferred repeatedly, but it was affirmed in principle by President Bush in his 2003 executive order 13292, and the initial phase of the […]
The legal issues and security procedures involved in litigating national security cases are introduced in a handbook (pdf) published by the Navy Judge Advocate General. “National Security Cases and cases involving classified information are inherently complex because they impose strict security, reporting, coordination, and approval requirements on top of the necessities of investigating, trying, defending, […]
In a whopper 231-page report published today, the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission presented 60 specific recommendations for how to move the nonproliferation and disarmament agenda forward. The recommendations are familiar to anyone involved in these matters over the past 50 years: reduce the danger of nuclear arsenals; prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; […]
An FBI account of “Bacteriological Warfare in the United States” was obtained by TheMemoryHole.org through the Freedom of Information Act. In all, 709 pages were released relating to bacterial warfare efforts in the US from 1941-1950, some of which are heavily redacted. 1,074 pages have been witheld for further review by other agencies. The account […]
The Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) should exercise its authority to compel the Office of the Vice President to disclose how frequently it classifies and declassifies information, the Federation of American Scientists urged in a letter (pdf) to ISOO Director J. William Leonard. For the third year in a row, the Office of the Vice […]
In a victory for academic researchers, the Department of Commerce announced the withdrawal of a controversial rulemaking notice on so-called “deemed exports” that would have imposed new restrictions on access to information and technology by foreign-born scientists. A “deemed export” has taken place when a foreign national who is working in the United States gains […]
Update (February 22, 2007): DTRA announces that Divine Strake has been canceled. In a surprising move, the National Nuclear Security Administration last week withdrew (!) its Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for Divine Strake, a document issued in April that declared that a planned detonation of 700 tons of chemical explosives at the Nevada […]
The scope of the “sensitive security information” (SSI) control category that prevents disclosure of certain kinds of transportation security-related information would be significantly curtailed by the House version of the 2007 Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act. The House bill would mandate automatic disclosure of SSI when it becomes three years old if it is […]
The National Security Archive announced the publication of a large collection of Henry Kissinger’s Memoranda of Conversation (memcons), a detailed and candid record of his diplomatic contacts with world leaders from 1969 to 1977, edited by the Archive’s William Burr. An FBI account of “Bacteriological Warfare in the United States” was published by TheMemoryHole.org. It […]