Numerous new reports of the Congressional Research Service on subjects of public interest and concern have been issued lately. Yet by design, they are not made readily available to the public. They include the following. “The Department of Defense Rules for Military Commissions: Analysis of Procedural Rules and Comparison with Proposed Legislation and the Uniform […]
Senator Christopher Bond (R-Missouri) introduced legislation today to criminalize the unauthorized disclosure of classified information. “We need to send a message that leaks will not be tolerated and give prosecutors a modern and appropriate tool to go after those who do leak,” he said. The new Bond bill is identical to the controversial anti-leak legislation […]
(Updated below) The names of foreign countries that are being considered for deployment of U.S. missile defense systems are unclassified but nevertheless should be kept secret, the Missile Defense Agency ordered (pdf) last year. “There are many operational and political sensitivities that require varying levels of protection as we consider possible deployments,” wrote MDA Deputy […]
A bipartisan bill introduced in the House would require the House Intelligence Committee to disclose information on intelligence activities to other congressional committees, as long as such disclosure did not reveal sensitive intelligence sources or methods. “In order to exercise proper oversight, House committees need all pertinent information and, unfortunately, that process isn’t functioning as […]
Some noteworthy congressional documents that have recently been published include the following. “The Need to Know: Information Sharing Lessons for Disaster Response,” House Committee on Government Reform, March 30, 2006. “Plane Clothes: Lack of Anonymity at the Federal Air Marshal Service Compromises Aviation and National Security” (pdf), House Judiciary Committee investigative report, May 25, 2006. […]
The Department of Defense recently published its annual report on counterproliferation, an overview of U.S. government programs to detect, prevent and counter the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. See “Report on Activities and Programs for Countering Proliferation and NBC Terrorism, Counterproliferation Program Review Committee” (pdf), Volume I, Executive Summary, May 2006. See also the […]
Published sources on stealthy satellites were compiled in “A Stealth Satellite Sourcebook” by independent researcher Allen Thomson, available here (pdf). An earlier compilation on the French GRAVES (Grande Réseau Adapté à la Veille Spatial) space surveillance system, also by Mr. Thomson, may be found here (pdf).
New reports of the Congressional Research Service, not readily available to the public, include the following: “India-U.S. Relations” (pdf), updated July 31, 2006. “Pakistan-U.S. Relations” (pdf), updated July 27, 2006.
Update (February 22, 2007): DTRA announces that Divine Strake has been canceled. The controversial Divine Strake explosion has been delayed again, this time “at least several months into calendar year 2007,” according to a statement distributed in Congress by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. “We have stood down the experiment site and the workforce that […]
Today the Federation of American Scientists launched ReallyReady.org, a comprehensive emergency preparedness website that addresses the inaccuracies and incomplete information on the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) preparedness site, Ready.gov. ReallyReady was developed in two months by FAS intern Emily Hesaltine for the price of a domain name. In comparison, it took millions of dollars […]
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed overwhelming, 359 to 68, a bill that sets out procedures for nuclear trade with India (the link includes the House floor debate and the text of the bill, about a third of way down). It is an entirely different bill than that proposed by the White House. The […]
Some intriguing new details of U.S. intelligence policy were disclosed in two reports on the implementation of the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004 that were issued yesterday by the House Intelligence Committee and by the Director of National Intelligence. Beyond broad conclusions on the status of intelligence reform, each report voiced numerous passing observations of […]