By Hans M. Kristensen Despite their age, U.S. nuclear ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) continue to carry out strategic deterrent patrols at a steady rate of around 30 patrols per year, according to data obtained from the U.S. Navy under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by the Federation of American Scientists’ Nuclear Information Project. Yet […]
“Pyongyang portrays nuclear weapons as its most effective way to deter the threat from the United States,” the Department of Defense says in a newly disclosed report to Congress on North Korean security policy. “North Korea’s primary strategic goal is perpetual Kim family rule via the simultaneous development of its economy and nuclear weapons program […]
“Lying, or making a false statement, is a federal crime under a number of circumstances,” a newly updated report from the Congressional Research Service instructs. “It is a federal crime to make a material false statement in a matter within the jurisdiction of a federal agency or department. Perjury is also a federal crime. Perjury […]
A new report from the Congressional Research Service begins to sort through the implications and the practical consequences of the Trump Administration decision to end US compliance with the Iran nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). “The Trump Administration could have used provisions of the JCPOA itself to cease implementation of U.S. […]
In a significant expansion of intelligence record preservation, email from more than 426 Central Intelligence Agency email accounts will now be captured as permanent historical records. A plan to that effect was approved by the National Archives last week. In 2014, the CIA had said that it intended to preserve the emails of only 22 […]
“In the future, NATO might have to rely as much on its agility and capacity for innovation as it has previously relied on its military technological advantage,” says a new report from the Congressional Research Service that reviews NATO’s response to the current threat environment and the changing technological landscape. See Transatlantic Perspectives on Defense […]
Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies such as machine learning are already being used by the Department of Defense in operations in Iraq and Syria, and they have many potential uses in intelligence processing, military logistics, cyber defense, as well as autonomous weapon systems. The range of such applications for defense and intelligence is surveyed in a new […]
For the fourth year in a row, the Department of Defense has asked Congress to legislate a new exemption from the Freedom of Information Act in the FY2019 national defense authorization act for certain unclassified military tactics, techniques and procedures. Previous requests for such an exemption were rebuffed or ignored by Congress. The Defense Department again justified its request by […]
The Central Intelligence Agency can selectively disclose classified information to reporters while withholding that very same information from a requester under the Freedom of Information Act, a federal court ruled last month. The ruling came in a FOIA lawsuit brought by reporter Adam Johnson who sought a copy of emails sent to reporters Siobhan Gorman […]
The tools that can be used to assert national power and influence have often been summarized by the acronym DIME — Diplomatic, Informational, Military, and Economic. But “US policy makers and strategists have long understood that there are many more instruments involved in national security policy development and implementation,” according to a new Joint Chiefs […]
Some members of the House Armed Services Committee want the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency to return to its previous practice of publicly disclosing information about planned flight tests of ballistic missile defense (BMD) systems and components. Earlier this year, the Department of Defense said that information about BMD flight tests, objectives and schedules was now […]
The differences between “covert action” performed by the CIA and “clandestine activities” conducted by the military, as well as the distinct legal frameworks and reporting requirements that govern them, are revisited in a new report from the Congressional Research Service. See Covert Action and Clandestine Activities of the Intelligence Community: Selected Definitions in Brief, April […]