“Arrogance, secrecy, and bad judgment have mired us in a mess in Guantanamo from which we are having great difficulty in extricating ourselves,” wrote U.S. Army Gen. (Ret.) Barry R. McCaffrey in a report (pdf) on his recent trip to the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay. “The JTF Guantanamo Detention Center is the most professional, […]
Department of Energy classification reviewers at the National Archives examined over 2.5 million pages of previously declassified records earlier this year and found only nine (9) pages that they said contained classified information which should not have been publicly disclosed, according to a new report to Congress (pdf). This is a vanishingly small error rate […]
The Department of Energy has released a redacted version of its October 2005 Historical Records Declassification Guide, a document used by classification reviewers to determine which information may be publicly released under the declassification provisions of executive order 12958. There are 15 categories of DOE national security information that are exempt from automatic declassification, the […]
“The Administration has taken significant steps to improve the process by which the Federal Government grants individuals access to classified information,” the Office of Management and Budget said in a recent report (pdf) on security clearances. “The average time it takes today to complete the security clearance process has been reduced by 18 days, or […]
On Monday, the Bush administration announced a massive $5.1 billion arms package for Pakistan, the largest arms sale to the Indian subcontinent since US sanctions were suspended in 2001. The package includes 36 F-16 fighter jets, armaments, and upgrades for its existing fleet of F-16s. The announcement came five days after the administration officially notified […]
“It’s not a crime to publish classified information,” explained Washington Post reporter Dana Priest in an electric moment on last Sunday’s NBC Meet the Press, even though “[commentator William] Bennett keeps telling people that it is.” Mr. Bennett, who was sitting right next to Ms. Priest, had declared last April that reporters like Ms. Priest […]
A private researcher investigating the history of the U.S. biological weapons program at the National Archives recently came up empty. “She asked for the files for Fort Detrick from 1946 to 1956, and was brought 16 cartons,” recounted Milton Leitenberg of the University of Maryland. “However, every single file in every one of the 16 […]
With its decision last week to strike down the Bush Administration’s unilateral creation of military tribunals for trying detainees, the Supreme Court highlighted and reinforced the rule of law in the conduct of military operations. Several recent publications provide rich background on military law. The 2006 edition of the “Operational Law Handbook” (pdf) published by […]
The U.S. Marine Corps has recently published a series of documents on counterinsurgency: “Small-Unit Leaders’ Guide to Counterinsurgency,” June 2006 (4.7 MB PDF file). “Countering Irregular Threats: A Comprehensive Approach,” 14 June 2006 (3.2 MB PDF file). “Tentative Manual for Countering Irregular Threats: An Updated Approach to Counterinsurgency Operations,” 7 June 2006.
Military doctrine on the control of stress in combat is presented in a new Army field manual (pdf). “In our own Soldiers and in the enemy combatants, control of stress is often the decisive difference between victory and defeat across the operational continuum. Battles and wars are won more by controlling the will to fight […]
The fortieth anniversary of the Freedom of Information Act, signed into law by President Johnson on July 4, 1966, was marked with the release of several interesting and informative publications. The colorful and contentious history behind the adoption of the Act was described by Tom Blanton of the National Security Archive based on documents obtained […]
Three years into the war in Iraq, the U.S. Army has nearly completed a thorough revision and update of its official doctrine on counterinsurgency (pdf). “It has been 20 years since the U.S. Army published a manual devoted to counterinsurgency operations, and 25 since the Marine Corps published its last such manual. With our Soldiers […]