Judge Frederick J. Scullin, Jr. of the Southern Northern District of New York was identified last week as a member of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which was established by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to provide judicial authorization for intelligence search and surveillance activities within the United States. Although Judge Scullin was […]
The website freedominfo.org, sponsored by the National Security Archive, has produced a splendid new catalog of freedom of information laws in some 60 countries around the world, with links to underlying statutes and related background information (flagged by BeSpacific.com). “For the first time, the National Archives and Records Administration has made available online more than […]
Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH), the most outspoken opponent of proposals to permit direct public access to Congressional Research Service reports, recently lost his chairmanship of the House Administration Committee in the initial fallout of the unfolding corruption scandals in Congress. But it is unclear whether his sensible successor, Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-CA) (R-Mich.), will be […]
President Bush has submitted an amazing piece of legislation to Congress that essentially strips Congress of its authority to evaluate and limit nuclear exports to India and asks Congress to approve whatever trade deal the Administration develops, that is, to approve the Indian nuclear deal months in advance, sight unseen. Much was made of the […]
A few months ago, physicist Jorge Hirsch [jhirsch@ucsd.edu] of the University of California, San Diego, and others, organized a petition signed by an impressive array of notable scientists. The petition condemns the administration’s new national security strategy for its over-emphasis on nuclear weapons. The petition also emphasized that just using the term “WMD” blurs the […]
The U.S. military faces an erosion of the skills that it needs to develop and maintain strategic nuclear and non-nuclear strike forces, according to a new study (pdf) by the Defense Science Board (DSB). “It appears that a serious loss of certain critical strategic strike skills may occur within the next decade” as senior design […]
A House resolution to investigate the so-called Downing Street memo on pre-war intelligence on Iraq was considered and rejected, along with two other resolutions on Iraq and the Valerie Plame case, in a September 14, 2005 markup by the House Committee on International Relations. See the report of that Committee markup (pdf). Sen. Arlen Specter […]
The Department of Defense withdrew from its web site a DoD inspector general report that was critical of information security in the Missile Defense Agency’s ground-based missile defense system. Federal Computer Week reported on the removal of the document and posted the missing document on its own web site. See “DOD removes missile defense system […]
Some notable new reports from the Congressional Research Service include the following. “The Middle East Peace Talks,” updated March 16, 2006. “Terrorism and National Security: Issues and Trends,” updated March 9, 2006. “North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons Program,” updated February 21, 2006. “Nepal: Background and U.S. Relations,” updated February 2, 2006.
The Director of National Intelligence yesterday announced the public release of Iraqi documents that were captured by U.S. forces in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The release came in response to pressure from House Intelligence Chairman Pete Hoekstra and Senator Rick Santorum, who had both introduced legislation to compel disclosure of the captured Iraqi documents, and from […]
Senate Republicans led by Sen. Mike DeWine yesterday introduced a bill (pdf) that would authorize warrantless intelligence surveillance for up to 45 days, after which it could be renewed upon review by the Attorney General. The bill would require notification to Congress of various aspects of the program. But significantly, it would impose no external […]
Prepared testimony from a March 14 House Government Reform subcommittee hearing titled “Drowning in a Sea of Faux Secrets” that addressed overclassification, reclassification, and the use of the “sensitive but unclassified” control marking can be found here. “Congressional Notification of Intelligence Activities, Intelligence-Related Activities, Special Access Programs, and Covert Actions Within the Department of the […]