“Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the number of insiders alleging wrongdoing in government – either through whistle-blower channels or directly to the press – has surged, as have reprisals against them.” See “A surge in whistle-blowing … and reprisals” by Gail Russell Chaddock, Christian Science Monitor, February 16, 2006. “If the Bush administration’s interpretation of […]
The ABLE DANGER data mining program was the subject of a House Armed Service Committee hearing yesterday featuring testimony from Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen A. Cambone. “Members must decide for themselves what to believe from the testimony presented today — there will be some inconsistencies,” cautioned Rep. Jim Saxton, who co-chaired the […]
A recently updated report from the Congressional Research Service addresses data mining — what it is, what it can and cannot do, and some of the controversies that have arisen around it. (The CRS report was issued before recent reporting by Newsweek on the “Topsail” data mining program, and by the Christian Science Monitor on […]
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is no longer disclosing the amounts of highly enriched uranium (HEU) that are sought for export to foreign research reactors, prompting complaints that the new non-disclosure policy undermines effective oversight of the traffic in nuclear weapons-grade material. “Under prior longstanding policy the Commission publicly disclosed such information, and this enabled the […]
The Department of Energy recently approved a comprehensive manual on procedures for protecting all manner of classified or controlled information in the Department’s possession. From RD (Restricted Data) and FRD (Formerly Restricted Data) to SAPs (Special Access Programs) and SPECATs (Special Category programs), it’s all in there. (Or almost all. A complete roster of all […]
Equipped with a one million dollar budget for the current fiscal year, the Public Interest Declassification Board will hold its first meeting on Saturday, February 25. The Board, which serves a purely advisory function and does not have independent declassification authority, is chaired by L. Britt Snider, the former CIA Inspector General, and supported by […]
The challenges posed by so-called “sensitive but unclassified” information, and Administration efforts to bring order to this problematic policy area, were explored in “Government withholds ‘sensitive-but-unclassified’ information” by Lance Gay, Scripps Howard News Service, February 2, 2006. The consequences of the government’s unprecedented use of the Espionage Act to prosecute non-governmental employees for mishandling classified […]
The House Government Reform Committee held an extraordinary hearing yesterday on the vulnerabilities of national security whistleblowers who challenge what they see as agency misconduct. “Breaking bureaucratic ranks to speak unpleasant and unwelcome truths takes courage and risks invoking the wrath of those with the power and motive to shoot the messenger,” said Rep. Christopher […]
In an unprecedented and previously unimaginable case, two former employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) were accused last year of mishandling classified government information. Now they have asked a federal court to dismiss the charges against them. The prosecution of the former AIPAC officials, Steven J. Rosen and Keith Weissman, represents an […]
The Bush Administration’s practice of selectively declassifying information that advances its policy agenda while withholding other information that controverts that agenda is “kind of sleazy,” an analyst quoted in the Wall Street Journal today said. Okay, it was me. But still. See “Cheney Role Risks Political Fallout” by Anne Marie Squeo and John D. McKinnon, […]
A long-simmering dispute over the role and character of the Congressional Research Service now threatens to boil over in the form of a clash between CRS management and CRS analyst Louis Fisher. Fisher, a specialist in American government and separation of powers issues, is one of the superstars of the CRS, whose work is widely […]
The Central Intelligence Agency continues to make a mockery of its legal obligations under the Freedom of Information Act and the national security classification system. The Project on Government Oversight recently asked the CIA to undertake a declassification review of the Iraqi declaration on weapons of mass destruction that was presented to the United Nations […]