The Congressional Research Service has updated several of its reports on Navy ship and submarine programs: Navy DDG-51 and DDG-1000 Destroyer Programs: Background and Issues for Congress, December 17, 2015 Navy Littoral Combat Ship (LCS)/Frigate Program: Background and Issues for Congress, December 17, 2015 Navy Virginia (SSN-774) Class Attack Submarine Procurement: Background and Issues for […]
Military terms and symbols that are used by the U.S. Army have been compiled in an updated reference manual, along with acronyms and abbreviations. See ADRP 1-02, Terms and Military Symbols, December 2015. Intended to foster a common vocabulary, the manual can also help outsiders to interpret distinctive Army expressions and patterns of speech. The […]
The U.S. Air Force is attempting to develop and procure multiple major aircraft systems at the same time, generating programmatic and budgetary uncertainty. “The United States Air Force is in the midst of an ambitious aviation modernization program, driven primarily by the age of its current aircraft fleets,” a new report from the Congressional Research […]
The number of chronically homeless persons in the U.S. dropped from more than 120,000 in 2008 to around 84,000 in 2014, a new report from the Congressional Research Service notes. The federal government has undertaken to end chronic homelessness by 2017. “One of the reasons that federal programs have devoted resources to ending chronic homelessness […]
The national census in 2020 will be the first to rely primarily on the Internet for collecting census data, thereby creating new avenues for fraud and disruption. A new report from the JASON scientific advisory panel describes the problem and outlines some solutions. Why would anyone want to interfere with the constitutionally-mandated census, which maps […]
Employees of the U.S. intelligence community are expected to be bold, innovative and imbued with moral courage. At least, those are the desired qualities that are defined in a series of Intelligence Community Standards (ICS) first issued in 2008 that have just been released under the Freedom of Information Act. Even a non-supervisory employee at […]
The guiding principles for implementing and operating the Intelligence Community (IC) Information Technology Enterprise (ITE) were set forth in a 2013 memorandum from the Director of National Intelligence that was recently released under the Freedom of Information Act. The purpose of IC ITE (pronounced “eye sight”) is to establish a common information architecture for the entire […]
A newly updated Department of Defense publication affirms the importance of public outreach, not simply as a gesture towards democratic governance, but also as an instrument of operational utility. “The US military has an obligation to communicate with its members and the US public, and it is in the national interest to communicate with international […]
The Visa Waiver Program (VWP) allows foreign nationals from 38 countries to travel to the United States for up to 90 days without obtaining a visa. The travelers must still present a valid passport and meet certain other requirements. There were 20 million visitors who entered the United States under this program in FY 2013. […]
The possible outcomes of the ongoing Paris climate change conference, and the challenges remaining to be overcome, are considered in a new report from the Congressional Research Service. See International Climate Change Negotiations: What to Expect in Paris, December 2015, November 27, 2015. The shifting numbers of U.S. troops and contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan […]
There are “substantial gaps” in the ability of the Department of Defense to counter Islamic State propaganda and messaging, the Commander of U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) informed Congress earlier this year. But now Congress has moved to narrow some of those gaps. Until recently, the Pentagon’s authority to act in this area had been […]
If you find Secrecy News useful or interesting, please consider supporting our work with a financial contribution to the Federation of American Scientists. Last month the House Committee on Homeland Security published a report of its task force on combating terrorist and foreign fighter travel. In a footnote, the Committee cited a related report from […]