On October 14, President Obama signed Presidential Policy Directive 43 on the normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba. Aside from the substance of the directive on the future of US-Cuba relations, PPD-43 has several incidental features of interest. First, it is a public document. “The policy directive was notable because it was […]
A comprehensive defense against intercontinental ballistic missiles remains difficult — and perhaps impossible — for several reasons, including the difficulty of achieving “midcourse discrimination” to identify weaponized payloads in a cloud of debris or decoys. A newly released summary of a classified 2010 report on the subject prepared by the JASON scientific advisory panel explains […]
“Does federal law require the President to relinquish control of his or her business interests?” That question is considered in a new analysis from the Congressional Research Service. The short answer appears to be No. “There is no current legal requirement that would compel the President to relinquish financial interests because of a conflict of […]
One of the more encouraging changes in classification policy over the past decade has been the sharp reduction in the number of decisions to classify information reported each year by executive branch agencies. In 2005 there were a total of 258,633 original classification actions, or new secrets, reported; in 2015, there were said to be […]
The executive branch is reconfiguring its approach to vetting individuals for access to sensitive information and granting them security clearances in an attempt to modernize and improve its procedures, according to a new quarterly report. “The Insider Threat and Security Clearance Reform (ITSCR) Cross Agency Priority (CAP) Goals have been re-baselined so that they are […]
A new report from the Congressional Research Service considers: “What would happen in 2016 if a candidate for President or Vice President were to die or leave the ticket any time between the national party conventions and the November 8 election day? What would happen if this occurred during presidential transition, either between election day […]
In a dispute that pitted member agencies of the U.S. intelligence community against each other, the Central Intelligence Agency claimed that “a questionable intelligence activity” had been carried out in 2014 by agents of the Department of Defense. But an investigation of the matter by the DoD Inspector General that was partially declassified last week […]
The period of transition between presidential administrations can be turbulent, with potentially accelerated decision-making, diminished oversight, executive appointments, acts of clemency, “midnight rulemaking,” records management decisions, and heightened national security vulnerabilities, among other factors. Many of these areas are considered in a newly updated report from the Congressional Research Service. See Presidential Transitions: Issues Involving […]
By Hans M. Kristensen The latest set of so-called New START treaty aggregate data published by the U.S. State Department shows that Russia is continuing to increase the number of nuclear warheads it deploys on its declining inventory of strategic launchers. Russia now has 259 warheads more deployed than when the treaty entered into force in […]
Military doctrine has been defined as “fundamental principles that guide the employment of U.S. military forces in coordinated action toward a common objective.” Some of those fundamental principles are elaborated in two U.S. military documents that were made public this month. A newly revised Pentagon publication addresses Joint Interdiction (Joint Publication 3-03, Joint Chiefs of […]
The conflict in South Sudan is one of four in the world — along with those in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen — that are classified by the United Nations as humanitarian emergencies of the highest order (Level 3), a newly updated report from the Congressional Research Service points out. “U.N. officials estimate that at least […]
Organizations give out awards not only in order to recognize individual excellence, but also to advance and reinforce values prized by their sponsors. So it is both telling and somewhat unexpected that the U.S. intelligence community is creating a new award for certain kinds of dissidents and whistleblowers. “The intelligence community has […] committed to […]