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 […]
Tomorrow Ronald W. Pelton, a National Security Agency communications specialist who was convicted in 1986 of spying for the Soviet Union, will be released from prison. Like Jonathan J. Pollard, who was convicted of spying for Israel and released last week, Pelton was apprehended in 1985, which became known as the Year of the Spy […]
New and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that were issued last week — but withheld from public release — include the following. The Islamic State — Frequently Asked Questions: Threats, Global Implications, and U.S. Policy Responses, November 19, 2015 The “Islamic State” and U.S. Policy, updated November 18, 2015 (and still using the […]
A new report issued by the Congressional Research Service describes the various procedures that the U.S. government can use “to prevent individuals from traveling to, from, or within the United States to commit acts of terrorism.” See Legal Tools to Deter Travel by Suspected Terrorists: A Brief Primer, CRS Legal Sidebar, November 16, 2015. In […]
The Director of National Intelligence last month issued a new directive on Controlled Access Programs (CAPs). CAPs are the Intelligence Community equivalent of what are otherwise called Special Access Programs (SAPs). These are classified programs that involve access restrictions above and beyond ordinary classification controls. CAPs include compartmented intelligence programs, but are not limited to […]
Last year, 95 secrecy orders barring disclosure of inventions under the Invention Secrecy Act of 1951 were imposed on new patent applications while 36 prior secrecy orders were rescinded. Three of the newly releasable inventions have recently received patents, decades after the inventors filed their applications. The three new patents were identified by the U.S. […]
New and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that have been withheld from broad public distribution include the following. Federal Research and Development Funding: FY2016, November 10, 2015 The Speaker of the House: House Officer, Party Leader, and Representative, November 12, 2015 Fifth Circuit Declines to Lift Injunction Barring Implementation of the Obama Administration’s […]
In a newly disclosed memorandum from 1963, the Director of Central Intelligence advised the Secretary of State that the CIA had “good reproductions” of Soviet satellite imagery. This puzzling remark appears to suggest a previously unrecognized capability of the CIA. The declassified memo summarizes a July 3, 1963 telephone conversation between DCI John McCone and […]
New and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that have been withheld from broad public distribution include the following. U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces: Background, Developments, and Issues, updated November 3, 2015 The New START Treaty: Central Limits and Key Provisions, updated November 3, 2015 Iran Sanctions, updated November 3, 2015 Tropical Storm? The Supreme […]
By Hans M. Kristensen General James Cartwright, the former commander of U.S. Strategic Command and former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed in an interview with PBS Newshour that the increased accuracy of the new guided B61-12 nuclear bomb could make the weapon “more useable” to the president or national-security making process. […]
What are the constitutional limits on police use of force? What remedies are available when those limits are exceeded? And in light of recent episodes of police violence, how might the limits and the remedies be modified? Those questions are addressed in a new report from the Congressional Research Service. “By the very nature of their job, […]