There were 5,579 invention secrecy orders in effect at the end of fiscal year 2015. This was an increase from 5,520 the year before and is the highest number of such secrecy orders in more than a decade. Under the Invention Secrecy Act of 1951, secrecy orders may be imposed on patent applications when a […]
For moral, legal, and tactical reasons, it is U.S. Army policy to protect civilians during military operations, a newly updated Army publication explains. “To the extent possible, civilian populations (including those loyal to the enemy) must be protected from the effects of combat. In addition to humanitarian reasons and the need to comply with the […]
The 1972 Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), one of the “open government” laws, generally mandates that federal advisory committee meetings be held openly, except under certain specified circumstances. But over the past ten years, the number of closed meetings has actually increased, a new analysis by the Congressional Research Service found. “FY2014 reported the highest […]
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence yesterday released a transparency implementation plan that establishes guidelines for increasing public disclosure of information by and about U.S. intelligence agencies. Based on a set of principles on transparency that were published earlier this year, the plan prioritizes the objectives of transparency and and describes potential initiatives […]
The DNI Open Source Center has been redesignated the Open Source Enterprise and incorporated in CIA’s new Directorate of Digital Innovation. The Open Source Center, established in 2005, was tasked to collect and analyze open source information of intelligence value across all media – – print, broadcast and online. The OSC was the successor to […]
Procedures for electing a new Speaker of the House of Representatives are outlined in a new report from the Congressional Research Service. See Electing the Speaker of the House of Representatives: Frequently Asked Questions, October 23, 2015. Other new and updated CRS products include the following. Recognition of Same-Sex Marriage: Implications for Religious Objections, October […]
Classified U.S. intelligence information may be shared with foreign recipients when it is advantageous to the U.S. to do so and when it is not otherwise prohibited by law, according to a directive that was publicly released last week by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. “It is the policy of the U.S. […]
The ability of Congressional Research Service analysts to support congressional deliberations is substantially enabled by (if not entirely predicated on) the confidentiality with which requests from individual Members of Congress and the CRS responses to those requests are handled. Confidentiality permits congressional offices to consider politically sensitive or unpopular topics, and to evaluate new perspectives […]
Since 2010, the U.S. Army has cut 80,000 soldiers from its ranks. It plans to complete a further reduction of 40,000 more by the end of fiscal year 2017, for an overall 21 percent reduction of Army active forces down to 450,000 soldiers. The reductions in force were described in a July 2015 report to […]
New and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service include the following. Privilege Against Self-Incrimination Supplements Journalist Privilege, CRS Legal Sidebar, October 20, 2015 Supreme Court Appointment Process: President’s Selection of a Nominee, October 19, 2015 Supreme Court Appointment Process: Consideration by the Senate Judiciary Committee, October 19, 2015 Supreme Court Appointment Process: Senate Debate […]
By Hans M. Kristensen and Robert S. Norris In our latest FAS Nuclear Notebook we estimate that Pakistan now has 110-130 warheads in its nuclear arsenal. This is an increase of about 20 warheads from the 90-110-warhead level we estimated in our previous Pakistani Notebook in 2011. The Notebook is published as Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz […]
By Hans M. Kristensen [Updated January 26, 2016] In an op-ed in the Washington Post, William Perry and Andy Weber last week called for canceling the Air Force’s new nuclear air-launched cruise missile. The op-ed challenged what many see as an important component of the modernization of the U.S. nuclear triad of strategic weapons and […]