SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2015, Issue No. 69
October 20, 2015

Secrecy News Blog: http://fas.org/blogs/secrecy/

USES OF FORCE ABROAD 1798-2015, AND MORE FROM CRS

The United States has used its armed forces hundreds of times in conflicts abroad, even though it has only engaged in eleven declared wars throughout its history.

A newly updated tabulation of U.S. military actions has been prepared by the Congressional Research Service, up to and including the October 14, 2015 deployment of 90 U.S. troops to Cameroon. The CRS listing does not include covert actions, disaster relief operations or training exercises. See Instances of Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad, 1798-2015, October 15, 2015:

Other new or newly updated CRS products include the following.

U.S. Natural Gas Exports and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement, CRS Insight, October 15, 2015:

International Crises and Disasters: U.S. Humanitarian Assistance Response Mechanisms, updated October 16, 2015:

State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs: FY2016 Budget and Appropriations, updated October 13, 2015:

Less-than-Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement Signed in Burma, CRS Insight, October 15, 2015:

U.S.-China Cyber Agreement, CRS Insight, October 16, 2015:

Greenhouse Gas Pledges by Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, updated October 19, 2015:

Alternative Inflation Measures for the Social Security Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA), updated October 15, 2015:

Federal Public Transportation Program: In Brief, updated October 15, 2015:

Number of Hispanic U.S. Circuit and District Court Judges: Overview and Analysis, CRS Insight, October 15, 2015:

A U.S. Patent Box: Issues, CRS Insight, October 15, 2015:

Cost-of-Living Adjustments for Federal Civil Service Annuities, updated October 15, 2015:

Afghanistan: Post-Taliban Governance, Security, and U.S. Policy, updated October 15, 2015:

LETTER: ISRAEL SHOULD ALLOW VANUNU TO EMIGRATE

Mordechai Vanunu, who revealed aspects of Israel's nuclear weapons program to the press three decades ago and served a lengthy prison term as a result, is again entangled with Israeli legal authorities over the contents of a recent TV interview. See "Nuclear Whistle-blower Vanunu Arrested Over Channel 2 Interview," Haaretz, September 10:

Vanunu should be allowed to emigrate from Israel, as he has requested, wrote Charles D. Ferguson, president of the Federation of American Scientists, and Frank von Hippel of Princeton University.

"We realize that Vanunu's past actions are susceptible to different interpretations, including negative interpretations, and that he in fact violated the laws of the State of Israel. But the essential fact is that upon conviction he served his full sentence in prison, as he was required to do. Under the circumstances, we believe it is unjust for Israel to continue to punish him over and over for the same crime," Ferguson and von Hippel wrote in an October 12 letter to the Government of Israel.

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Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the Federation of American Scientists.

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