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Secrecy and Security News

Newer News: October 2006

September 2006

• Dept of Energy Counterintelligence Polygraph Policy, Federal Register, September 29. "The question of whether and to what extent DOE should use the polygraph as a tool for screening individuals for access to our most sensitive information is the latest manifestation of this perennial struggle."
• Peek at NSA's Secret Reading List by Ryan Singel, Wired News, September 27. "The tantalizing tables of contents to the best spy magazines you'll probably never get to read have been posted online, thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request that pried open four classified National Security Agency publications."
• White House Releases Portion of Security Report by Mary Louise Kelly, National Public Radio, September 27. "A much-debated U.S. intelligence report states that Iraq has become a 'cause célèbre' for Islamic extremists, and that the war there has bred a deep resentment of the United States. The White House made declassified the report's conclusion Tuesday."
• President Bush Signs Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, White House news release, September 26. "We believe that the more transparency there is in the system, the better the system functions on behalf of the American people." (White House Fact Sheet)
• NASA Notice on Development of Advanced Radioisotope Power Systems, Federal Register, September 26. "First used in space by the U.S. in 1961, RPSs have consistently demonstrated unique capabilities over other types of space power systems for certain applications requiring up to several hundred watts of electric power."
• Justice appeals court order to release NRO documents by Daniel Friedman, Federal Times, September 25. "The Justice Department is appealing a federal court order requiring the National Reconnaissance Office to release unclassified budget documents."
• NRC Rescinds Secrecy of HEU Exports, letter from NRC Chair Dale E. Klein to Alan J. Kuperman, Nuclear Control Institute, August 31. "After considering your recommendations and various other factors, NRC will discontinue automatically withholding material quantity information from the public versions of export license applications."
• Judiciary Panel Approves Cornyn-Leahy OPEN Government Bill, news release from Sen. Leahy, September 21. "This bill advances one of the most fundamental rights of Americans, the public’s right to know what its government is doing," said Leahy, who has been a longtime champion of FOIA in Congress.
• Wyden, Bond, Senators Ask for Review of Classified Information in Senate Intelligence Report, Say Documents Were Overclassified, news release, September 19. "The Senators’ request to the Board will mark the first time that a Member of Congress has taken advantage of the Board’s function as a watchdog of classification policy."
• Nuclear Regulatory Commission Order on the Protection of Safeguards Information, Federal Register, September 19. "This Order also imposes requirements for the protection of Safeguards Information in the hands of any person, whether or not a licensee of the Commission, who produces, receives, or acquires Safeguards Information."
• Public Availability of Government Accountability Office Records, Federal Register, September 18. "These proposed revisions would clarify and broaden the existing exemption regarding the disclosure of congressional correspondence and create a new exemption to allow for the withholding of records of interviews created by GAO in connection with its work."
• Notice of Availability for Donation of the Test Craft Ex-SEA SHADOW (IX-529) and Hughes Mining Barge (HMB-1), Federal Register, September 14. "The Department of the Navy hereby gives notice of the availability for donation, under the authority of 10 U.S.C. 7306, of the Test Craft ex-SEA SHADOW (IX 529) and the Hughes Mining Barge (HMB-1)."
• Government secrecy costs soar to $7.7 billion by Daniel Friedman, Federal Times, September 13. "Clandestine CIA prisons get headlines, but a recent report says that secrecy is spreading to federal programs with little connection to national security."
• Wyden: Intelligence Reports Overclassified, Public Should Have Access to More, news release from Senator Ron Wyden, September 8. "Following the Senate Intelligence Committee’s release of two of five planned reports on pre-war Iraq intelligence, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden today criticized the excessive classification of the report and said he would urge an independent board that oversees classification of information to review the documents to determine if in fact too much was kept secret."
• Post-9/11 privacy and secrecy: A report card by Declan McCullagh and Anne Broache, CNET News.com, September 8. "The federal government is concealing more information about its own activities, while engaging in more surveillance of Americans' private lives."
• National Archives Issues Progress Report on Declassification Initiatives, news release, September 6. "At a meeting with the research community today, Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein reported on the National Declassification Initiative (NDI) explaining the objectives, milestones and progress to date for this innovative program."
• Failures of Imagination by Eric Umansky, Columbia Journalism Review, September/October 2006. "Reporters and news organizations deserve enormous credit for exposing the abuse and torture of detainees during the U.S. war on terror, more than other institutions or individuals. Without Carlotta Gall, The New Yorker’s Seymour Hersh, The Washington Post’s Dana Priest, and many other reporters, we might well never have learned of the abuse and torture that have occurred in Afghanistan, Abu Ghraib, and elsewhere. But just as sweeping attacks against 'the media' are too reductive, so too are plaudits."
• Spy agencies have discretion on reporting by Shaun Waterman, United Press International, September 5. "The directors of U.S. intelligence agencies have discretion over which of their activities are reported to Congress, according to newly disclosed guidelines."
• Procedures for Handling Critical Infrastructure Information; Final Rule, Federal Register, September 1. "These procedures govern the receipt, validation, handling, storage, marking, and use of critical infrastructure information voluntarily submitted to the Department of Homeland Security."

Older News: August 2006

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