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Secrecy and Security News

Newer News: December 2006

November 2006

• Analysis: High bar set in AIPAC case by Shaun Waterman, United Press International, November 30. "The government has been set a high bar for conviction in the AIPAC secrets case -- prosecutors must show the two lobbyists charged under espionage laws knew that the disclosure of the material they allegedly passed to reporters and Israeli officials would hurt the United States."
• Democrats Plan to Limit Eavesdropping Program by James Rowley, Bloomberg News, November 30. "Democrats, about to take control of Congress, say they will forge a bipartisan compromise to put limits on President Bush's program of domestic eavesdropping of suspected terrorists."
• A career as a secrecy watchdog by Aliya Sternstein, Federal Computer Week, November 13. "Researcher Steven Aftergood’s shelves are crammed with books on government secrecy and thick binders filled with government documents."
• Citing Security, Army Tightens Reins On Science Board Research by Fawzia Sheikh, Inside the Army, November 13. "The Army has greatly restricted public access to Army Science Board reports out of concern that past releases contained sensitive information with 'greater significance than what [was] initially thought,' an Army spokesman told Inside the Army."
• Bush Revives Espionage Act by Nat Hentoff, Village Voice, November 10. "There's little difference between what the defendants are charged with and what reporters and advocates do day-to-day," says Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy.
• The myth of the home-bake terror nuke 'cookbooks' by George Smith, The Register, November 10. "What the Times declined to include in its story was that the methods for building atom bombs have not been particularly secret for decades."
• Army Revamps How Information Is Deemed Classified by Walter Pincus, Washington Post, November 8. "U.S. Army intelligence has developed a new blueprint for standardizing the way national security information is classified, according to a memo distributed last month by Lt. Gen. John F. Kimmons, the Army's deputy chief of staff."
• Movin' On Up by Shane Harris, Government Executive, November 8. "In May, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence enacted new rules for joint duty assignments. To qualify for senior intelligence positions, employees now must work in top-level jobs at more than one agency."
• Air marshal’s firing prompts whistleblower suit by Stephen Losey, Federal Times, November 7. "A fired air marshal is suing to regain his job in a case that could draw the line between blowing the whistle on mismanagement and protecting sensitive information."
• Democrats condemn posting of Iraq arms data by Bryan Bender and Bryan McGonigle, Boston Globe, November 4. "Top Democrats and weapons specialists yesterday assailed the government's decision to publish details about Iraq's defunct weapons programs on the Internet.... But Steve Aftergood at the Federation of American Scientists, which advocates for government openness, urged caution about how damaging the information might have been."
• Hoekstra Statement on DOCEX, HPSCI news release, November 3. "Yesterday’s article by the New York Times highlights a number of important issues with respect to Iraq’s WMD programs, as well as the importance of the documents that have been recovered in Iraq," said U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
• Attorney General Proves Steadfast in the Art of Evasion, Elizabeth Williamson, Washington Post, November 3. "Open-government advocates are howling this week over a newly released transcript of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales's testimony before the House Judiciary Committee in April on topics including domestic wiretapping and surveillance, treatment of potential terrorists, and the president's power to declassify information."
• The Virus That Ate DHS by Kevin Poulsen, Wired News, November 2. "A Morocco-born computer virus that crashed the Department of Homeland Security's US-VISIT border screening system last year first passed though the backbone network of the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement bureau, according to newly released documents on the incident."

Older News: October 2006

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