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Secrecy and Security News

Newer News: October 2008

September 2008

• Information Please by Brooke Gladstone, On the Media, September 26. "A few updates from the secrecy files. In two separate cases, courts decide in favor of more transparency from our government. Plus, a new bill in Congress that probably won’t pass, but should."
• Analysis: Classifying open source intel? by Shaun Waterman, United Press International, September 16. "Intelligence from open sources like the Internet is now recognized as an essential part of the work of U.S. agencies -- but one leading expert in the field says much more of it should be secret."
• Pentagon Researcher Conjures Warcraft Terror Plot by Noah Shachtman, WIRED Danger Room, September 15. "The American military and intelligence communities are increasingly worried that would-be bin Ladens might gather in a virtual world, to plan a real-life attack. But the spies haven't given many details, about how it might be done. Now, a Pentagon researcher has laid out how such a terror plot might unfold. The planning ground is World of Warcraft. The main target of this possibly nuclear strike: the White House."
• Bin Laden's public statements, revealed, NBC News Deep Background, September 12. "In 2004, the U.S. government compiled a 289-page collection of Osama Bin Laden's earliest interviews and public statements. The texts were translated by the CIA's Foreign Broadcast Information Service. The voluminous report has never been approved for public release. But a copy was obtained by Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists, with a link published in Aftergood's Secrecy News blog."
• Shut Your Mouth ... Or Else: Why are federal prosecutors threatening a government secrets expert? by Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball, Newsweek, September 9. "The Justice Department has threatened to file criminal charges against a former top National Archives official if he testifies as a defense witness in a high-profile national security case."
• Report Describes Careless Handling of U.S. Secrets by Carrie Johnson, Washington Post, September 3. "Former attorney general Alberto R. Gonzales told investigators that he could not recall whether he took home notes regarding the government's most sensitive national security program and that he did not know they contained classified information, despite his own markings that they were 'top secret -- eyes only,' according to a Justice Department report released yesterday."

Older News: August 2008

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