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Secrecy and Security News

Newer News: October 2010

September 2010

• How Not to Censor a Book: Pentagon Makes a Best Seller by Claire Suddath, Time, September 30. "The Pentagon said it was the first time it has ever destroyed a printed book because it contained classified information — but it may not have been in time to keep the secrets from circulating."
• Proposed DoD Rule on Freedom of Information Act, Federal Register, September 30. "The changes will ensure appropriate agency disclosure of information and offer consistency with the goals of section 552 of title 5, United States Code."
• Will grisly Afghan corpse photos be released? by Justin Elliott, Salon, September 28. "U.S. soldiers charged with murder took pictures -- which are secret, for now -- posing with dead Afghan civilians."
• Zeal for Dream Drove Scientist in Secrets Case by William J. Broad, New York Times, September 28. "Many people who know P. Leonardo Mascheroni describe him as a maverick and a technology zealot. Now, the Justice Department will try to prove that he is dangerous, too — a man willing to sell atomic secrets in exchange for a chance to realize his dream."
• Pelosi and White House Reach a Deal on Intelligence Oversight by Massimo Calabresi, Time Swampland, September 27. "In the end, say sources familiar with the deal, the two sides split the difference. The White House backed down on GAO, accepting a directive from Congress to the Director of National Intelligence to work up a plan with GAO for auditing covert programs.
• Proposed DoD Rule on Mandatory Declassification Review, Federal Register, September 27. "This part implements policy established in DoD Instruction 5200.01. It assigns responsibilities and provides procedures for members of the public to request a declassification review of information classified under the provisions of Executive Order 13526, or predecessor orders."
• Loved Lasers, Lost: Venezuelan Nuclear Spy Accused by Dan Charles, NPR All Things Considered, September 24. "Pedro Leo Mascheroni, the former scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory who is accused of trying to pass nuclear secrets to Venezuela, makes an unusual spy suspect. He hasn't been hiding from government officials; for 20 years he's been trying to get their attention."
• Lawyers Look to Exploit a Scientific Error by William J. Broad, New York Times, September 24. "The spying indictment filed late last week against a former Los Alamos scientist also contains a glaring scientific error, which is prompting debate among legal and nuclear experts on whether the government’s case could be hurt."
• Alleged rogue nuclear scientist has long and loud past by John Cook, Yahoo News, September 22. "If he has indeed gone rogue, Mascheroni has done it in the most public way imaginable: by suing the federal government, demanding congressional hearings, enlisting a former CIA director as his advocate, and even publicizing an incident in which FBI agents apparently searched his home late last year in the espionage investigation."
• Publisher agrees to drop US spy secrets from book: Pentagon, Agence-France Presse, September 18. "A publisher has agreed to remove US intelligence details from a memoir by a former army officer in Afghanistan after the Pentagon raised last-minute objections, officials said Friday."
• Pentagon Plan: Buying Books to Keep Secrets by Scott Shane, New York Times, September 10. "Defense Department officials are negotiating to buy and destroy all 10,000 copies of the first printing of an Afghan war memoir they say contains intelligence secrets, according to two people familiar with the dispute."
• Pentagon Tries to Buy Up Embarrassing Book by Joshua Hersh, AOL News, September 10. "An 11th-hour attempt by the Pentagon to purchase and destroy the entire print run of an upcoming military memoir has backfired, resulting in an unexpected publicity boon for the book -- and for the classified data it allegedly contains."
• DIA Memo on Harm to National Security from Unauthorized Disclosure of Classified Information in the book "Operation Dark Heart", August 6, 2010. "DIA's preliminary classification review of this manuscript has identified significant classified information, the release of which I have determined could reasonably be expected to cause serious damage to national security."
• Promotional Letter for "Operation Dark Heart" by Tony Shaffer, Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Press, June 2010. "An important and necessary book in understanding our nation's on-going battle in fighting terrorism in Afghanistan employing the military's most extraordinary espionage tactics."
• Obama uses Bush plan for terror war by Eli Lake, Washington Times, September 10. "As the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks approaches, much of President Obama's counterterrorism policies and his understanding of executive power closely hew to the last administration, which he criticized as a candidate for the White House."
• GAO access to intel in dispute by Dana Hedgpeth, Washington Post Top Secret America, September 1. "There's a showdown expected this fall between the White House and Congress as to just how much access the Government Accountability Office will receive to do oversight investigations of the country's most secretive intelligence agencies."

Older News: August 2010

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Updated October 1, 2010