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Secrecy and Security News

Newer News: July 2011

June 2011

• Proposed Rule on Safeguarding Unclassified DoD Information, Federal Register, June 29. "DoD is proposing to amend the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to add a new subpart and associated contract clauses to address requirements for safeguarding unclassified DoD information."
• NARA Correspondence on Declassification of the Pentagon Papers, released June 24. "This is in response to your FOIA request for records that document the decision to declassify the last eleven classified words in the Pentagon Papers."
• Intelligence spending, still buried deep in the budget by Walter Pincus, Washington Post, June 24. "Don't hold your breath waiting for Congress to follow up on a recommendation from Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to separate the budget for the National Intelligence Program - which funds the CIA and other intelligence agencies - from the Defense Department budget."
• U.S. Pressing Its Crackdown Against Leaks by Scott Shane, New York Times, June 18. "The Justice Department shows no sign of rethinking its campaign to punish unauthorized disclosures to the news media, with five criminal cases so far under President Obama, compared with three under all previous presidents combined."
• Feds' policy on reading WikiLeaks docs 'incoherent,' critics say by Josh Gerstein, Politico Under the Radar, June 12. "After weeks of internal debate about whether and how lawyers for Guantanamo prisoners should be permitted to access the thousands of U.S. government documents published by WikiLeaks, federal authorities have settled on a policy that critics say rests on a misunderstanding of how the Internet and modern computing work."
• NSA case unlikely to deter Obama's take on leakers by Pete Yost, Associated Press, June 12. "Civil libertarians doubt the setback for prosecutors will halt the Obama administration's vigorous legal attack on leakers, and the government shows no signs of backing off other cases."
• NSA leak trial exposes dilemma for Justice Department by Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post, June 11. "The case also raises the question of whether the Obama administration, which has brought more leak-related prosecutions than any previous administration, is overreaching in its desire to discourage leaks."
• Drake pleads guilty to misdemeanor in NSA espionage case by Tricia Bishop, Baltimore Sun, June 10. "Years of government pursuit came to an end Friday when former NSA employee Thomas Drake pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of 'exceeding the authorized use of a computer' - a quiet conclusion to an aggressive espionage case."
• Justice case against alleged leaker collapses by Michael Isikoff, MSNBC, June 10. "In a major blow to the Justice Department, one of its biggest leak prosecutions in years all but collapsed late Thursday when federal prosecutors withdrew all their felony charges against a former National Security Agency official accused of providing classified information to a journalist."
• Ex-NSA official Thomas Drake takes plea deal by Josh Gerstein, Politico, June 10. "With the Obama administration facing its first big test in its war on leaks of classified information, the Justice Department blinked Thursday. Federal prosecutors agreed to dramatically reduce the charges against a former National Security Agency official in exchange for his guilty plea."
• Plea Deal Ends Leak Case Against Former Official by Brent Kendall, Wall Street Journal, June 10. "A former National Security Agency official accused of mishandling classified information reached a last-minute plea deal with the Justice Department, abruptly ending a high-profile case in the Obama administration's pursuit of government leaks to the press."
• Government's espionage case against NSA official stumbles by Shaun Waterman, Washington Times, June 10. "Government prosecutors announced a last-minute plea bargain Thursday evening in a high-profile leak case against a senior National Security Agency official, dropping almost all the charges in a decision hailed by government-transparency advocates as ending a case of Obama administration overreach."
• A Deal in the N.S.A. Case by Jane Mayer, The New Yorker, June 9. "In a stunning turnaround, after days of wrangling, the Justice Department and Thomas Drake, a former National Security Agency employee, have reached a plea bargain agreement in which Drake will plead guilty to one misdemeanor charge of intentionally exceeding the authorized use of his government computer."
• National Security Agency Releases Over 50,000 Pages of Declassified Documents, news release, June 8. "The released documents will be maintained by NARA and available for review at the National Archives at College Park." (List of transferred titles).
• Case against ex-NSA manager accused of mishandling classified files narrows by Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post, June 9. "Federal prosecutors will withdraw key documents from their case against a former National Security Agency manager charged with mishandling classified material, a move that experts say could signal the unraveling of one of the Obama administration's most prominent efforts to punish accused leakers."
• Spy Agency Budget Reveals IT Projects by J. Nicholas Hoover, Information Week, June 8. "Puppet Master, a space network architecture project, and a next-generation network dubbed Ardent Gunslinger, are among the projects detailed the National Reconnaissance Office's redacted budget documents."
• NRO budget justification sheds light on IT projects by Molly Bernhart Walker, Fierce Government IT, June 8. "A redacted version of the budget justification offers a glimpse into the highly-secretive agency and its similarly veiled budget."
• Feds pare back NSA leak case to shield technology by Josh Gerstein, Politico Under the Radar, June 6. "Federal prosecutors have decided to drop all references to a specific, classified National Security Agency initiative at the upcoming leak-related trial of former NSA official Thomas Drake, rather than see details of that effort become public."

Older News: May 2011

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Updated July 8, 2011