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Secrecy and Security News

Newer News: December 2011

November 2011

• CIA Denies FOIA Request for Release of Open Source Works Directive, letter to Jeffrey Richelson, November 29. "The CIA can neither confirm nor deny the existence or nonexistence of records responsive to your request. The fact of the existence or nonexistence of requested records is currently and properly classified."
• Obama ordering agencies to keep better digital records by Ed O'Keefe, Washington Post, November 28. "President Obama has ordered federal agencies to make wider use of digital-based record-keeping systems in what aides promise will be the most significant change to government archiving since Harry S. Truman's presidency."
• Cardin bill angers whistleblower advocates by John Fritze, Baltimore Sun, November 24. "Legislation drafted by Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin to update the 1917 Espionage Act has angered public disclosure advocates who say the proposal would make it harder for federal employees to expose government fraud and abuse."
• Despite public impact, congressional deficit-reduction 'supercommittee' deliberated in private by Richard Lardner, Associated Press, November 22. "The deficit-reduction supercommittee failed to go big or even small. But it did succeed in conducting virtually all of its negotiations in private."
• DHS Denies FOIA Request for Release of JASON Report on Solar Weather, November 20. "After carefully reviewing the responsive documents, I determined that the responsive documents qualify for protection under the Deliberative Process Privilege."
• Climate Change Spy vs. Spy? by Kate Sheppard, Mother Jones, November 15. "The CIA has a special climate change task force, but as we've reported here, they don't want anyone to know about it. Now the science advisory board to the Department of Defense is recommending that the government create yet another new intelligence group dedicated to climate change."
• Nixon comes through yet again by Al Kamen, Washington Post In the Loop, November 14. "The latest Nixon texts and tapes are out - including his previously sealed 1975 Watergate grand jury testimony - and scholars and Nixon-philes and -phobes are poring over the paper carcass."
• Defense science panel: climate a national security threat by Dan Vergano, USA Today, November 14. "The Defense Department's highly-regarded science panel is calling for the U.S. military to improve intelligence-gathering related to climate change."
• WikiLeaks ruling spotlights outdated e-privacy law by Aliya Sternstein, Nextgov, November 11. "A federal court ruling against three individuals allegedly associated with WikiLeaks is fueling the debate over updating a 1980s electronic privacy law."
• Former CIA General Counsel Is in the Crosshairs in Leak Probe by Eli Lake, The Daily Beast, November 10. "The Department of Justice is investigating the unauthorized disclosure of key details of the CIA's secret drone program from a February Newsweek story crafted from an interview with John Rizzo, the CIA's former general counsel."
• The GOP Candidate Who Wants Journos Jailed by Nick Baumann, Mother Jones, November 10. "As an Army lieutenant in Iraq, Tom Cotton called for three journalists to be imprisoned for espionage. Now he's running for Congress."
• Final Rule on "Suitability" for Individuals in Positions of Public Trust, Federal Register, November 9. "U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing final regulations to assist agencies in carrying out new requirements to reinvestigate individuals in public trust positions ... to ensure their continued employment is appropriate."

Older News: October 2011

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Maintained by Steven Aftergood
Updated December 19, 2011