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Secrecy and Security News

Newer News: April 2014

March 2014

• Did Obama Order a New Cyber Attack? by Shane Harris, Foreign Policy: The Complex, March 28. "On June 21, 2013, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff issued a classified order authorizing the military to conduct an operation in cyberspace. The question is, did the military actually launch a cyber attack on a computer network -- which would be one of the few in documented history -- as a result of the order?"
• Harry Reid asks CIA to limit Congress interaction during spying investigation by Spencer Ackerman, The Guardian, March 21. "In the latest escalation of the battle between the US Senate and the Central Intelligence Agency, Senate majority leader Harry Reid has requested that the CIA suspend at least some interaction with Senate staff while a new investigation into potential spying on Congress proceeds."
• Defense Department Press Briefing on Implementation Plans as a Result of the Washington Navy Yard Shooting Investigations, March 18. "The reviews identified troubling gaps in DoD's ability to detect, prevent, and respond to instances where someone working for us, a government employee, member of our military, or a contractor, decides to inflict harm on this institution and its people." (SecDef Final Recommendations)
• Study: Obama Administration More Secretive Than Ever by Denver Nicks, Time, March 17. "The administration cited national security concerns a record 8,496 times as an excuse for withholding information from the public, a 57% increase from the year before."
• The most interesting tidbits from the Clinton document dump (Part 2), Washington Post, March 14. "The documents include an admission by Clinton's CIA director, George Tenet, that he couldn't bring himself to oppose a lawsuit aimed at forcing the government to disclose how much it spent on spying, because he didn't believe doing so would cause any harm to American espionage."
• The White House Has Been Covering Up the Presidency's Role in Torture for Years by Marcy Wheeler, The Intercept, March 13. "We can be sure about one thing: The Obama White House has covered up the Bush presidency's role in the torture program for years. Specifically, from 2009 to 2012, the administration went to extraordinary lengths to keep a single short phrase, describing President Bush's authorization of the torture program, secret."
• Exclusive: CIA emails reveal tension over terrorism probe by Josh Gerstein, Politico, March 12. "Internal Central Intelligence Agency emails detail misgivings about an in-house review of aggressive, Bush-era interrogations of terrorism suspects and show how that inquiry was curtailed by a separate Justice Department probe, according to the documents obtained by POLITICO."
• Allegations of CIA spying on the Senate deserve investigation by Dana Milbank, Washington Post, March 12. "President Obama's foes have been trying for years to uncover scandal in his administration. But the most damning allegation of wrongdoing was leveled on the Senate floor Tuesday morning -- by a friend."
• How a Court Secretly Evolved, Extending U.S. Spies' Reach by Charlie Savage and Laura Poitras, New York Times, March 12. "Ten months after the Sept. 11 attacks, the nation's surveillance court delivered a ruling that intelligence officials consider a milestone in the secret history of American spying and privacy law. Called the 'Raw Take' order -- classified docket No. 02-431 -- it weakened restrictions on sharing private information about Americans, according to documents and interviews."
• Senator accuses CIA of spying on Congress by Adam Serwer, MSNBC, March 11. "Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein accused the CIA on Tuesday of violating the law and the Constitution of the United States by interfering in a committee investigation into Bush-era torture of terror suspects."
• Ruppersberger calls for an end to NSA's phone data collection by John Fritze, Baltimore Sun, March 12. "Ruppersberger would discontinue the government's mass collection of phone data, which has been heavily criticized by privacy rights groups, and instead require intelligence agencies to get court orders on a case-by-case basis before they mine information held by telecommunication companies."
• Read the Pentagon's $59 Billion 'Black Budget' by Brandy Zadrozny, The Daily Beast, March 6. "President Obama proposed a $495.6 billion defense budget yesterday, almost half a billion dollars leaner than the previous year's. But there's still one category where the Department of Defense is not scaling back: its secret projects."
• Obama knew CIA secretly monitored intelligence committee, senator claims by Spencer Ackerman, The Guardian, March 5. "A leading US senator has said that President Obama knew of an 'unprecedented action' taken by the CIA against the Senate intelligence committee, which has apparently prompted an inspector general's inquiry at Langley."
• Ukraine: Why didn't the U.S. know sooner? by Josh Gerstein and Burgess Everett, Politico, March 4. "Despite Russian President Vladimir Putin's history as a tough-as-nails leader bent on restoring Russia's sphere of influence, the U.S. intelligence community failed to read the signs when it came to Ukraine."
• NSA chief criticises media and suggests UK was right to detain David Miranda by Spencer Ackerman, The Guardian, March 4. "Keith Alexander says revelations have caused 'grave damage' and claims officials are making 'headway' on 'media leaks'."

Older News: February 2014

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Updated April 1, 2014