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Secrecy and Security News

Newer News: November 2014

October 2014

• Judge Says Government Can't Use State Secrets to Toss No Fly List Challenge by Cora Currier, The Intercept, October 31. "In allowing Mohamed's case to proceed, Judge Anthony Trenga, in the Eastern District of Virginia, said that the state secrets privilege was 'not a doctrine of sovereign immunity'."
• U.S. spy budget down by over 15 percent since 2010: official data by Mark Hosenball, Reuters, October 31. "The total U.S. intelligence budget was $67.9 billion in the fiscal year to Sept. 30, according to official figures. That was up only marginally from $67.6 billion the previous year, but followed a steady decline since a peak in 2010."
• If the Republicans Win Big on Tuesday, So Will the CIA by John Hudson, Foreign Policy, October 30. "If the Nov. 4 elections deliver a GOP-controlled Senate, the chairmanship of the powerful Senate Intelligence Committee is likely to go to a North Carolinian whose unwavering support for the CIA and NSA could radically transform the committee's oversight agenda."
• Only top legislators informed of White House computer attack by Mark Hosenball, Reuters, October 30. "An attack by hackers on a White House computer network earlier this month was considered so sensitive that only a small group of senior congressional leaders were initially notified about it, U.S. officials said on Thursday."
• DoD Releases Budget Figure for 2014 Military Intelligence Program, October 30. "The total MIP budget, which included both the base budget and Overseas Contingency Operations appropriations, was $17.4B billion."
• DNI Releases Budget Figure for FY 2014 National Intelligence Program, October 30. "The aggregate amount appropriated to the NIP for Fiscal Year 2014 was $50.5 billion."
• Denis McDonough Supported Intelligence Oversight When Bush Was President by Ali Watkins and Ryan Grim, Huffington Post, October 28. "Today, it's McDonough, the White House chief of staff, who is protecting the executive branch from Senate Democrats fighting to perform their oversight function."
• Feds identify suspected 'second leaker' for Snowden reporters by Michael Isikoff, Yahoo News, October 27. "The FBI has identified an employee of a federal contracting firm suspected of being the so-called 'second leaker' who turned over sensitive documents about the U.S. government's terrorist watch list to a journalist closely associated with ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden, according to law enforcement and intelligence sources who have been briefed on the case."
• X-37B is 'very likely' to be a SPY PLANE: Expert claims top-secret US spacecraft may have been covertly watching other nations by Mark Prigg and Ellie Zolfagharifard, Daily Mail, October 20. "It's a mystery that has confounded military experts around the world for years. The top-secret X-37B space drone, which landed in California on Friday, has spent nearly two years orbiting Earth on a classified mission."
• Transcripts Kept Secret for 60 Years Bolster Defense of Oppenheimer's Loyalty by William J. Broad, New York Times, October 11. "Historians and nuclear experts who have studied the declassified material -- roughly a tenth of the hearing transcripts -- say that it offers no damning evidence against him, and that the testimony that has been kept secret all these years tends to exonerate him."
• Does the 'N' in NSA stand for nonsense? by Scott Martelle, Los Angeles Times, October 10. "Yes, a report on what information has been released to the media was deemed classified, though by definition the information was already available through the media."
• Congress Scouring Every U.S. Spy Program by Eli Lake, Daily Beast, October 10. "Congress has quietly begun reviewing every U.S. government intelligence collection program. It's got the potential to trigger the next big fight between The Hill and Obama's spies."
• These Are the Financial Disclosure Forms the NSA Said Would Threaten National Security by Jason Leopold, Vice, October 10. "The agency refused VICE News' July request for copies of Alexander's financial disclosure reports, which he is required to fill out annually under a federal law known as the Ethics and Government Act. The law also states that government agencies are required to release the files upon request."
• NSA Mind-Bender: We Won't Tell You What Info We Already Leaked to the Media by Kim Zetter, Wired Threat Level, October 9. "Longtime reporters who cover the NSA know that any time we ask the obstinate spy agency for information, we're probably going to hit a brick wall. But who would have thought that trying to obtain information about information the agency has already given us would lead to the same wall?"
• NSA: List of official leaks to the media is classified by Julian Hattem, The Hill, October 9. "The National Security Agency is refusing to release a list of classified information that was deliberately leaked to the media."
• NSA denies FOIA request for report on authorized disclosures of classified intelligence, October 2. "Because the document is currently and properly classified, it is exempt from disclosure." But FAS appeals the NSA denial, October 8. "It is well established that information, including classified information, that has been publicly disclosed on an authorized basis loses its exemption from disclosure under FOIA."
• Not just paper pushers, IGs carry guns, go undercover by Kevin Bogardus, E&E Publishing, October 7. "Inspectors general -- internal watchdogs at federal agencies -- are not just auditors willing to plow through government documents to find fraud and waste. Many also have the legal authority to go undercover, conduct surveillance and even carry guns."
• FAS Comment on CIA email destruction proposal, submitted to NARA, October 3. "I request that NARA reconsider its pending approval of the CIA proposal to schedule non-senior official email for disposal, and that NARA require the preservation of a broader selection of Agency email. The bases for this request are as follows."
• CIA Doesn't Think It's Keeping Too Many Secrets by Matt Sledge, Huffington Post, October 2. "In a September 2013 report, the CIA's inspector general could find 'no instances' of over-classification. The report, obtained Wednesday by The Huffington Post under the Freedom of Information Act, was based on a sample of CIA intelligence reports."
• CIA gets permission to destroy certain emails by Andy Medici, Federal Times, October 1. "The CIA asked the National Archives and Records Administration In August if it could destroy certain employee emails, according to an NARA appraisal obtained by the Federation of American Scientists."

Older News: September 2014

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Updated November 10, 2014