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Secrecy and Security News

Newer News: January 2015

December 2014

• DoE Denies Request for Categorical Declassification of US Nuclear Stockpile Size, December 30. "Any public request for stockpile and dismantlement numbers beyond September 30, 2013, should be made as a separate declassification request for the prior fiscal year."
• CIA to conduct decennial review of operational files, December 22. "Pursuant to the CIA Information Act of 1984, the Central Intelligence Agency is conducting its third decennial review of operational files that the Director of Central Intelligence designated exempt from the publication, disclosure, search, and review provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. The Agency will publish further information about this effort in the Federal Register."
• The Other Torture Report: The Secret CIA Document That Could Unravel The Case For Torture by Ali Watkins, Huffington Post, December 22. "The CIA claims the torture tactics it used in the years following 9/11 were legal and saved American lives. And despite what the Senate study alleges, the agency insists it never lied about the torture program. One internal CIA document, though, could be key to discrediting this defense. And at this very moment, it's tucked away in a Senate safe."
• $14 Million An Hour: War Costs Top $1.6 Trillion Since 9/11, Say Congressional Researchers by David Sirota, International Business Times, December 22. "American taxpayers have shelled out roughly $1.6 trillion on war spending since 9/11, according to a new report from Congress' nonpartisan research arm. That's roughly $337 million a day -- or nearly a quarter million dollars a minute -- every single day for 13 years."
• The Weird Saga of the Other 'Smoking Gun' Torture Report the CIA Still Has Under Wraps by Jason Leopold, Vice News, December 18. "There is a second torture report locked away somewhere at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. The agency says the document is so sensitive that national security would be at risk if any details about it were publicly revealed."
• Incoming Senate intelligence chief plans 'real time' scrutiny of CIA by Renee Schoof, McClatchy Newspapers, December 13. "Sen. Richard Burr says he plans a new approach to keeping close tabs on the nation's spy agencies when he becomes chairman of the Senate committee that's charged with making sure the intelligence community operates within the law."
• Surveillance, Privacy and Civil Liberties, CATO Institute Conference on Surveillance, C-SPAN, December 12. "Panelists talked about the process and challenges of overseeing federal surveillance operations."
• Obama administration should be fully transparent about Bush-era torture by Greg Sargent, Washington Post Plum Line, December 11. "Now the Obama Justice Department appears to be taking active steps to shield from public view its rationale for this decision not to prosecute."
• Torture report reveals CIA spent $300 million by Gregory Wallace, CNN Money, December 9. "The CIA spent 'well over' $300 million on the CIA's covert detention and interrogation program, according to the blockbuster Senate report made public Tuesday."
• The C.I.A.'s Power to Purge, New York Times editorial, December 6. "The Central Intelligence Agency was proposing to eventually destroy the email of all but a small number of its thousands of employees, from covert operatives to counterterrorism officers."
• Federal Snow Storm Aid, Self-Government and CRS Reports by Kevin Kosar, R Street Institute, December 5. "Congress should share these reports with the public. The public would benefit from free access to these nonpartisan, objective documents. CRS reports help Members of Congress better do their jobs, and they can help the public better understand the government that is to serve them."

Older News: November 2014

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Updated January 6, 2015