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Secrecy and Security News

Newer News: December 2016

November 2016

• David Petraeus, Secretary of State Candidate, Meets With Trump by Mark Landler, New York Times, November 28. "At a minimum, it would open Mr. Trump to charges of hypocrisy. He made Hillary Clinton's handling of classified information, through her use of a private email address and computer server, the centerpiece of his attacks on her character and trustworthiness."
• Trump gives Petraeus a pass by Bryan Bender, Politico, November 28. "The candidate who threatened to lock up Clinton for mishandling classified information considers a retired general who pleaded guilty to leaking secrets to be his top diplomat."
• The Pentagon Won't Say Why Its Targeting Manual Was Released Online by Kelsey D. Atherton, Popular Science, November 25. "Last week without fanfare, a 230-page military document (PDF) appeared in the public domain. The document, authored in May 2016, is a comprehensive list of rules, standards, and definitions governing the heart of what the military does: picking targets, and making sure those targets are valid and within the bounds of the laws of war."
• Trump Taps Ardent Benghazi Critic Pompeo as Director of CIA by Jennifer Jacobs and Billy House, Bloomberg, November 18. "President-elect Donald Trump picked Representative Mike Pompeo as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, selecting an ardent critic of Hillary Clinton's actions in Libya and a supporter of beefed-up government surveillance."
• James Clapper, the US intelligence chief, resigns by Tara McKelvey, BBC News, November 17. "US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has submitted his letter of resignation, he has told a congressional panel. He told the House Intelligence Committee that 'it felt pretty good'."
• Trump Will Have Wide Latitude to Let Family Into Government's Secret Circles by Mark Landler, New York Times, November 16. "Former government officials and experts on classified information said Mr. Trump would have wide latitude as president to bring a family member into the most secret circles of the government."
• Donald Trump Picks Classic Establishment Figure to Lead Intelligence Transition by Jenna McLaughlin, The Intercept, November 16. "The national security establishment has one hope left: Army Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess, former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, remains in charge of intelligence hiring, and his record harkens back to a GOP establishment focused on powerful espionage and influence on the world stage."
• Donald Trump Can Either Continue the Shadow War with Vladimir Putin or End Sanctions by Owen Matthews, Newsweek, November 16. "Multiple spy agencies are involved in Russia's full-spectrum assault--and some of them are growing rapidly. The SVR's headquarters, in the Yasenevo district of Moscow, has doubled in size since 2007, as images posted online by transparency activist Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists' Secrecy News blog clearly show."
• Is Trump's Man Steve Bannon Too Shady to Handle Secrets? by Tim Mak, Daily Beast, November 16. "It's a problem without much, if any, precedent in the White House's modern history. There's rarely been someone with so many questionable ties appointed to such a lofty position."
• How Trump Can Gut Obama's National Security Policies on Day One by Ken Dilanian, NBC News, November 14. "In fact, if he chooses to do so, Trump can quickly reshape large swaths of American national security policy, much of which is governed by executive orders and presidential policy guidance that can be overridden by the president's signature."
• Chelsea Manning petitions Obama for clemency on her 35-year prison sentence by Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post, November 14. "Chelsea Manning, an Army private convicted in 2013 of taking troves of secret diplomatic and military documents and disclosing them to WikiLeaks, has formally asked President Obama to commute her 35-year prison sentence to allow an immediate release and 'a first chance at life'."
• Who Will Be President Trump's Dr. Strangelove? by Mattathias Schwartz, The Intercept, November 11. "It seems unlikely that a President Trump would invest anyone with the kind of trust held by Kissinger or Rumsfeld. One worry among the national security community is that Trump may wind up being, in effect, his own national security adviser."
• Two patents granted in 2016 to formerly secret inventions, US Patent and Trademark Office, November 8. "The USPTO identified that only two patents have been granted so far on cases in which the secrecy order was rescinded in FY16. They are: 9476682 and 9306290."
• US Election 2016: Has the FBI gone too far? by Tara McKelvey, BBC News, November 7. "Shortly before the election, the FBI has become a lightning rod for controversy. During this time, the bureau has gone through the most public humiliation in its history."
• The anti-Clinton insurgency at the FBI, explained by Yochi Dreazen, Vox, November 6. "It's come to this: The FBI, America's premier law enforcement agency, just had to decide whether to investigate one of its own Twitter accounts to see if it had an anti-Hillary Clinton bias."
• Clinton Forwarded Daughter Email Chain Most Likely About Climate Talks by Steven Lee Myers and Eric Lichtblau, New York Times, November 4. "Hillary Clinton forwarded a chain of emails in 2009 to her daughter, Chelsea, that included information, most likely about climate talks, that the State Department later declared to be classified, according to a new batch of emails released on Friday."
• Putin, Assange, and Comey are doing Donald Trump's work for him by Yochi Dreazen, Vox, November 3. "In these final frenzied days before Election Day, Hillary Clinton finds herself in an unexpected and uncomfortable place: forced to campaign against not just Donald Trump, but also against WikiLeaks, the Russian government, and even the director of the FBI."
• The FBI Wants to Make America Great Again by Eli Lake, Bloomberg View, November 3. "Maybe it's just me, but I think the FBI is trying to send a message about next week's election."
• Republicans and Russian hackers have made Hillary Clinton the most transparent candidate in history by Ezra Klein, Vox, November 2. "Hillary Clinton -- by law, by circumstance, by accident, and by dint of Russian hackers -- is the most transparent presidential candidate in modern history. And Donald Trump is the least."

Older News: October 2016

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Maintained by Steven Aftergood
Updated December 7, 2016