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Secrecy and Security News

Newer News: December 2018

November 2018

• Trump threatens to use declassification power to beat back Democratic investigations by Dan Froomkin, White House Watch, November 29. "If they go down the presidential harassment track, if they want to go and harass the president and the administration, I think that would be the best thing that would happen to me. I'm a counter-puncher and I will hit them so hard they'd never been hit like that," he told the New York Post.
• Fact-checking Donald Trump's statement on Saudi Arabia, Khashoggi murder by Jon Greenberg, Louis Jacobson, Politifact, November 27. "President Donald Trump's view that the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi should not touch U.S.-Saudi relations isn't being well-received by his fellow Republicans."
• Trump names hand-picked panel to supervise, investigate intelligence community by Steven Nelson, Washington Examiner, November 21. "The question that hovers around the new board is, does the White House really want its advice? Will the president even listen to its recommendations? Or is board membership an honorary position that is otherwise inconsequential?"
• The Problem with Our $6 Trillion War Tab by Yuval Rosenberg, The Fiscal Times, November 19. "Throughout most of US history, it was normal practice to raise taxes in times of war. When we were at war, everyone knew we were at war and everyone helped pay for it at least to some extent. That is no longer true."
• Four Policy Experts on Goals For a New Majority, Washington Spectator, November 19. "First, and in order to accomplish almost anything else, Congress needs to strengthen its own institutional capacity as an independent branch of government. This means increasing investigative and oversight staff; providing committee access to subject matter expertise; promoting fact-based policymaking; and adopting deliberative procedures that are substantive, fair, open and representative."
• DoD Completes First Full Financial Statement Audit; Findings Will Directly Benefit Readiness, DoD news release, November 16. "More than 1,200 auditors conducted over 900 site visits at over 600 locations across the DOD and examined hundreds of thousands of items."
• Government War Spending Since 9/11 Exceeds $5.9 Trillion, Brown University Watson Institute news release, November 14. "The Report summarizes the direct war costs-- all Department of Defense Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funding and State Department war expenditures-- war-related costs including increases in military spending, care for veterans, Department of Homeland Security spending, and interest payments on borrowing for these wars."
• This classified operation supports the Saudi military campaign in Yemen by Todd South, Marine Corps Times, November 13. "One of three new, classified operations initiated by the Pentagon earlier this year was launched to support Saudi Arabia and other partner nations operating in Yemen, recent reports and documents have revealed."
• Pentagon launched new classified operation to support Saudi coalition in Yemen by Sharon Weinberger, Sean Naylor and Jenna McLaughlin, Yahoo News, November 10. "Even as the humanitarian crisis precipitated by Saudi Arabia's more-than-three-year war in Yemen has deepened, the Pentagon earlier this year launched a new classified operation to support the kingdom's military operations there, according to a Defense Department document that appears to have been posted online inadvertently."

Older News: October 2018

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Maintained by Steven Aftergood
Updated December 6, 2018