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Secrecy and Security News

Newer News: September 2020

August 2020

• Former Army Special Forces Officer Charged in Russian Espionage Conspiracy, Justice Dept news release, August 21. "According to court documents, from December 1996 to January 2011, Peter Rafael Dzibinski Debbins, 45, a former member of the U.S. Army, allegedly conspired with agents of a Russian intelligence service" (Indictment).
• Former CIA Officer Arrested and Charged with Espionage, Justice Dept news release, August 17. "Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, 67, a former CIA officer, was arrested on Aug. 14, 2020, on a charge that he conspired with a relative of his who also was a former CIA officer to communicate classified information up to the Top Secret level to intelligence officials of the People's Republic of China (PRC)." (FBI affidavit)
• Establishment of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force, Defense Dept news release, August 14. "The Department of Defense established the UAPTF to improve its understanding of, and gain insight into, the nature and origins of UAPs. The mission of the task force is to detect, analyze and catalog UAPs that could potentially pose a threat to U.S. national security."
• From the Manhattan Project, a legacy of discovery and a national burden by Joseph Ditzler, Stars and Stripes, August 6. "The two-year crash effort to build the atomic bomb that encompassed a handful of locations nationwide has grown into 17 national laboratories and dozens of affiliated sites overseen by the Department of Energy on a budget this year of more than $34 billion."
• Homeland Security Is Quietly Tying Antifa to Foreign Powers by Ken Klippenstein, The Nation, August 3. "Once someone (or some group) is designated an agent of a foreign power, they are subject to warrantless search and surveillance in a way that would be illegal and unconstitutional for any other US person."

Older News: July 2020

https://sgp.fas.org/news/2020/08/index.html
Maintained by Steven Aftergood
Updated September 22, 2020