SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2004, Issue No. 50
June 3, 2004

IAEA REPORT ON IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM

Iran's controversial uranium enrichment program and its other nuclear proliferation-related activities were scrutinized in a confidential report of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The June 1, 2004 IAEA report on "Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement in the Islamic Republic of Iran" was marked "for official use only," perhaps in order to ensure the widest possible distribution. A copy is available here:

"Circulation of the report is restricted to [IAEA] delegations and it's not a matter of public record, so I can't discuss it in any detail," said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher yesterday.

"However, I would say that... once again the International Atomic Energy Agency has documented 18 years of clandestine nuclear activity in Iran."

"Tehran has repeatedly failed to declare significant and troubling aspects of its nuclear program. It has interfered with and suspended inspections. It has failed to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency in resolving outstanding issues related to its nuclear program," he said.

CRS ON THE 2005 NASA BUDGET

The Congressional Research Service has prepared a summary analysis of the fiscal year 2005 budget for NASA which includes an estimate, provided by the space agency, of $64 billion for a 2020 mission to the Moon, as proposed in President Bush's January 2004 speech on space exploration.

See "The National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Overview, FY2005 Budget in Brief, and Key Issues for Congress" by Marcia S. Smith and Daniel Morgan, Congressional Research Service, May 10:

The previously unreleased CRS analysis was reported on June 2 by United Press International, which said that it "has been seen by only a few members of Congress."

CRS ON DETENTION OF NONCITIZEN IMMIGRANTS

"The attacks of September 11, 2001, have increased interest in the authority under statute to detain noncitizens (aliens) in the United States," according to another new CRS report.

"Under the law there is broad authority to detain aliens while awaiting a determination of whether the noncitizen should be removed from the United States."

The scope of that detention authority and its larger policy implications are considered in "Immigration-Related Detention: Current Legislative Issues" by Alison Siskin, Congressional Research Service, April 28, 2004.

A copy of that report, courtesy of the U.S. State Department Foreign Press Center, is available here:

INTELLIGENCE OVERSIGHT IN THE PENTAGON

As a result of the sudden resignation of the energetic and influential Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet, the center of gravity of the U.S. intelligence bureaucracy is likely to shift even further towards the Department of Defense. It follows that effective oversight of military intelligence will become even more urgent.

One of the venues for intelligence oversight in the Pentagon is the little-known Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Oversight.

"The Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Oversight [ATSD(IO)] shall serve as the principal staff assistant and advisor to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense for the independent oversight of all intelligence, counterintelligence, and intelligence-related activities in the Department of Defense," according to the newly reissued charter for the position.

"In this capacity, the ATSD(IO) shall ensure that all intelligence activities performed by any of the DoD Components are conducted in compliance with Federal law, Executive orders, Presidential directives, and DoD Directives System issuances."

See the newly reissued Department of Defense Directive 5148.11, "Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Oversight," May 21, 2004:

Whether by design or not, this intelligence oversight office has not left much of a public footprint. Even the identity of the current office holder is not immediately obvious. But the ATSD (IO) does have an official web site here:

"The assistant is just what his title implies, which is that he is in a direct-report status relative to the secretary of Defense," said Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen Cambone at an April 7 hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"He, that person, that office, does not report to my office; nor do I have any authority over that office... because in fact you do want to have an independent eye looking at that kind of question," said Mr. Cambone.

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Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the Federation of American Scientists.

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