SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2005, Issue No. 48
May 20, 2005

FULL REPORT ON OVERSEAS BASES RESTORED TO WEB

The full text of the report of the Overseas Basing Commission, which was removed from a government web site after the Department of Defense said it contained classified information, is now available on the FAS web site.

The partial version of the report described in Secrecy News yesterday included only 92 of the report's 262 pages, and lacked several of the detailed appendices.

The full 262 page report was obtained from InsideDefense.com. It is available (at the same URL given yesterday) here:

According to press accounts, one of the disputed passages that led the Pentagon to demand withdrawal of the report from the web was a reference to ongoing negotiations over U.S. bases in Bulgaria and Romania.

"While formal negotiations with either Bulgaria or Romania have not yet been finalized, DOD has funded a small portion of the costs to build facilities at these locations," the Commission report stated on page M5. A footnote indicates that "exact funding data is classified" and did not reveal such data, but the Pentagon reportedly opposed any mention of the matter.

Official data on deployment of U.S. military personnel around the world, including Bulgaria and Romania, may be found on a Defense Department web site here:

"The just-released report of the Overseas Basing Commission is a much bolder document than the highly praised 9/11 commission report," according to one op-ed writer's assessment.

See "How Not to Move Troops" by Ralph Peters, New York Post, May 6, 2005:

NUCLEAR RESEARCH IN ALGERIA

A bibliography of research published by Algerian scientists on nuclear physics, plasma physics, reactor safety and other aspects of nuclear science and technology has recently been prepared by researcher Mark Gorwitz, as part of his ongoing bibliographical investigation into the spread of nuclear knowledge.

See "Algerian Nuclear Science Bibliography," May 2005:

Algeria, once suspected by the U.S. of pursuing nuclear weapons with Chinese aid, signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 1995.

US-RUSSIA MEMORANDA OF UNDERSTANDING

Several memoranda of understanding on arms control and bilateral relations signed by the United States and the Russian Federation during the past decade were released by the State Department last month in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from researcher Mike Ravnitzky.

"Memorandum of Understanding on Notifications of Missile Launches," December 16, 2000 (partially excised):

"Memorandum of Understanding on Warhead Attribution and Heavy Bomber Data," January 3, 1993:

"Memorandum of Understanding Concerning Open Lands," June 17, 1992:

COMBAT AIRCRAFT SALES TO SOUTH ASIA (CRS)

A new report from the Congressional Research Service considers the political, military and economic consequences of resuming sales of combat aircraft to Pakistan and India, as the Bush Administration has proposed.

"If completed, such sales would have implications for political-military relations among the United States, Pakistan, and India; for combat aircraft proliferation; and for the U.S. defense industrial base."

See "Combat Aircraft Sales to South Asia: Potential Implications," May 19, 2005:

******************************

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

To SUBSCRIBE to Secrecy News, send an email message to secrecy_news-request@lists.fas.org with "subscribe" (without quotes) in the body of the message.

To UNSUBSCRIBE, send a blank email message to secrecy_news-remove@lists.fas.org.

OR email your request to saftergood@fas.org

Secrecy News is archived at:
      http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/index.html

Secrecy News has an RSS feed at:
      http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/index.rss