SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2006, Issue No. 52
April 28, 2006

Secrecy News Blog: http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/

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DISFAVORED CIA REPORTS PLACED ONLINE

U.S. News and World Report reported last January that at least three publications of the CIA's Center for the Study of Intelligence, all critical of the agency, had been withheld from the CIA web site ("A Tangled Web Woven," by David E. Kaplan, U.S. News, January 30, 2006).

Now two of those disfavored publications are available on the Federation of American Scientists web site. The third will follow.

"Intelligence for a New Era in American Foreign Policy" is the report of a conference convened by the Center for the Study of Intelligence, published in January 2004 (1.3 MB PDF):

"Analytic Culture in the U.S. Intelligence Community: An Ethnographic Study" is an interesting and unusual effort to assess intelligence analysis from an anthropological viewpoint, published in 2005. See (184 pages, 8 MB):

It is a small irony of the Information Age that by attempting to selectively withhold these publications from the web, the CIA has practically guaranteed that more people will read them than would have otherwise done so.

But CIA seems to have little understanding of that fact, and the Agency's efforts to suppress criticism are as relentless as they are self-defeating.

"The CIA has imposed new and tighter restrictions on the books, articles, and opinion pieces published by former employees who are still contractors with the intelligence agency," writes Shane Harris.

See "Silencing the Squeaky Wheel" by Shane Harris, National Journal, April 27:

See also "Excessive Secrecy Hurting CIA Studies" by Shaun Waterman, UPI, April 27:

FAS STATEMENT ON PERSONNEL SECURITY (1954)

When the government revoked the security clearance of J. Robert Oppenheimer on purported national security grounds in April 1954, it sent shock waves through the scientific community and elsewhere.

If Oppenheimer, the man who had done more than any other individual to advance the development of the atomic bomb, was a security risk to the nation, then who might not be?

In the aftermath of the Oppenheimer proceeding, the Federation of American Scientists issued two short statements on how to improve personnel security policy so as "to safeguard the rights of present and prospective government employees and to promote the true security of the nation."

The FAS statements, presented to Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Lewis L. Strauss in July 1954, still have some pertinence today. A copy is posted here (1.7 MB PDF):

Secrecy News' friend Priscilla McMillan's superb account of the security proceeding against Oppenheimer has just been published in paperback.

See "The Ruin of J. Robert Oppenheimer" by Priscilla J. McMillan, Penguin Books, 2006:

ODDS AND ENDS

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) filed an amendment that would prohibit all funding for the NSA domestic surveillance program unless and until the Bush Administration keeps Congress fully and currently informed of the program as required by law. See the text of his amendment here:

The Bush Administration welcomed the House version of the 2007 Intelligence Authorization Act for the most part, but also found several objectionable points. A White House statement expressed opposition to one provision that required submission to Congress of an inventory of intelligence special access programs, and to another that would grant congressional access to portions of the intelligence community computer network. See the April 26 Statement of Administration Policy on H.R. 5020 here:

The Justice Department has prepared detailed guidance for executive branch agencies to assist them in complying with President Bush's Executive Order 13392 on "Improving Agency Disclosure of Information," which was intended to enhance the operation of the Freedom of Information Act. See "Executive Order 13,392 Implementation Guidance":

SOME MORE CRS REPORTS

Some notable new reports of the Congressional Research Service include the following:

"The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11," April 24, 2006:

"Arab League Boycott of Israel," April 19, 2006:

"U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF): Background and Issues for Congress," updated April 17, 2006:

"Sudan: Humanitarian Crisis, Peace Talks, Terrorism, and U.S. Policy," updated April 12, 2006:

"Nonproliferation and Threat Reduction Assistance: U.S. Programs in the Former Soviet Union," updated April 6, 2006:

"Afghanistan: Post-War Governance, Security, and U.S. Policy," updated April 6, 2006:

"China-Southeast Asia Relations: Trends, Issues, and Implications for the United States," updated April 4, 2006:

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

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