SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2006, Issue No. 68
June 9, 2006

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

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FORMER DDCI STUDEMAN NAMED TO PUBLIC INTEREST DECLASS BOARD

U.S. Navy Admiral (ret.) William O. Studeman was appointed this week by Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL) to serve on the Public Interest Declassification Board.

Adm. Studeman is a former Deputy Director of Central Intelligence and a former Director of the National Security Agency. As a member of the Board, he is now supposed to represent the public interest in declassification of government records.

Adm. Studeman is currently vice president and deputy general manager for intelligence and information superiority at Northrop Grumman Mission Systems.

He is the eighth member of the nine-person Board named to date. The Board is chaired by former CIA Inspector General L. Britt Snider.

The Public Interest Declassification Board advises the President on declassification policies and priorities. The Board will hold a public meeting on June 23 at the National Archives.

AVOIDING CONTAMINATION FROM CHEM/BIO/NUKE WEAPONS

Tactics, techniques and procedures that military forces should use to avoid contamination from an attack involving chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) weapons are set forth in a recent military manual.

"The possibility that an adversary will use CBRN weapons against the United States and its allies continues to increase daily," the manual states.

"If these weapons are used, our forces must be ready to implement the principles of CBRN defense [including] contamination avoidance, protection, and decontamination."

"Executed at all levels and coupled with an effective retaliatory response, these fundamentals will increase the likelihood of a US victory."

See "Multiservice Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Contamination Avoidance," U.S. Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force, February 2006 (13.5 MB PDF):

CRS: ACCOUNTING FOR POW/MIAS, AND MORE

"There has been a long-running controversy about the fate of certain U.S. prisoners of war (POWs) and servicemembers missing in action (MIAs) as a result of various U.S. military operations," a newly updated Congressional Research Service (CRS) report on the subject begins.

"While few people familiar with the issue feel that any Americans are still being held against their will in communist countries associated with the Cold War, more feel that some may have been so held in the past in the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, or North Vietnam," according to the CRS author.

There is currently one U.S. Army soldier who is listed as a Prisoner of War following his capture by Iraqi insurgents on April 9, 2004.

See "POWs and MIAs: Status and Accounting Issues," June 1, 2006:

Some other recent CRS reports obtained by Secrecy News that are not readily available in the public domain include the following:

"Federal Emergency Management and Homeland Security Organization: Historical Developments and Legislative Options," updated June 1, 2006:

"Military Airlift: C-17 Aircraft Program," updated May 30, 2006:

"F/A-22 Raptor," updated May 24, 2006:

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

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