SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2007, Issue No. 105
October 24, 2007

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

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COVERT ACTION, AND MORE FROM CRS

Notable new reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made widely available to the public include the following.

"Covert Action: Legislative Background and Possible Policy Questions," updated October 11, 2007:

"U.S.-China Counterterrorism Cooperation: Issues for U.S. Policy," updated October 10, 2007:

"Mexico's Drug Cartels," October 16, 2007:

"Burma-U.S. Relations," updated October 4, 2007:

"The Export Administration Act: Evolution, Provisions, and Debate," updated September 28, 2007:

"Status of a Member of the House Who Has Been Indicted for or Convicted of a Felony," updated October 5, 2007:

JOINT STAFF VIEWS PEACE OPERATIONS

A new publication from the Joint Chiefs of Staff defines military doctrine regarding "peace operations."

Peace operations utilize "all instruments of national power with military missions to contain conflict, redress the peace, and shape the environment to support reconciliation and rebuilding and facilitate the transition to legitimate governance. Peace operations include peacekeeping, peace enforcement, peacemaking, peace building, and conflict prevention efforts."

There are 15 fundamental elements of peace operations, according to the new doctrine, including: transparency, impartiality, credibility, freedom of movement, restraint and minimum force, and so on.

See "Peace Operations," Joint Publication JP 3-07.3, October 17, 2007:

ADMINISTRATION OF TORTURE

Much of what is publicly known regarding the abuse of detainees held in U.S. custody did not emerge from congressional investigations -- there were no such investigations -- or from other conventional means of oversight.

Instead, a large portion of the public record on interrogation policy was uncovered through an unusually effective Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union.

A new documentary collection on detainee abuse edited by ACLU attorneys Jameel Jaffer and Amrit Singh has just been published by Columbia University Press under the title "Administration of Torture," with a narrative introduction by the editors.

AMERICA AND THE ISLAMIC BOMB

The U.S. Government was acquiescent in Pakistan's acquisition of nuclear weapons technology over a period of decades, according to a new book on the subject.

The activities of individual members of Pakistan's nuclear procurement network in the United States are examined in detail by investigative reporters David Armstrong and Joseph Trento in "America and the Islamic Bomb," Steerforth Press, 2007.

Richard M. Barlow, a former CIA and Defense official who attempted to "blow the whistle" on Pakistan's pursuit of nuclear technology in the 1980s, was effectively punished for his efforts.

"For his candor, and despite the backing of some top intelligence officials, Barlow was stripped of his Top Secret/Codeword clearances and hounded out of the Pentagon," wrote Jeff Stein in "The Nuclear Bombshell That Never Went Off," CQ Homeland Security, October 19:

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

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