SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2012, Issue No. 60
June 20, 2012

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

DNI DIRECTIVE SEEKS TO TIGHTEN PROTECTION OF INTELLIGENCE

Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper issued a directive earlier this month to improve the protection of intelligence information and to help prevent unauthorized disclosures.

The newly revised Intelligence Community Directive 700 requires a new degree of collaboration between counterintelligence and security activities. While counterintelligence (CI) was scarcely mentioned in the previous version of the policy on protecting intelligence in 2007, it is now being elevated to a central role and integrated with security.

"Together, CI and security provide greater protection for national intelligence than either function operating alone," the new directive states.

In order to combat the insider threat of unauthorized disclosures, the directive prescribes that "all personnel with access to national intelligence... shall be continually evaluated and monitored...."

But since there are more than a million government employees and contractors holding Top Secret clearances who are potentially eligible for access to intelligence information, it seems unlikely that any significant fraction of them can literally be "continually monitored." Still, that is now formally the objective.

A copy of the June 7, 2012 directive on "Protection of National Intelligence" was released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence under the Freedom of Information Act.

The new directive has been under development for at least several months. It was not specifically devised as a response to the latest controversy over leaks of classified information.

It serves as a reminder that the implementation of revised policies to address unauthorized disclosures of classified information (including congressional action just last year to establish an "insider threat detection program") is ongoing, possibly obviating the need for new legislation.

HISTORY OF EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE, AND MORE FROM CRS

A 2008 report by the Congressional Research Service discussed the history of claims of executive privilege, including various unresolved questions surrounding its use. The Obama Administration asserted executive privilege today in connection with records sought by a House Committee. See "Presidential Claims of Executive Privilege: History, Law, Practice and Recent Developments," updated August 21, 2008:

Newly updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that Congress has not made publicly available include the following.

U.S.-China Military Contacts: Issues for Congress, June 19, 2012:

Free Trade Agreements: Impact on U.S. Trade and Implications for U.S. Trade Policy, June 18, 2012:

Madagascar's Political Crisis, June 18, 2012:

Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia: Political Developments and Implications for U.S. Interests, June 15, 2012:

U.S. Trade Deficit and the Impact of Changing Oil Prices, June 18, 2012:

Unauthorized Alien Students: Issues and "DREAM Act" Legislation, June 19, 2012:

Federal Taxation of Aliens Working in the United States, May 18, 2012:

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

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