SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2012, Issue No. 68
July 13, 2012

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

ARMED CONFLICT IN SYRIA, AND MORE FROM CRS

Newly updated reports of the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include the following.

Armed Conflict in Syria: U.S. and International Response, July 12, 2012:

Afghanistan Casualties: Military Forces and Civilians, July 12, 2012:

Trade Adjustment Assistance for Workers, July 11, 2012:

Burma's Political Prisoners and U.S. Sanctions, July 5, 2012:

THE DUE PROCESS GUARANTEE ACT

The Due Process Guarantee Act (S. 2003) is a bill that was introduced last year by Sen. Dianne Feinstein and colleagues to explicitly prohibit the indefinite detention without trial of United States citizens who are apprehended within the United States on suspicion of terrorism.

The bill was crafted due to a residual ambiguity in last year's defense authorization act that seemed to leave it an open question as to whether Americans could be so detained or not.

The Due Process Guarantee Act has not progressed to a vote in the House or the Senate. But the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on it last February 29. The full record of that hearing has recently been published.

The full hearing volume presents some new material including answers to questions for the record provided by Steven Bradbury, the former head of the Bush Administration Office of Legal Counsel. It also includes a flinty exchange of letters between Mr. Bradbury and Sen. Al Franken, who said that Mr. Bradbury was unsuited to be be a witness before the Committee because of his "contemptible" legal advice regarding enhanced interrogation during the Bush years.

Further background related to the subject matter of the hearing can be found in "Detention of U.S. Persons as Enemy Belligerents" by Jennifer K. Elsea of the Congressional Research Service.

ARMY INTELLIGENCE ON LANGUAGE AND CULTURAL COMPETENCY

"Language and cultural competency" is the theme of the latest edition of the U.S. Army's Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin.

Topics addressed include cultural relativism, ethnography, "patron-client relations," the stand-up of AFRICOM (US Africa Command) from an African perspective, and "operational culture training for the French military in Africa."

The Army does not make the Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin routinely available to the public. But upon request, the latest issue was released under the Freedom of Information Act.

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

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