SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2012, Issue No. 119
November 29, 2012

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

SECURING U.S. DIPLOMATIC FACILITIES, AND MORE FROM CRS

In almost every year since 2007, Congress appropriated less money for diplomatic security than had been requested. In FY2012, the State Department sought $2.9 billion for security, and Congress enacted $2.6 billion.

The diplomatic security function, including its funding profile, was discussed in the light of recent attacks of U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya and elsewhere in a new report from the Congressional Research Service. See Securing U.S. Diplomatic Facilities and Personnel Abroad: Background and Policy Issues, November 26, 2012:

Some other new and updated CRS reports that have not been made publicly available include the following.

Panama: Political and Economic Conditions and U.S. Relations, November 27, 2012:

The Judgment Fund: History, Administration, and Common Usage, November 26, 2012:

Financing the U.S. Trade Deficit, November 16, 2012:

Saudi Arabia: Background and U.S. Relations, November 27, 2012:

SOME BASIC BUDGET TUTORIALS FROM CRS

In a series of newly updated reports presumably intended for new Members of Congress who are unfamiliar with basic features of the federal budget, the Congressional Research Service presented the very rudiments of the budget process. See:

Basic Federal Budgeting Terminology, November 26, 2012:

Overview of the Authorization-Appropriations Process, November 26, 2012:

Baselines and Scorekeeping in the Federal Budget Process, November 26, 2012:

Budget Reconciliation Legislation: Development and Consideration, November 26, 2012:

Entitlements and Appropriated Entitlements in the Federal Budget Process, November 26, 2012:

Legislative Procedures for Adjusting the Public Debt Limit: A Brief Overview, November 26, 2012:

EVOLUTION OF REMOTE SENSING AND NATIONAL SECURITY

A study performed for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) "chronicles the policy history of civil and commercial remote sensing from 1960 through 2008."

The study "highlights the difficulties in establishing a consistent government role in a field where public good and private profit exist side-by-side, and where business interests have the potential to contribute to and conflict with national security interests."

See "U.S. National Security and Economic Interests in Remote Sensing: The Evolution of Civil and Commercial Policy" by James A. Vedda, The Aerospace Corporation, February 20, 2009:

The unclassified study was released yesterday by NGA three years after it was requested 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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