SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2014, Issue No. 81
December 3, 2014

Secrecy News Blog: http://fas.org/blogs/secrecy/

IC INSPECTOR GENERAL OVERSEES THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY

The Intelligence Community Inspector General (IC IG) received a tip last year that the Intelligence Community might have assembled a database containing US person data in violation of law and policy.

"A civilian employee with the Army Intelligence and Security Command made an IC IG Hotline complaint alleging an interagency data repository, believed to be comprised of numerous intelligence and non-intelligence sources, improperly included U.S. person data," the IC IG wrote. "The complainant also reported he conducted potentially improper searches of the data repository to verify the presence of U.S. persons data. We are researching this claim."

The resolution of that complaint concerning improper collection of U.S. person data was not disclosed. But the IC IG evidently found it credible enough to justify a rare report to the White House Intelligence Oversight Board (IOB).

The report to the IOB was noted in the IC Inspector General's Semi-Annual report for October 2013 to March 2014 that was released this week (in redacted form) under the Freedom of Information Act.

The IC Inspector General, I. Charles McCullough III, has oversight responsibility both for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and for the Intelligence Community as a whole (but not for its individual member agencies). In addition to monitoring compliance with the law, the IC IG deals with a broad range of administrative, budgetary and personnel issues, several of which are described in the new report.

So, for example, "[An intelligence] contractor misconduct investigation substantiated that a contractor employee routinely misused government equipment and systems to engage in inappropriate and prurient Internet chat over an extended period of time."

Judging from the Semi-Annual Reports, the IG is also capable of challenging senior ODNI leadership when there is cause to do so.

"An ODNI Senior Official engaged in conduct unbecoming a federal employee while on TDY [temporary duty] conducting official ODNI business," according to the Semi-Annual Report for March-September 2013, which was also released this week.

"The Senior Official exhibited poor personal judgment that created circumstances which reflected poorly on the ODNI and potentially impaired his ability to perform his duties," the IG report said. The case was referred to the ODNI Chief Management Officer, but further details such as the identity of the Senior Official were not divulged.

In the concentric circles of U.S. intelligence oversight, Inspectors General are close to the center -- receiving allegations, interviewing witnesses, formulating responses, and taking appropriate action.

Though heavily redacted, the new Semi-Annual Reports include multiple points of interest, including these:

** During the six-month period ending in March 2014, the IC IG processed 5 whistleblower complaints of waste, fraud or abuse, 3 "urgent concern" complaints, 2 requests for external review under the provisions of Presidential Policy Directive 19, and 1 whistleblower reprisal complaint. The outcomes of these cases were not described.

** During the six-month period ending September 2013, the IC IG investigated two cases of unauthorized disclosures, neither of which was substantiated. There were no such investigations in the following six-month period.

** "ODNI does not have a policy or process for notifying CIA Covert Capabilities Center when an employee or detailee separates from ODNI or is reassigned," the IC IG reported. The CIA "Covert Capabilities Center" is not a familiar entity.

** "An adverse work environment exists" in the IC Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity Office.

** In the six-month period ending last March, the IC IG complaint hotline "received 135 contacts, 48 internal contacts and 87 external contacts from the general public."

** And while most ODNI and IC employees are directed to have no contacts with the media without prior authorization, the IC Inspector General made special arrangements for himself and his staff: "We worked with PAO [ODNI Public Affairs Office] so they understood the need for the IC IG to work independently with media contacts to preserve IC IG objectivity and independence."

In a four-part series this week, the Washington Examiner reported allegations that some agency Inspectors General are improperly subservient to, and protective of, their agency leadership.

NEW RELEASES FROM THE NATIONAL DECLASSIFICATION CENTER

The National Declassification Center at the National Archives yesterday announced the availability of 240 sets of records that have recently undergone declassification processing.

Many of the record collections are listed in such banal or generic terms that it is hard to imagine they would attract any interest at all. ("Bureau of Naval Personnel Activity File, Personnel Accounting Ledger Records, 1952-1967"?)

But there are also a few items that will make at least some researchers' hearts beat a little faster, such as three boxes of declassified "Cloud Gap Field Test Reports, 1962-69."

Cloud Gap was an ambitious government project in the 1960s to establish the technical basis for new arms control measures. Previously disclosed Cloud Gap Field Test Reports on the verifiable dismantlement of nuclear weapons are posted here:

IRAN: INTERIM NUCLEAR AGREEMENT, AND MORE FROM CRS

New products from the Congressional Research Service that Congress has withheld from online public distribution include the following.

Iran: Interim Nuclear Agreement and Talks on a Comprehensive Accord, November 26, 2014:

U.S. International Corporate Taxation: Basic Concepts and Policy Issues, December 2, 2014:

Taxation of Internet Sales and Access: Legal Issues, December 1, 2014:

The Corporate Income Tax System: Overview and Options for Reform, December 1, 2014:

How OFAC Calculates Penalties for Violations of Economic Sanctions, CRS Legal Sidebar, December 1, 2014:

What Is the Current State of the Economic Recovery?, CRS Insights, December 1, 2014:

Employment Growth and Progress Toward Full Employment, CRS Insights, November 28, 2014:

Major Disaster Declarations for Snow Assistance and Severe Winter Storms: An Overview, December 1, 2014:

Jordan: Background and U.S. Relations, December 2, 2014:

Afghanistan: Post-Taliban Governance, Security, and U.S. Policy, December 2, 2014:

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

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