SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2015, Issue No. 73
October 30, 2015

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

ARMY DOCTRINE ON PROTECTION OF CIVILIANS

For moral, legal and tactical reasons, it is U.S. Army policy to protect civilians during military operations, a newly updated Army publication explains.

"To the extent possible, civilian populations (including those loyal to the enemy) must be protected from the effects of combat. In addition to humanitarian reasons and the need to comply with the law of war, excessive civilian casualties create political pressure that limits freedom of action of Army units. Civilian harm creates ill will among the population, with lasting repercussions that impair post-conflict reconstruction and reconciliation."

And yet sometimes that policy will fail.

"Leaders anticipate that, despite their best efforts to prevent them, civilian casualty incidents occur. Similarly, mass atrocities may occur even if commanders take all possible steps to preclude them. Systems should be established in advance to respond to civilian casualty incidents; these include reporting, tracking, investigation, public response, and making amends to families and communities through the recognition of harm, appropriate compensation, and apologies and dignifying gestures if necessary."

The necessity and the near-impossibility of employing violence in a way that minimizes its unintended effects on the civilian population are recurring themes in the new Army document.

See Protection of Civilians, Army Techniques Publication (ATP) 3-07.6, October 29, 2015.

ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETINGS OFTEN CLOSED, & MORE FROM CRS

The 1972 Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), one of the "open government" laws, generally mandates that federal advisory committee meetings be held openly, except under certain specified circumstances. But over the past ten years, the number of closed meetings has actually increased, a new analysis by the Congressional Research Service found.

"FY2014 reported the highest percentage of closed meetings (71.1%) during the time period of examination," CRS found.

Official advisory committees can be an important mechanism for exerting non-governmental influence on the policies of executive branch agencies. So the composition of such committees, their operations and their recommendations are susceptible to political pressures. FACA was intended to help counter abuse of the advisory committee process and ensure a modicum of fairness to competing points of view, in part by requiring that their meetings be conducted openly.

There are normally around a thousand advisory committees subject to FACA. "Generally, around 70,000 people serve as members on FACA committees and subcommittees in any given year. In FY2014, 68,179 members served. In FY2014, 825 federal advisory committees held 7,173 meetings and cost more than $334 million to operate," the CRS report found.

See The Federal Advisory Committee Act: Analysis of Operations and Costs, October 27, 2015:

Other new reports from Congressional Research Service include the following.

The European Union (EU): Current Challenges and Future Prospects in Brief, October 27, 2015:

Air Force Bomber Contract Awarded, CRS Insight, October 28, 2015:

A Survey of House and Senate Committee Rules on Subpoenas, October 26, 2015:

Federal Reserve: Dividends Paid to Commercial Banks, CRS Insight, October 28, 2015:

Birthright Citizenship and Children Born in the United States to Alien Parents: An Overview of the Legal Debate, October 28, 2015:

Iran's Central Bank Will Have Its Day in the Supreme Court, CRS Legal Sidebar, October 28, 2015:

Congressional Efforts to Reduce Restrictions on Growing Industrial Hemp, CRS Insight, October 29, 2015:

Senate Passes Cybersecurity Information Sharing Bill -- What's Next?, CRS Legal Sidebar, October 28, 2015:

******************************

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

The Secrecy News blog is at:
      http://fas.org/blogs/secrecy/

To SUBSCRIBE to Secrecy News, go to:
     http://fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/subscribe.html

To UNSUBSCRIBE, go to:
      http://fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/unsubscribe.html

OR email your request to saftergood@fas.org

Secrecy News is archived at:
      http://fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/index.html

SUPPORT the FAS Project on Government Secrecy with a donation here:
      https://fas.org/donate/