SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2017, Issue No. 3
January 6, 2017

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

CIVILIAN CONTROL OF THE MILITARY, AND MORE FROM CRS

The nomination of Gen. James Mattis to be Secretary of Defense will require a legislative waiver of the prohibition against appointing persons who have been on active duty in the military within the past seven years to the position of Secretary.

A new report from the Congressional Research Service takes a look at the underlying issue of civilian control of the military, and related concerns.

"Historically, the restriction relating to the prior military service of the Secretary of Defense appears to be a product of congressional concern about preserving the principle of civilian control of the military, a fundamental tenet underpinning the design and operation of the American republic since its inception in 1776, if not before," the report says.

The report reviews the origins and background of this principle and then ventures an analysis of its application today.

"The public discussion surrounding the proposed nomination of General Mattis seems to be less about preserving the principle of civilian control of the military (although that is certainly being debated), and more about civilian-military relations more generally."

"Very few observers, if any, appear concerned that General Mattis, if appointed to the position of Secretary of Defense, will compromise the longstanding American tradition of ensuring that the military remains subordinate to the authority of civilian leaders. Instead, the possible appointment of General Mattis has served as a catalyst for a more wide-ranging discussion [of] the ways in which the U.S. military, civil society, and civilian leaders relate to each other," CRS said.

See Statutory Restrictions on the Position of Secretary of Defense: Issues for Congress, January 5, 2017:

Other new and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service include the following.

Alien Registration Requirements: Obama Administration Removes Certain Regulations, but Underlying Statutory Authority Remains, CRS Legal Sidebar, January 5, 2017:

Latin America and the Caribbean: Key Issues for the 114th Congress, updated January 4, 2017:

The Budget Reconciliation Process: Stages of Consideration, updated January 4, 2017:

Budget Reconciliation Measures Enacted Into Law: 1980-2010, updated January 4, 2017:

Systemically Important or "Too Big to Fail" Financial Institutions, updated January 4, 2017:

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF): Size of the Population Eligible for and Receiving Cash Assistance, January 3, 2017:

Congressional Careers: Service Tenure and Patterns of Member Service, 1789-2017, updated January 3, 2017:

Inspectors General in and Beyond the Presidential Transition Period, CRS Insight, January 3, 2017:

INFORMATION OPERATIONS: IT TAKES A THIEF

At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing yesterday on foreign cyber threats to the U.S., there were several references to the saying that "people who live in glass houses should not throw stones." The point, made by DNI James Clapper, was that the U.S. should not be too quick to penalize the very espionage practices that U.S. intelligence agencies rely upon, including clandestine collection of information from foreign computer networks.

But perhaps a more pertinent saying would be "It takes a thief to catch a thief."

U.S. intelligence agencies should be well-equipped to recognize Russian cyber threats and political intervention since they have been tasked for decades to carry out comparable efforts.

A newly disclosed intelligence directive from 1999 addresses "information operations" (IO), which are defined as: "Actions taken to affect adversary information and information systems while defending one's own information and information systems."

"Although still evolving, the fundamental concept of IO is to integrate different activities to affect [adversary] decision making processes, information systems, and supporting information infrastructures to achieve specific objectives."

The elements of information operations may include computer network attack, computer network exploitation, and covert action.

See Director of Central Intelligence Directive 7/3, Information Operations and Intelligence Community Related Activities, effective 01 July 1999.

The directive was declassified (in part) on December 2 by the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel, and was first obtained and published by GovernmentAttic.org.

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

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