SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2017, Issue No. 39
May 26, 2017

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

LEGALITY OF PRESIDENTIAL DISCLOSURES, CONTINUED

"There is no basis" for suggesting that President Trump's disclosure of classified intelligence to Russian officials was illegal, wrote Morton Halperin this week.

To the contrary, "senior U.S. government officials in conversations with foreign officials decide on a daily basis to provide them with information that is properly classified and that will remain classified," wrote Halperin, who is himself a former senior official.

"We should not let our desire to confront President Trump lead us to espouse positions that violate his rights and that would constrain future presidents in inappropriate ways." See "Trump's Disclosure Did Not Break the Law" by Morton H. Halperin, Just Security, May 23, 2017.

But constraints on presidential disclosure were on the minds of Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) and 17 House colleagues. They introduced legislation on May 24 "that would require the President to notify the intelligence committees when a U.S. official, including the President, intentionally or inadvertently discloses top-secret information to a nation that sponsors terrorism or, like Russia, is subject to U.S. sanctions."

Yesterday, Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD) introduced a bill "to ensure that a mitigation process and protocols are in place in the case of a disclosure of classified information by the President."

Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA) and five colleagues introduced a resolution “disapproving of the irresponsible actions and negligence of President Trump which may have caused grave harm to United States national security."

For related background, see The Protection of Classified Information: The Legal Framework, Congressional Research Service, updated May 18, 2017

and Criminal Prohibitions on Leaks and Other Disclosures of Classified Defense Information, Congressional Research Service, updated March 7, 2017.

LATEST NUCLEAR WEAPON DECLASSIFICATIONS

The fact that a particular nuclear weapon has (or does not have) a "dial-a-yield capability" enabling the selection of a desired explosive yield was declassified earlier this year, in a joint decision of the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy.

Last year, the Department of Energy also declassified the thickness of the "getter nickel plating" used in tritium production. (A "getter" here means the reactive material that sustains a vacuum by capturing gas atoms.)

These and several other recent DOE declassification decisions were recorded in memoranda that were released last week under the Freedom of Information Act. Copies are available, along with the records of prior DOE declassification actions, here:

SCIENCE & TECH ISSUES IN CONGRESS, & MORE FROM CRS

New and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service include the following.

Science and Technology Issues in the 115th Congress, updated May 23, 2017:

U.S.-South Korea Relations, updated May 23, 2017:

Australia, CRS In Focus, May 12, 2017:

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), updated May 24, 2017:

Paid Family Leave in the United States, May 24, 2017:

Selected Federal Water Activities: Agencies, Authorities, and Congressional Committees, updated May 24, 2017:

The United States Withdraws from the TPP, CRS Insight, updated May 23, 2017:

Saudi Arabia: Background and U.S. Relations, updated May 24, 2017:

BETHE, OPPENHEIMER AND TELLER: THEIR ACCOMPLISHMENTS

In 1959, physicists Hans Bethe, J. Robert Oppenheimer and Edward Teller were candidates to receive the Enrico Fermi Award for contributions to the development of atomic energy.

In a newly discovered letter written in June 1959, Los Alamos physicist Norris Bradbury provided his evaluation of the achievements of each of the three eminent scientists. His letter was published last month for the first time, with an introduction by historian Roger Meade. See Bethe, Oppenheimer, Teller and the Fermi Award: Norris Bradbury Speaks, Los Alamos National Laboratory, April 28, 2017.

After assessing the accomplishments of the three of them at some length, Bradbury concluded that they were all deserving of the Fermi Award.

"I have no solution to this dilemma to propose other than the not entirely facetious suggestion that a joint award to all three individuals be made -- with the additional proviso that it would be expected to make the same triply joint award for the two following years!"

As it turned out, Dr. Meade recalled in a footnote, Bethe received the award in 1961, Teller received it in 1962, and Oppenheimer in 1963.

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

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