SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2017, Issue No. 89
December 21, 2017

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

RECOVERING RADIOACTIVE NUCLEAR SOURCES

Over the past decade the Department of Energy/NNSA has recovered thousands of sealed radioactive isotope sources from around the world that were abandoned, unwanted or no longer needed.

Sealed nuclear sources are utilized for a variety of industrial, medical or military purposes. But at the end of their useful life they can still pose a safety or security hazard.

So the mission of the DOE/NNSA Off-Site Source Recovery Program is to take possession of "orphan" sources in the interest of public safety and security.

The Program says it has taken control of nearly 40,000 disused and unwanted nuclear sources -- about 1.25 million Curies of radioactive material -- from 1,400 sites in the US and 25 other countries.

The achievements of the Program were summarized last week in Strengthening Cradle-to-Grave Control of Radioactive Sources by Bill Stewart, Los Alamos National Laboratory, December 11, 2017:

The systematic recovery and control of nuclear materials became an explicit priority during the Obama Administration.

"We are leading a global effort to secure all vulnerable nuclear materials from terrorists," the Administration's 2010 National Security Strategy stated. "We are dramatically accelerating and intensifying efforts to secure all vulnerable nuclear materials. . . . We will seek to complete a focused international effort to secure all vulnerable nuclear material around the world through enhanced protection and accounting practices, expanded cooperation with and through international institutions, and new partnerships to lock down these sensitive materials."

The 2015 Obama National Security Strategy likewise affirmed that "Keeping nuclear materials from terrorists . . . remains a high priority."

The 2017 National Security Strategy that was published by the White House this week also addressed control of nuclear materials, though in a comparatively terse and generic manner:

"Building on decades of initiatives, we will augment measures to secure, eliminate, and prevent the spread of WMD and related materials, their delivery systems, technologies, and knowledge to reduce the chance that they might fall into the hands of hostile actors. We will hold state and non-state actors accountable for the use of WMD."

The new National Security Strategy included one reference to national security classification, citing it as a potential obstacle to information sharing:

"The U.S. Government will work with our critical infrastructure partners to assess their informational needs and to reduce the barriers to information sharing, such as speed and classification levels."

THE SPEECH OR DEBATE CLAUSE, AND MORE FROM CRS

The speech or debate clause of the US Constitution provides Members of Congress (and their staff) with civil and criminal immunity for "legislative acts" that they perform in the course of their duties, shielding them from harassment or intimidation.

The clause is "a key pillar in the American separation of powers" that serves to "protect the independence, integrity, and effectiveness of the legislative branch by barring executive or judicial intrusions into the protected sphere of the legislative process," as described in a new overview from the Congressional Research Service.

If Members of Congress do not wish to function as independent actors, the speech and debate clause cannot make them. But it is there to protect them if they do. See Understanding the Speech or Debate Clause, December 1, 2017:

Other new reports from the Congressional Research Service include the following:

Winter Fuels Outlook 2017-2018, December 5, 2017:

Bank Systemic Risk Regulation: The $50 Billion Threshold in the Dodd-Frank Act, December 6, 2017:

Defining Broadband: Minimum Threshold Speeds and Broadband Policy, December 4, 2017:

The Application of the "One Central Reason" Standard in Asylum and Withholding of Removal Cases, CRS Legal Sidebar, December 18, 2017:

What Happens if H.R. 1 Conflicts with U.S. Tax Treaties?, CRS Legal Sidebar, December 19, 2017:

The War in Yemen: A Compilation of Legislation in the 115th Congress, December 20, 2017:

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

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