SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2018, Issue No. 27
April 16, 2018

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

GROWING PENTAGON SECRECY DRAWS QUESTIONS

In just the last few weeks and months, U.S. military officials imposed new restrictions on media interviews and base visits, at least temporarily; they blocked (but later permitted) publication of current data on the extent of insurgent control of Afghanistan; and they classified previously unclassified information concerning future flight tests of ballistic missile defense systems.

"We've seen multiple instances in the past year where the [military] services have sought to be more guarded in their transparency and accessibility to the media," said Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) at an April 12 hearing of the House Armed Services Committee. "Part of that's understandable, but I think transparency is needed now more than ever."

Defense Secretary James Mattis said in response that he didn't exactly disagree.

"I want more engagement with the media, [but] I want you to give your name, I don't want to read that somebody spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak," Mattis said.

"I have yet to tell anyone they're not authorized to speak. So if they're not willing to say they know about the issue and give their name that would concern me. If they're giving background, they should just be a defense official giving background information authorized to give it."

"What I don't want is pre-decisional information, or classified information or any information about upcoming military movements or operations, which is the normal lose lips sink ships kind of restriction."

"Pre-decisional, we do not close the president's decision making maneuver space by saying things before the president has made a decision. But otherwise, I want more engagement with the military, and I don't want to see an increase in opaqueness about what we're doing."

"We're already remote enough from the American people by our size and by our continued focus overseas. We need to be more engaged here at home," Secretary Mattis said.

Part of that is understandable, as Rep. Gallagher said. But it does not correspond to, or justify, the way that DoD conducts itself in practice, which has certainly produced "an increase in opaqueness."

Last week, for example, DoD published its regular quarterly report for December 2017 on the number of US troops deployed abroad -- but now with the number of troops in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan deleted. See Pentagon strips Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria troop numbers from web by Tara Copp, Military Times, April 9. (Previously disclosed numbers in prior quarterly reports were also deleted but then reposted last week.)

Citing the new secrecy, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) said "I'm very concerned about that. I think that there's no combat advantage to obfuscating the number of U.S. service members that were in these countries three months ago. And, furthermore, the American public has a right to know. Do you intend to restore that information to the website?," she asked Secretary Mattis at last week's hearing.

"I'll certainly look at it," he replied. "I share your conviction that the American people should know everything that doesn't give the enemy an advantage."

SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCES AIMING TO EXPAND

The 2019 budget request for U.S. Special Operations Command -- $13.6 billion -- is 10% higher than the 2018 level and is the largest budget request ever submitted by US SOCOM.

U.S. special operations forces, which are currently deployed in 90 countries, have more than doubled in size from 33,000 personnel in 2001 to around 70,000 personnel in early 2018. Next year's budget, if approved, would make them larger still.

For a newly updated overview from the Congressional Research Service, see U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF): Background and Issues for Congress, April 13, 2018.

Other recent CRS reports that have not been made publicly available include the following.

Federal Election Commission: Membership and Policymaking Quorum, In Brief, April 12, 2018:

Regulatory Reform 10 Years After the Financial Crisis: Systemic Risk Regulation of Non-Bank Financial Institutions, April 12, 2018:

Abortion At or Over 20 Weeks' Gestation: Frequently Asked Questions, April 11, 2018:

Millennium Challenge Corporation, updated April 12, 2018:

Latin America and the Caribbean: Fact Sheet on Leaders and Elections, updated April 11, 2018:

Softwood Lumber Imports From Canada: Current Issues, updated April 12, 2018:

Yemen: Civil War and Regional Intervention, updated April 12, 2018:

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

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