SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2019, Issue No. 5
February 6, 2019

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

IG REPORTS ON WARS ABROAD UNAFFECTED BY TRUMP REBUKE

In apparent disregard of criticism from President Trump, two new Inspector General reports on aspects of the wars in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq were openly published this week.

"What kind of stuff is this?" the President had complained at a January 2 cabinet meeting. "We're fighting wars, and they're doing reports and releasing it to the public? Now, the public means the enemy. The enemy reads those reports; they study every line of it. Those reports should be private reports. Let him do a report, but they should be private reports and be locked up."

Despite that rebuke, however, the reports produced this week were published as usual.

There was no basis for a change. According to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), no policy directive implementing the President's remarks last month was ever generated, and so the continuing release of SIGAR reports has not been affected.

The latest SIGAR report finds that DoD is delivering more military helicopters to the Afghan Air Force than can be used. "Based on the current UH-60 delivery schedule, it is unlikely that there will be enough pilots trained before all 159 UH-60s are delivered. DOD runs the risk of wasting U.S. taxpayer dollars to purchase aircraft the AAF and SMW [Afghan security forces] cannot fly or maintain." See the report here:

Meanwhile, another DoD Inspector General report released this week finds that "ISIS remains a potent force of battle-hardened and well-disciplined fighters" -- a finding that is at odds with the President's public remarks. A classified appendix to the IG report that was not released addressed topics such as "ISIS Retains its Military Capabilities [in Syria] Despite Loss of Territory" and "Iran Strikes ISIS in Syria." That report is here:

The bureaucracy's indifference to the President's objections is remarkable. Philosophers of language (following J.L. Austin) speak of "performative utterances," meaning speech which not only describes but transforms the reality under discussion. When a judge or clergyman declares "I now pronounce you man and wife," for example, that statement actually effects a change in the legal status of the couple to whom they are addressed.

Likewise, one might have expected the strictures -- who is the chief executive and commander-in-chief of the armed forces and who was speaking in an official capacity before his own subordinates -- to have this sort of performative quality and to alter agency conduct in the way he prescribed.

But that is not what happened. The President's remarks were not connected to any policy apparatus that might have put them into effect. And so they were inconsequential.

NATIONAL EMERGENCIES, & MORE FROM CRS

There were no less than 30 "national emergencies" in effect as of February 1, according to a tabulation prepared by the Congressional Research Service. An additional 21 national emergencies that are no longer in effect were also identified by CRS.

Under the National Emergencies Act, a declaration of national emergency can be used to activate presidential powers that would otherwise be unavailable. President Trump has suggested that he could declare a national emergency in order to begin construction of a "wall" along the U.S. border with Mexico without congressional authorization.

See Declarations under the National Emergencies Act, Part 1: Declarations Currently in Effect, CRS Legal Sidebar, February 1, 2019:

and Declarations under the National Emergencies Act, Part 2: Declarations No Longer in Effect, CRS Legal Sidebar, February 1, 2019:

Together, the two reports replicate (with some variations) a table prepared lately by the Brennan Center for Justice, which has researched national emergency powers.

* * *

Other new and noteworthy publications from the Congressional Research Service include the following.

The Emoluments Clauses of the U.S. Constitution, CRS In Focus, January 30, 2019:

Executive Branch Ethics and Financial Conflicts of Interest: Disqualification, CRS Legal Sidebar, January 31, 2019:

Fifth-Generation (5G) Telecommunications Technologies: Issues for Congress, January 30, 2019:

Selecting the World Bank President, updated January 23, 2019:

Venezuela: Overview of U.S. Sanctions, CRS In Focus, updated February 1, 2019:

U.S.-European Relations in the 116th Congress, CRS In Focus, February 4, 2019:

The U.S. Intelligence Community: Homeland Security Issues in the 116th Congress, CRS Insight, updated February 1, 2019:

"Migrant Protection Protocols": Legal Issues Related to DHS's Plan to Require Arriving Asylum Seekers to Wait in Mexico, CRS Legal Sidebar, February 1, 2019:

Drug Trafficking at the Southwest Border: Homeland Security Issues in the 116th Congress, CRS Insight, updated January 31, 2019:

The CIA has around 140 projects involving or related to artificial intelligence, CRS noted (citing a 2017 story in DefenseOne). See Artificial Intelligence and National Security, updated January 30, 2019:

U.S. Withdrawal from the INF Treaty, CRS Insight, updated February 1, 2019:

Evaluating Possible U.S. Troop Withdrawals from Hostile Areas, CRS Insight, February 1, 2019:

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

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