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New op-ed on diplomacy with North Korea, GAO intelligence review, new CRS reports and much more.

From the Blogs

• GAO Completes an “Intelligence Related” Review: Following years of controversy, the Government Accountability Office this week released an unclassified version of its long-awaited report on FBI Counterterrorism. The report itself comes as an anti-climax, but it is the first GAO report involving intelligence-related matters to be completed since the issuance of an intelligence community directive last summer which authorized GAO to gain access to certain intelligence agency information.  As such, it may herald a growing role for GAO in intelligence oversight.

• Secret Systems Clutter the Electromagnetic Spectrum: The difficulty that the military has in allocating the efficient use of the electromagnetic spectrum for military operations is aggravated by the fact that some of those uses — involving intelligence platforms and sensors — are secret even from military planners themselves, a new Pentagon doctrinal publication notes.

• Another Reason to Avoid the Dentist?: Every so often it seems that dental radiation briefly makes an appearance as something that we wonder if we should be concerned about. Dr. Y investigates the effects of dental x-rays in a new post on the ScienceWonk Blog.

• “Traitor,” A Whitleblower’s Tale: Steven Aftergood writes that Jesselyn Radack’s memoir, Traitor: The Whistleblower and the American Taliban presents the moving story of a young attorney’s unexpected encounter with official misconduct, and the excruciating ordeal that ensued when she decided to challenge it. In 2001, Ms. Radack was a Justice Department attorney and specialist in legal ethics.  In response to an official inquiry, she advised that the newly captured John Walker Lindh, the so-called “American Taliban,” should not be interrogated without an attorney present — which he then was anyway.  When Department officials publicly denied having received any such legal advice, and even destroyed evidence to the contrary, she exposed the deception.

• The Evolving Mission of the Secret Service and More from CRS: Secrecy News has obtained recently released CRS reports on topics such as the mission of the Secret Service, nanotechnology and an overview of U.S. energy supplies.

Publications

• Right Approach for Diplomacy with North Korea: FAS President Charles D. Ferguson writes in a new op-ed published by Kyodo News that with the failed April 13th launch of a North Korean rocket, an opportunity has opened up to form a more realistic and long-term plan to create dialogue and build trust with North Korea. The new North Korean regime may be signaling that it is receptive.

U.S.-Japan Nuclear Working Group Website

• FAS has partnered with the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation to convene a group of approximately fifteen American and Japanese experts and officials representing diverse stakeholder communities in the two countries’ nuclear energy activities.  Between March 2012 and April 2013 the working group will meet four times to discuss shared concerns at stake amidst the shifting political landscape for nuclear energy in Japan and the United States. To learn more about the working group, click here. 

Volunteer This Weekend with FAS

• FAS will have a booth at the 2nd Annual USA Science and Engineering Festival which will be held on April 28-29 in Washington, DC. We are looking for volunteers to engage the public with our hands on science activity, which will be explaning the role of science in policymaking. Please contact Melanie Stegman at mstegman@fas.org to volunteer. For more information on our booth and the festival, click here.

FAS in the News

• Apr 17: Huffington Post, “ICBM Coalition of Rural Senators Fights Nuclear Weapons Cuts”
• Apr 17: Wired – Danger Room, “Military Intelligence Gadfly Will Lead All Military Intelligence”
• Apr 17: Examiner.com, “U.S. Army General Michael Flynn Tapped to be Director of Defense Intelligence

Lessons learned from Fukushima, future of nuclear power, Russia’s nuclear forces and much more.

Fukushima: One Year Later

• Listen to the new edition of the FAS podcast series, “A Conversation With An Expert,”  featuring FAS President Dr. Charles Ferguson. In this podcast, Dr. Ferguson discusses the lessons learned from Fukushima, safety of U.S. nuclear plants, future of nuclear power use, and Japan’s new energy policy post- Fukushima.
• FAS President Dr. Charles Ferguson is the executive producer and featured in the Council on Foreign Relations nuclear energy multimedia guide, which explores the past, present and future of nuclear power.

• Fukushima- A Year Later: March 11 marks the one year anniversary of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan, setting into motion the events that culminated in multiple reactor meltdowns. Dr. Y reflects on a few lessons we have learned as a result of this accident on the ScienceWonk blog.

• FAS President Dr. Charles Ferguson presented at a conference hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to examine the impact of the Fukushima accident. Dr. Ferguson spoke about the potential implications for the use of nuclear power post Fukushima and implications for safety, education, economics and waste disposal. You can view the slides from his presentation here.

• Japan’s Nuclear Dilemma:  In a new interview with Toni Johnson of the Council on Foreign Relations, FAS President Charles Ferguson spoke about Japan’s future energy program and states that Japan’s economy is taking a huge hit due to loss of significant power generation and high imported energy costs. Yet, Japan is not open to renewable energy as an alternative. Post-Fukushima, should Japan use nuclear power?

Yesterday, I presented at a conference hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to examine the impact of the Fukushima accident.

I spoke about the potential implications for the use of nuclear power post Fukushima and implications for safety, education, economics and waste disposal. You can view my presentation slides here.

I am excited to tell you that I will appear on PBS’s Frontline on Tuesday, January 17, 2012.  In “Nuclear Aftershocks,” Miles O’Brien examines the hazards and benefits of nuclear energy. I will be speaking about the implications for U.S. nuclear safety after the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident in Japan last March.

For more information on the episode, click here.

You can find a preview of the episode here.

I encourage you to tune in.  Please check local listings for air times of “Nuclear Aftershocks” on your PBS station.

FAS Roundup: January 9, 2012

New defense strategy, U.S. Army communications security, the collision course between Iran and the U.S., new CRS reports and much more.  

From the Blogs

• Army Red Teams Test Communications Security: Steven Aftergood writes about the newly revised Army regulation which prescribes the use of “red teams” that are assigned to try and penetrate the security of military communications, as if they were hackers or opposition forces.

• A New Defense Strategy: A New Nuclear Strategy?: The Obama administration presented a new defense strategy that it says is needed to realign U.S. military forces and doctrine with the reductions in combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the new fiscal constraints created by the financial crisis. Hans Kristensen writes that it is important that the commitment in the new defense strategy to maintaining a nuclear deterrent does not overshadow the equally important commitment to reducing the size and role of nuclear forces.

• JASON on Producing Tritium for Fusion Reactors: If nuclear fusion were ever to become a practical method of generating electrical energy, there would be a continuing requirement to produce significant quantities of tritium for fusion reactor fuel. The JASON scientific advisory panel was asked by the DOE to assess the feasibility of large scale tritium production; the findings were presented in a new report obtained by Secrecy News.

• Director of National Intelligence Cuts Jobs and Secrets in 2011: Steven Aftergood writes that with the reduction in the workforce at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), there has also been a decline in the level of ODNI classification activity, which dropped by 17.3% from the year before.

• The Big Picture: Keeping Radiation Risks in Perspective: A dentist in the UK was sued for taking panoramic x-rays of some of his patients. Nobody claimed to have been injured, but some patients were concerned about being put at needless risk. Are we so focused on radiation safety and radiological risk reduction that we have lost sight of the larger picture?

• Periods of War, and More from CRS: Secrecy News has obtained new CRS reports on topics such as key issues of the Keystone XL Pipeline Project, super PACS, and growing income inequality. Note: The next issue of Secrecy News will be published the week of January 16, 2012.