radiation

NATO Security Summit in Chicago, NSA declassification blunder, weapons in space and much more.

NATO Security Summit

• The 2012 NATO Security Summit is underway in Chicago, with heads of state and governments of NATO member states convening to discuss regional and global security challenges. Key items on the summit agenda include a transition plan for NATO forces in Afghanistan after the end of combat in 2014, NATO’s defense and security goals, and tactics to enhance NATO partnership with non-member states. For more information on the NATO Summit, visit our policy page here.

From the Blogs

• NSA Declassifies Secret Document After Publishing It: The National Security Agency last week invoked a rarely-used authority in order to declassify a classified document that was mistakenly posted on the NSA website with all of its classified passages intact. The article is a historical study entitled Maybe You Had to Be There: The SIGINT on Thirteen Soviet Shootdowns of U.S. Reconnaissance Aircraft.  It was written by Michael L. Peterson and was originally published in the classified journal Cryptologic Quarterly in 1993.

Investigation into leak prosecutions, nuclear forensics, new CRS reports and much more.

From the Blogs

• Senate Review of CIA Interrogation Program “Nearing Completion”: The Senate Intelligence Committee has been reviewing the post-9/11 detention and interrogation practices of the Central Intelligence Agency for four years and is still not finished.  But the end appears to be in sight. Committee staff are said to have reviewed millions of pages of classified documents pertaining to the CIA program.

• Govt Appeals Court-Ordered Release of Classified Document: On April 29,  government attorneys said that they would appeal an extraordinary judicial ruling that required the release of a classified document in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. The document in question is a one-page position paper produced by the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) concerning the U.S. negotiating position in free trade negotiations.  It was classified Confidential and was not supposed to be disclosed before 2013.

• Nuclear Forensics: A terrorist attack using an improvised nuclear device would be hugely destructive. During the Cold War, nuclear weapons had a ‘return address’ since the U.S. could trace the trajectory back to the point of origin. Dr. Y investigates the background of nuclear forensics in a new post on the ScienceWonk Blog.

• Patent Office Weighs Patent Secrecy for “Economic Security”: Steven Aftergood writes that in response to congressional direction, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is considering whether to expand the scope of patent secrecy orders — which prohibit the publication of affected patent applications — in order to enhance “economic security” and to protect newly developed inventions against exploitation by foreign competitors. Currently, patent secrecy orders are applied only to patent applications whose disclosure could be “detrimental to national security” as prescribed by the Invention Secrecy Act of 1951.

FAS Roundup: February 13, 2012

New report on future of nuclear power, DoD inspector takes on classification oversight,  freedom of the press and much more.

Events

• On February 8, 2012, FAS honored Dr. Steven Chu, U.S. Secretary of Energy, and Dr. Richard A. Meserve, president of the Carnegie Institution for Science, at a dinner event in Washington, DC. Secretary Chu was recognized with the Hans Bethe Award and Dr. Meserve received the inaugural Richard L. Garwin Award for distinguished service. The evening’s Master of Ceremonies was John Holdren, the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and Science Adviser to the President. The distinguished guests included Congressman Rush Holt, General Brent Scowcroft, Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Gregory Jaczko, NRC Commissioners Kristine Svinicki, George Apostolakis and William Ostendorff, and FAS Board Members. Stay tuned to our website next week for video of the event.

• FAS also released a new report produced by FAS and Washington and Lee University at a briefing on Capitol Hill on February 8, 2012. The report, on the future of nuclear power in the United States, was written by a distinguished group of experts who provided insights about the safety, security, building, financing, licensing, regulating, and fueling of nuclear power plants.  Speakers at the event included authors Dr. Albert Carr Jr., Mr. Stephen Maloney, Dr. Ivan Oelrich and Ms. Sharon Squassoni. Dr. Charles Ferguson and Dr. Frank Settle, editors of the report, served as moderators of the panel.

New Report on Nuclear Power

• In the wake of the devastating meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan, many Americans are now reevaluating the costs and benefits of nuclear energy. If anything, the accident underscores that constant vigilance is needed to ensure nuclear safety. FAS and Washington and Lee University released a new report examining the future of nuclear power power in the United States.

From the Blogs

• Detention of U.S. Persons: What is the Existing Law?: When Congress passed the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, it included provisions that authorized U.S. armed forces to detain persons who are captured in the conflict with al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces. However, Congress also said that those provisions did not provide any new authority to detain U.S. citizens or others who may be captured in the United States.

• DoD Inspector General Takes on Classification Oversight: In a move that can only strengthen and improve oversight of the national security classification system, the Department of Defense Inspector General has begun a far-reaching review of Pentagon classification policy. Among other things, the Inspector General review will focus on “efforts by the Department to decrease over-classification.”

• A Profession Nobody’s Heard Of: What does a health physicist do? Health physics is the profession that deals with radiation safety for people and the environment. Currently, there is a shortage of health physicists in the United States, and the majority of those running radiation safety programs are not trained radiation safety professionals. Dr. Y writes about what exactly a health physicist does, and their importance to the scientific community.

• Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin Online: The Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin is a quarterly journal published by the U.S. Army to promote awareness and discussion of current topics in military intelligence.  Although unclassified, the Bulletin is not made available online by the Army. Recent volumes can be found on the FAS website.

• Leaks, National Security, and Freedom of the Press:  A new book, “Who Watches the Watchman” by Gary Ross, explores the the phenomenon of leaks from multiple angles, including their history, their prevalence and their consequences.  Most interestingly, he considers the diverse motivations of leakers and of the reporters who solicit, receive and publish their disclosures. Some of these he finds defensible, and others not.

• The Radium Age: A century ago, people used radium to treat diseases (such as cancer) and even consumed to help one’s overall health. Radium was also used in products such as watch dials and fishing tackle. With today’s hypersensitivity to radiation this is hard to believe – but one of the reasons for today’s hypersensitivity to radiation might actually have something to do with the profligacy of earlier decades.

• China’s Vice President Visits the US, and more from CRS: Secrecy News has obtained new CRS reports on topics such as Iran’s threat to the Strait of Hormuz and Lebanon and the uprising in Syria.

Volunteer Opportunity for DC Members

• 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 staff our booth-come share your knowledge and career experiences with festival attendees! If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Melanie Stegman at mstegman@fas.org.For more information on our booth and the festival, click here.     
  

FAS in the News

• Feb 9: PhysOrg.com, “Carnegie’s Richard Meserve Receives Inaugural Richard Garwin Award”
• Feb 9: EurekAlert, ”Carnegie’s Richard Meserve Recieves Inaugural Garwin Award”
• Feb 8: Government Security News, “Study Says Nuclear Plant Designs Need Stepped Up Attention to Security”
• Feb 8: DefenseNews.com, ”IG Reviewing Overclassification at DOD”
• Feb 7: New York Times – The Lede, “Among Liberties Advocates, Outrage Over Expanded Use of Drones”
• Feb 7: Washington Times, “Drones Over U.S. Gets OK By Congress”
• Feb 6: Mother Jones, “Obama’s Golden Nuclear Option”

FAS Roundup: February 6, 2012

Congress calls for accelerated use of drones, update on radioactive tissue boxes, federal agencies likely to miss 2013 declassification deadline and much more.

From the Blogs

• Raven Rock and Continuity of Government: A newly revised U.S. Air Force directive on continuity of operations under emergency circumstances refers matter-of-factly to Raven Rock Mountain Complex, a largely restricted U.S. government facility in Pennsylvania. Also known as Site R, Raven Rock has been operational since 1953 for purposes of emergency communications, disaster relocation and recovery.  But most operations at the facility have been classified, and the facility itself was rarely mentioned in official publications during most of the past half century.

• Congress Calls for Accelerated Use of Drones in U.S: A House-Senate conference report this week called on the Administration to accelerate the use of civilian unmanned aerial systems (UAS), or “drones,” in U.S. airspace. Steven Aftergood writes that the pending authorization bill for the Federal Aviation Administration directs the Secretary of Transportation to develop within nine months “a comprehensive plan to safely accelerate the integration of civil unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace system.”

• Radioactive Tissue Boxes Redux:  Dr. Y updates readers on the radioactive tissue boxes which were sold at Bed Bath & Beyond, and shares a few issues of concern as a result of this incident.

• An Overview of Special Operations Forces, and More from CRS: Over the past decade, the number of U.S. special operations forces (SOF) personnel has nearly doubled, while budgets for special operations have nearly tripled, and overseas deployments have quadrupled, according to a newly updated report from CRS. Secrecy News has also obtained new CRS reports on U.S. investments in the Middle East and immigration-related detention.

• Agencies are Likely to Miss 2013  Declassification Deadline: Over two years ago, President Obama set December 31, 2013 as the deadline to complete the declassification processing of a backlog of more than 400 million pages of classified historical records that were over 25 years old.  But judging from the limited progress to date, it now seems highly unlikely that the President’s directive will be fulfilled.

FAS Roundup: January 30, 2012

New developments in radiation treatment and diagnosis, no cuts in nuclear forces in defense budget, domestic use of drones, new leak case against CIA officer and much more.

From the Blogs

• Domestic Use of Drones is Well Underway: The use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) within the United States is certain to increase in the years to come, as a new Army policy has recently made clear. But, the use of unmanned aircraft or drones within U.S. airspace has already advanced to a degree that is not widely recognized.

• Budget Blunder: “No Cuts” in Nuclear Forces: “There are no cuts made in the nuclear force in this budget.” That clear statement was made on January 26, 2012 by deputy defense secretary Ashton Carter during the Pentagon’s briefing on the defense budget request for Fiscal Year 2013. Hans Kristensen writes that this statement is disappointing for anyone who had hopes that the administration’s promises about “concrete steps” to reduce the number and role of nuclear weapons and to “put an end to Cold War thinking” would actually be reflected in the new defense budget.

• Presidential Signing Statements and More from CRS:  Secrecy News has obtained new CRS reports on topics such as veterans benefits, Iran sanctions and the FBI and terrorism investigations.

• A Small Death in Tehran: The recent death of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, the 32 year-old deputy director of one of Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities, brings the total of assassinations to five among what was a small group of people to begin with. There are two aspects to this act – the morality of such assassinations and their efficacy, which Dr. Y examines on the ScienceWonk blog.

• New Leak Case Relies on 1982 Law on Intelligence Identities: Former CIA officer John Kiriakou became the latest person to be charged under the Espionage Act with unauthorized disclosures of classified information. But unlike the previous defendants, Mr. Kiriakou was also charged with violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act for allegedly disclosing the identity of a covert intelligence officer to a journalist. Steven Aftergood analyzes the history of this Act and the case against Mr. Kiriakou.

• New Doctrine on Intelligence Support to Military Operations:  Secrecy News has obtained an updated doctrine produced by the Joint Chiefs of Staff on intelligence support to military operations.  The new doctrine reflects changes in intelligence organizations, roles and missions.
• New Developments in Radiation Diagnosis and Treatment: For the last several years the threat of nuclear and radiological terrorism has given us all a good scare and one of our responses has been to throw a lot of money into improving our ability to respond medically to such an attack. Dr. Y writes about a few strategies for diagnosis and treatment.
• DoD Support to Foreign Disaster Relief:  Secrecy News has obtained a new guide prepared by the Department of Defense for military personnel who are engaged in foreign disaster relief operations, an endeavor which arises with some frequency.
• Court Says Review of Security Clearance Dispute is “Prohibited”: A government agency’s decision to revoke an employee’s security clearance cannot be reviewed by a federal court even if the decision is based on ethnic discrimination or religious prejudice or other unconstitutional grounds, a court said last week.