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Secrecy and Security News

Newer News: September 2009

August 2009

• A.C.L.U. Lawyers Mine Documents for Truth by Scott Shane, New York Times, August 30. "The ACLU detention document request and subsequent lawsuit are among the most successful in the history of public disclosure, with 130,000 pages of previously secret documents released to date and the prospect of more."
• U.S. Still Using Security Firm It Broke With by Mark Landler and Mark Mazzetti, New York Times, August 22. "Government officials have estimated that about 25 percent of the intelligence workforce consists of contractors, and as much as 70 percent of the entire intelligence budget goes to outside contracts. Yet these are rough estimates, and members of Congressional oversight committees lament that they cannot get reliable figures about the extent of intelligence outsourcing."
• CIA's Use Of Contractors Draws Fresh Scrutiny by Kevin Whitelaw, National Public Radio, August 21. "News that the CIA worked with a private contractor on a secret assassination program is the latest evidence of how much the agency has outsourced a range of its activities, including covert missions."
• Report: Venezuela's Hugo Chávez aggressively seizing control of media by Juan O. Tamayo, Miami Herald, August 14. "An unclassified U.S. intelligence report says Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is ``moving forcefully'' to stifle media criticism by closing scores of radio stations, tightening controls on one TV station and maneuvering to seize control of another."
• White House Launches Review of U.S. Export Control System, August 13. "The President has directed that the NEC/NSC launch a broad-based interagency process for reviewing the overall U.S. export control system, including both the dual-use and defense trade processes."
• US intel chief says no Iran nukes possible before 2013 by Dan Murphy, Christian Science Monitor, August 10. "Iran will probably not have the technical ability to produce enough fuel to make a nuclear bomb before 2013, US Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair told a senate intelligence committee earlier this year."
• Iran Years From Fuel For Bomb, Report Says by Walter Pincus, Washington Post, August 7. "Despite Iran's progress since 2007 toward producing enriched uranium, the State Department's intelligence analysts continue to think that Tehran will not be able to produce weapons-grade material before 2013, according to a newly disclosed congressional document."
• U.S. Top Spy's Curious Committee Report by Jeff Stein, CQ Spy Talk, August 6. "The Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), had given the committee a statement about Russian attacks on American spy satellites that "was simply lifted, almost word for word," from a Moscow newspaper, Aftergood reported Thursday in Secrecy News, the must-read newsletter he's edited for many years."
• Transparency Groups Urge Obama To Involve Public In Executive Order Revisions by Sahil Kapur, Huffington Post, August 6. As President Obama prepares to modify the rules of executive power, 21 public advocacy groups and individuals are fighting to make sure he fulfills his promise to "restore the American people's trust in their government by making government more open and transparent."
• U.S. Intelligence Head Says Afghan Army Must Grow to 325,000 by Tony Capaccio, Bloomberg.com, August 6. "Afghanistan’s army must more than triple in size to about 325,000 to effectively protect its population, according to the top U.S. intelligence official."
• Russia Military Force Changes to Add Border Strength, U.S. Says by Viola Gienger and Tony Capaccio, Bloomberg.com, August 6. "Russia is reshaping its ground forces into a structure that would enable it to militarily dominate' most of its neighbors, the head of U.S. intelligence said."
• Al-Qaeda Will Pose a Threat for 20 Years, Top Spy Official Says by Jeff Bliss and Tony Capaccio, Bloomberg.com, August 5. "Al-Qaeda 'will continue to plot against the U.S. and its interests abroad over the next 20 years,' Blair said in written answers to the Senate Intelligence Committee that were obtained July 30 by the Washington-based Federation of American Scientists under the Freedom of Information Act. "

Older News: July 2009

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Updated September 4, 2009