Secrecy News Blog: http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/
DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE CUT JOBS, SECRETS IN 2011
In a portent of spending cuts that are still to come, the number of employees at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) dropped significantly over the past year.
Interestingly, one of the first visible signs of the reduction in the workforce was a decline in the level of ODNI classification activity, which dropped by 17.3% from the year before.
"The decrease in total [classification] decisions was largely driven by a 12.9% decrease in population size from last year," wrote ODNI Information Management chief John F. Hackett in a November 7, 2011 report to the Information Security Oversight Office. A copy was obtained by Secrecy News under the Freedom of Information Act.
A spokesman for ODNI public affairs said he could not immediately comment on the report, which may reflect a drop in staff as well as contractor personnel, both of which are authorized to generate classified information at ODNI.
A former ODNI official told Secrecy News that "hundreds" of ODNI jobs had been eliminated. He said that the size of the ODNI workforce was on the order of 2000 people, and that the loss of hundreds of positions was consistent with the reported 12.9% "decrease in population size."
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 Department of Energy to assess the feasibility of large scale tritium production. Its findings were presented in a new report obtained by Secrecy News. See "Tritium," November 2011:
ARMY RED TEAMS TEST COMMUNICATIONS SECURITY
A newly revised Army regulation 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.
"Red Team operations expose vulnerabilities by challenging an organization's readiness and ability to protect information. Red Team activities focus on identifying an organization's critical and classified information to show the operational impact of physical, information and operations security shortcomings," the regulation explains. "To replicate a true adversary, certified Red Teams have the authority to access .mil networks from public domains through the use of remote operations."
See "Communications Security Monitoring," Army Regulation 380-53, December 23, 2011.
Among other changes to the previous edition of the regulation, the new revision "removes the requirement to obtain permission from the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration to conduct communications security monitoring in the National Capital Region."
GROWING INCOME INEQUALITY EXAMINED BY CRS
The inequality of income among American taxpayers has grown markedly in recent years, the Congressional Research Service confirmed in a new study of U.S. tax records.
Even as total income grew between 1996 and 2006 (the last year for which individual tax data are available), many Americans were losing ground.
"Inflation-adjusted income actually fell for those in the bottom income quintile (the poorest 20% of tax filers) and almost doubled for the richest 0.1% of tax filers," the CRS found. "Consequently, income inequality increased between 1996 and 2006."
The CRS report identified multiple contributors to the growing inequality, including disparate changes in salaries, growth in capital income among high-income taxpayers and modifications of tax policy which exacerbated existing inequalities.
"Earnings inequality has been increasing over the past three decades, and the share of income from capital has increased for high-income tax filers. Furthermore, the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts, while reducing taxes for almost all tax filers, reduced taxes for high-income tax filers to a greater extent than for lower-income tax filers."
Of these, "Changes in capital gains and dividends were the largest contributor to the increase in the overall income inequality," the CRS report said. See "Changes in the Distribution of Income Among Tax Filers Between 1996 and 2006: The Role of Labor Income, Capital Income, and Tax Policy," December 29, 2011:
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Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the Federation of American Scientists.
The Secrecy News blog is at:
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PERIODS OF WAR, AND MORE FROM CRS
With the formal ending of the U.S. war in Iraq on December 15, 2011, the Congressional Research Service has produced an updated report on "U.S. Periods of War and Dates of Current Conflicts":
"Confusion can occur because beginning and ending dates for 'periods of war' in many nonofficial sources are often different from those given in treaties and other official sources of information, and armistice dates can be confused with termination dates," the December 28, 2011 CRS report said.
A different kind of confusion can arise when misleading or mistaken information is presented as fact, as when President Bush declared in a May 1, 2003 address to the nation that "major military combat actions in Iraq have ended."
The CRS report does not address covert action or other unacknowledged military operations.
Some other noteworthy new or newly updated reports from the Congressional Research Service include the following.
"Director of National Intelligence Statutory Authorities: Status and Proposals," December 16, 2011:
"The National Security Council: An Organizational Assessment," December 28, 2011:
"Terrorism Information Sharing and the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Report Initiative: Background and Issues for Congress," December 28, 2011:
"The Army's Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) and Early Infantry Brigade Combat Team (E-IBCT) Programs: Background and Issues for Congress," December 27, 2011:
"National Infrastructure Bank: Overview and Current Legislation," December 14, 2011:
"Drug Offenses: Maximum Fines and Terms of Imprisonment for Violation of the Federal Controlled Substances Act and Related Laws," December 12, 2011:
"Keystone XL Pipeline Project: Key Issues," December 12, 2011:
"Recess Appointments: Frequently Asked Questions," December 12, 2011:
"'Super PACs' in Federal Elections: Overview and Issues for Congress," December 2, 2011:
The next issue of Secrecy News will be published the week of January 16, 2012.
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Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the Federation of American Scientists.
The Secrecy News blog is at:
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To SUBSCRIBE to Secrecy News, go to:
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DOE WANTS TO RESTORE INFO TO "RESTRICTED DATA" STATUS
The Department of Energy has asked Congress to amend the Atomic Energy Act to allow certain nuclear weapons information that has been removed from the "Restricted Data" classification category to be restored to that category.
"Restricted Data" (RD) pertains to classified nuclear weapons design information. It is distinguished from "Formerly Restricted Data" (FRD) which generally concerns the utilization of nuclear weapons. (Despite the use of the word "formerly," FRD is also a category of classified information.)
In a letter to Congress requesting the proposed amendment, Energy Secretary Steven Chu suggested that the current arrangement leaves some nuclear weapons design information inadequately protected.
"There is sensitive nuclear weapons design information embodied in some FRD... that should be subject to the more stringent security protections afforded RD now than current programmatic capabilities of DoD and the Intelligence Community permit," Secretary Chu wrote in an August 4, 2011 letter that was released last week. Energy Department officials did not respond to a request from Secrecy News for elaboration on this point.
But in a July 2010 statement to the Public Interest Declassification Board, Andrew Weston-Dawkes of the Department of Energy Office of Classification said that FRD today contains not only information on nuclear weapons utilization but also "some of the most sensitive design information." Specifically, he said that FRD includes design information on "safing arming and fuzing, use control information, [and] hardening."
Such design information was removed from the RD category in order "to support the mission requirements of the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community," Secretary Chu explained in his letter. But once removed, the information by law cannot be redesignated as RD without an amendment to the Atomic Energy Act. Hence the DOE proposal to Congress.
The immediate implications of the proposal are probably quite limited, particularly since it applies only to "design information" and "foreign nuclear information" that is currently classified in any case (albeit as FRD or "TFNI," for Transclassified Foreign Nuclear Information).
In the longer term, the authority to reclassify certain narrow categories of FRD as RD, if granted, may help to reduce DOE opposition to the elimination of the entire FRD category -- which critics including the Federation of American Scientists have advocated -- and its integration into the normal national security classification system.
The Public Interest Declassification Board, an advisory body on classification and declassification policy, has proposed that FRD records that are more than 25 years old should be treated like any other classified records for purposes of declassification review and processing.
But these changes would also require legislative action, which has not been requested by DOE. Nor has Congress acted on Secretary Chu's August 2011 proposal to date.
DETAINEE POLICY, AND MORE FROM CRS
Recent legislative action on military detention of suspected enemy combatants perpetuates an ambiguity in the law as to whether U.S. citizens may be so detained, a new report from the Congressional Research Service says.
"The circumstances in which a U.S. citizen or other person captured or arrested in the United States may be detained under the authority conferred by the AUMF [the post-9/11 Authorization for Use of Military Force] remains unsettled," wrote CRS analyst Jennifer Elsea. "The 2012 NDAA [National Defense Authorization Act] does not disturb the state of the law in this regard."
"Section 1021 [of the NDAA] does not attempt to clarify the circumstances in which a U.S. citizen, resident alien, or other person captured within the United States may be held as an enemy belligerent in the conflict with Al Qaeda. Consequently, if the executive branch decides to hold such a person under the detention authority affirmed in Section 1021, it is left to the courts to decide whether Congress meant to authorize such detention when it enacted the AUMF in 2001," the CRS report said.
See "The National Defense Authorization Act for FY2012: Detainee Matters," January 11, 2012:
Some other new CRS reports that have not been made readily available to the public include these:
"F-35 Alternate Engine Program: Background and Issues for Congress," January 10, 2011:
"Horn of Africa Region: The Humanitarian Crisis and International Response," January 6, 2012:
"Building Civilian Interagency Capacity for Missions Abroad: Key Proposals and Issues for Congress," December 22, 2011:
TESTIMONY OF REPORTER SOUGHT IN STERLING LEAK CASE
In a brief filed Friday in the case of former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling, who is accused of leaking classified information, prosecutors told the U.S. Court of Appeals that New York Times reporter James Risen should be compelled to testify at Mr. Sterling's trial and to reveal whether it was Mr. Sterling who leaked information to him about a CIA program to disrupt Iran's nuclear weapons program.
A lower court found that Mr. Risen had a "qualified reporter's privilege" which exempted him from disclosing his sources in this case. But prosecutors said the lower court ruling was in error and they asked the Appeals Court to overturn it. They said that unlike in certain civil cases, there is no reporter's privilege to protect confidential sources in criminal cases.
Here, however, the disclosure of classified information *is* the alleged crime. As a consequence, what is at stake in this case, beyond the individual fate of Mr. Sterling, is the ability of reporters to protect their sources of classified information. The Appeals Court is poised to either strengthen that ability or to significantly weaken it.
Prosecutors also disputed two other lower court rulings, which they said were "erroneous" and would cripple their case against Mr. Sterling, which has been suspended until the appeal is resolved.
"In three pretrial rulings, the district court severely circumscribed the government's ability to prove these allegations and effectively terminated the prosecution," prosecutors wrote in their 99-page pleading on January 13.
"First, the court held that Risen -- the only eyewitness to the crime and the only person who could identify Sterling as the perpetrator -- had a First Amendment right to refuse to identify his source. This ruling suppressed the only direct evidence of Sterling's crime."
"Second, the court suppressed the testimony of two of the government's key witnesses as a sanction for the late disclosure of alleged Giglio information [i.e. information pertaining to deals or promises made to the witnesses in exchange for their testimony]. The court found no evidence that the disclosure (which occurred less than 12 hours after the expiry of the district court's discovery deadline and several days before trial) was the result of bad faith, and it never meaningfully considered granting a continuance or any other remedy before striking the witnesses. This decision had the effect of terminating the prosecution."
"Third, the court announced that the government was required to disclose to the defendant and the jury the true names of several covert CIA officers and contractors who it intended to call to testify at trial. The court reached this conclusion despite having previously held that the government need not identify the witnesses by name in discovery or at trial because that information (which is classified) would not be useful or necessary to Sterling's defense, could place the witnesses in significant danger, and could damage national security."
"The district court's rulings are erroneous. The government respectfully requests that this Court reverse those rulings and remand this case to the district court for trial," prosecutors wrote.
The new prosecution brief, which was redacted for public release, provides a detailed account of the facts and the law of the Sterling case from the government's perspective.
The brief says that Mr. Risen himself is not accused of engaging in criminal activity. "Nonetheless, at Risen's request, the government has agreed to grant Risen immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony, and thus the subpoena raises no Fifth Amendment [self-incrimination] concern," the brief said.
Attorneys for Sterling and Risen will each respond with their own opening briefs on February 14.
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Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the Federation of American Scientists.
The Secrecy News blog is at:
http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/
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ARMY FORESEES EXPANDED USE OF DRONES IN U.S. AIRSPACE
The Army issued a new directive last week to govern the growing use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) or "drones" within the United States for training missions and for "domestic operations."
"The Army's unmanned aircraft systems represent emerging technology that requires access to the National Airspace System," wrote Army Secretary John M. McHugh in a January 13 memorandum.
Towards that end, the Army produced a revised policy on UAS operations to support "expanded UAS access to the National Airspace System." A copy of the new policy was obtained by Secrecy News. See Army Directive 2012-02, January 13, 2012:
Much of the Army's UAS activity will be devoted to UAS operator training conducted at or near military facilities, the policy indicates. But beyond such training activities, the military also envisions a role for UAS in unspecified "domestic operations" in civilian airspace, according to a 2007 Memorandum of Agreement between the Department of Defense and the Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates domestic air traffic.
The 2007 Memorandum, which is appended to the new Army directive, was said to "allow, in accordance with applicable law, increased access for DoD UAS into the elements of the NAS [National Airspace System] outside of DoD-managed Restricted Areas or Warning Areas."
The 2007 agreement was intended to "ensure DoD UAS assets have NAS access for domestic operations, including the War on Terror (WOT).... This guidance applies to all DoD UAS, whether operated by Active, Reserve, National Guard, or other personnel."
A prior edition of the Army's "Unmanned Aircraft System Flight Regulations," which will be updated to incorporate the latest policy, can be found on the Federation of American Scientists web site here:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation last week filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking information on domestic drone operations.
FOREIGN MILITARY ASSISTANCE, AND MORE FROM CRS
Some new or updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include the following.
"Security Assistance Reform: 'Section 1206' Background and Issues for Congress," January 13, 2012:
"The Berry Amendment: Requiring Defense Procurement To Come From Domestic Sources," January 13, 2012:
"In Brief: Assessing DOD's New Strategic Guidance," January 12, 2012:
"Circular A-76 and the Moratorium on DOD Competitions: Background and Issues for Congress," January 17, 2012:
"The Federal Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program: Background, Funding and Activities," January 13, 2012:
"Nuclear Power Plant Design and Seismic Safety Considerations," January 12, 2012:
"Chemical Facility Security: Issues and Options for the 112th Congress," January 13, 2012:
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Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the Federation of American Scientists.
The Secrecy News blog is at:
http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/
To SUBSCRIBE to Secrecy News, go to:
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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.
Judge James C. Cacheris of the Eastern District of Virginia dismissed a lawsuit brought by Mahmoud M. Hegab, a budget analyst at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). Mr. Hegab alleged that his security clearance had been revoked by NGA "based solely on [his] wife's religion, Islam, her constitutionally protected speech, and her association with, and employment by, an Islamic faith-based organization." ("Clearance Lost Due to Anti-Islamic Prejudice, Lawsuit Says," Secrecy News, October 6, 2011.)
The NGA disputed the claim and moved to dismiss the lawsuit.
Mr. Hegab, represented by attorney Sheldon I. Cohen, responded in opposition on December 14.
But in his January 19 opinion, Judge Cacheris said that it didn't matter even if the plaintiff's allegations were true, because the court lacked the authority to review the underlying bases of the dispute.
"A determination of whether Hegab's security clearance was revoked due to legitimate national security concerns or, as Hegab alleges, constitutionally impermissible bases would necessarily require a review of the merits of NGA's decision. Absent clear congressional directive, which Hegab fails to identify, such a review is flatly prohibited by Egan and Fourth Circuit precedent," Judge Cacheris wrote.
"Egan" here refers to the 1988 U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case of Department of the Navy v. Egan, which has often been invoked in support of broad and unreviewable executive branch authority in national security policy.
A critique of Egan and its subsequent application was presented by constitutional scholar Louis Fisher, then of the Law Library of Congress, in "Judicial Interpretations of Egan," November 13, 2009.
AFGHANISTAN CASUALTIES, AND MORE FROM CRS
New or updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include the following.
"Afghanistan Casualties: Military Forces and Civilians," January 18, 2012:
"FY2012 National Defense Authorization Act: Selected Military Personnel Policy Issues," January 5, 2012:
"Spectrum Policy in the Age of Broadband: Issues for Congress," January 5, 2012:
"The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Terrorism Investigations," December 28, 2011:
"Economic Downturns and Crime," December 19, 2011:
DOD SUPPORT TO FOREIGN DISASTER RELIEF
The Department of Defense has prepared a guide for military personnel who are engaged in foreign disaster relief operations, an endeavor which arises with some frequency.
"The U.S. Government (USG) responds to approximately 70-80 natural disasters across the globe each year. In approximately 10-15 percent of these disaster responses, the Department of Defense (DoD) lends support to the overall USG effort."
"DoD disaster assistance can range from a single aircraft delivering relief supplies, to a fullscale deployment of a brigade-size or larger task force. Though the overall percentage of disasters requiring DoD support is relatively small, these disasters tend to be crises of the largest magnitude and/or the greatest complexity."
The new guide "offers an overarching guide and reference for military responders in disaster relief operations." See "Department of Defense Support to Foreign Disaster Relief," GTA-90-01-030, 13 July 2011 (large pdf):
INTELLIGENCE SUPPORT TO MILITARY OPERATIONS
The Joint Chiefs of Staff have produced updated doctrine on intelligence support to military operations. The new doctrine reflects changes in intelligence organizations, roles and missions.
Among other things, the new publication introduces the term "biometric-enabled intelligence" or BEI. "BEI is derived from the collection, processing, and exploitation of biometric signatures; the contextual data associated with those signatures; and other available information that answers a commander's or other decision maker's information needs concerning persons, networks, or populations of interest."
See Joint Publication 2-01, "Joint and National Intelligence Support to Military Operations," 05 January 2012:
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Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the Federation of American Scientists.
The Secrecy News blog is at:
http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/
To SUBSCRIBE to Secrecy News, go to:
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NEW LEAK CASE CITES 1982 LAW ON INTELLIGENCE IDENTITIES
Former CIA officer John Kiriakou this week 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.
The Intelligence Identities Protection Act was enacted in 1982 to combat the efforts of Philip Agee and his colleagues to expose CIA personnel around the world. The Act made it a felony to reveal the names of "covert agents," i.e. intelligence officers who are under cover and whose identities are classified information.
But until now, the Act has never been used in a contested prosecution. "There do not appear to be any published cases involving prosecutions under this act, despite some high-profile incidents involving the exposure of U.S. intelligence agents," according to a Congressional Research Service report on the subject from last year.
There has, however, been one conviction under the Act. In 1985, former CIA clerk Sharon Scranage pleaded guilty to providing classified information in violation of the Act concerning U.S. intelligence operations in Ghana. She served two years in jail.
The Intelligence Identities Protection Act is one of the very few classification-related statutes that purport to apply to anyone, not only to government officials who possess authorized access to classified information. The language of the Act explicitly indicates that it also applies to private individuals -- reporters, researchers, or anyone else -- who expose covert agents, if they do so as part of a "pattern of activities" and with the requisite knowledge and intent.
In the present case, Mr. Kiriakou is charged with providing the name of a "covert agent" in response to inquiries from a reporter, "Journalist A," who then passed that information on to defense attorneys at Guantanamo. (The attorneys used the information in a classified pleading that they filed in 2009, which is what first brought the unauthorized disclosure to official attention.)
An FBI affidavit attached to the criminal complaint against Kiriakou states repeatedly that no laws were broken by the defense team that received the classified information. The FBI notably does not volunteer the same assurance concerning Journalist A (whose name is not yet on the public record), who actively solicited the proscribed information from Kiriakou and forwarded it to the defense attorneys.
But Journalist A would presumably not be subject to the Intelligence Identities Protection Act because his efforts were not part of a systematic effort to expose classified identities. (The name of the covert agent that he allegedly elicited and conveyed to the defense team at Guantanamo has not been publicly disclosed.)
According to the Congressional Research Service report, the Act "would appear to preclude the prosecution of a recipient of covered information, whether solicited or not, who publishes the information but has not engaged in a prohibited 'pattern of activities' intended to disclose the names of covert agents."
The CRS report also makes the curious observation that "It is not an offense for... a covert agent to disclose his or her own identity." See "Intelligence Identities Protection Act," January 28, 2011:
Mr. Kiriakou is the sixth individual to be charged in the Obama Administration's unprecedented campaign against leaks of classified information to the media, following Shamai Leibowitz, Jeffrey Sterling, Thomas Drake, Bradley Manning and Stephen Kim. Among other things, the Administration's aggressive pursuit of leaks represents a challenge to the practice of national security reporting, which depends on the availability of unauthorized sources if it is to produce something more than "authorized" news.
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. ("Army Foresees Expanded Use of Drones in U.S. Airspace," Secrecy News, January 19.)
But in fact the use of unmanned aircraft or drones within U.S. airspace has already advanced to a degree that is not widely recognized. As of 2010, the Federal Aviation Administration had already issued hundreds of "certificates of authorization" (COAs) for the domestic use of drones.
"Right now, today as we sit here, we have 251 certificates of authorization for unmanned aircraft, 140 of them are DOD related," said Hank Krakowski of the FAA at an informative Senate hearing in September 2010. "We have not rejected or denied any DOD COAs in 2010, and we keep moving forward."
On the other hand, Mr. Krakowski cautioned, "While UASs offer a promising new technology, the limited safety and operational data available to date does not yet support expedited or full integration into the NAS [National Airspace System]. Because current available data is insufficient to allow unfettered integration of UASs into the NAS--where the public travels every day-- the FAA must continue to move forward deliberately and cautiously, in accordance with our safety mandate."
"Unmanned aircraft systems [were] originally and primarily designed for military purposes," he noted. "Although the technology incorporated into UASs has advanced, their safety record warrants caution. As we attempt to integrate these aircraft into the NAS, we will continue to look at any risks that UASs pose to the traveling public as well as the risk to persons or property on the ground."
See "The Integration of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs) Into the National Airspace System (NAS): Fulfilling Imminent Operational and Training Requirements," Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Technology, September 13, 2010 (published September 2011):
In the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, Congress included language requiring a report on "the integration of unmanned aerial systems into the national airspace system."
The legality of the use of drones in CIA targeted killing programs is among the topics that is explored in the brand new issue of the Journal of National Security Law and Policy on the subject of covert war. It can be read online here:
PRESIDENTIAL SIGNING STATEMENTS, AND MORE FROM CRS
President Obama has used "signing statements" to take exception to provisions of law enacted by Congress with significantly less frequency than did President George W. Bush, and he has also abandoned reference to the "unitary executive" concept that was favored by the Bush Administration.
In most other respects, however, the Obama Administration's use of signing statements is consistent and continuous with recent past practice, according to a newly updated report from the Congressional Research Service. The report reviewed the basis for signing statements, their legal implications, and the controversy that has surrounded them. See "Presidential Signing Statements: Constitutional and Institutional Implications," January 4, 2012:
Some other new or newly updated CRS reports that have not been made readily available to the public include the following.
"Legal Issues Associated with the Proposed Keystone XL Pipeline," January 23, 2012:
"'Who is a Veteran?' -- Basic Eligibility for Veterans' Benefits," January 23, 2012:
"Federal Aid to Roads and Highways Since the 18th Century: A Legislative History," January 6, 2012:
"Navy Force Structure and Shipbuilding Plans: Background and Issues for Congress," January 6, 2012:
"Iran Sanctions," January 6, 2012:
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Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the Federation of American Scientists.
The Secrecy News blog is at:
http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/
To SUBSCRIBE to Secrecy News, go to:
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AGENCIES ARE LIKELY TO MISS 2013 DECLASSIFICATION DEADLINE
More than two years ago, President Obama set a December 31, 2013 deadline for completing 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.
As of December 2011, following two years of operation, the National Declassification Center had completed the processing of only 26.6 million pages of the 400 million page backlog, according to the latest NDC semi-annual report. If the Center increased productivity by a factor of ten, that would still be insufficient to achieve its goal.
The looming failure to comply with an explicit presidential order is a sign of the growing autonomy of the secrecy system, which to a surprising extent is literally out of control.
One of the obstacles to a more efficient declassification process is a 1999 statute known as the "Kyl-Lott" Amendment, which requires record collections to be certified as "highly unlikely" to contain classified nuclear weapons information known as Restricted Data or Formerly Restricted Data. In many cases, today's backlogged records were not certified as required by the originating agencies and therefore they must now undergo an additional review.
"This unexpected review step will certainly impact our ability to complete all declassification processing by the deadline," according to the new semi-annual report from the National Declassification Center.
The need for interagency cooperation to deal with the backlog of historical records awaiting declassification was anticipated by President Obama. "The Secretaries of State, Defense, and Energy, and the Director of National Intelligence shall provide the Archivist of the United States with sufficient guidance to complete this task," he wrote in a December 29, 2009 memo.
And in fact, agencies have devoted increased efforts to declassification. "Once the enormity of the Kyl-Lott challenge was realized, many participating agencies have stepped up to ensure that their records meet this requirement," according to NDC Director Sheryl J. Shenberger.
But under current procedures, it is hard to see any trajectory that will lead to elimination of the declassification backlog by December 2013.
One alternative way to proceed would be for the National Archives to seek legislative relief from the certification requirements of the Kyl-Lott Amendment, particularly with respect to so-called Formerly Restricted Data (FRD). Most of the historical nuclear weapons information in the FRD category is of no special sensitivity and its presence should no longer pose an obstacle to expedited declassification. In those cases where the information is sensitive, such as weapons design information, the Department of Energy is currently seeking authority to remove it from the FRD category and to redesignate it as Restricted Data. This would further strengthen the case for amending Kyl-Lott to eliminate screening for FRD, thereby simplifying the declassification problem.
U.S. INVESTMENT IN THE MIDDLE EAST, AND MORE FROM CRS
The possibility of increasing U.S. investment in the Middle East as a way to encourage democratic political transitions was examined in a new report from the Congressional Research Service. See "U.S. Trade and Investment in the Middle East and North Africa: Overview and Issues," January 20, 2012:
Other new or updated CRS reports that have not been made readily available to the public include these:
"Australia: Background and U.S. Relations," January 13, 2012:
"European Union Enlargement," January 26, 2012:
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Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the Federation of American Scientists.
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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 the Congressional Research Service.
"Special Operations Forces are elite military units with special training and equipment that can infiltrate into hostile territory through land, sea, or air to conduct a variety of operations, many of them classified," the CRS report explains. "SOF personnel undergo rigorous selection and lengthy specialized training. The U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) oversees the training, doctrine, and equipping of all U.S. SOF units."
Following an overview of the structure of U.S. special operations forces, the CRS report discusses the implications for special operations of recent legislation including the 2012 defense authorization act. See "U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF): Background and Issues for Congress," January 11, 2012:
A copy of the new "U.S. Special Operations Command Fact Book 2012," prepared by USSOCOM Public Affairs, is available here:
Other noteworthy new reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include the following:
"Arms Sales: Congressional Review Process," February 1, 2012:
"The Nunn-McCurdy Act: Background, Analysis, and Issues for Congress," January 31, 2012:
"Immigration-Related Detention: Current Legislative Issues," January 12, 2012:
SOME HISTORICAL INTELLIGENCE SATELLITE IMAGERY DECLASSIFIED
A handful of historical intelligence satellite images were declassified last month to coincide with a new display of the GAMBIT and HEXAGON spy satellites at the National Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
The GAMBIT and HEXAGON satellites were formally declassified last September on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the National Reconnaissance Office. At that time, the NRO released voluminous documentation on the development of those satellites. But the associated imagery, which is held by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, was not released. Now a small number of satellite images have been made public.
However, the newly disclosed images are not originals, but are embedded in "posters" published by the NRO. As such, they do not lend themselves to detailed analysis, complained Charles P. Vick of GlobalSecurity.org. Nor are the original negatives of the declassified photos available for public inspection.
There is an annotation on the released images indicating that they were declassified on January 13, 2012 by the Director of National Intelligence, which would be consistent with the provisions of the 1995 executive order 12951.
"The images have undoubtedly been degraded, because GAMBIT and HEXAGON’s best imagery capabilities remain classified," wrote Dwayne Day in The Space Review. "These photographs are hopefully the first in many yet to come, and will help us better understand the battles in the shadows of the Cold War."
Among other things, the NRO also released a new edition of the 1973 histories of GAMBIT and HEXAGON written by Robert L. Perry.
"Perry's histories... serve as exemplars of the art and craft of historians. They are rich in detail, well-sourced, and written with engaging prose," according to an informative introduction by James D. Outzen of the Center for the Study of National Reconnaissance.
Unfortunately, the new edition, while handsome, is not exemplary because it obscures the redaction of material that is still considered classified: "With respect to redacted material, we have edited the volumes to smooth the flow of language in the volume, rather than indicate where material was redacted." This was a mistake.
Remarkably, the NRO initiative to declassify GAMBIT and HEXAGON program information, including imagery, dates back to 1997. At that time, a seven-month implementation schedule was optimistically anticipated.
"I would like to hiqhliqht this declassification effort with a National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) ceremony (including the release of selected declassified imagery from both systems) in October 1997," wrote NRO Deputy Director Keith R. Hall in a March 1997 memorandum that was obtained by Jeffrey Richelson of the National Security Archive.
As it turned out, the declassification process took 14 years, not seven months.
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. See "Air Force Continuity of Operations (COOP) Program," Air Force Instruction 10-208, 15 December 2011:
Raven Rock, also known as Site R, 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. A previous edition of the new Air Force Instruction that was issued in 2005 made no reference to Raven Rock.
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Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the Federation of American Scientists.
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SPECTER OF A "HOLLOW FORCE" CALLED INTO QUESTION
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and other officials have warned that if U.S. military spending is cut significantly, the unacceptable result would be a "a hollow force incapable of sustaining the missions it is assigned."
But a new critique from the Congressional Research Service suggests that the use of the term "hollow force" is inappropriate and unwarranted.
"Historically, there were two periods-- post-Vietnam and again in the 1990s-- when the term 'hollow force' was used to describe the U.S. armed forces." It referred to "forces that appear mission-ready but, upon examination, suffer from shortages of personnel and equipment, and from deficiencies in training."
But a close review of the circumstances that generated a hollow force in the past does not support the use of the term today, the CRS said. "Most of the conditions that existed in the 1970s do not exist today."
Among other things, defense procurement spending has surged in recent years to enable significant modernization of military forces.
"Even if modernization funds become more limited in future defense budgets, overall budget data suggest the Services would enter this period after having invested in modernized forces about as substantially as in the weapons-driven buildup of the 1980s."
"CRS has calculated that when recent amounts for weapons modernization are compared to amounts in the mid-1980s, the total inflation-adjusted dollar value of relatively modern equipment available to forces today (i.e., equipment purchased within the past 10 years) appears relatively robust."
"Given these conditions, it can be argued that the use of the term 'hollow force' is inappropriate under present circumstances," the CRS report said.
A copy of the new CRS report was obtained by Secrecy News. See "A Historical Perspective on 'Hollow Forces'," January 31, 2012:
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.
The pending authorization bill for the Federal Aviation Administration directs the Secretary of Transporation to develop within nine months "a comprehensive plan to safely accelerate the integration of civil unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace system."
"The plan... shall provide for the safe integration of civil unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace system as soon as practicable, but not later than September 30, 2015."
The conference bill, which still awaits final passage, also calls for establishment of UAS test ranges in cooperation with NASA and the Department of Defense, expanded use of UAS in the Arctic region, development of guidance for the operation of public unmanned aircraft systems, and new safety research to assess the risk of "catastrophic failure of the unmanned aircraft that would endanger other aircraft in the national airspace system."
The Department of Defense is pursuing its own domestic UAS activities for training purposes and "domestic operations," according to a 2007 DoD-FAA memorandum of agreement. ("Army Foresees Expanded Use of Drones in U.S. Airspace," Secrecy News, January 19, 2012.)
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Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the Federation of American Scientists.
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