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Secrecy and Security News

Newer News: January 2000

December 1999

• Declassifier In A Class By Himself by George Lardner Jr., Washington Post, December 29. "For a government bureaucrat privy to the nation's most closely held secrets, Steven Garfinkel is in a class by himself. He's accessible to historians and researchers. He even talks to reporters."
• Espionage Ends Year of Living in the Headlines by Tabassum Zakaria, Reuters, December 25. Openness and accountability took a step backward when the intelligence budget total remained classified.
• Back Channels: The Intelligence Community (excerpt), by Vernon Loeb, Washington Post, December 20. "Finding absurdity: The total spent on intelligence in fiscal 1988 is still too sensitive to release."
• Lee Indictment Ignites Polygraph, Security Debate by Daniel Verton, Federal Computer Week, December 20. "The new polygraph rules have reheated a debate among members of the scientific and computer security community about whether polygraph technology is an effective counterintelligence tool."
• American Historical Association Opposes Moynihan Declassification Bill, letter to Senator Moynihan dated December 13. "Given the bill's emphasis on special declassification initiatives... as opposed to systematic declassification, the AHA cannot support S. 1801."
• Space Invasion of Privacy by Charles Smith, WorldNetDaily.com, December 15. "My suspicion is that far from being ubiquitous and omniscient, the NSA is in a state of precipitous decline."
• National Archives to Open Heinrich Mueller and Arthur Rudolph Files, NARA press release, December 14. "On December 15, NARA will open for research case files on Gestapo Chief Heinrich Mueller and German and American Rocket Scientist Arthur Rudolph."
• DOE Polygraph Implementation Plan Announced, DOE press release, December 13. "Secretary Richardson Limits Use to Approximately 800; Requires Senior Political Appointees To Take Test"
• Indictment of Wen Ho Lee, December 10. The 59-count Grand Jury indictment on charges of "tampering, altering, concealing, and removing Restricted Data" and more.
• Back Channels: The Intelligence Community (excerpt), by Vernon Loeb, Washington Post, December 13. "The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence recently established an Internet site... with one glaring deficiency."
• Details Emerging on High-tech State Bugging, by Daniel Verton, Federal Computer Week, December 10. "The sophistication of the device was negated by the clumsiness in monitoring its output."
• The Cold War is Over, the Spy Game Isn't, by Justin Brown, Christian Science Monitor, December 10. "US arrest of a Russian diplomat for spying shows how intense espionage remains between old rivals."
• National Security Adviser Berger on the Chile Declassification Project, letter, November 30. "I have asked my staff to monitor closely the final phase of this project to ensure that all agencies fulfill their commitment to release as much information as possible about these tragic events."
• Government officials release British consul's letter to attorney, by Philip Taylor, Free!, First Amendment Center, December 2. On the Weatherhead case: "State Department officials last week gave up a five-year battle to preserve the confidentiality of a letter from British officials..."
• Top Secret Begonias and Other 'Intelligence' Reports, by Martin Schram, Scripps Howard News Service, December 1. "Our topic today is the price of secrecy and intelligence. To wit: Just how secret does the price-tag have to be on what our government spent on foreign intelligence?"

Older News: November 1999

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