Recent articles -
Inspectors General Chase Leaks at GPO, CRS
August 12th, 2009 by Steven Aftergood
If it wanted to, the Obama Administration could instantly increase oversight of the national security classification system by tasking the Offices of Inspector General (IG) at each of the major classifying agencies to assume some responsibility for secrecy oversight. In coordination with the
Information Security Oversight Office, those IGs could perform periodic audits of classification activity to ensure that agencies are complying with declared policies (the
urgent need to revise those policies [
Overcoming Overclassification] is a separate issue) and they could flag excessive use of secrecy in the course of their other duties, for further investigation by the ISOO...
STATE DEPT ALTERS STANCE ON URUGUAY HISTORY
Tuesday, Aug 4th, 2009
In the early 1970s, the Nixon Administration plotted to interfere in Uruguay's presidential elections in order to block the rise of the leftist Frente Amplio coalition. But when the State Department published its official history of U.S. relations with Latin America during the Nixon era last month, there was no mention of any such activities. Instead, the State Department Office of the Historian said that Uruguay-related records could not be posted on the Department website because of "space constraints." Following repeated inquiries, however, the Historian's Office revised its position last week and said it would include Uruguay-related records in its Nixon history after all.
Declassified PDB Info is Still Classified, CIA Says
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
Even though certain information concerning the President’s Daily Brief (PDB) was redacted and declassified for use in the prosecution of former vice presidential aide Scooter Libby in 2006, that same information is nonetheless “currently and properly classified,” the Central Intelligence Agency said (pdf) last week. The Agency denied release of the material under the Freedom of Information Act.
The existence of the declassified PDB material was disclosed in a January 9, 2006 letter (pdf) from Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald to Mr. Libby’s attorney. He wrote: “In response to our requests, we have received [from CIA] a very discrete amount of material relating to PDBs and discussions involving Mr. Libby and/or Vice President Cheney concerning or relating to the PDBs. We have provided to Mr. Libby and his counsel (or are in the process of providing such documents consistent with the process of a declassification review) copies of any pages in our possession… in the redacted form in which we received them.”
Pentagon Intel Ops “Often” Evade Oversight
Monday, July 6th, 2009
Last month, the House Intelligence Committee complained that the Department of Defense has blurred the distinction between traditional intelligence collection, which is subject to intelligence committee oversight, and clandestine military operations, which are not. Because they are labeled in a misleading manner, some DoD clandestine operations that are substantively the same as intelligence activities are evading the congressional oversight they are supposed to receive.
9/11, INFO SHARING AND "THE WALL"
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
The rise of "the wall" between intelligence and law enforcement personnel that impeded the sharing of information within the U.S. government prior to September 11, 2001 was critically examined in a detailed monograph (pdf) that was prepared in 2004 for the 9/11 Commission. It is the only one of four staff monographs that had not previously been released. It was finally declassified and disclosed earlier this month.
http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/