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Steve Aftergood: CIA Gets Population of Syria Way Wrong

CIA UNDERESTIMATES THE POPULATION OF SYRIA The population of Syria is 17,951,639, according to the CIA World Factbook. That figure (oddly identified as a “July 2014” estimate) is wrong, according to everyone else. The discrepancy was noted yesterday in the intelligence newsletter Nightwatch. “NightWatch consulted six separate sources for the total population of Syria. They …

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Steven Aftergood: Army Views Emerging Intelligence Technologies – Killer Quotes!

ARMY VIEWS EMERGING INTELLIGENCE TECHNOLOGIES “Emerging Intelligence Technologies” is the theme of the latest issue of the U.S. Army’s Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin (MIPB), January-March 2014. “Rapid technology developments in response to urgent wartime requirements have brought the intelligence community (IC) some tremendous new capabilities. Advancement in the areas of biometrics, battlefield forensics, miniaturization, SIGINT …

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Steven Aftergood: History of CIA Covert Action Against Iran in 1954

HISTORY OF 1953 CIA COVERT ACTION IN IRAN TO BE PUBLISHED In 1989, the Department of State published a notorious volume that purported to document U.S. foreign policy towards Iran in the early Eisenhower Administration. The volume triggered an avalanche of criticism because it omitted any mention of the CIA’s role in a 1953 covert …

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Steven Aftergood: ODNI Rethinks Secrecy and Openness in Intelligence — 25 Years Late, Neither Credible nor Effective, Still Missing the Point!

ODNI Rethinks Secrecy and Openness in Intelligence By leaking classified intelligence documents, Edward Snowden transformed public awareness of the scale and scope of U.S. intelligence surveillance programs. But his actions are proving to be no less consequential for national security secrecy policy. “These leaks have forced the Intelligence Community to rethink our approach to transparency …

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Steven Aftergood: IG Blasts NRO Secrecy Practices

INSPECTOR GENERAL BLASTS NRO SECRECY PRACTICES The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the agency that builds and operates U.S. intelligence satellites, frequently makes mistakes when it classifies national security information, according to an assessment performed last year by the NRO Inspector General. “From the classified documents we reviewed at NRO headquarters, 114 of 134 documents contained …

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Stephen Aftergood: Privacy Board Urges New Criteria for (Reduced) Secrecy

Privacy Board Urges New Criteria for Secrecy The public controversy that erupted over NSA bulk collection of Americans’ telephone records was a clear sign, if one were needed, that the boundaries of government secrecy had been drawn incorrectly, and that the public had been wrongly denied an opportunity to grant or withhold its consent in …

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