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Steven Aftergood: Keeping Secrets from Congress — and Report on CIA’s Global (54 Country) Rendition and Torture Program

Keeping Secrets from Congress When government information is classified or otherwise withheld from release, the possibility of government accountability to the public is undermined.  But when the executive branch withholds crucial information from Congress, that may pose an even more fundamental challenge to democratic governance. Read full article. A Report on CIA Detention and Rendition …

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Steve Aftergood: Intelligence System Acquisition

New Procedures for Intelligence System Acquisition January 8th, 2013 by Steven Aftergood The Director of National Intelligence issued a directive last month prescribing procedures for major system acquisitions by elements of the intelligence community. The directive defines a multi-phase process for identifying critical needs, evaluating alternative paths to meet those needs, and so forth. See …

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Steven Aftergood: Congress to Public: Butt Out — We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Intelligence Oversight or Public Accountability — ESPECIALLY on Drones and Assassinations

Intelligence Oversight Steps Back from Public Accountability The move by Congress to renew the FISA Amendments Act for five more years without amendments came as a bitter disappointment to civil libertarians who believe that the Act emphasizes government surveillance authority at the expense of constitutional protections.  Amendments that were offered to provide more public information …

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Steven Aftergood: Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) – Single-Handedly Forces Flawed Intelligence Bill to Remove Anti-Leak Provisions Prejudicial to Public Interest

SENATE PASSES INTELLIGENCE BILL WITHOUT ANTI-LEAK MEASURES The Senate passed the FY2013 intelligence authorization act on December 28 after most of the controversial provisions intended to combat leaks had been removed. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the bill was revised in order to expedite its passage. “Since the bill …

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Steven Aftergood: Senate Slams Door on Defense Clandestine Service — Robert Steele Comments + DoD Clandestine RECAP

Updated 11 Dec 2012 to add Graphic: Intelligence Requirements, Collection, Evaluation, and Capabilities Building Senate Puts Brakes on Defense Clandestine Service The Senate moved last week to restrain the rapid growth of the Defense Clandestine Service, the Pentagon’s human intelligence operation. Under a provision of the FY2013 defense authorization act that was approved on December …

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Steve Aftergood: Chimpanzees at DHS Classify and Block National Academy of Science Report on Electrical Grid Vulnerabilities for Five Years

ACADEMY REPORT ON ELECTRIC GRID WITHHELD FOR FIVE YEARS Over the objections of its authors, the Department of Homeland Security classified a 2007 report from the National Academy of Sciences on the potential vulnerability of the U.S. electric power system until most of it was finally released yesterday. The report generally concluded, as other reports …

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Steven Aftergood: CRS on Transparency

THE MEANING OF TRANSPARENCY, AND MORE FROM CRS President Obama’s declared goal of making his “the most transparent Administration in history” generated successive waves of enthusiasm, perplexity, frustration, and mockery as public expectations of increased openness and accountability were lifted sky high and then — often, not always — thwarted. Every Administration including this one …

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