[net-gold] Secrecy News -- 07/01/10
- From: "David P. Dillard" <jwne@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Net-Gold <Net-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Temple University Net-Gold Archive <net-gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Temple Gold Discussion Group <TEMPLE-GOLD@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Net-Gold <net-gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Sean Grigsby <myarchives1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Educator Gold <Educator-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Educator Gold <Educator-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, K12AdminLIFE <K12AdminLIFE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Net-Platinum <net-platinum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, NetGold <netgold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "Net-Gold @ Nabble" <ml-node+3172864-337556105@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, K-12ADMINLIFE <K12ADMIN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, MediaMentor <mediamentor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Digital Divide Diversity MLS <mls-digitaldivide@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, net-gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 2 Jul 2010 03:54:18 -0400 (EDT)
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Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2010 09:54:12 -0400
From: Steven Aftergood <saftergood@xxxxxxx>
To: Steven Aftergood <saftergood@xxxxxxx>
Subject: Secrecy News -- 07/01/10 (alt list)
SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2010, Issue No. 54
July 1, 2010
Secrecy News Blog:
http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/
** A GLIMPSE OF THE 2010 NRO BUDGET REQUEST (REDACTED)
** CRS ON PAKISTAN, AND VARIOUS RESOURCES
A GLIMPSE OF THE 2010 NRO BUDGET REQUEST (REDACTED)
The National Reconnaissance Office -- the U.S. spy satellite agency --
"brings unique core capabilities to bear in support of national security
objectives by acquiring and operating the most capable set of satellite
intelligence collection platforms ever built."
So begins the text of the newly released and redacted FY2010 NRO budget
justification book. A copy was obtained by the Federation of American
Scientists under the Freedom of Information Act.
http://www.fas.org/irp/nro/fy2010cbjb.pdf
"The US is arguably more reliant on overhead collection than ever before,"
the NRO said. "To a large extent, satellite reconnaissance is the
foundation for global situational awareness, and as such, it is an essential
underpinning of the entire US intelligence effort. Space collection
provides unique access to otherwise denied areas... and it does so without
risk to human collectors or infringing upon the territorial sovereignty of
other nations. It also enables users to quickly focus on almost any point
on the globe to rapidly respond to emerging situations or to monitor ongoing
events."
"In times of heightened tensions, crisis, or even humanitarian or natural
disasters, the value of NRO systems is even greater. At this time, NRO
systems are not only the first responders of choice for the DoD, IC, or key
decisionmakers--they are often the only source of information," the NRO
said.
Most of the NRO budget book and all of the budget figures have been withheld
from disclosure. Only 116 pages out of the total of 484 pages contain
substantial intelligible text. But the released portion at least provides a
sense of the NRO budget structure as well as a sometimes detailed
description of the agency's less sensitive activities and initiatives.
So, for example: In FY2009, the NRO expected to "execute over 25 operational
test and evaluation events for on-orbit SIGINT assets" (p. 162). The NRO
Security program supports government and industry personnel "in over 900
NRO-sponsored facilities and almost 3,000 information networks" (p. 253).
Due to competing demands on fewer launch vehicles, "NRO is likely to
continue to experience some launch-related delays" (p. 335). And so on.
Even the (redacted) glossary at the end may be of interest to close students
of NRO.
Until fairly recently, the NRO refused to disclose even these unclassified
portions of its budget request, contending that they were "operational" and
therefore exempt from the disclosure requirements of the FOIA. But in a
FOIA lawsuit brought by the Federation of American Scientists in 2006, Judge
Reggie B. Walton ruled against the NRO and ordered the agency to disgorge
the unclassified budget material.
http://www.fas.org/sgp/foia/nro-cbjb/rbw072406.pdf
Since that time, most other U.S. intelligence agencies have followed suit
and have released comparable material. Only the National Security Agency,
citing its own more expansive statutory exemption from disclosure, has
refused to do so.
CRS ON PAKISTAN, AND VARIOUS RESOURCES
A new assessment of internal Pakistani affairs and U.S.-Pakistan relations
was prepared by the Congressional Research Service in "Pakistan: Key Current
Issues and Developments," June 1, 2010:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R41307.pdf
An Inspector General Report on the FBI's use of so-called "exigent letters"
was examined in an April 14, 2010 hearing of the House Judiciary Committee
that has just been published.
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2010_hr/exigent.html
The inadvertent disclosure last year of a Transportation Security
Administration security manual was discussed at another newly published
hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee. See "Has the TSA Breach
Jeopardized National Security? An Examination of What Happened and Why,"
December 16, 2009.
http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2009/tsa-breach.html
The National Archives Richard Nixon Library announced that it will release
tomorrow a large cache of Nixon presidential records, mainly from the files
of the late Senator Daniel P. Moynihan. The release notably includes 5,000
pages of declassified national security records including "U.S. intelligence
assessments before and during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War,... materials
relating to US-UK relations, including correspondence between President
Nixon and Prime Minister Edward Heath; backchannel Soviet-Israeli relations;
the status of Berlin; Soviet strategic weapons; and the Vietnam War."
http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2010/nr10-113.html
The private Nixontapes.org has prepared a new set of transcriptions of Nixon
White House tapes pertaining to U.S. policy towards Chile's Salvador Allende
in 1970-73, prior to his ouster (and death) in a military coup.
http://nixontapes.org/chile.html
_______________________________________________
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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_______________________
Steven Aftergood
Project on Government Secrecy
Federation of American Scientists
web: www.fas.org/sgp/index.html
email: saftergood@xxxxxxx
voice: (202) 454-4691
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