[net-gold] Secrecy News -- 01/13/10
- 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>
- Date: Wed, 13 Jan 2010 11:10:24 -0500 (EST)
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Date: Wed, 13 Jan 2010 11:03:27 -0500
From: Steven Aftergood <saftergood@xxxxxxx>
To: saftergood@xxxxxxx
Subject: Secrecy News -- 01/13/10
SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2010, Issue No. 4
January 13, 2010
Secrecy News Blog: http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/
** A MILITARY GUIDE TO NONGOVERNMENTAL RELIEF ORGS
** NAVY ISSUES GUIDANCE ON USE OF MARINE MAMMALS
A MILITARY GUIDE TO NONGOVERNMENTAL RELIEF ORGS
In an effort to promote cooperation with non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) engaged in humanitarian relief operations and to enhance its own
emergency response capabilities, the Department of Defense has published a
newly updated "Guide to Nongovernmental Organizations for the Military."
When a devastating earthquake struck Haiti yesterday, several disaster
relief organizations such as Oxfam and Doctors Without Borders were already
in place and functioning. Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for U.S. Southern
Command told the Washington Post that "the military was just beginning to
assess what resources it has in the region and ... said no official request
for help had reached the U.S. military." (That now seems to have changed,
and a U.S. government response team is expected to arrive in Haiti today,
according to the Associated Press.)
In fact, when it comes to disaster relief, NGOs and the military each have
comparative strengths and weaknesses. NGOs have greater flexibility,
efficiency and responsiveness, are not hampered by the regulatory
constraints that limit military operations, and are perceived as politically
neutral. "With staff members immersed in local populations, NGOs can absorb
information faster than militaries can, often because militaries are
isolated by force protection requirements," the DoD Guide acknowledges.
On the other hand, military forces are far superior in their logistical and
communications capabilities, and when necessary can bring force to bear to
establish secure zones. Also, "militaries can provide extensive
intelligence information about population movements, security conditions,
road, river, and bridge conditions, and other information pertinent to
conducting humanitarian operations."
And, the DoD Guide says, "Militaries can respond to maritime and/or
chemical, biological radiological, nuclear and high yield explosives (CBRNE)
emergencies. NGOs have almost no capacity."
"When working within a humanitarian emergency, it often appears that the
military and NGOs speak different languages and have widely varying and
potentially incompatible missions, capacities, and knowledge," the Guide
concludes. "This is not necessarily true, and opinions are changing on both
sides."
The 363-page DoD Guide presents a fairly comprehensive introduction to the
structure, functions and characteristic activities of non-governmental
relief organizations.
"The guide book answers a need which is increasingly recognized in the
military, to be able to work alongside NGOs and others who have experience
and networks in the field," Dr. Warner Anderson of the Office of the
Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs) told Secrecy News.
The author, Dr. Lynn Lawry of the Center for Disaster and Humanitarian
Assistance Medicine, is herself an NGO worker and researcher, with relief
experience in Iraq, Afghanistan, Liberia, Rwanda, Congo and other areas of
conflict. The "Guide to Nongovernmental Organizations for the Military,"
dated Summer 2009, was recently made public. A copy is available on the
Federation of American Scientists website.
http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/dod/ngo-guide.pdf
Relief organizations accepting donations to provide assistance to earthquake
survivors in Haiti include the Red Cross, Mercy Corps International,
American Jewish World Service, and Catholic Relief Services.
NAVY ISSUES GUIDANCE ON USE OF MARINE MAMMALS
A new U.S. Navy Instruction updates Navy policy on the use of marine mammals
for national security missions.
It seems that by law (10 USC 7524), the Secretary of Defense is authorized
to "take" (or acquire) up to 25 wild marine mammals each year "for national
defense purposes." These mammals -- including whales, dolphins, porpoises,
seals and sea lions -- are used for military missions such as locating and
marking underwater mines, and providing force protection against
unauthorized swimmers or vehicles, among other things.
The new Secretary of the Navy Instruction 3900.41F, dated 13 November 2009
and published this week, provides guidance on "Acquisition, Transport, Care
and Maintenance of Marine Mammals."
http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/navy/secnavinst/3900_41f.pdf
The U.S. military marine mammal program has labored under a cloud of public
suspicion, the Navy admits, and such suspicion has only been aggravated by
the secrecy that surrounded the program for many years.
"Several decades of classification of the program's true missions of
mine-hunting and swimmer defense, led to media speculation and animal
activist charges of dolphins used as offensive weapons, speculation and
charges that could not be countered with facts due to that classification,"
according to a Navy fact sheet.
"With declassification of the missions of the program in the early 1990s,
the Navy has repeatedly and openly discussed those missions, but rumors are
not easily forgotten, and there are those who continue to actively promote
them."
http://www.spawar.navy.mil/sandiego/technology/mammals/NMMP_FAQ.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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