[net-gold] Secrecy News -- 04/08/11

From: "David P. Dillard" <jwne@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: Net-Gold -- Educator Gold <Educator-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Educator Gold <Educator-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, net-gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, Net-Gold <Net-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, NetGold <netgold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Net-Gold <net-gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, K-12ADMINLIFE <K12ADMIN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, K12AdminLIFE <K12AdminLIFE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, MediaMentor <mediamentor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Digital Divide Diversity MLS <mls-digitaldivide@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, NetGold <netgold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Net-Platinum <net-platinum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Sean Grigsby <myarchives1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Net-Gold <NetGold_general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Temple Gold Discussion Group <TEMPLE-GOLD@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Temple University Net-Gold Archive <net-gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2011 14:57:09 -0400 (EDT)

.

.

Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2011 11:35:41 -0400
From: Steven Aftergood <saftergood@xxxxxxx>
To: Steven Aftergood <saftergood@xxxxxxx>
Subject: Secrecy News -- 04/08/11

.

.

SECRECY NEWS

.

from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2011, Issue No. 34
April 8, 2011

.

.

Secrecy News Blog:

http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/

.

.

**     PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE ON "NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS"

.

.

PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE ON "NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS"

.

.

The Obama Administration today released the text of Presidential Policy
Directive 8 on "National Preparedness."  The Directive, signed by President
Obama on March 30, generally calls for development of systematic response
plans for natural and manmade disasters, and seeks to enlist broad
engagement in the process.

"This directive is aimed at strengthening the security and resilience of the
United States through systematic preparation for the threats that pose the
greatest risk to the security of the Nation, including acts of terrorism,
cyber attacks, pandemics, and catastrophic natural disasters. Our national
preparedness is the shared responsibility of all levels of government, the
private and nonprofit sectors, and individual citizens. Everyone can
contribute to safeguarding the Nation from harm . As such, while this
directive is intended to galvanize action by the Federal Government, it is
also aimed at facilitating an integrated, all-of-Nation, capabilities-based
approach to preparedness."

"Therefore, I hereby direct the development of a national preparedness goal
that identifies the core capabilities necessary for preparedness and a
national preparedness system to guide activities that will enable the Nation
to achieve the goal. The system will allow the Nation to track the progress
of our ability to build and improve the capabilities necessary to prevent,
protect against, mitigate the effects of, respond to, and recover from those
threats that pose the greatest risk to the security of the Nation."

        http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/ppd/ppd-8.pdf

From a secrecy policy perspective, two points may be noted.

First, while presidential directives are fundamental instruments of national
policy, the Obama White House does not make them available on the White
House web site.  You can find the names of hundreds of thousands of tourists
who visited the White House and other information of questionable value and
utility, but you cannot find a collection of unclassified directives issued
by President Obama.  This is incongruous.

Second, it is noteworthy that the new Presidential Policy Directive is only
the eighth one to be issued by the Obama Administration.  At this point in
the third year of the George W. Bush Administration, around 25 presidential
directives (NSPDs) had been issued.  And in the Clinton Administration,
there had been around 35 directives (PDDs).  So this Administration is using
directives much more sparingly, for reasons that are hard to discern from a
distance.

.

.

_______________________________________________

.

.

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/

To SUBSCRIBE to Secrecy News, go to:
     http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/subscribe.html

To UNSUBSCRIBE, go to
     http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/unsubscribe.html

OR email your request to saftergood@xxxxxxx

Secrecy News is archived at:
     http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/index.html

Support the FAS Project on Government Secrecy with a donation:
     http://www.fas.org/member/donate_today.html

.

.

.

_______________________

.

.

.

Steven Aftergood
Project on Government Secrecy
Federation of American Scientists
web:    www.fas.org/sgp/index.html
email:  saftergood@xxxxxxx
voice:  (202) 454-4691
twitter: @saftergood

.

.

[net-gold] Secrecy News -- 04/08/11

Other related posts: