FAS | Intelligence | News | 2004 ||||

December 2004 Intelligence News

• CIA makes no disclosures on abuse by Charlie Savage, The Boston Globe, December 27. "The CIA is refusing to disclose any information about abuse of detainees in Afghanistan and at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, invoking a legal precedent that involved a secret project by the billionaire Howard Hughes to recover a sunken Soviet nuclear submarine in the 1970s."
• President's Statement on the Intelligence Authorization Act, 2005, December 23. "Today, I have signed into law H.R. 4548, the 'Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005.' The Act authorizes appropriations to fund United States intelligence activities, including activities essential to success in the war on terror."
• Senate Intelligence Committee Memberships for 109th Congress Announced, news release, December 20. "U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) today announced Republican committee memberships for the 109th Congress. Senator Pat Roberts will continue as the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence�s Chairman."
• President's Statement on the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, signing statement, December 17. "The executive branch shall construe the Act, including amendments made by the Act, in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President to conduct the Nation's foreign relations, as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, and to supervise the unitary executive branch, which encompass the authority to conduct intelligence operations."
• Senators Oppose "Wasteful" Classified Intelligence Program, December 8-9. "Numerous independent reviews have concluded that the program does not fulfill a major intelligence gap or shortfall, and the original justification for developing this technology has eroded in importance due to the changed practices and capabilities of our adversaries."
• Designation of Jam'at Tawhid al wa'al-Jihad as Foreign Terrorist Organization, Federal Register, December 6.
• Rwanda Signs and Ratifies the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, CTBTO news release, December 1. "...bringing the total number of States that have signed the Treaty to 174."