FAS | Intelligence | News | 2006 ||

February 2006 Intelligence News

• China on U.S. Nuclear Intelligence Gathering, Zhongguo Tongxun She, February 28. "As early as 1955, from the moment China decided to develop atomic bombs, US intelligence has been doing everything it could, with whatever means necessary, to gather relevant secret information."
• U.S. Reclassifies Many Documents in Secret Review by Scott Shane, New York Times, February 21. "In a seven-year-old secret program at the National Archives, intelligence agencies have been removing from public access thousands of historical documents that were available for years, including some already published by the State Department and others photocopied years ago by private historians."
• Drug Enforcement Administration Element Becomes 16th Intelligence Community Member, ODNI news release, February 17. "The Director of National Intelligence, John D. Negroponte, and the Attorney General, Alberto R. Gonzales, announce the designation of the Office of National Security Intelligence, an element in the Drug Enforcement Administration's Intelligence Division, as the 16th member of the Intelligence Community (IC)."
• Big Impact Seen In Israel Spy Case by Josh Gerstein, New York Sun, February 13. "Lawyers for two former pro-Israel lobbyists under indictment for leaking classified information have denounced the prosecution as an assault on the First Amendment and warned that a vast array of policy advocates and journalists could be in jeopardy if the case goes forward."
• Cheney Role Risks Political Fallout by Anne Marie Squeo and John D. McKinnon, Wall Street Journal, February 11. "The disclosure that Vice President Dick Cheney may have authorized his former chief of staff to release classified information to justify the war in Iraq has political consequences for the White House, but the legal fallout may be muted."
• Director of National Intelligence Fellows Award Winners Announced, ODNI news release, February 10. "Director of National Intelligence, John D. Negroponte, presented the first DNI Fellows Awards to nine renowned members of the Intelligence Community at a ceremony today in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. The DNI Fellows Awards program recognizes and rewards outstanding technical achievement within the Intelligence Community."
• US plans massive data sweep by Mark Clayton, Christian Science Monitor, February 9. "The US government is developing a massive computer system that can collect huge amounts of data and, by linking far-flung information from blogs and e-mail to government records and intelligence reports, search for patterns of terrorist activity."
• Federation of American Scientists Files FOIA for Plame PDB by Mark G. Levey, DailyKos, February 8. "The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) has filed a FOIA request asking for declassification and release of the Presidential Daily Briefing (PDB) given to President Bush in June 2003, just weeks before the identity of CIA analyst Valerie Plame was illegally revealed."
• White House Names Three to Intelligence Oversight Board, news release, February 7. "The President intends to designate the following individuals to be Members of the Intelligence Oversight Board: David E. Jeremiah, of Virginia; Arthur B. Culvahouse, of Virginia; Donald L. Evans, of Texas."