FAS | Intelligence | News | 2007 ||||

January 2007 Intelligence News

• A Wiki for Whistleblowers by Tracy Samantha Schmidt, Time, January 22. "By March, more than one million leaked documents from governments and corporations in Asia, the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and the former Soviet Bloc will be available online in a bold new collective experiment in whistleblowing."
• Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Judge Kollar-Kotelly Has No Objection to Release of orders and opinions involving the Terrorist Surveillance Program, she wrote in a January 17 reply to an inquiry from Senators Leahy and Specter the same day.
• Defense Security Service Report Statement on Canadian Coins Incorrect, DSS release, January 12. "A statement in the 2006 Defense Security Service Technology Collection Trends in the U.S. Defense Industry report which claimed radio frequency transmitters were discovered embedded in Canadian coins is not true, according to DSS officials."
• Justice Department Briefing on FISA Authority of Electronic Surveillance, background briefing, January 17. "The Attorney General is informing members of Congress that we've now obtained orders approved by a judge of the FISA Court that will enable the government to target for collection international communications into or out of the United States, where there's probable cause to believe that a party to the communication is a member agent of al Qaeda or affiliated groups."
• Interrogation Research Is Lacking, Report Says by Josh White, Washington Post, January 16. "There is almost no scientific evidence to back up the U.S. intelligence community's use of controversial interrogation techniques in the fight against terrorism, and experts believe some painful and coercive approaches could hinder the ability to get good information, according to a new report from an intelligence advisory group."
• Freedom of Information, the Wiki Way by Elizabeth Williamson, Washington Post, January 15. "Wikileaks.org is a Web-based way for people with damning, potentially helpful or just plain embarrassing government documents to make them public without leaving fingerprints."
• Deletions in Army Manual Raise Wiretapping Concerns by Eric Lichtblau and Mark Mazzetti, New York Times, January 14. "Deep into an updated Army manual, the deletion of 10 words has left some national security experts wondering whether government lawyers are again asserting the executive branch�s right to wiretap Americans without a court warrant."
• Watchdog wins release of National Reconnaissance Office documents by Daniel Friedman, Federal Times, January 9. "The National Reconnaissance Office is releasing unclassified budget documents that it previously declined to publicize, in an apparent legal victory for a government transparency advocate."
• Spies embedding tiny transmitters in Canadian coins, U.S. report says by Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press, January 9. "They say money talks, and a new report suggests Canadian currency is indeed chatting, at least electronically, on behalf of shadowy spies."
• ODNI Fact Sheet: Real Progress in Reforming Intelligence, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, January 5. "The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 did more than create the Office of the Director of National Intelligence . it charged the Office with significantly reforming and strengthening America's Intelligence Community.
• Web site aims to post government secrets by Daniel Friedman, Federal Times, January 4. "A new Web site that aims to encourage large-scale leaking of confidential government documents by allowing anonymous disclosure could launch as early as next month."
• FBI drops its quest for papers of reporter by Wendy Leonard, Deseret Morning News, and Lara Jakes Jordan, Associated Press, January 4. "The son of the late Jack Anderson said Wednesday that the longtime investigative reporter's family is pleased with the FBI's abandonment of its efforts to recover government documents leaked to his father."
• Pentagon: "Efforts to steal U.S. tech rising", Reuters, January 3. "Foreign countries, especially nations in the Asia-Pacific region, have intensified their efforts to steal sensitive U.S. defense technology, according to a Pentagon report circulated Wednesday."