FAS | Intelligence | News | 2007 ||||

Newer News: September 2007

August 2007 Intelligence News

• Defense Dept. pays $1B to outside analysts by Richard Willing, USA Today, August 30. "Outside contracting demoralizes lower-paid federal workers and places critical security tasks and sensitive information in the hands of private parties, says Steven Aftergood, a government secrecy specialist at the Federation of American Scientists, a Washington privacy group."
• Terror Suspect List Yields Few Arrests by Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post, August 25. "The government's terrorist screening database flagged Americans and foreigners as suspected terrorists almost 20,000 times last year. But only a small fraction of those questioned were arrested or denied entry into the United States, raising concerns among critics about privacy and the list's effectiveness."
• Role of Telecom Firms in Wiretaps Is Confirmed by Eric Lichtblau, New York Times, August 24. "The Bush administration has confirmed for the first time that American telecommunications companies played a crucial role in the National Security Agency's domestic eavesdropping program after asserting for more than a year that any role played by them was a 'state secret'."
• Politician blasts Chertoff on spy satellite plans by Carol Eisenberg, Newsday, August 24. "A top Congressional overseer has blasted Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff for failing to inform him about plans to use spy satellites to gather information for domestic homeland security and law enforcement."
• FBI Notice on Terrorist Screening Center Records, Federal Register, August 22. "The TSC now proposes modifications to the system to expand the scope of the system."
• DoD Announces Close of TALON Reporting System, Defense Department news release, August 21. "DoD's Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA) will close the TALON Reporting System effective Sept. 17, 2007, and maintain a record copy of the collected data in accordance with intelligence oversight requirements."
• Spy Court Gets New Home of Its Own by Matt Apuzzo, Associated Press, August 21. "The nation's spy court is moving from its longtime home at the Justice Department to a nearby federal courthouse, a move that some hope will assert the court's independence even as Congress shifts some of its authority to the Bush administration."
• CIA Director's Statement on the Release of the 9/11 IG Report Executive Summary, news release, August 21. "Earlier this month, Congress passed a bill implementing some of the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. The legislation, lengthy and complex, includes a provision dealing with the report that CIA�s Office of Inspector General prepared on the performance of our agency prior to September 11th. The act gave me 30 days to make available to the public a version of the report's executive summary, declassified to the maximum extent possible. Today, well within deadline, I am releasing that material."
• Liberties Advocates Fear Abuse of Satellite Images by Eric Schmitt, New York Times, August 17. "A new plan to allow agencies greater access to sophisticated satellites and other sensors that monitor American territory has drawn sharp criticism from civil liberties advocates who say the government is overstepping the use of military technology for domestic surveillance."
• Domestic Use of Spy Satellites To Widen by Joby Warrick, Washington Post, August 16. "The Bush administration has approved a plan to expand domestic access to some of the most powerful tools of 21st-century spycraft, giving law enforcement officials and others the ability to view data obtained from satellite and aircraft sensors that can see through cloud cover and even penetrate buildings and underground bunkers."
• Agencies Win More Access to Imagery by Satellites by Pam Hess, Associated Press, August 15. "Law enforcement, emergency response and border control agencies have won greater access to the nation's spy satellites and other sensors to monitor United States territory."
• New Office to Usher Domestic Use of Spy Satellites by Pam Fessler, NPR All Things Considered, August 15. "The Bush administration has decided to expand the government's use of information from U.S. spy satellites for homeland security and domestic law-enforcement purposes."
• DHS Fact Sheet on National Applications Office, DHS news release, August 15. " The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) National Applications Office (NAO) is the executive agent to facilitate the use of intelligence community technological assets for civil, homeland security and law enforcement purposes within the United States.  The office will begin initial operation by fall 2007."
• Congress Rethinks New Intel Budget Law by Jim Abrams, Associated Press, August 7. "President Bush had just signed a bill ending a decade-old practice of classifying the amount the nation's spy agencies spend. A day later, some in Congress were again trying to make it secret."
• Powerful Democrat agrees to block disclosure of intelligence budget by John Byrne, Raw Story, August 7. "After California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa offered an amendment to the Defense Appropriations Act Aug 5 that would prohibit budget disclosure, Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) announced the amendment was accepted -- without any debate."
• Palau ratifies the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, news release, August 7. "The Republic of Palau ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) on 1 August 2007, bringing the total number of ratifications to 139."
• White House Fact Sheet: The Protect America Act of 2007, August 6. "The Protect America Act Modernizes The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) To Give Intelligence Professionals The Tools They Urgently Need To Gather Information About Our Enemies"
• DNI Statement on Modernization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, August 2. "We must urgently close the gap in our current ability to effectively collect foreign intelligence. The current FISA law does not allow us to be effective. Modernizing this law is essential for the Intelligence Community to be able to provide warning of threats to the country."
• Letter from Attorney General Gonzales on the Terrorist Surveillance Program, letter to Sen. Leahy, August 1. "I am deeply concerned with suggestions that my testimony was misleading, and am determined to address any such impression."
• Classified Spending Still High, Report Says by Justin Rood, ABC News The Blotter, August 1. "The U.S. government continues to spend money in secret at record levels, according to a new analysis. Total spending on classified programs -- secret weapons, spying operations, eavesdropping satellites and the like -- is expected to be around $31.9 billion next year."