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Newer News: November 2013

October 2013 Intelligence News

• NSA's Activities: Valid Foreign Intelligence Targets Are the Focus, NSA public affairs statement, October 31. "NSA conducts all of its activities in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and policies -- and assertions to the contrary do a grave disservice to the nation, its allies and partners, and the men and women who make up the National Security Agency."
• Statement of Sen. Wyden on Intelligence Committee's FISA Legislation, October 31. "More and more Americans are saying that they refuse to give up their constitutionally guaranteed liberties for the appearance of security: the Intelligence committee has passed a bill that ignores this message."
• Senate Intelligence Committee Approves FISA Improvements Act, statement of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, October 31. "The NSA call-records program is legal and subject to extensive congressional and judicial oversight, and I believe it contributes to our national security. But more can and should be done to increase transparency and build public support for privacy protections in place."
• DoD Releases Budget Figure for 2013 Military Intelligence Program, news release, October 31. "The aggregate amount appropriated to the MIP was $19.2 billion, which was reduced via sequestration to $18.6 billion in compliance with the Budget Control Act of 2011."
• DNI Releases Budget Figure for 2013 National Intelligence Program, news release, October 30. "The aggregate amount appropriated to the NIP for Fiscal Year 2013 was $52.7 billion, which was reduced by the amount sequestered to $49.0 billion."
• Statement of Sen. Feinstein on Intelligence Collection Concerning Foreign Leaders, news release, October 28. "It is abundantly clear that a total review of all intelligence programs is necessary so that members of the Senate Intelligence Committee are fully informed as to what is actually being carried out by the intelligence community."
• DNI Clapper Declassifies Additional Documents Regarding Collection Under Section 501 of the FISA, news release, October 28. "Release of these documents reflects the Executive Branch's continued commitment to making information about this intelligence collection program publicly available when appropriate and consistent with the national security of the United States."
• US spies on 'the entire globe', experts say by Tara McKelvey, BBC News Magazine, October 25. "People and nations spy, even on friends. But in the realm of international electronic espionage, the US wields a nuclear arsenal while the rest of the globe fights with guns."
• U.S. agencies moving slowly to tighten data security, despite major leaks by Mark Hosenball, Reuters, October 23. "Despite saying they suffered major damage from classified documents made public by an Army soldier and a National Security Agency contractor, U.S. government agencies have fallen behind in installing computer software to stop such leaks, U.S. officials say."
• Just How Serious Is Obama's Crackdown on Media Leaks? by John Mecklin, Take Part, October 18. "Some legal experts think the Obama administration's crusade against government leaks isn't really as bad as all that--and may not last."
• Readout of the President's Call with President Hollande of France, White House news release, October 21. "The President made clear that the United States has begun to review the way that we gather intelligence, so that we properly balance the legitimate security concerns of our citizens and allies with the privacy concerns that all people share."
• House panel nixes Grayson's request for Syria intelligence by Josh Gerstein, Politico, October 18. "In a highly unusual move, the House Intelligence Committee voted this week to deny an outspoken Florida lawmaker access to classified information supporting President Barack Obama's call for a military strike in Syria."
• NSA Backlash Leads Many To Fight By Themselves, One Email At A Time by Martha Mendoza, Associated Press, October 13. "Activists are fighting back with high-tech civil disobedience, entrepreneurs want to cash in on privacy concerns, Internet users want to keep snoops out of their computers and lawmakers want to establish stricter parameters."
• FISA Court Memorandum Opinion on Production of Telephone Records, October 11. "The Supreme Court may some day revisit the third-party disclosure principle in the context of twenty-first century communications technology, but that day has not arrived."
• FISA Court Reports Further on Modifications to Government Applications, letter to Senator Leahy, October 11. "During the three month period from July 1, 2013 through September 30, 2013, we have observed that 24.4% of matters submitted ultimately involved substantive changes to the information provided by the government or to the authorities granted as a result of Court inquiry or action."
• Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Approves Government's Application to Renew Telephony Metadata Program, DNI news release, October 11. "Consistent with his prior declassification decision and in light of the significant and continuing public interest in the telephony metadata collection program, DNI Clapper has decided to declassify and disclose publicly that the government filed an application with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court seeking renewal of the authority to collect telephony metadata in bulk, and that the court renewed that authority."
• Snowden's Leaks Lead To More Disclosure From Feds by Carrie Johnson, National Public Radio, October 11. "Leaks by Edward Snowden prompted the intelligence community to declassify details about super secret phone and Internet surveillance. But with every detail government lawyers release comes the pressure and the legal obligation to release more."
• The Obama Administration and the Press: Leak investigations and surveillance in post-9/11 America by Len Downie, Committee to Protect Journalists, October 10. "In the Obama administration's Washington, government officials are increasingly afraid to talk to the press. Those suspected of discussing with reporters anything that the government has classified as secret are subject to investigation, including lie-detector tests and scrutiny of their telephone and e-mail records."
• Too many secret government documents, former DOJ official says by Marisa Taylor, McClatchy Newspapers, October 9. "As the first appointee to head the Justice Department's National Security Division, Kenneth Wainstein once weighed whether to indict suspected terrorists, spies and leakers of classified information. Now, the former federal prosecutor will be advising the Obama administration on what the government should keep secret and what it should declassify."
• FISC Orders Declassification of Opinion on Section 215 of Patriot Act, October 8. "The government shall promptly conduct a declassification review of that opinion when the necessary appropriations are restored to the agencies involved in such a review."
• In Obama's war on leaks, reporters fight back by Leonard Downie, Jr., Washington Post, October 4. "Journalists who cover national security and do investigations are facing vast and unprecedented challenges in their efforts to hold the government accountable to its citizens. They find that government officials are increasingly fearful of talking to them, and they worry that their communications with sources can be monitored at any time."
• 72% of Civilian Intelligence Community Employees Placed on Furlough, remarks of Sen. Feinstein, October 1. "Across the intelligence communities, 72 percent of the civilian workforce is being furloughed. This means that with the exception of a few intelligence agencies that have a significant number of military personnel, the lights are being turned off and the majority of the people who produce our intelligence, analyze that intelligence, and provide warning of terrorist attacks or advise policymakers of major national security events will be prevented from doing their jobs.
• U.S. Probe Into Overclassification Finds Papers Riddled With Errors by Adam Klasfeld, Courthouse News, October 1. "Officials responsible for assessing the nation's secrets averaged more than two errors per classified document, the Justice Department found in its first audit of a more than $9.7 billion system."
• Yahoo Motion to the FISA Court for Pre-publication Review of Documents, September 30. "Yahoo asks this Court to enter an order permitting Yahoo, through its counsel holding an appropriate security clearance, to review all documents already provided and to be provided by the Government in response to this Court's July 15, 2013 Order prior to ordering publication of such documents in redacted form."
• Security clearance lapses stemmed from Washington's heedless emphasis on speed over quality by Rebecca LaFlure, Center for Public Integrity, October 1.