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Newer News: October 2014

September 2014 Intelligence News

• The Difficulties of Nuclear Containment by Sam Roberts, New York Times, September 29. "Espionage Threatened the Manhattan Project, Declassified Report Says"
• Founder of secret science team dies by Gary Robbins, San Diego Union-Tribune, September 28. "The group's shadowy role and existence bubbled up last week when word spread that JASON Project co-founder Keith Brueckner had passed away at 90 in Escondido. The UC San Diego physicist created the JASONs in the late 1950s with the help of three other physicists, two of whom later joined the faculty."
• No lie: Obama administration issues new polygraph policy by Marisa Taylor, McClatchy Newspapers, September 26. "The Obama administration has issued a new polygraph policy for tens of thousands of federal employees who take lie detectors for security clearances or to obtain 'sensitive' jobs."
• Fight Club: Israel Nuke Edition by Jeffrey Lewis, Foreign Policy, September 26. "The first rule of Israel's nuclear arsenal is that there is no Israeli nuclear arsenal."
• Why Is Government Seeking To Kill United Against Nuclear Iran Lawsuit? by Nathan Guttman, Forward, September 25. "The Justice Department is doing so on the grounds that trying the case will reveal the secret information in UANI's possession. But legal experts observing the case are riveted by the unprecedented nature of the government's intervention."
• NSA intercepts key to locating, bombing new al Qaeda group in Syria by Rowan Scarborough, Washington Times, September 24. "The U.S. ability to pinpoint with airstrikes the operational hubs of the al Qaeda offshoot Khorasan Group in Syria and penetrate one of its bombing plots shows the importance of the much-maligned National Security Agency, defense analysts said Tuesday."
• 6 Of The Most Fascinating Stories From The CIA’s Huge Archive Of Now-Declassified Files by Paul Szoldra, Business Insider, September 18. "The Central Intelligence Agency on Thursday released a huge cache of declassified articles from its in-house journal 'Studies In Intelligence' as a step in settling a lawsuit from one of its former employees."
• FISA Court of Review Orders Declassified 2008 Opinion on Yahoo to Be Unsealed, September 11. "In light of the government's declassification review of this court's opinion and the record materials in this case, the court sees no reason to continue to treat the declassified portions of the opinion and record as sealed." (2008 FISCR Opinion as newly redacted) (more from Yahoo, ODNI)
• 9/11's secret 28-page history by Robert Kennedy, Al Jazeera, September 10. "Twenty-eight pages from an official 2002 report detailing foreign-government assistance to the September 11 attackers remain classified. Determined 9/11 family members and sympathetic congressmen are pushing hard, however, for the long-awaited release of the missing history of one of the United States' greatest tragedies."
• Attorney General and DNI Offer Comments on USA FREEDOM Act, letter to Sen. Leahy, September 2. "As discussed below, the Intelligence Community believes that your bill preserves essential Intelligence Community capabilities; and the Department of Justice and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence support your bill and believe that it is a reasonable compromise that enhances privacy and civil liberties and increases transparency."
• What to Expect From Obama's Resurgent Intel Advisory Panel by Aliya Sternstein, Defense One, September 2. "The Obama administration is resuscitating the President's Intelligence Advisory Board after membership dwindled to four people a year ago."