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Newer News: March 2015

February 2015 Intelligence News

• Official Reports on the Damage Caused by Edward Snowden's Leaks Are Totally Redacted by Jason Leopold, VICE News, February 25. "Nearly two years after NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked thousands of pages of documents about highly classified government surveillance programs to journalists, intelligence officials continue to claim that his disclosures have caused grave damage to national security."
• Establishment of the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center, White House memorandum, February 25. "The CTIIC shall: (a) provide integrated all-source analysis of intelligence related to foreign cyber threats or related to cyber incidents affecting U.S. national interests...."
• Senate Intel Chair Moves Threats Hearing Behind Closed Doors, Continuing Oversight Shift by Ali Watkins, Huffington Post, February 24. "The Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday quietly held its annual worldwide threats hearing entirely behind closed doors for the first time in years, underscoring chairman Richard Burr's intention to keep intelligence oversight close to the vest."
• DNI issues new guidance on polygraph testing during background checks by Jared Serbu, Federal News Radio, February 23. "In case any current security clearance holders have not gotten the message that the current administration really, really dislikes media leaks, it was made more explicit this month in a new policy document from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence."
• Destroyed by the Espionage Act by Peter Maass, The Intercept, February 18, 2015. "Stephen Kim spoke to a reporter. Now he's in jail. This is his story."
• Remarks of NGA Director Robert Cardillo, ESRI conference, February 10. "NGA is accelerating our progress to advance the use of geospatial intelligence to build a more resilient nation--and help build more resilient partner nations around the world."
• Nation's Top Spies Will Have to Smile for the Cameras After All by John Hudson, Foreign Policy, February 9. "After blasting the existence of public hearings, the Senate's top intelligence overseer changes his tune."
• White House Considers Declassifying 28 Pages on Alleged Saudi Government Role in 9/11 by Samuel Oakford, VICE News, February 6. "Fourteen years after 9/11, the White House says it is finally considering making public 28 controversially redacted pages of a congressional investigation into the terrorist attacks that are said to detail damning evidence of Saudi government support for al Qaeda."
• The CIA Explains What They Redacted From the Senate Torture Report -- and Why by Jason Leopold, VICE News, February 3. "These are not reasons why the CIA redacted portions of the Senate's so-called torture report: to cover up 'violations of law,' to hide 'inefficiency,' or to 'prevent embarrassment.' So says a CIA lawyer in court papers explaining why some redacted portions of the 499-page executive summary, released by the Senate Intelligence Committee last December, can never be revealed."
• Obama Won't Disclose Spy Agency Budgets by Steven Nelson, US News, February 2. "Resisting a campaign for greater transparency, the White House has decided to keep American taxpayers in the dark about how much they're likely to spend on government spy agencies."
• DoD Releases Military Intelligence Program Request for Fiscal Year 2016, news release, February 2. " The total, which includes both the base budget and Overseas Contingency Operations funding, is $17.9 billion."
• DNI Releases FY 2016 Budget Request for the National Intelligence Program, news release, February 2. "The aggregate amount of appropriations requested for the FY 2016 National Intelligence Program (NIP) is $53.9 billion, which includes funding requested to support Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO)."