SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2006, Issue No. 84
July 28, 2006
Secrecy News Blog: http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/
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** TWO REPORTS DETAIL HALTING PROGRESS ON INTEL REFORM
** SEEKING RECIPROCITY IN SECURITY CLEARANCE POLICY
** HOUSE HEARING ON FOIA POLICY
** DOD MANUAL ON TECHNICAL INTELLIGENCE
TWO REPORTS DETAIL HALTING PROGRESS ON INTEL REFORM
Some intriguing new details of U.S. intelligence policy were
disclosed in two reports on the implementation of the Intelligence
Reform Act of 2004 that were issued yesterday by the House
Intelligence Committee and by the Director of National Intelligence.
Beyond broad conclusions on the status of intelligence reform, each
report voiced numerous passing observations of interest, both
favorable and critical.
The report of the House Intelligence Committee noted the following,
for example:
** "Many of the major acquisition programs at the National
Reconnaissance Office, the National Security Agency, and the
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency have cost taxpayers billions
of dollars in cost overruns and schedule delays." (p. 14)
** "The National Intelligence Council is... making more use of
external experts from academia and think tanks to prepare certain
parts of a National Intelligence Estimate." (p. 16)
** "The National Counterterrorism Center ... advised that out of the
universe of information available on terrorist targets, the National
Counterterrorism Center, the CIA's Counterterrorism Center and the
Defense Intelligence Agency's Joint Intelligence Task Force
- Counterterrorism were all analyzing approximately the same ten
percent." (p. 17)
** A newly established Analytic Resources Catalog provides "the
names and other identifying information such as home agency and
areas of expertise for all analysts in the Community." (p. 19) The
DNI report added that "The Catalog contains information on 17,000 IC
analysts throughout the IC, including current assignment,
professional experience, academic background, language ability, and
other biographical information." (DNI, p. 5)
** "We are concerned that individuals with [key] skill sets are not
being hired because they may not conform to current hiring policy
and standards. Subcommittee members and staff heard startling
accounts of very qualified applicants being turned away because
their diverse backgrounds do not permit them to successfully
complete the rigid and antiquated applicant processing model of a
'Cold War' era." (p. 24)
** "The Open Source Center is in the midst of a major acquisition
for a large-scale internet exploitation capability.... So far this
year, there has been a significant increase in open source entries
that have been included in the President's Daily Brief." (p. 34)
The report also provided new information on developments in
intelligence analysis, intelligence reform at the FBI, the
production of the President's Daily Brief, and more. See the full
report of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
Subcommittee on Oversight here:
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2006_rpt/hpsci072706.pdf
The report of the Director of National Intelligence addressed many of
the same topics, though without the criticism or frustration
expressed in the House report, and with some additional details.
For example, the DNI has established what sounds like a knock-off of
the JASON defense advisory group:
** "One new ODNI-sponsored external outreach event is the Summer
Hard Problem Initiative, a series of intensive summer studies that
will bring together outside experts to address challenging analytic
problems." (p. 5)
And changes to national security classification policy in
intelligence may be on the horizon:
** "Several new ODNI classification policies are currently in the
final stages of review, but more significant shifts may be required.
If so, the DNI's classification and declassification authorities
may require strengthening. The ODNI is currently engaged with the
NSC in examining the possibility of broader change." (p. 8)
See the full DNI report here:
http://www.fas.org/irp/dni/prog072706.pdf
SEEKING RECIPROCITY IN SECURITY CLEARANCE POLICY
Reciprocity in security clearances -- meaning the acceptance by one
agency of a security clearance granted by another agency, and vice
versa -- has been an elusive security policy goal for well over a
decade. But lately it has become the subject of increased
attention.
"The Director [of National Intelligence] has done little to ensure
the reciprocal recognition of security clearances within the
[Intelligence] Community," the House Intelligence Committee
complained in its new report.
"It def[ies] common sense... that it takes months to transfer
clearances for an individual who will work in the exact same space
but transfer from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to the
CIA," the House report said.
A July 17 memo from the Office of Management and Budget addresses the
problem of reciprocity in highly restricted "special access
programs," and provides a checklist of permitted exceptions to
reciprocity. See:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/reciprocal071706.pdf
The Department of Defense and Department of Energy have each issued
new directives lately on reciprocal recognition of security
clearances.
HOUSE HEARING ON FOIA POLICY
The Freedom of Information Act "continues to be a valuable tool for
citizens to obtain information about the operation and decisions of
the federal government," the Government Accountability Office
reported at a July 26 House hearing.
"Since 2002, agencies have received increasing numbers of requests
and have also continued to increase the number of requests that they
process. In addition, agencies continue to grant most requests in
full. However, the rate of increase in pending requests is
accelerating," the GAO concluded in its testimony, which provided
substantial new data on individual agency FOIA practices.
Critical assessments of FOIA policy were also presented by Patrice
McDermott of OpenTheGovernment.org and by Tonda Rush of the Sunshine
in Government Initiative. Dan Metcalfe presented the viewpoint of
the Department of Justice at the hearing, which also featured
Senator Patrick Leahy, Sen. John Cornyn, and Rep. Brad Sherman.
See the prepared statements from "Implementing FOIA-- Does the Bush
Administration's Executive Order Improve Processing?" hearing before
the Subcommittee on Government Management of the House Government
Reform Committee, July 26:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2006/index.html#foia
On July 24, a federal court told the National Reconnaissance Office
that it could not use the "operational files" exemption to withhold
its Congressional Budget Justification Book from processing under
the FOIA (Secrecy News, 7/25/06).
But on July 25, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency denied a
FOIA request for a copy of its Congressional Budget Justification
Book. Why? Because, NGA said, it is an "operational file" that is
exempt from FOIA processing. Sigh. An appeal was filed explaining
that this claim has been found unlawful.
Secrecy News neglected to acknowledge the contribution of attorney
Matthew Archer-Beck, who helped prepare the superb amicus brief
filed by the National Security Archive in the FAS lawsuit seeking
disclosure of the NRO budget documents. Our thanks to Mr.
Archer-Beck, who is now an associate at the law firm Sidley Austin.
And see, relatedly, "Judge: Spy satellite budget can be FOIA-ed," by
Shaun Waterman, United Press International, July 27:
http://tinyurl.com/meeo3
DOD MANUAL ON TECHNICAL INTELLIGENCE
The Department of Defense has published a new manual on the conduct
of "technical intelligence" operations, or TECHINT.
Technical intelligence here refers to the collection, analysis and
exploitation of captured enemy materiel and documentation. TECHINT
serves to maintain U.S. technological advantage on the battlefield
and helps to counter adversary weapons systems and operations.
TECHINT roles and missions are described in a new inter-service
manual. A copy was obtained by Secrecy News.
See "TECHINT: Multi-Service Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures for
Technical Intelligence Operations," FM 2-22.401, 9 June 2006:
http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm2-22-401.pdf
_______________________________________________
Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the
Federation of American Scientists.
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_______________________
Steven Aftergood
Project on Government Secrecy
Federation of American Scientists
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