Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Should There Be a Right to Privacy for Everyone on the Planet?

A Global Human Right to Privacy?, Benjamin Wittes, Lawfare, November 11, 2013

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Editorial: Why Allies Spy on One Another

Why America spies on its allies (and probably should), Max Fisher, Washington Post, October 29, 2013

Friday, October 18, 2013

Discussion: The Disclosure of Classified Information - How Much Damage Does It Cause?

How does one determine how much damage to national security the unauthorized disclosure of classified information would reasonably be expected to cause?

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Monday, October 14, 2013

What Should the Public Know About Intelligence Activities?

Spooks and secrets: what is the public's right to know?, and , The Observer,

Spying on Friends: An Editiorial

Spying on 'friends', Brian Cloughley, The News International, October 7, 2013

Friday, October 4, 2013

Friday, September 27, 2013

An Argument as to Why the CIA is Ill-Informed about World Events

CIA’s Deadly Cultural Ignorance, Philip Giraldi, The American Conservative, September 25, 2013

 "Fear of officers "going native" keeps our intelligence agencies ill-informed about Somalia, Syria, and other hotspots." 


Is the U.S. an Online Predator?

America's hypocritical approach to economic espionage, Orly Lobel, CNN Money, September 24, 2013

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Security Clearance Denials and the U.S. Constitution

"(C)an a court review the denial of a security clearance if it involves an unconstitutional act of discrimination or a restriction of constitutionally guaranteed rights?"

Security Clearance Denials and Constitutional Rights, Steven Aftergood, Secrecy News, September 3, 2013


Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Politicizing Intelligence....once again

The Risk from Distorting Intelligence, Paul Pillar (former CIA analyst), September 2, 2013

A Legal Analysis of NSA's Programs

Steven G. Bradbury on “Understanding the NSA Programs” (Lawfare Research Paper Series)

Friday, August 30, 2013

Get Over It: Nations Spy on Each Other

Spying Is a Sovereign Right, Michael Bohm, The Moscow Times, August 29, 2013

Are Intelligence Agencies Tapping Undersea Cables? Apparently so.

Spy agency taps undersea cables, Philip Dorling, Brisbane Times, August 29, 2013

The Psychological Impact of Mass Surveillance

NSA and GCHQ: the flawed psychology of government mass surveillance, Chris Chambers, The Guardian, August 26, 2013

Monday, August 26, 2013

The Unending Saga of the CIA's Failures

Decades of failures: Why the CIA keeps blowing it, Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, The Salon, August 24, 2013 

An Editorial on NSA Surveillance

The NSA is losing the benefit of the doubt, Ruth Marcus, Washington Post, August 22, 2013

CIA Closes Historical Collections Division

CIA closes office that declassifies historical materials, Ken Dilanian, Los Angeles Times, August 21, 2013

An Attempt at Describing How NSA is Organized

An Educated Guess About How the NSA Is Structured, Marc Ambinder, The Atlantic, August 14, 2013

Friday, August 2, 2013

Inside GCHQ

GCHQ: inside the top secret world of Britain's biggest spy agency, Nick Hopkins, Julian Borger and Luke Harding, The Guardian, August 1, 2013

Friday, July 26, 2013

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

The Negative Impact of Secrecy on Democracy

How Secrecy Erodes Democracy, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, Wisconsin’s 5th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, Politico, July 22, 2013

Improving the FISA Court

A Better Secret Court, James G. Carr, New York Times, July 22, 2013

The Impact of NSA Surveillance on Ordinary Computer Users

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Inside the U.S. Intelligence Facility at Pine Gap in Australia

Desert Secrets, The Sydney Morning Herald, July 21, 2013

Aspen Security Forum: Interview with General Alexander, Director of the NSA

Clear and Present Danger: Cyber-Crime; Cyber-Espionage; Cyber-Terror; and Cyber-War, Aspen Institute, streamed live on July 18, 2013    

During this interview, General Alexander discusses the NSA surveillance program.

General Counsel for the DNI Defends NSA Surveillance Program

Intelligence official defends mass gathering of phone data, David G. Savage, July 19, 2013, Los Angeles Times

Ex-CIA Operative Detained in Panama and Later Released

Ex-CIA operative convicted in Italy of kidnapping Muslim cleric is detained, Greg Miller, Washington Post, July 18, 2013


Panama releases former CIA operative wanted by Italy, Greg Miller, Washington Post, July 19, 2013  

Tension between tech companies and NSA

Rift on display between tech industry, White House over NSA requests, Charles Cooper, CNET News, July 18, 2013  

This article includes the full-text of a petition from tech companies to President Barack Obama for greater transparency about demands for user data.

Key dates in the evolution of NSA surveillance

FISA 101: 10 key dates in the evolution of NSA surveillance, Katherine Jacobsen, The Christian Science Monitor, July 18, 2013

The Secrecy of the FISA Court: Competing Viewpoints

Surveillance court too secretive: Our view, Editorial Board, USA Today, July 18, 2013

FISA court 'works well as it is': Opposing view, Steven G. Bradbury, July 18, 2013

Japan and SIGINT

Japan dropped plan for eavesdropping network, still relies on U.S., Yoshihiro Makino, July 19, 2013

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Is the NSA an American Stasi?

The NSA's an American Stasi? Outrageous 

 "East Germany's secret police was an entirely different — and far more dangerous — animal"

Thursday, May 16, 2013

The Costs of Living in a Surveillance Society

'Round the Clock Surveillance: Is this the Price of Living in a 'Free, Safe' Society?
  
John Whitehead, Attorney, President of the Rutherford Institute

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Conference on Intelligence Ethics, National Intelligence University, 2012

"The National Intelligence University (NIU) hosted two Intelligence Ethics conferences over the past four months. The first conference discussed the importance of instituting ethical codes to assist intelligence professionals as they encounter morally ambiguous situations. Senior officials and experts shared their thoughts and experiences with 125 persons representing all major agencies in the IC. Later, on 10 May 2012, the NIU held a second conference for 40 persons in a workshop format. NIU students who had been enrolled over the past academic year in the Intelligence Ethics class presented six alternative intelligence ethos and code proposals to the workshop participants, with ample time for questions and answers about the merits of each proposal. The participants agreed that certain core principles captured a sense of commonality among intelligence professionals." 

Conference Proceedings, Intelligence Professionalism: Ethical Basics, Codes of Ethics and the Way Ahead, National Intelligence University, February 16 & May 10, 2012.

Monday, April 29, 2013

The CIA's abuse of intelligence ethics

"Melvin Goodman, who spent 24 years at the CIA, says the agency has lost its way. In a recent speech at the University of St. Thomas, Goodman argued that intelligence analysts should be telling "truth to power," but instead he said the CIA has become politicized."  

The CIA's abuse of intelligence ethics, audio broadcast (Real Player), Minnesota Public Radio, 2007

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Report on Detainee Treatment Released

The Constitution Project's Task Force on Detainee Treatment released their 602-page report on April 15, 2013.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

2012 Report on Security Clearance Determinations

"The Intelligence Authorization Act for the Fiscal Year 2010 established a requirement for the President to submit an annual report to Congress on the security clearance process, to include the total number of security clearances across government and in-depth metrics on the timeliness of security clearance determinations in the Intelligence Community (IC). In response to this requirement, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) has prepared this 2012 Report on Security Clearance Determinations..."

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

The CIA's Self-Serving Use of Secrecy

A short editorial piece on the selective use of secrecy by the CIA. 

Secret Double Standard, Ted Gup, New York Times, January 8, 2013