Secrecy News -- 08/08/12

Wed Aug 8 08:46:11 PDT 2012

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SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2012, Issue No. 81
August 8, 2012

Secrecy News Blog:  http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/

**     SECRECY NEWS ODDS AND ENDS
**     UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS FOR MILLIONAIRES, AND MORE FROM CRS

SECRECY NEWS ODDS AND ENDS

A coalition of public interest groups asked the Senate and House
Intelligence Committees to preserve an existing requirement for the
Intelligence Community to produce an annual report on the number of
security clearances.  "We believe the annual report on security clearances
provides exceptional value to the public and should continue to be
published," the groups wrote.  The Senate Intelligence Committee markup of
the 2013 intelligence authorization bill would repeal the reporting
requirement.

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/2012/08/clearance_rpt.pdf

Last week the Senate confirmed four of the five nominees to the
long-dormant Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board.  The nominations
of James Dempsey, Elisabeth Collins Cook, Rachel Brand and Patricia Wald
were unanimously confirmed.  For unexplained reasons, the Senate did not
act upon the nomination of David Medine to serve as Board chairman.

	http://bit.ly/MyauU7

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service contacted the Wired Danger Room
blog to inquire where its reporter obtained a certain unclassified document
five years ago and to ask that the document, which was marked "for official
use only," be taken offline.  "Danger Room, through its attorney, declined
to provide the information, or to answer any questions related to the
reporting of the story.  The document has not been removed."

	http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/08/ncis-vs-danger-room/

A government information security official not involved in the matter said
it was possible there was more to the story than appeared on the surface.  
"If the [NCIS] investigation is about the FOUO document, then it's
ridiculous. If it's about something else, we might not ever know."

The House Intelligence Committee filed its report on the extension of the
FISA Amendments Act.  Like its counterparts on the Judiciary Committee, the
Intelligence Committee rejected amendments that would shorten the extension
of the law and increase public oversight of its implementation.

	http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2012_rpt/hrpt112-645pt2.html

With little fanfare or self-congratulation, the National Reconnaissance
Office and the National Security Agency have been steadily declassifying
and releasing historical intelligence records.  "This tremendous amount of
information released in the past year is credit to an impressive
declassification program within the intelligence services," wrote historian
Dwayne Day in an assessment of the latest NRO releases. "The US military
and intelligence space programs during the first couple of decades of the
space age can now be described in incredible detail and understood far
better than before."

	http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2131/1

UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS FOR MILLIONAIRES, AND MORE FROM CRS

Thousands of Americans who have a gross annual income of more than a
million dollars have also been collecting unemployment benefits, according
to IRS data compiled in a new report from the Congressional Research
Service.

That description fits only a tiny fraction of a percent of those receiving
unemployment benefits, and is obviously not typical of recipients of
unemployment insurance.  But neither does it violate any law. The issue has
prompted pending legislation to restrict benefits based on income.

See Receipt of Unemployment Insurance by Higher-Income Unemployed Workers
("Millionaires"), August 2, 2012:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42643.pdf

A persistent controversy in Japan concerning a U.S. Marine base in Okinawa
is reviewed in another new report from the Congressional Research Service.  
See The U.S. Military Presence in Okinawa and the Futenma Base Controversy,
August 3, 2012:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R42645.pdf

Other new and updated CRS reports that CRS is not authorized to release to
the public include the following.

Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty: Background and Current
Developments, August 3, 2012:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/RL33548.pdf

U.S.-China Relations: Policy Issues, August 2, 2012:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R41108.pdf

Uzbekistan: Recent Developments and U.S. Interests, August 3, 2012:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RS21238.pdf

Global Security Contingency Fund (GSCF): Summary and Issue Overview,
August 1, 2012:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R42641.pdf

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education: A
Primer, August 1, 2012:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42642.pdf

Continuing Resolutions: Overview of Components and Recent Practices,
August 6, 2012:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42647.pdf

Department of Homeland Security: FY2013 Appropriations, August 3, 2012:

	http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R42644.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
web:    www.fas.org/sgp/index.html
email:  saftergood at fas.org
voice:  (202) 454-4691
twitter: @saftergood

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