Secrecy News -- 11/15/12
Steven Aftergood
saftergood at fas.org
Thu Nov 15 07:00:18 PST 2012
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SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2012, Issue No. 116
November 15, 2012
Secrecy News Blog: http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/
** ACADEMY REPORT ON ELECTRIC GRID WITHHELD FOR FIVE YEARS
** EAVESDROPPING STATUTES, AND MORE FROM CRS
ACADEMY REPORT ON ELECTRIC GRID WITHHELD FOR FIVE YEARS
Over the objections of its authors, the Department of Homeland Security
classified a 2007 report from the National Academy of Sciences on the
potential vulnerability of the U.S. electric power system until most of it
was finally released yesterday.
http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=12050
The report generally concluded, as other reports have, that the electric
grid is lacking in resilience and is susceptible to disruption not only
from natural disasters but also from deliberate attack.
But even though the report was written for public release, the entire
document was classified by DHS and could not be made available for public
deliberation. Amazingly, it took five years for the classification
decision to be reviewed and reversed. As Academy leaders explained in the
Foreword to the report:
"DHS concluded that the report would be classified in its entirety under
the original classification authority vested in the DHS undersecretary for
science and technology. Because the committee believed that the report as
submitted contained no restricted information, the NRC [National Research
Council] requested the formal classification guidance constituting the
basis for the classification decision. That guidance was not provided, and
so in August 2010, the NRC submitted a formal request for an updated
security classification review. Finally, in August 2012, the current full
report was approved for public release, reversing the original
classification decision, except that several pages of information deemed
classified are available to readers who have the necessary security
clearance."
"We regret the long delay in approving this report for public release,"
wrote Ralph J. Cicerone, president of the National Academy of Sciences, and
Charles M. Vest, president of the National Academy of Engineering in the
Foreword.
"We understand the need to safeguard security information that may need to
remain classified," they wrote. "But openness is also required to
accelerate the progress with current technology and implementation of
research and development of new technology to better protect the nation
from terrorism and other threats."
They said that a workshop was planned to address changes that have
occurred since the report was completed in 2007.
See "Terrorism and the Electric Power Delivery System," National Research
Council, released November 14, 2012:
http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12050
Classification policy at the Department of Homeland Security has become
somewhat more streamlined lately as a result of the Obama Administration's
Fundamental Classification Guidance Review.
Of the Department's 74 security classification guides, 45 were revised and
16 were cancelled. Overall, 157 subtopics that had been classified -- and
that could be used to justify classification of DHS records -- "were
determined to no longer require classification," according to the DHS final
report on the Fundamental Classification Guidance Review of July 16, 2012.
http://www.fas.org/sgp/isoo/fcgr/dhs.pdf
EAVESDROPPING STATUTES, AND MORE FROM CRS
New or newly updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that
have not been made readily available to the public include the following.
Privacy: An Abbreviated Outline of Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping
and Electronic Eavesdropping, October 9, 2012:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/intel/98-327.pdf
Privacy: An Overview of Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and
Electronic Eavesdropping, October 9, 2012:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/intel/98-326.pdf
Privacy: An Overview of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, October
9, 2012:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41733.pdf
Privacy: An Abridged Overview of the Electronic Communications Privacy
Act, October 9, 2012:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41734.pdf
Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Discussion of Proposed Revisions,
November 9, 2012:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R42114.pdf
Medical Marijuana: The Supremacy Clause, Federalism, and the Interplay
Between State and Federal Laws, November 9, 2012:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42398.pdf
The Budget Control Act of 2011: Budgetary Effects of Proposals to Replace
the FY2013 Sequester, November 9, 2012:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42675.pdf
El Salvador: Political and Economic Conditions and U.S. Relations,
November 9, 2012:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RS21655.pdf
The U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement: Background and Issues, November 9,
2012:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL34470.pdf
Trade Preferences: Economic Issues and Policy Options, November 14, 2012:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41429.pdf
The Distribution of Household Income and the Middle Class, November 13,
2012:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RS20811.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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