New Literature on Secrecy
National security secrecy, which remains a source of conflict and consternation, inspires a steady flow of books and journal articles. As in other policy-related fields, much of this literature is...
View ArticleClassification May Impede Treatment for Vets
National security secrecy can be an impediment to veterans who are seeking treatment for traumas suffered during military service yet who are technically prohibited from disclosing classified...
View ArticleBig Data: Stealth Control
Everyone who uses the Internet is implicated in a web of data collection; it relies on user data to produced tailored advertising revenue to support growth and free use. This digital profiling produces...
View ArticleMaking Government Accountability Work
The U.S. Constitution does not explicitly recognize a “public right to know.” But without reliable public access to government information, many features of constitutional government would not make...
View ArticleGrowing Data Collection Inspires Openness at NGA
A flood of information from the ongoing proliferation of space-based sensors and ground-based data collection devices is promoting a new era of transparency in at least one corner of the U.S....
View Article“Controlled Unclassified Information” Is Coming
After years of preparation, the executive branch is poised to adopt a government-wide system for designating and safeguarding unclassified information that is to be withheld from public disclosure. The...
View ArticleScience Experiments Blocked Due to Safety Risks
The U.S. government blocked dozens of life science experiments over the past decade because they were deemed to pose undue risks to public health and safety. Between 2006 and 2013, researchers...
View ArticlePatents Awarded to Formerly Secret Inventions
Last year, 95 secrecy orders barring disclosure of inventions under the Invention Secrecy Act of 1951 were imposed on new patent applications while 36 prior secrecy orders were rescinded. Three of the...
View ArticleDNI Directive on Controlled Access Programs
The Director of National Intelligence last month issued a new directive on Controlled Access Programs (CAPs). CAPs are the Intelligence Community equivalent of what are otherwise called Special Access...
View ArticleSupport Secrecy News
If you find Secrecy News useful or interesting, please consider supporting our work with a financial contribution to the Federation of American Scientists. Last month the House Committee on Homeland...
View ArticleCIA Withdraws Email Destruction Proposal
The Central Intelligence Agency has formally rescinded its widely-criticized plan to destroy the email records of all but 22 senior agency officials, the National Archives said last week. The CIA...
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Nuclear Transparency and the Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan
By Hans M. Kristensen I was reading through the latest Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and wondering what I should pick to critique...
View ArticleGovernment Secrecy and Censorship
From its beginning, the Federation of American Scientists has been immersed in policies and issues regarding government secrecy and censorship. By the time World War II broke out, the fission process...
View ArticleInvention Secrecy Increased in 2016
There were 5,680 invention secrecy orders in effect at the end of Fiscal Year 2016. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office reported that 121 new secrecy orders were issued in 2016, but also that 20...
View ArticlePatents Granted to Two Formerly Secret Inventions
Two patent applications that had been subject to “secrecy orders” under the Invention Secrecy Act for years or decades were finally granted patents and publicly disclosed in 2016. “Only two patents...
View ArticleInvention Secrecy Activity Rises Slightly
A total of 5,784 patent applications remained subject to invention secrecy orders at the end of Fiscal Year 17, according to new data provided by the US Patent and Trademark Office. The secrecy orders,...
View ArticleThe Expanding Secrecy of the Afghanistan War
Last year, dozens of categories of previously unclassified information about Afghan military forces were designated as classified, making it more difficult to publicly track the progress of the war in...
View ArticleGrowing Pentagon Secrecy Draws Questions
In just the last few weeks and months, U.S. military officials imposed new restrictions on media interviews and base visits, at least temporarily; they blocked (but later permitted) publication of...
View ArticleInvention Secrecy Hits Recent High
Last year the number of patent applications that were subject to a “secrecy order” under the Invention Secrecy Act of 1951 was the highest that it has been in more than two decades, according to data...
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Widespread Blurring of Satellite Images Reveals Secret Facilities
Want to know how to make a satellite imagery analyst instantly curious about something? Blur it out. Google Earth occasionally does this at the request of governments that want to keep prying eyes away...
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