TSA Can Improve Aviation Worker Vetting (Redacted), DHS OIG-15-98, June 4, 2015 “TSA’s multi-layered process to vet aviation workers for potential links to terrorism was generally effective. In addition to initially vetting every application for new credentials, TSA recurrently vetted aviation workers with access to secured areas of commercial airports every time the Consolidated Terrorist… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Defense
H.R. 2685 – FY2016 Department of Defense Appropriations
H.R. 2685 – FY2016 Department of Defense Appropriations 114th Congress Report – House of Representatives – 1st Session 114-139. June 5 2015. “BILL TOTALS – Appropriations for most military functions of the Department of Defense are provided for in the accompanying bill for fiscal year 2016. This bill does not provide appropriations for military con-… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – Aviation Security, Missouri River Basin
Aviation Security: TSA Has Taken Steps to Improve Oversight of Key Programs, but Additional Actions Are Needed, GAO-15-678T: Published: Jun 9, 2015. Publicly Released: Jun 9, 2015: “The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has taken steps to improve oversight of Secure Flight—a passenger prescreening program that matches passenger information against watch lists and assigns each passenger… Continue Reading
CRS – Israel: Background and U.S. Relations
Israel: Background and U.S. Relations, Jim Zanotti, Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs. June 1, 2015. “Since Israel’s founding in 1948, successive U.S. Presidents and many Members of Congress have demonstrated a commitment to Israel’s security and to maintaining close U.S.-Israel cooperation. Common perceptions of shared democratic values and religious affinities have contributed to the strong… Continue Reading
USA FREEDOM Act Reinstates Expired USA PATRIOT Act Provisions
CRS Legal Sidebar USA FREEDOM Act Reinstates Expired USA PATRIOT Act Provisions but Limits Bulk Collection 6/4/2015: “Following a contentious debate and passagein the Senate, the USA FREEDOM Act (H.R. 2048) was signed into law onJune 2, 2015. The new law contains eight titles, spanning a range of national security topics from reauthorizing expired investigative… Continue Reading
Black Holes and Open Secrets: The Impact of Covert Action on International Law
Perina, Alexandra H, Black Holes and Open Secrets: The Impact of Covert Action on International Law (June 2, 2015). Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, Vol. 53, No. 3, 2015. Available for download at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2613731 “Governments maintain secrecy over a range of conduct in order to protect national security, but in no area is secrecy… Continue Reading
GAO – DOD Should Strengthen Management and Guidance to Protect Classified Information and Systems
Insider Threats: DOD Should Strengthen Management and Guidance to Protect Classified Information and Systems, GAO-15-544: Published: Jun 2, 2015. Publicly Released: Jun 2, 2015. “The Department of Defense (DOD) components GAO selected for review have begun implementing insider-threat programs that incorporate the six minimum standards called for in Executive Order 13587 to protect classified information… Continue Reading
Small Arms Survey 2015: Weapons and the World
“The Small Arms Survey 2015: Weapons and the World examines the role of weapons and armed violence in humanity’s appropriation of the earth’s wildlife and mineral riches—in Africa, where the poaching of elephants and rhinos is becoming increasingly militarized, and near resource extraction sites around the world. In addition to presenting updates on the UN… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – Border Security, Broadband, DOD Operational Testing, Medicaid, Retirement Security, Telecom, Private Health Insurance
Border Security: Progress and Challenges in DHS’s Efforts to Address High-Risk Travelers and Maritime Cargo, GAO-15-668T: Published: Jun 2, 2015. Publicly Released: Jun 2, 2015. Broadband: Intended Outcomes and Effectiveness of Efforts to Address Adoption Barriers Are Unclear, GAO-15-473: Published: Jun 2, 2015. Publicly Released: Jun 2, 2015. DOD Operational Testing: Oversight Has Resulted in… Continue Reading
Overview of Constitutional Challenges to NSA Collection Activities
CRS – Overview of Constitutional Challenges to NSA Collection Activities, Edward C. Liu, Legislative Attorney; Andrew Nolan, Legislative Attorney, Richard M. Thompson II, Legislative Attorney. May 21, 2015. “Beginning in summer 2013, media reports of foreign intelligence activities conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA) have been widely published. The reports have focused on two… Continue Reading
FAS – New Intelligence Budget Data Disclosed
Steven Aftergood – Secrecy News: “U.S. intelligence spending remains at the frontier of national security classification and declassification policy, as some new scraps of intelligence budget information are divulged, most other information is withheld, and a simmering demand for greater disclosure persists in Congress and elsewhere. Last month the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) released heavily… Continue Reading
Assessing Unconventional Applications of the ‘Terrorism’ Label
Setty, Sudha, Assessing Unconventional Applications of the ‘Terrorism’ Label (2015). Forthcoming in The War on Terror & Beyond: Moving from Military Action to Civil Rights, Satvinder Juss and Clive Walker, eds. (Univ. of Penn. Press, 2015); Western New England University School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 15-3. Available for download at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2608623… Continue Reading
