** AT CIA, CLIMATE CHANGE IS A SECRET
** UPDATED CRS REPORTS ON SECRECY
AT CIA, CLIMATE CHANGE IS A SECRETWhen the Central Intelligence Agency established a Center on Climate
Change and National Security in 2009, it drew fierce opposition from
congressional Republicans who disputed the need for an intelligence
initiative on this topic. But now there is a different, and possibly
better, reason to doubt the value of the Center: It has adopted an extreme
view of classification policy which holds that everything the Center does
is a national security secret.Last week, the CIA categorically denied a request under the Freedom of
Information Act for a copy of any Center studies or reports concerning the
impacts of global warming."We completed a thorough search for records responsive to your request and
located material that we determined is currently and properly classified
and must be denied in its entirety...," wrote CIA's Susan Viscuso to
requester Jeffrey Richelson, an intelligence historian affiliated with the
National Security Archive. http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/2011/09/cia091311.pdf With some effort, one can imagine records related to climate change that
would be properly classified. Such records might, for example, include
information that was derived from classified collection methods or sources
that could be compromised by their disclosure. Or perhaps such records
might present analysis reflecting imminent threats to national security
that would be exacerbated rather than corrected by publicizing them. But that's not what CIA said. Rather, it said that all of the Center's
work is classified and there is not even a single study, or a single
passage in a single study, that could be released without damage to
national security. That's a familiar song, and it became tiresome long
ago.But in this case, it is more than an annoyance. The CIA response
indicates a fundamental lack of discernment that calls into question the
integrity of the Center on Climate Change, if not the Agency as a whole. If the CIA really thinks (or pretends to think) that every document
produced by the Center constitutes a potential threat to national security,
who can expect the Center to say anything intelligent or useful about
climate change? Security robots cannot help us navigate the environmental
challenges ahead. Better to allocate the scarce resources to others who
can.Meanwhile, access by scientists to classified military intelligence data
on the environment has actually been improving lately, reports Geoff
Brumfiel in the latest edition of Nature ("Military surveillance data:
Shared intelligence," 21 September 2011, sub. req'd). Among other things,
the Clinton-Gore era group of cleared scientists known as MEDEA
(Measurements of Earth Data for Environmental Analysis) was reconvened in
2008. http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110921/full/477388a.htmlA Federation of American Scientists proposal to expand public access to
unclassified open source intelligence products ("Open Up Open Source
Intelligence," Secrecy News, August 24) did not find favor with the White
House. Nothing like it was included in the new U.S. National Action Plan
for the Open Government Partnership, which mostly elaborates and restates
previous commitments. http://www.fas.org/sgp/obama/nap.pdf
UPDATED CRS REPORTS ON SECRECYReports on secrecy-related topics from the Congressional Research Service
that are newly updated (but otherwise not new) include these.Criminal Prohibitions on the Publication of Classified Defense
Information, September 8, 2011 http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/secrecy/R41404.pdfProtection of Classified Information by Congress: Practices and Proposals,
August 31, 2011 http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/secrecy/RS20748.pdfThe State Secrets Privilege: Preventing the Disclosure of Sensitive
National Security Information During Civil Litigation, August 16, 2011 http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/secrecy/R41741.pdf Newly updated CRS reports on other topics include these.Intelligence Issues for Congress, September 14, 2011 http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/intel/RL33539.pdf The Palestinians: Background and U.S. Relations, August 30, 2011 http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RL34074.pdf U.S. Foreign Aid to the Palestinians, August 29, 2011 http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RS22967.pdf
** UPDATED CRS REPORTS ON SECRECY
AT CIA, CLIMATE CHANGE IS A SECRETWhen the Central Intelligence Agency established a Center on Climate
Change and National Security in 2009, it drew fierce opposition from
congressional Republicans who disputed the need for an intelligence
initiative on this topic. But now there is a different, and possibly
better, reason to doubt the value of the Center: It has adopted an extreme
view of classification policy which holds that everything the Center does
is a national security secret.Last week, the CIA categorically denied a request under the Freedom of
Information Act for a copy of any Center studies or reports concerning the
impacts of global warming."We completed a thorough search for records responsive to your request and
located material that we determined is currently and properly classified
and must be denied in its entirety...," wrote CIA's Susan Viscuso to
requester Jeffrey Richelson, an intelligence historian affiliated with the
National Security Archive. http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/2011/09/cia091311.pdf With some effort, one can imagine records related to climate change that
would be properly classified. Such records might, for example, include
information that was derived from classified collection methods or sources
that could be compromised by their disclosure. Or perhaps such records
might present analysis reflecting imminent threats to national security
that would be exacerbated rather than corrected by publicizing them. But that's not what CIA said. Rather, it said that all of the Center's
work is classified and there is not even a single study, or a single
passage in a single study, that could be released without damage to
national security. That's a familiar song, and it became tiresome long
ago.But in this case, it is more than an annoyance. The CIA response
indicates a fundamental lack of discernment that calls into question the
integrity of the Center on Climate Change, if not the Agency as a whole. If the CIA really thinks (or pretends to think) that every document
produced by the Center constitutes a potential threat to national security,
who can expect the Center to say anything intelligent or useful about
climate change? Security robots cannot help us navigate the environmental
challenges ahead. Better to allocate the scarce resources to others who
can.Meanwhile, access by scientists to classified military intelligence data
on the environment has actually been improving lately, reports Geoff
Brumfiel in the latest edition of Nature ("Military surveillance data:
Shared intelligence," 21 September 2011, sub. req'd). Among other things,
the Clinton-Gore era group of cleared scientists known as MEDEA
(Measurements of Earth Data for Environmental Analysis) was reconvened in
2008. http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110921/full/477388a.htmlA Federation of American Scientists proposal to expand public access to
unclassified open source intelligence products ("Open Up Open Source
Intelligence," Secrecy News, August 24) did not find favor with the White
House. Nothing like it was included in the new U.S. National Action Plan
for the Open Government Partnership, which mostly elaborates and restates
previous commitments. http://www.fas.org/sgp/obama/nap.pdf
UPDATED CRS REPORTS ON SECRECYReports on secrecy-related topics from the Congressional Research Service
that are newly updated (but otherwise not new) include these.Criminal Prohibitions on the Publication of Classified Defense
Information, September 8, 2011 http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/secrecy/R41404.pdfProtection of Classified Information by Congress: Practices and Proposals,
August 31, 2011 http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/secrecy/RS20748.pdfThe State Secrets Privilege: Preventing the Disclosure of Sensitive
National Security Information During Civil Litigation, August 16, 2011 http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/secrecy/R41741.pdf Newly updated CRS reports on other topics include these.Intelligence Issues for Congress, September 14, 2011 http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/intel/RL33539.pdf The Palestinians: Background and U.S. Relations, August 30, 2011 http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RL34074.pdf U.S. Foreign Aid to the Palestinians, August 29, 2011 http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RS22967.pdf
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