In a startling expansion of the Obama Administration’s war on leaks, a federal agent sought and received a warrant in 2010 to search the email account of Fox News correspondent James Rosen on grounds that there was probable cause the reporter had violated the Espionage Act by soliciting classified information...

The government seizure of Associated Press telephone records in the course of a leak investigation undermined freedom of the press in the United States, congressional critics said yesterday. “It seems to me the damage done to a free press is substantial,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren at a hearing of the...

The Government Printing Office is blocking public access to some previously released records of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, while the records are reviewed to see if they contain export-controlled information.  The move follows the controversial disabling and partial restoration of the NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) (NASA Technical...

“In 2009, China overtook the United States to become both the world’s largest producer of and market for motor vehicles,” a new report from the Congressional Research Service notes. That is not altogether bad news. “Every year since 2010, General Motors has sold more cars in China (through exports and...

The latest reports from the Congressional Research Service include the following. The Chained Consumer Price Index: What Is It and Would It Be Appropriate for Cost-of-Living Adjustments?, May 8, 2013 Sequestration at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA): Air Traffic Controller Furloughs and Congressional Response, May 7, 2013 Proposed Cuts to...

Chief Justice John Roberts has appointed Judge Michael W. Mosman of the District of Oregon to serve as a judge on the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The appointment was effective May 4, 2013, and will extend through May 3, 2020, said Mr. Sheldon Snook, a spokesman for the...

The website of the NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS), a massive collection of aerospace-related records, was disabled in March due to congressional concerns that it had inadvertently disclosed export-controlled information.  (“NASA Technical Reports Database Goes Dark,” Secrecy News, March 21; “Database Is Shut Down by NASA for a Review,” New...

An executive order issued by President Obama today directs that “the default state of new and modernized Government information resources shall be open and machine readable.” “As one vital benefit of open government, making information resources easy to find, accessible, and usable can fuel entrepreneurship, innovation, and scientific discovery that...

Almost a year and a half after he was nominated by President Obama in December 2011, the Senate yesterday confirmed David Medine to be the chairman of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board by a vote of 53-45. Republicans, led by Sen. Charles Grassley, opposed the nominee and voted...

The procedures by which the U.S. Air Force establishes international agreements for the exchange of intelligence information with foreign military services were described in a new Air Force Instruction. “Foreign military organizations being considered for inclusion in an IIA (international intelligence agreement) must clearly support U.S. security and foreign policy...

New and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that Congress has not made available to the public include the following. The U.S. Science and Engineering Workforce: Recent, Current, and Projected Employment, Wages, and Unemployment, May 6, 2013 Securing U.S. Diplomatic Facilities and Personnel Abroad: Background and Policy Issues, May...

The theory and practice of no-fly zones, including questions of their legal authorization and financial cost, are reviewed in a newly reissued report from the Congressional Research Service. The report does not reference the current conflict in Syria. See No-Fly Zones: Strategic, Operational, and Legal Considerations for Congress, May 3,...

For a variety of reasons, from institutional lethargy to calculated tactical opposition, the rate at which the Obama Administration’s judicial nominees are confirmed by Congress has become painfully slow, to the detriment of the judicial system and the possibility of justice itself. A new Congressional Research Service analysis of judicial...

“During calendar year 2012, the Government made 1,856 applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for authority to conduct electronic surveillance and/or physical searches for foreign intelligence purposes.” That somewhat opaque statistic was disclosed in the Justice Department’s latest annual report to Congress on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, filed...

The process of declassifying national security records, which is hardly expeditious under the best of circumstances, will become slower as a result of the mandatory budget cuts known as sequestration. Due to sequestration, “NARA has reduced funding dedicated to the declassification of Presidential records,” the National Archives and Records Administration...