FAS Roundup: December 5, 2011

Dormant civil liberties oversight board, podcast highlighting Iran’s nuclear program, new CRS reports and more. 

From the Blogs

• Civil Liberties Oversight Board Still Dormant: The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight board was supposed to provide independent oversight of U.S. counterterrorism policies. But, it remains dormant as its members have not been named or confirmed.

• In the 1950s, Dr. Mary Jean Scott Silk joined the Federation of American Scientists. She worked at Brookhaven National Laboratories from 1952 to 1958 and graduated from John Hopkins University with a doctorate in nuclear physics in 1958. In a Q+A with Dr. Scott Silk on the FAS in a Nutshell Blog, she discusses her involvement with FAS in its early years, her work at Brookhaven and future nuclear threats. 

• New CRS Reports: The history, missions and operations of the nine U.S. military combatant commands (COCOMs) are detailed in a new report from the Congressional Research Service. Additionally, Secrecy News has obtained new  reports regarding the expanding role of women in combat, secret sessions of Congress, and legislation to authorize and require military detention of suspected terrorists.

• New Intelligence Directive on Congressional Notification: Steven Aftergood writes that Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has issued a new Intelligence Community Directive on “Congressional Notification” that generally encourages “a presumption of notification” to Congress regarding significant intelligence activities.

Events

• Dr. Sudha Siva, Outreach Coordinator of the Biosecurity Program, spoke at the the International Working Group (IWG)  Landeau Network Centro Volto (LNCV) Biosecurity Workshop in Lake Como, Italy on November 18, 2011 regarding increased education and engagement in the biosecurity community.

Podcasts 

• Listen to the new edition of the FAS podcast series, “A Conversation with an Expert” featuring Dr. Ali Vaez, Director of the Iran Project. Topics discussed include: the recent IAEA report on Iran (released November 8, 2011), history of Iran’s relationship with IAEA and Iranian public opinion regarding nuclear pursuits.

FAS in the News

• Dec 2: Global Security Newswire, “Analysts Question Research on China Nuclear Arms”
• Dec 2: Agence France-Presse, “U.S. Experts Skeptical on Report of China Nuclear Force”
• Nov 30: Christian Science Monitor, “A ‘New START’ to an Arms Race Between the U.S. and Russia?”
• Nov 30: Global Security Newswire, “Underground Construction Points to Larger Chinese Nuke Arsenal”
• Nov 29: Washington Post, “Evidence of China’s Nuclear Storage System”
• Nov 29: Reuters, “For Iran, the Sanctions Price May Be Worth Paying”
• Nov 28: Washington Post – Federal Eye blog, “Obama Wants Better Digital Archive of Federal Records”
• Nov 28: Washington Post, “Obama Ordering Agencies to Keep Better digital Records”

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