In a small auditorium at the Newseum in Washington, DC, Brave New Films director Robert Greenwald held the premiere of his new documentary, “War on Whistleblowers: Free Press and the National Security State.” It features four stories of men who are clear examples of whistleblowers that most Americans would think deserve protection when exposing government [...]

National Security Agency whistleblower Thomas Drake delivered a speech at the National Press Club luncheon on March 15. He addressed the “long shadow of government secrecy” that increasingly “obscures the view of democracy in our constitutional republic or what’s left of it.” Video of the entire speech given during the luncheon appears at the top [...]

Four days away from massive austerity that would result in cuts to the United States government, the Pentagon is suggesting the cuts would make it harder to fight cyber threats. Posted by Secrecy News, Zachary J. Lemnios, the assistant secretary of defense for research and engineering, was asked by Sen. Rob Portman what would be the impact [...]

A classified intelligence assessment shows the United States is “the target of a massive, sustained cyber-espionage campaign that is threatening the country’s economic competitiveness,” according to the Washington Post. In the story, Ellen Nakashima reports the “National Intelligence Estimate identifies China as the country most aggressively seeking to penetrate the computer systems of American businesses and institutions.” [...]

The government argued two motions in the court martial of Pfc. Bradley Manning intended to constrain the defense from being able to discuss motive and over-classification of information. Manning, who the military is prosecuting for allegedly releasing classified information to WikiLeaks, faces the following charge, which is an Espionage Act charge: In that Private First [...]

Though most of the anti-leaks proposals in the Senate were droppedfrom the intelligence authorization bill, one provision remains in the bill that could potentially encourage selective leaking. One section of the bill requires government officials “responsible for making certain authorized disclosures of national intelligence or intelligence related to national security to notify congressional intelligence committees on a [...]

The Cold War system of classifying and declassifying information held by United States government agencies is “overly complex,” “keeps too many secrets” for too long and obstructs information sharing inside government and with the public, according to a report produced by a board of individuals that President Barack Obama ordered on classified information. As part [...]

A military judge has ruled that statements made by defendants on trial for their involvement in the September 11th attacks could be censored if they make statements about how they were tortured or abused. Judge Col. James Pohl ruled the government had “submitted declarations…from representatives of the CIA, [Department of Defense], and FBI invoking the [...]

An interagency Insider Threat Task Force has established “minimum standards” for responding to threats, according to a memo signed by President Barack Obama. The “standards” include policies to prevent “unauthorized disclosures” of information. The released memo instructed departments and agencies to set up policies or procedures for gathering, integrating, and centrally analyzing and responding to “key [...]

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other 9/11 terror suspects had a pre-trial hearing before the Guantanamo Bay commission just over two weeks ago. And, yesterday, The Nation published a dispatch on the proceedings that is well worth reading and I wrote about how the government maintains the Guantanamo defendants’ thoughts and memories of torture at the hands of CIA [...]