By
SB Anderson
Getting documents from the Department of Defense might get a little easier, thanks to an updated DOD directive (see document below) that declares a “presumption in favor of disclosure” for Freedom of Information Act requests.
The directive says DOD will “respond promptly to all requests in a spirit of cooperation” and will “take affirmative steps” to maximize what’s made available.
President Obama in an executive order on Jan. 21, 2009 ordered “presumption in favor of disclosure” and asked agencies to “harness new technologies to put information about their operations and decisions online and readily available to the public.” Continue reading →
By
SB Anderson
On Friday, Syria joined the Arab Spring uprising trend of besieged government bureaucrats temporarily shutting down the Internet to try and mute protests.
The first news I saw on this was early in the day in my Twitter feed — but it wasn’t a tweet of a news story or someone quoting a news story or government official.
My news came from a tweet based on raw Google data.
In my feed, @BrianBoyer of the Chicago Tribune retweeted fellow Chicagoan @therealfitz with news that Syria had apparently gone dark, based on Google data — and that was two hours before Google itself tweeted about it.
The source: Google’s Transparency Report, which shows near- real-time data for use of Google services by country/region and “visualizes disruptions in the free flow of information, whether it’s a government blocking information or a cable being cut.”
Continue reading →
By
SB Anderson
A new United Nations report aggregates a number of efforts to measure Internet filtering by governments around the world and concludes “national regulation of the Internet is taking place on a wide scale, despite ambiguity over appropriate policy and uncertainty over its implementation, and risks to freedom of expression.”
Not surprisingly, East and Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa were found to house states with the most filtering. The most extensive filtering of the 47 surveyed nations was found in China, Cuba, Myanmar (Burma), Oman, South Korea, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Yemen. (See full interactive map).
Government interference with the internet has been a very high-profile issue in recent months, particularly with the Arab Spring uprisings and the role of the internet in the unrest (and government attempts to stop or inhibit the internet as an enabling tool). The report from UNESCO (United Nations Education, Cultural and Scientific Organization) does not cover political filtering alone, however. The studies it cites also measured filtering for social (e.g., pornography), security and other reasons. Continue reading →
By
SB Anderson
A fresh analysis by the Congressional Research Office provides a bounty of sliced and diced data for journalists writing about the war on terror and how much the federal government has spent in the past decade on its military efforts.
“The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11” (document embedded below) details the $1.3 trillion spent through this year. This will hit $1.4 trillion if the 2012 budget requests are approved. The current “burn rate,” as they say in business: $6 billion a month. The Department of Defense has spent 94% of the money, the report says.
The largest share of spending has been in Iraq (66%) followed by Afghanistan (35%) and for enhanced base security (2%). CRS couldn’t account for about $5 billion.
The report isn’t just a dry recitation of numbers; it offers insights and analysis over time by theater and type of spending; dissection of cost trends for Continue reading →
By
SB Anderson
Based on how word of Osama bin Laden’s demise last week broke on social networks, national security beat reporters might want to be sure they’re following members of Congress — and key officials from previous administrations — on Twitter.
Or at least are receiving breaking news alerts from key media via Twitter or SMS and checking in on Facebook, not just checking web sites or cable channels now and again.
Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s chief of staff, Keith Urbahn, is believed to be among the first to break the news on Twitter, with this tweet at 10: 24 p.m. EDT.
Continue reading →
By
SB Anderson
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will use Twitter and Facebook in a mix of methods to issue terrorism alerts and warnings, instead of its nine-year color-coded system, according to a report obtained by the Associated Press.
Under a new system that may be in place within weeks, “The new terror alerts would also be published online using Facebook and Twitter “when appropriate,” the plan said, but only after federal, state and local government leaders have already been notified,” the AP said today (4/7).
The social media outreach for alerts is not a new concept; Homeland Security itself mentioned it might be included in late January when it announced the end of the color-coded system that has been in place since 2002.
Continue reading →
By
SB Anderson
A portion of the $30 million the U.S. State Department has set aside for “Internet Freedom Programs” this year is being used to develop a “panic button” for the mobile phones of protesters and activists in the Mideast and other hot spots.
The panic button app would “both wipe out the phone’s address book and emit emergency alerts to other activists,” Reuters reported. A version for Andorid phones is under way, while a Nokia version “is being considered,” TechCrunch reported over the weekend.
iPhone? No plans for an app for that right now, TechCrunch says. Which seems to makes sense when you consider the average protester or activist in Cairo or Sana’a probably is carrying something a little less high-end than an iPhone. Continue reading →
By
SB Anderson
One fewer inconvenience may be in the bidding for air travelers as the Transportation Security Administration this week filed a formal request for vendors to design a shoe scanning device.
Like all things government, this effort comes with its very own acronym — SSD (for Shoe Scanning Device, naturally) — and the TSA says “The SSD system will be capable of detecting threat objects concealed in footwear without requiring passengers to remove their footwear as they pass through a security checkpoint.”
The TSA says 98% of passengers now put their shoes through the regular scanning device with their other belonging. “The removal of footwear takes time, reduces the efficiency of the checkpoint, creates safety concerns with footwear removal and contributes to passenger dissatisfaction. In addition, scanning footwear through the X-ray machine increases the volume of items that the Transportation Security Officers (TSO) at the X-ray machine must visually screen.” Continue reading →
By
SB Anderson
Several key agencies involved with national security reported progress in meeting the agency level enhancements to the federal Freedom of Information Act sought by the Obama administration, but others didn’t even respond to a request for information on progress made, a study released this week shows.
The CIA, Department of Energy, Department of Justice and Department of State did not give a final response to a request from the Knight Open Government Survey for an update on FOIA enhancements.
The Department of Defense and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission had taken “concrete action” on at least two of the steps sought by the Obama administration. The Department of Homeland Security had taken one step, as had the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board and the Director of National Intelligence.
Overall, 49 of the 90 agencies surveyed in the study had made progress in the FOIA changes, compared to a year ago. “At this rate, the president’s first term in office may be over by the time federal agencies do what he asked them to do on his first day in office,” said Eric Newton, of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
President Obama in an executive order on Jan. 21, 2009 ordered “presumption in favor of disclosure” and asked agencies to “harness new technologies to put information about their operations and decisions online and readily available to the public.” Continue reading →
By
SB Anderson
The Feb. 23 arrest of Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari on federal weapons of mass destruction charges in Texas sparked pressure in recent days to let a controversial 2005 national ID law take effect as planned on May 11 rather than give it yet another extension.
The pressure didn’t make a difference. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano today (3/4/2011) decided to add another 21 months (PDF of the rule that was filed). State budget woes and the fact that “most states simply cannot fulfill the REAL ID requirements at present” were cited by a DHS spokesman today.
Without extension of the Real ID Act compliance date, residents of 24 states challenging the law and not in compliance with the standards for issuing and verifying drivers’ licenses and ID cards would not be able to board planes after May 11 without other types of ID or visit federal facilities and nuclear plants. Another state — Iowa — on Thursday took a legislative step to join those 24.
Since it passed in 2005, Real ID has become something like Real IDead, as nearly half of the states have have opted out, voted against it or passed resolutions against it because of compliance costs and constitutional and civil rights issues. Continue reading →
