(update below) Ahead of the confirmation of Deputy National Security Advisor John Brennan to the position of CIA director, US Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon has sent a letter to Brennan asking him to provide Congress access to “secret legal opinions outlining the government’s ability to target and kill Americans believed to be involved in [...]

In a highly anticipated court decision, a military judge awarded Pfc. Bradley Manning 112 days sentencing credit for unlawful pretrial punishment experienced while confined in a brig at Marine Corps Base Quantico. She did not find evidence to support the dismissal of any charges against Manning. The soldier, who the military is prosecuting for allegedly [...]

Reporter for the New York Times, Scott Shane, wrote a feature story on the case of former CIA agent John Kiriakou, who is the first from the agency to face jail time for a classified leak. He is to be sentenced to 30 months of jail on January 25. Kiriakou pled guilty to the charge [...]

At least fifteen people were killed in two drone strikes in Pakistan on January 2. While one strike killed a powerful Pakistan Taliban leader along with other known fighters, the other strike killed four people, whose names were not immediately known, and reportedly involved the targeting of rescuers—a war crime. In the Associated Press‘ initial [...]

(update below) The Washington Post has published a story that spotlights how the administration of President Barack Obama has embraced the practice of extraordinary rendition, highlighting the rendition of two Swedish men and one British-Somali man who had his British citizenship revoked. It details what is known about the men who had been missing and [...]

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 United States Senate reauthorized a surveillance law that grants the government expanded authority to collec communications of foreign persons outside the US. It also is believed to permit the government to engage in dragnet surveillance of Americans’ communications. The program under the FISA Amendments Act is shrouded in immense secrecy, with there being very [...]

On Christmas Eve, a US drone attacked a vehicle and killed at least two suspected al Qaeda militants in the southern Bayda province of Yemen. The attack happened in the early evening in the country. It was believed a “mid-level al Qaeda Yemeni operative,” Abdel-Raouf Naseeb, was one of the men killed. It was the [...]

The British High Court has refused to review whether intelligence agencies in the United Kingdom have been involved in passing on information that has been used by the CIA to carry out drone attacks.The Pakistani man, Noor Khan, whose father was killed by a US drone strike, intends to appeal the decision. On March 17, 2011, [...]

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 [...]