This gem from Secrecy News is encouraging: A bill introduced by Congressional Democrats would empower the Government Accountability Office GAO) to perform financial audits and other oversight of U.S. intelligence agencies, a function that those agencies have long resisted. “Since 9/11, effective [intelligence] oversight is needed now more than ever,” said Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI)…

Via Secrecy News After years of public controversy, the Department of Energy has adopted a new polygraph testing policy that it said “will significantly reduce the number of individuals who will undergo a polygraph examination.” In particular, “DOE has decided to alter the role of polygraph testing as a required element of the counterintelligence evaluation…

The U.S. Department of Energy still hasn’t done enough to strengthen its cybersecurity protections, exposing critical systems to compromise and putting data at risk, according to a report issued last month by the agency’s inspector general. In his annual report on the status of the agency’s cybersecurity efforts, Inspector General Gregory Friedman did note that…

For a goodly portion of my time in the IC I focused on the technical threats posed by various actors and emerging technologies. While I’ll win no prizes for elegant computer code I like to keep active in the field. Various competing demands force me to stick to writing about pertinent issues and my latest…

Larger post in the works, still gathering data/thoughts. This gem is too good to wait though: Shaffer still works as a civilian employee of the Defense Intelligence Agency and is seeking to have his security clearance restored, according to [his attorney] Zaid. As an Army reservist, he’s assigned to the 9th Theater Support Command at…

Richard Clarke sounds off on the past, present and future. It starts out well enough: FIVE years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, three years after the 9/11 commission report, and just weeks before a national election, the issues of what happened before those attacks have resurfaced. Suddenly, we are again witnessing heated disputes…

Interesting development: […] OMB has given a green light for the creation of an Open Source Agency as proposed by Congressman Simmons, strictly contingent on the DNI’s blessing of that agency being outside the wire in order to be fully effective with all those who do not wish to cooperate with an element of the…

In an era of asymmetric threats and workforce demographic pressures, finding ways to share experiences and shorten the learning curve for military personnel has become crucial. Not all information has to be shared through formal channels. Nor should it, when speed is of the essence, or when it’s specialized knowledge for a specific group of…

From probably the best DIA director in recent times comes an idea that, if there is any sanity in our armed forces, should gain traction quickly: Retired Lt. Gen. Patrick Hughes, a former chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency from 1996 to 1999, and whose military career encompassed irregular warfare from Vietnam through Somalia and…

An interesting development that went mostly un-noticed in the broader press coverage dealing with homeland security. The short version is that while the Zotob worm was running rough-shod over the ‘Net last August CBP computer systems went belly-up. The initial reports said that the worm was to blame, but that was quickly retracted and the…