The Knight Open Government Survey conducted by the National Security Archive, George Washington University was released this morning: 40 Years of FOIA, 20 Years of Delay

The oldest FOIA request is 20 years old.

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/tenoldest/ten_oldest_report.pdf

Jeff Bliss reported for Bloomberg on Friday, January 26, 2007, that Senator Jay Rockefeller, Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee may subpoena Bush administration documents related to domestic surveillance.

I don't trust what they're doing, Rockefeller said in an interview on taped for Political Capital, a weekly 30 minute Bloomberg television program on politics, economics and public policy hosted by Al Hunt.

The full story, Rockefeller Says He May Subpoena Documents on Spying is available online.

Read the related story Review of prewar Iraq intelligence: Senate Requests, White House does not reply posted by James Jacobs.

The First Amendment Center announced on Thursday, January 25, 2007, a new "First Report" by University of Chicago law professor Geoffrey R. Stone. The report, Government Secrecy vs. Freedom of the Press, is available online.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) News, Canada's national public broadcaster, reported Monday, January 22, 2007 that

A woman from the Rural Municipality of Daly in western Manitoba faces a long wait — 13½ years, to be exact — for government records she requested about the province's livestock industry.

Read the full story online: Woman faces 13-year wait for hog industry info.

Officials from Manitoba Province were not available for comment on Monday.

Phantom Works, the advanced Research and Development unit of Boeing, launched a balloon as a carrier vehicle for what it calls an "airborne information broker."

"Boeing [NYSE: BA] and the U.S. Air Force have demonstrated for the first time how -- with advanced airborne networking and information management technology -- a near-space vehicle can be used as a flexible, low-cost, theater-wide information broker that provides real-time tactical information to ground forces to enhance their effectiveness and survivability."

This experiment may revolutionize the delivery of real-time information within the tactical theater, enhancing the Network-Centric capabilities of the military's Global Information Grid.

The complete story Boeing, U.S. Air Force Demonstrate Advanced Airborne Networking First, is available online.

The Dallas Morning News reported Thursday, January 18, 2007, that the Pentagon sets rules for terror suspect trials.

The Pentagon set rules Thursday for detainee trials that could allow terror suspects to be convicted and perhaps executed using hearsay testimony and coerced statements, setting up a new clash between President Bush and Congress.

Thanks to Sabrina Pacifica of beSpacific for the following links:

Preamble

Rules for Military Commissions

Military Commission Rules of Evidence

Crimes and Elements

Manual for Military Commissions — Executive Summary

Related postings on the Military Commissions Act of 2006.

New York Times reporters Eric Lichtbaum and Maek Mazzetti report in the January 14, 2007 issue, about the expanding role of the U. S. military in domestic espionage, and deletions in a U.S. Army Manual that may indicate the executive branch is once again wiretapping without a warrant.

The Pentagon has been using a little-known power to obtain banking and credit records of hundreds of Americans and others suspected of terrorism or espionage inside the U.S.

(Military Expands Intelligence Role in U.S., by Eric Lichtbaum and Maek Mazzetti.)

Deep into an updated Army manual, the deletion of 10 words has left some national security experts wondering whether government lawyers are again asserting the executive branch’s right to wiretap Americans without a court warrant.

(Deletions in Army Manual Raise Wiretapping Concerns, by Eric Lichtbaum and Maek Mazzetti)

A subscription to the New York Times is required to read these articles.

Wikileaks.org is an uncensorable version of Wikipedia for untraceable mass document leaking and analysis. It combines the protection and anonymity of cutting-edge cryptographic technologies with the transparency and simplicity of a wiki interface."

Wikileaks is developing an uncensorable Wikipedia for untraceable mass document leaking and analysis. Our primary interests are oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but we also expect to be of assistance to those in the west who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their own governments and corporations.

According to their FAQ page
Wikileaks expects to go live sometime in February or March 2007.

Read more on their Media reports page.

Communications during war is vital to military operations, and information, or lack of it, can make or break a battle.

Information Warfare (IW), also known as cyberwar, cyber attack, and cyberterrorism, is a form of modern warfare in which information and media become instruments of war.

As of 13 Jan 06 JP 3-13, the Joint Doctrine for Information Operations removed the term information warfare and replaced it with the more civilized concept of Information Operations (IO).

Likewise, the term has been removed from JP 1-02, the Deparment of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms

The U.S. Air Force retains the idea of Information Warfare in AFDD 2-5, Information Operations, with this definition:

Information warfare is information operations conducted to defend one’s own information and information systems or attacking and affecting an adversary’s in-formation and information systems.

Duane McCollum, FGI Blogger of the month for December, 2006, posted an interesting entry on December 1, 2006 about the
Global Information Grid (GIG) and Net Centricity.

The concepts of information warfare and information operations are closely tied to the GIG and to the ultimate goal of Information Assurance (IA).

I have to ponder a moment while I contemplate the level of Information Assurance associated with publications that remove definitions...

Should a reputable dictionary at the very least indicate that this term is archaic?

Are any other archaic definitions missing?

Could this very lack of information be construed as a form of Information Warfare itself?

As we like to say in library collection development, "let's keep a copy for historical research."

Air University's Air War College, Cyberspace and Information Operations Study Center, publishes an excellent bibliography called Information Operations, Warfare, Info Ops, Infowar, Cyberwar with a section devoted exclusively to information warfare.

If you are interested in learning more about this topic, I'd suggest you immediately click on thelink to this bibliography and read -- just in case any more archaic concepts are removed.

Update 1/18/2007 - Name change confirmed by GSA, new usa.gov site. See their reasons for the change.

Tamara Thompson of PI Buzz posted Jan 5 2007 about a name change to FirstGov.gov.

In This Week in Public Records Tamara tells us that

The government Web portal for Georgia is announcing a name change for the federal government site Firstgov.gov, due January 11. The official Web portal of the U.S. government is changing its name — to USA.gov. FirstGov.gov will become USA.gov and FirstGov en español.gov will become GobiernoUSA.gov.

The State of Georgia's e-government web site, georgia.gov confirms this story.

Why the name change? Even though FirstGov.gov gets more than 80 million visitors a year, its name recognition is very low. The name doesn’t intuitively tell you that this is the official U.S. Government site. It is cumbersome to say and difficult to remember. On the other hand, USA.gov clearly describes the site. USA is the term that most people around the world recognize for the United States – in fact, we already get about 600,000 visits a year from users who guess and type USA.gov into search engines. USA.gov is intuitive, simple and easy to remember.

Several years ago the ICGI Web Content Standards Working Group recommended renaming the web site, and it looks like this is about to become official.

While no announcements are posted on the FirstGov.gov web site, search results for USA.gov point directly to the FirstGov.gov web site, and it appears as if this rumor may be the real thing.

The Committee on Science and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives released the following statement On January 4, Rep. Bart Gordon (TN-06) assumed the Chairmanship of the House Committee on Science and Technology for the 110th Congress. House Rules Package (H.Res. 6) was passed January 4, 2007 and changes the name of the Committee on Science to the Committee on Science and Technology to more accurately reflect its broad jurisdiction in the areas of science, research and technology.

In an April 28, 2005 investigation on Integrity and Science Rep. Gordon states that Scientific progress occurs when we foster the open exchange of ideas and information.

On January 2, 2007 Ed Vawter of QD Information posted a blog entry Political Interferrence in US Science voicing concerns within the scientific community that government policy is possibly forced scientists into making their research results fit the policy.

One of my ongoing concerns is the fact that the U. S. Government does not have an executive office that deals primarily in science. Many foreign governments have a Ministry of Science specifically devoted to scientific issues.
We have executive departments for agriculture, commerce, defense, education, energy, health, homeland security, housing, justice, labor, state, interior, treasury, transportation, and veteran affairs. Science seems to be divided among the fifteen executive branches of the government. The closest the U. S. has to an Executive Department of Science is the independent agency, the National Science Foundation. Science.gov is also a gateway to authoritative selected science information provided by U.S. Government agencies including research and development.

Hopefully the re-establishment and new leadership of the Committee on Science and Technology will keep science and technology honest and unbiased.

Thanks to Sabrina I. Pacifici at beSpacific for the lead about the newly formed Committee on Science and Technology.

Two Leaders: both were presidents. One was a leader, and the other was a dictator.

Gerald R. FordGerald Ford was the only president who was not elected. He was appointed vice president by Richard Nixon when Spiro Agnew resigned in the fall 1973. He became president by default when Nixon resigned in August 1974.

Gerald Ford is undoubtedly one of my favorite U. S. Presidents. He was an "every man" who took the reigns of the nation during the difficult time following Vietnam and the resignation of President Nixon. The leadership skills of this average man helped to heal many of our nation's wounds. Some of us wondered why he pardoned Nixon, yet perhaps it was this act of forgiveness that allowed our nation to heal and reunite.

By the bicentennial celebration in 1976, citizens were once again proud to be American. In a pub the evening of July 3, 1776 the band began playing "It's a Grand Old Flag," and the entire audience began singing. One man in our group had escaped from Eastern Europe the previous year, and was concerned the police would arrest us for that display. We were happy to inform him that in America we could celebrate our Nation's birthday, and not fear about repercussions from our government.

The Federal Government has designated Jan. 2 as an official day of mourning for former President Gerald R. Ford. Flags are flying at half-mast and most government offices will be closed on January 2nd. Ford's funeral service will be televised that day.

Read a biography of President Ford at The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum.
The Presidential Library and Museum recently posted a section of News, Special Events & Featured Pages on their home page.
Three image galleries contain 78 public domain photographs that chronicle the nation's 38th President.
No special permission or usage fees are required, but the library would like you to use the credit line included in the pop-up text for each photo.

Remembering Gerald R. Ford, July 14, 1913 - December 26, 2006 is a FirstGov.gov page with links to information about the former president.

Saddam Hussein
The Trial of Saddam Hussein at the Law Library of Congress provides essential information about the ongoing trials of the deceased Mr. Hussein, who was executed on December 30, 2006, for killing 148 men and boys in Dujail in 1982. .

The leader of Iraq from 1979 to 2003, Hussein gained infamy during the 1988 chemical weapon attack on Iraqui Kurds, as well as for his brutal tratment of his own citizens. A U. S. Department of State report, Saddam's Chemical Weapons Campaign: Halabja, March 16, 1988 descibes the mass murder which occured in the city of Halabja in 1988.

The White House issued a press release, President Bush's Statement on Execution of Saddam Hussein. Previously, the White House compiled theApparatus of Lies: Saddam’s Disinformation and Propaganda, 1990-2003 which chronicled the alleged attrocities of the Iraqui dictator for over a decade.

Saddam Hussein's Capture: One Year Later is a feature article in DefendAmerica the United States Department of Defense Official Website on the War on Terrorism.