DoD Releases Directive on Information Operations
A 2006 Department of Defense directive on Information Operations (“Information Operations,” Department of Defense Directive O-3600.1, August 14, 2006), which had previously been withheld as “For Official Use Only,” was released last week in response to a FIOA request from Steven Aftergood and the Federation of American Scientists (Thanks Steven!!). This may or may not have something to do with the defense contractors embedded in our mainstream media outlets. Steven raises the question of whether those imbedded contractors violate or implement this policy. Thoughts? I just uploaded the document to the IA govt documents collection. FYI, I've started a new tag -- IA deposit -- for those documents that are uploaded to the IA. The tag (*every* tag on FGI) has an RSS feed of course, making it easy for library catalogers to keep up to date and get those fugitives cataloged and accessible to your users!
The directive, issued by the Under Secretary of Defense (Intelligence), assigns baseline responsibilities for the conduct of information operations, an umbrella term that includes electronic warfare, computer network operations, psychological operations, military deception, and operations security. Among related capabilities, the directive cites “public affairs,” the purpose of which is “to communicate military objectives, counter misinformation and disinformation, deter adversary actions, and maintain the trust and confidence of the U.S. population, as well as our friends and allies. Effective military operations shall be based on credibility and shall not focus on directing or manipulating U.S. public actions or opinion.”[Thanks Secrecy News!] Continue reading
The White House: Off Limits to Historians?
Meredith Fuchs, the general counsel of the National Security Archive at George Washington University, writes that the Bush administration's hostility towards public access to and preservation of records combined with changes in technology that have transformed the way in which we all communicate are leading to a situation in which "primary sources on the most important decisions and activities in the government may be lost, destroyed, or closed to the public." [emphasis added]
- The White House: Off Limits to Historians? by Meredith Fuchs, Passport: The Newsletter of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (5-1-08), posted at History News Network on Thursday, May 8, 2008.
[O]ver the last seven years there have been a series of moves by the current administration that may ensure that the records of the White House and the federal offices and agencies that work closely with the White House will not be available to historians.Continue reading
Kudos for Qatar
Another note from abroad reminding us that the importance of accessing government information is recognized worldwide: Title: Promise of technology is for everybody (By HESSA AL JABER) Source: The Peninsula On-line: Qatar's leading English daily, 5/17/2008 http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/commentary/commentaryother.asp?file=maycommentary482008.xml In article otherwise on technology for the disabled, the head of Qatar's Information and Communications Technology had this to say about government information:
Because people with disabilities cannot participate in government processes or benefit from government services if they don’t know what government offers, ictQATAR looks forward to setting a timeframe in which all public government information is universally accessible. This will include information that the government provides through radio and television programming, kiosks, and websites. And I call upon other government entities to begin incorporating into their websites accessibility functions such as media players, specially designed web browsers, and other assistive technologies. In the near future, ictQATAR will work to establish a Fund to offset the costs of both individual and organisational adoption of ICT to benefit the disabled. Although the details have yet to be fully developed, we expect that disabled individuals will apply for grants or vouchers to help pay for technologies and/or services that will enable them to benefit from the same opportunities as everybody else. Similarly, government organisations, corporations, and other organisations will be entitled to grants to encourage the universal provision of services and employment of disabled individuals.To the extent the government's goals are in line with the desires of Qatar's people, we wish them well in their efforts to place government information online. For more information about Qatar, please see the US State Department's Background Notes for Qatar, last published in July 2007. Continue reading
Comic book rifle maintenance
In 1968, [w:Will Eisner], an acclaimed American comics writer who passed away in 2005, illustrated a US Army rifle maintenance booklet that instructs soldiers to treat their rifles like a woman. I just added it to our Best Titles Ever page, not because the title itself is particularly funny or odd, but because this was a comic book -- distributed to all US military personnel in Viet Nam -- whose illustrations were strange and sexist. M16A1 rifle : operation and preventive maintenance. DA Pam 750-30. Find in a library
Police State 2.0 is ready for export to a neighborhood near you
A new, in-depth story by Naomi Klein examines "Golden Shield," China's prototype for a high-tech police state. She says that China is building its systems with the help of U.S. defense contractors, that the global homeland-security business is bigger than Hollywood and the music industry combined, and that the U.S. Government is mining China's experiences for ideas for its own surveillance programs.
- China's All-Seeing Eye, by Naomi Klein, Rollingstone, May 29, 2008. "Like everything else assembled in China with American parts, Police State 2.0 is ready for export to a neighborhood near you."
Klein says that the United States is providing China's rulers with something even more valuable than surveillance technology: "...the ability to claim that they are just like us. Liu Zhengrong, a senior official dealing with China's Internet policy, has defended Golden Shield and other repressive measures by invoking the Patriot Act and the FBI's massive e-mail-mining operations." And, the Chinese rationalize surveillance of their own citizens the same way many do in the United States: "If you are a law-abiding citizen, you shouldn't be afraid... The criminals are the only ones who should be afraid." (See also: Privacy: "I have nothing to hide" and Privacy and the "Terrorist Surveillance Act.")
Klein notes that human-rights activists say that although the surveillance tools used by China and the U.S. are the same, the political contexts are radically different. "China has a government that uses its high-tech web to imprison and torture peaceful protesters, Tibetan monks and independent-minded journalists." But she also notes that Guantánamo Bay, the erosion of the Fourth Amendment prohibition against illegal searches and seizures, and the fact that the U.S. currently has more people behind bars than China despite a population less than a quarter of its size all mean that "the lines are getting awfully blurry."
What relevance does this have for government information specialists? As we at FGI have pointed out before, when the only "authentic" copy of government information is available from government-controlled computers rather than from privacy-protecting libraries, the freedom to read is eroded and the infrastructure for government spying on what you are reading is enabled. (See also: Will GPO guarantee user privacy? Can it?.)
See also: China's Golden Shield: Corporations and the Development of Surveillance Technology in the People's Republic of China, by Greg Walton, October 2001, Rights & Democracy.
Continue reading