[NYTr] FAS Secrecy News -- 11/28/2007

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2007, Issue No. 115
November 28, 2007

Secrecy News Blog:  http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/

Support Secrecy News: http://www.fas.org/static/contrib_sec.jsp

**	EXECUTIVE ORDER ON ASSET SEIZURE CASTS A WIDE NET
**	SOME NEW DOD INTELLIGENCE POLICY DIRECTIVES
**	BAHAMAS RATIFIES NUCLEAR TEST BAN TREATY

EXECUTIVE ORDER ON ASSET SEIZURE CASTS A WIDE NET

Last July, President Bush issued a broadly-worded executive order
authorizing the government to seize the assets of "any person" who
threatens the stability of Iraq and, more controversially, any person
who provides assistance to such a person.

The scope, objectives and precedents of the order -- Executive Order
13,438, "Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten
Stabilization Efforts in Iraq" -- were examined in a new report from
the Congressional Research Service.

"The broad language of this executive order has been the subject of a
degree of criticism as potentially reaching beyond insurgents in Iraq
to third parties, such as U.S. citizens, who may unknowingly be
providing support for the insurgency," the CRS report noted, citing
prior accounts in the Washington Post, TPM Muckraker, and elsewhere.

In fact, the potential application of the order appears to be
technically unlimited since it includes a recursive clause that has no
defined endpoint.

Thus, section 1(b) of the Order states that any person who provides
goods or services to a person whose actions are proscribed under
section 1(a) is himself subject to section 1(a).  But then, anyone who
provides similar support to that person could likewise be swept up in
the expansive terms of the order.  And so on, without end.

In practice, the application of the order will be defined by
implementing regulations to be issued by the Treasury Department's
Office of Foreign Assets Control, which will also prepare an initial
list of blocked individuals and organizations.  Those have still not
been published.

A copy of the new CRS report was obtained by Secrecy News.

See "Executive Order 13,438: Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who
Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq," November 16, 2007:

     http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL34254.pdf

The text of executive order 13,438 is here:

     http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/eo/eo-13438.htm

SOME NEW DOD INTELLIGENCE POLICY DIRECTIVES

New issuances on Defense Department intelligence policy include the
following.

"Access to Classified Cryptographic Information," DoD Instruction
5205.08, November 8, 2007:

     http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/dod/d5205_08.pdf

"Scientific and Technical Intelligence Liaison Officer (STILO) Program
and Intelligence Support for the naval Research, Development, Test &
Evaluation, and Acquisition Communities," OPNAV Instruction 3880.6A,
November 5, 2007:

    http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/navy/opnavinst/3880_6a.pdf

And for good measure there is the "NATO Glossary of Abbreviations Used
in NATO Documents and Publications," 2007:

     http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/other/nato2007a.pdf

It indicates, for example, that the French for "sensitive compartmented
information" is "informations sensibles cloisonnees."

BAHAMAS RATIFIES NUCLEAR TEST BAN TREATY

The Commonwealth of the Bahamas announced this week that it has
ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, according to the
CTBT Organization in Vienna.  The Treaty prohibits all nuclear
explosions.

     http://www.fas.org/irp/news/2007/11/bahamas.html

The ratification by the Bahamas brings the total number of Treaty
ratifications to 141.  But the Treaty cannot take effect until it is
ratified by ten other states with nuclear programs, including China,
North Korea, India, Pakistan, Israel, Iran and the United States.

For related background, see "Nuclear Weapons: Comprehensive Test Ban
Treaty" from the Congressional Research Service, updated October 29,
2007:

     http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/RL33548.pdf

_______________________________________________
Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the
Federation of American Scientists.

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_______________________
Steven Aftergood
Project on Government Secrecy
Federation of American Scientists
1725 DeSales St NW, 6th floor
Washington, DC  20036

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email:  saftergood at fas.org
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