Wiretap Deja Vu

The National Security Archive has just posted an electronic briefing book, Electronic Surveillance: From the Cold War to Al-Qaeda. Included are historic documents from the Church Committee investigations of intelligence abuses, National Security Agency documents underlining the limits imposed by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 and the Fourth Amendment on surveilling U.S. persons, and two studies by the Office of Technology Assessment on the challenges of electronic surveillance and civil liberties in a digital age. Also made available are secret Justice Department reports from June 1976 and March 1977 on the potential criminal liability of the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency for several secret investigations. The Archive's posting was compiled by senior fellow, Dr. Jeffrey Richelson. http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB178/index.htm

Quadrennial Defense Review Report

Every four years the Department of Defense releases the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), which is required by 10 U.S.C. 118. This code requires the secretary of defense to" conduct a comprehensive examination ... of the national defense strategy, force structure, force modernization plans, infrastructure, budget plan, and other elements of the defense program and policies of the United States with a view toward determining and expressing the defense strategy of the United States and establishing a defense program for the next 20 years." This is the first QDR conducted in during a time or war, for quick information from the Department of Defense check out the QDR web site. This site links to the QDR from 2001 and 1997, as well as other related items, such as the National Defense Strategy.

Hurricane Katrina

Comptroller General David M. Walker of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a statement yesterday on the government's preparedness and response to Hurricane Katrina. It is critical of the government's response, for an analysis of the report, check out the the Washington Post article "Administration faulted on Katrina" (may require free registration). To see what the White House says go to: http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/hurricane/. To see what the Department of Homeland Security says go to: http://www.dhs.gov/interweb/assetlibrary/katrina.htm.

State of the Union address

Last night George W. Bush gave his fifth State of the Union address. If you would rather watch it, you can watch using Windows Media or Real Media. Want to see the Democrat's response? C-SPAN has it on video, as does the Washington Post. The C-SPAN site even has the State of the Union addresses all the way back to Harry S. Truman's address in 1945, given the day after Franklin Delano Roosevelt was laid to rest.

John C. Fremont

Every day the Library of Congress has a page devoted to some event in history that occurred on this day. Today is the anniversary of the court-martial of John C. Fremont. John C. Fremont is famous for his exploration of the Rockies and the west. Want to see his report on this exploration? There are two ways, we have copies of Serial Set 461 and 467 available for you to look at in NORBASE. Or if you don't want to leave your desk why not do a search in the U.S. Congressional Serial Set database available on campus (or those set up for remote access). Search for John C. Fremont and you will find not only his reports of the exploration, but also information on his service during the Civil War. If you would like even more digitized materials on Fremont check out the Collaborative Digitization Project, which has digitized etchings, drawings, and maps many of them from the Denver Public Library's Western History Collection.