Secrets? What Secrets....

From Secrecy News:

CAN THE SECRECY SYSTEM BE FIXED?

The release of some 90,000 classified records on the Afghanistan War by Wikileaks is the largest single unauthorized disclosure of currently classified records that has ever taken place, and it naturally raises many questions about information security, the politics of disclosure, and the possible impact on the future conduct of the war in Afghanistan.

But among those questions is this: Can the national security classification system be fixed before it breaks down altogether in a frenzy of uncontrolled leaks, renewed barriers against information dissemination, and a growing loss of confidence in the integrity of the system?

That the classification system needs fixing is beyond any doubt.

"I agree with you, sir," Gen. James R. Clapper, Jr., told Sen. Ron Wyden at his DNI confirmation hearing last week, "we do overclassify."

That makes it more or less unanimous. What has always been less clear is just what to do about the problem.

In what may be the last opportunity to systematically correct classification policy and to place it on a sound footing, the Obama Administration has ordered all classifying agencies to perform a Fundamental Classification Guidance Review. The purpose of the Review is to evaluate current classification policies based on "the broadest possible range of perspectives" and to eliminate obsolete or unnecessary classification requirements. Executive Order 13526, section 1.9 directed that such reviews must be completed within the next two years.

"There is an executive order that we, the [intelligence] community, are in the process of gearing up on how to respond to this, because this is going to be a more systematized process, and a lot more discipline to it," Gen. Clapper said.

"Having been involved in this, I will tell you my general philosophy is that we can be a lot more liberal, I think, about declassifying, and we should be," Gen. Clapper said.

It is unclear at this point whether the Fundamental Review will be faithfully implemented by executive branch agencies, whether it will have the intended effect of sharply reducing the scope of the national security classification system, or whether the system itself is already beyond repair.

Wrap....

ComicCon Is Up & Running....

Well, ComicCon is rolling. Doors opened at the Convention Center at 6:30PM this evening.

So Skip, the doorman who has been there for 20 years is suddenly asked about what to do when one of the ComicCon folks says, "There's a sea gull in the lobby!"

Not much can be done since the ceiling of the lobby is 2 stories high and thus the sea gull can and will fly around until he finds a way out.

Attendees, who drive into San Diego, can park at Qualcomm stadium in Mission Valley and ride one of the red trolleys non-stop to the Conv Ctr. The problem for the locals will be trying to get across the tracks downtown between trolleys. Apparently the Padres may be playing at Petco Park downtown...across from the Conv Ctr...sometime within the next three days. Fans are gonna have fun trying to find parking. Be good if they take the trolleys too.

Me, I'm gonna enjoy Seaport Village which is a decent distance down Harbor Drive from the Conv Ctr. Was there this afternoon. When I left, to drive down Pacific Hwy, the first cross street was Harbor Drive. Nothing but a solid mass of cars heading toward the Conv Ctr. Ah me. Having ComicCon in town is always intersting.

Wrap...

Read This Book In Feb, 2011....

Harriet A. Washington was kind enough to email me a photo of her book jacket, but I can't figure a way to get it over here. In any case, the title is "Deadly Monopolies", and here are quotes from some of the reviews:

Harriet A. Washington has unearthed an enormous amount of shocking information and shaped it into a riveting, carefully documented book.'
—The New York Times

'Medical Apartheid is fascinating and compelling. ...The book’s analysis challenges the reader to question established paradigms in the history of medicine.'
—Marius Turda, Oxford Brookes University, Social History of Medicine

Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans
from Colonial Times to the Present

Winner, National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, PEN/Oakland Award, BCALA Nonfiction Award, Gustavus Meyers Award

Also, she says, "Deadly Monopolies will be published in February 2011, and I posted an essay on HuffPo that dicusses a few of the topics it addresses. I thought you might be interested, so here's the link.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harriet-a-washington/gene-patenting-produces-p_b_645862.html

Wrap...

Military Contractors Outnumber Military....

From Secrecy News:

MILITARY CONTRACTORS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN

The Department of Defense has more contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan than it has uniformed military personnel, another newly updated report from the Congressional Research Service reminds us.

"The Department of Defense increasingly relies upon contractors to support operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, which has resulted in a DOD workforce that has 19% more contractor personnel (207,600) than uniformed personnel (175,000)," said the CRS report -- which forms a timely counterpoint to this week's Washington Post "Top Secret America" series on the tremendous expansion of the intelligence bureaucracy, including the increased and often unchecked reliance on contractors.

The explosive growth in reliance on contractors naturally entails new difficulties in management and oversight. "Some analysts believe that poor contract management has also played a role in abuses and crimes committed by certain contractors against local nationals, which may have undermined U.S. counterinsurgency efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan," the CRS said.

Wrap...

Westboro Baptists vs Navy SEALs....& ComicCon..

From Tom Blair's column in the San Diego Union-Tribune paper this morning:

"Last item in Tom Blair's column this morning...
: The Westboro Baptist Church, famed for picketing the funerals of American soldiers, will picket Comic-Con here on Thursday. The controversial church, headed by Fred Phelps , accuses conventioneers of worshipping comic book idols. Says the Westboro website: “If these people would spend even some of the energy they spend on these comic books, reading the Bible, well no high hopes here.” Batman and the Green Lantern garner most of Phelps’ wrath"

So now everybody wants me to make sure the Navy SEALs...their base is just a couple of
miles away...know. And the Camp Pendleton Marines...just about 25 miles up the coast, as well. Thursday may be those assholes' waterloo.

Wrap...

Conv Ctr Tour Plus ComicCon Plus Secret Services.

The powers that be gathered at the San Diego Conv Ctr this morning to tour the place. The idea was to help them decide whether to expand its size, and thus keep ComicCon holding their conferences there. Right now, ComicCon has become such a large size that there is simply not enough space to hold all they'd like to do. We shall see.

My opinion is that expanding the Conv Ctr is the smart thing to do. A better choice than building the proposed new library downtown near Petco ballpark. And if the Chargers need a new stadium, let Spanos build it. We're still losing money on Qualcom.

********************

Additionally, there are two books that I consider must-reads. The first is fiction and entitled "Crashers". Normally, when a passenger jet crashes, there are pictures of the crash site in the MSM. Later, the media might have pictures of the sections of the jet all laid out nicely in a large hanger. "Crashers" deals with the activity that occurs between those two events. Lemme tell you, I had no idea of what goes on. Absolutely a hair-standing novel and when I tell you that you won't be able to put it down, I mean exactly what I say. One absolutely terrific piece of work.

The second book is a non-fiction, entitled "In The President's Secret Service" by Ron Kessler. Talk about shock value! I was astounded by the difference between our presidents' public and private behaviors. And no, I'm not gonna give examples. This is a book that seriously needs to be read. It doesn't cut any of those guys any slack. The Secret Service knows all, I kid you not...and in this book, tells all.
More, you'd best read it BEFORE the next presidential election.

Wrap...

Special Forces & Green Berets New Book ....

From Publishers Lunch Weekly...

FICTION..
DEBUT...

Cornell MFA and former University of Chicago mathematics scholar Catherine Chung's FORGOTTEN COUNTRY, the story of a Korean American woman sent by her terminally ill father to find her missing sister, leading to a larger journey that forces her to confront her family's tragic history and to understand the consequences of the truth coming to light under the weight of national, cultural, and personal traditions of silence, to Megan Lynch at Riverhead, at auction, by Maria Massie at Lippincott Massie McQuilkin (NA).

Madeline Miller's IN THE ARMOR OF ACHILLES, yielding a tender love story and a chronicle of the Trojan War; narrated by Patroclus, best friend and lover of the Greek hero, Achilles, these childhood friends suddenly face the rising tide of war when Helen is captured by Troy; following him to the distant battlefields, Patroclus is willing to sacrifice anything to prolong the mortal life of his immortal love, to Lee Boudreaux at Ecco, at auction, for publication Summer 2012, by Julie Barer at Barer Literary, and to Alexandra Pringle at Bloomsbury UK, by Caspian Dennis for Barer Literary.

MYSTERY/CRIME...

Two-time Agatha Award winner and NYT bestselling author Jacqueline Winspear's 9th and 10th novels in the series featuring psychologist and investigator MAISIE DOBBS, again to Jennifer Barth at Harper, in a major deal, by Amy Rennert at the Amy Rennert Agency.

THRILLER...

Three new FBI thrillers by No. 1 NYT bestselling author Catherine Coulter, featuring her lead characters Lacey Sherlock and Dillon Savich, to Ivan Held at Putnam, for publication once a year, by Robert Gottlieb at Trident Media Group (NA).

David Jack Bell's CEMETERY GIRL, in which a couple who seemingly has it all, loses almost everything when their twelve-year-old daughter disappears without a trace, and then, four years later, is found and returned to them, but refuses to talk about where she was, what happened to her -- and why, to Danielle Perez at NAL, in a two-book deal, by Laney Katz Becker at Markson Thoma (World English).

CHILDREN'S/YOUNG ADULT...

Jodi Meadows's trilogy, beginning with ERIN INCARNATE, about the only girl who is new in a world where everyone is perpetually reincarnated, and her quest to discover why she was born, and what happened to the person she replaced, to Sarah Shumway at Katherine Tegen Books, at auction, by Lauren MacLeod at The Strothman Agency (World English).

NONFICTION:
BUSINESS/INVESTING/FINANCE...

Houston Chronicle business columnist Loren Steffy's untitled book on BP, tracing how the current disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is only a part of a larger pattern of corporate cost-cutting and image-making that has compromised safety across BP's operations for years, to Mary Glenn at McGraw-Hill, by Matthew Carnicelli at Trident Media Group (World).

Huffington Post blogger and Magnify.net CEO Steve Rosenbaum's CURATION NATION: How to Profit in the New World of User-Generated Content, illuminating one of today's hottest business trends -- curation: the art of discovering, sorting, and giving context to the explosion of content on the web in order to make it relevant to one's consumer, to Leila Porteous at McGraw-Hill Professional, by John Wright at John Wright Literary Associates.

HISTORY/POLITICS/CURRENT AFFAIRS...

Tony Schwalm's THE GUERRILLA FACTORY, a narrative of the author's experiences in the U.S. Army's legendary training crucible, the Q Course at Fort Bragg, which produces elite Special Forces operators, also known as Green Berets, and his tour of duty as its commander, to Dominick Anfuso at Free Press, for publication in 2012, by Jim Hornfischer at Hornfischer Literary Management (World).

MoveOn.org board president Eli Pariser's DONT BE EVIL: Filter Bubbles, Click Signals, And Why It Matters That the Net Knows Your Name, on the unprecedented rise of personalization on the web, revealing what it's doing to us, where it's going, how it will increasingly restrict the news we consume and curb innovation, and why we can - and must - change course, to Ann Godoff and Laura Stickney at Penguin Press, at auction, for publication in May 2011, by Elyse Cheney at Elyse Cheney Agency (NA).

Author of the newsmaking Rolling Stone article The Runaway General, journalist Michael Hastings' untitled book, promising "an unprecedented behind-the-scenes account of America's longest war," with an unfiltered look at the war, and the soldiers, diplomats and politicians who are waging it, to Geoff Shandler at Little, Brown, by Scott Moyers at The Wylie Agency.

Oceanographer and MacArthur fellow Carl Safina's BLOWOUT, on the environmental consequences of the BP disaster, to John Glusman of Crown, by Jean Naggar of the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency (World English).

MEMOIR...

Co-host of the Emmy-winning TV show "The Doctors" Dr. Lisa Masterson, PAPER DOLLHOUSE, tracing her path from an unconventional childhood with a larger-than-life, "flim-flam the rich, fund your dreams" mother to the firing lines of medical school, her charity in Africa, and co-hosting a hit TV series while remaining first and foremost a doctor, to Janice Goldklang at Globe Pequot, for publication in May 2011, by BJ Robbins at BJ Robbins Literary Agency (World English).

Wrap...

SecDef Lays Down the Law For Media....

From Secrecy News:

SECDEF DEFENDS NEW POLICY ON LIMITING MEDIA ACCESS

"I have grown increasingly concerned that we have become too lax, disorganized, and, in some cases, flat-out sloppy in the way we engage with the press," said Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, explaining why he had issued new guidance to regulate Pentagon interactions with the news media.

The new guidance (pdf), issued on July 2, requires advance notification and coordination with DoD Public Affairs before a Department official can speak to the media on a story that may have any "national or international implications."

In the absence of such controls, Gates said at a July 8 press briefing, "personal views have been published as official government positions, and information has gone out that was inaccurate, incomplete or lacking in proper context. Reports and other documents, including on sensitive subjects, are routinely provided to the press and other elements in this town before I or the White House know anything about them. Even more worrisome, highly classified and sensitive information has been divulged without authorization or accountability."

"My hope and expectation is that this new guidance will improve the quality of press engagement by ensuring that the people the media talk to can speak with accuracy and authority. This should not infringe or impede the flow of accurate and timely information to you or to the public. That is not my intent, nor will I tolerate it."

Despite the Secretary's assurance, however, it seems practically certain that the new guidance will significantly impede the flow of information to the press and will complicate the already difficult task of probing beneath the official surface of events.

The Gates memorandum seems to reflect a view of the press as a conduit for "official government positions" that are "authorized" and placed "in proper context." But everyone knows that the most interesting and important news stories often begin with unofficial and unauthorized statements that are lacking in context and may even be inaccurate. It is the reporter's job to validate them, assess their significance, place them in context and communicate them, and if the results appear "before I or the White House know anything about them," so much the better.

That is what the Washington Post did in its series on neglect of veterans' health at Walter Reed Hospital, and that is what USA Today did in its reporting on the casualties resulting from delayed acquisition of MRAP armored vehicles.

Secretary Gates knows this, and he acknowledged the importance of those particular stories. "The reality is, stories in the press, and you've heard me say this before -- whether it was the stories on the treatment of outpatient wounded warriors at Walter Reed in the Washington Post or stories about MRAPs in USA Today -- have been a spur to action for me in various areas," he said.

But the key point is that those stories did not emerge from authorized interviews or official accounts. They had to be pieced together from partial, incomplete and unauthorized sources. That's one of the things that made them great.

"If everybody's following the spirit and the letter of the memo," an astute but unidentified reporter asked Secretary Gates, "are you confident that stories like stories about the MRAP and the Walter Reed problems would emerge the way they did?"

"Actually, I am," Secretary Gates said at yesterday's press briefing, "and it's largely because of my confidence in the persistence and the skills of the people sitting in front of me." But now that persistence and those skills will also be needed to penetrate the new barriers that the Gates memo has created.

If the Pentagon genuinely valued groundbreaking news stories that could serve as a corrective "spur to action," then it would inquire into the specific conditions of access and disclosure that makes such stories possible, and it would then seek to foster those conditions more broadly throughout the Department. The new DoD guidance on interaction with the media is a step in the opposite direction.

The July 2 Gates memo (which was first reported by the New York Times) also declared categorically that "Leaking of classified information is against the law, cannot be tolerated, and will, when proven, lead to the prosecution of those found to be engaged in such activity."

On July 5, Pfc. Bradley E. Manning was charged (pdf) with the unauthorized transfer and disclosure of classified records, including the classified video of a 2007 Apache helicopter attack in Baghdad that was posted online in April of this year by the WikiLeaks web site.

Secretary Gates said that he was not familiar with the underlying investigation of the Manning case or whether it constituted a serious breach, and that he had not determined whether remedial security measures were needed.

Wrap...

Inscribe DADT On That Rock....

AN IDEA WHO’S TIME HAS COME (again and again and again)

by

Keith Taylor





The volatile "Don’t ask/Don’t Tell" rule, shortened to DADT, was tailor-made for a guy who loves to foist his opinions off on an unsuspecting public. DADT was enacted in 1993. By 2003 I had written a dozen articles about it for Navy Times. One sardonic piece suggested the term be inscribed on a rock at the entrance to our military academies.



Make a rule that problems should be solved by ignoring them? What a fine example of leadership for our future admirals and generals!



And as you’d expect I got all sorts of letters, pro and con. One former master chief boatswain’s mate opined that gays were much smarter than “the rest of us.” He even suggested that I might be gay because I was so smart. I answered that he was at least partly right.



My favorite response came from Professor Eric Lane of Hofstra University on Long Island. It was an invitation to join a panel of distinguished guests in a seminar looking back at the ten years of DADT. Twas a heady experience, hobnobbing with the chancellor of MIT, several distinguished professors of law, and military people from four countries.



I was asked to share my experiences in the Navy during my 23 years of service as both an enlisted man and an officer. C-SPAN taped it and aired it six times.



I started by saying “When I joined back in 1947, there were no gays in the Navy. The chief petty officers told us they were they were queers. The officers used the word "homosexuals."



But even after DADT was decreed, things went on as before. Military policy was simply hidden behind a bunch of silly words. Nearly two decades after its implementation DADT is still the law, and ten percent of our young men an women must still hide who they are if they want to serve their country.



But with the exception of the 541 members of Congress many minds have been changed since 1993. According to polls, about half the enlisted members have no objection to serving with gays. Integration is supported by the Commander in Chief, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.



Even congress is being swayed. The House voted to do away with it. The Senate Armed Services Committee approved sending an amendment on to the entire Senate. Now it finally looks as if Congress will take my advice and do away with what I once called the dumbest law in our nation’s history.



Still, dumb or not, DADT is opposed when it suits a congress person to oppose it. John McCain, in a fight to keep his Senate seat in Arizona, once approved the idea of allowing gays to serve openly. He now promises a filibuster to keep the Senate from voting on the provision. He said, “I think it’s going to be really very harmful to the morale and effectiveness of our military.”



That ranks right up there with a sardonic joke I first heard in boot camp: There will be no liberty until morale improves.



In any case, it won’t take effect until it passes one more bugaboo -- A compromise holding off implementation until it is studied some more. This after 17 years of scrutiny, a period when some 13,000 Americans, including at least 1000 in critical occupations skills were booted out of our Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. Ironically some who were booted were hired back as civilians to do the same job. Some linguists of esoteric languages said piss on it and left it to the straights to figure out what the millions of Farsi, Arabic, Urdu, and other unread esoteric messages collected by NSA meant.



I have a suggestion. Let’s look at the results in best laboratory of all: Experience. While we have been dallying with, and often abusing DADT, other outfits here and around the world have either continued hiring gays or opened the door for them to serve openly. That would include the NSA, FBI, CIA, Congress, virtually all state and city police forces, and all the original 25 NATO members except two: USA and Turkey. Little of the disaster predicted took place.



As always when a politician digs in to face up to the overwhelming evidence, he resorts to jingoism. Refusing to follow the crowd and do what works for them evokes the bloviation "We are the greatest country on the face of the earth."



Wouldn’t it be wonderful to keep it that way by treating all our citizens fairly?



//Keith Taylor is long retired from the Navy after serving 23 years as an enlisted man and an officer. He can be reached at krtaylorxyz@aol.com

Fiction To Memoirs...New Books On The Way...

From Publishers Lunch Weekly:

FICTION
DEBUT...

Chrisopher Buehlman's THOSE ACROSS THE RIVER, set in 1935 about a World War I veteran facing the battle of his life when he moves south with his lover to a dying cotton town and is targeted in a gruesome murder spree by a band of depraved werewolves squatting on a dilapidated plantation that belonged to his notorious Civil War General great grandfather, to Tom Colgan at Berkley, in a very nice deal, in a pre-empt, for publication in Summer 2011, by Stephanie Lehmann at the Elaine Koster Agency (World English).

Rosie Dastgir's A SMALL FORTUNE, which explores the loves, struggles, and tensions in the lives of a Pakistani family, from rural Pakistan to urban England, with a fond but wry eye, pitched as reminiscent of Monica Ali or -- in the book's humor and lightness of touch -- Marina Lewycka, to Sarah McGrath at Riverhead, in a pre-empt, by Zoe Pagnamenta at the Zoe Pagnamenta Agency (NA).

THRILLER...

Julia Heaberlin's PLAYING DEAD, about a woman who receives a letter indicating that she may have been kidnapped as a baby and her whole life is a lie, and LIE STILL, about a rape victim whose past catches up to her as she becomes involved in a mystery in an exclusive Texas town, to Kate Miciak at Random House, in a very nice deal, by Pam Ahearn at Ahearn Agency (world).

GENERAL/OTHER...

Liz Moore's HEFT, a dual narrative about a deeply lonely 500-plus recluse and a seventeen year-old orphaned baseball phenom and the phone call that brought their two worlds together, pitched as in the vein of Elizabeth McCracken's The Giant's House and Peter Hedges's What's Eating Gilbert Grape, to Jill Bialosky at Norton, in a very nice deal, by Seth Fishman at Sterling Lord Literistic.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Matt Richtel's next two neuro-thrillers about the collision of cutting-edge brain research and high-technology, to Carl Lennertz at Harper, by Laurie Liss at Sterling Lord Literistic (World).

CHILDREN'S/MIDDLE GRADE...

Adam Rex's heavily illustrated trilogy, COLD CEREAL, in which the unlikeliest heroes - a boy who may be part changeling, twins involved in a bizarre secret experiment, and a clurichaun (NOT leprechaun) in a red tracksuit - try to save the world from an evil cereal company, whose ultimate goal is world domination, to Donna Bray at Balzer and Bray, by Steven Malk at Writers House.

NONFICTION:
HISTORY/POLITICS/CURRENT AFFAIRS:

Boston Globe deputy managing features editor Doug Most's THE RACE UNDERGROUND, about the competition between Boston and New York City to build the first subway in America, to Michael Flamini at St. Martin's, at auction, by Lane Zachary for Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary Agency (NA).

Author of NYT bestseller The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court, Jeffrey Toobin's THE OATH: THE SECRET STRUGGLE FOR THE SUPREME COURT, looking at the Court's "new personalities and new tensions" and the "battle between a conservative Court and a liberal President," to Phyllis Grann at Doubleday, for publication in 2012, by Esther Newberg at ICM.

MEMOIR...

Victor Villasenor's BEYOND RAIN OF GOLD, the follow-up to the NYT bestseller RAIN OF GOLD, a true-life One Hundred Years of Solitude for the 21st Century, focusing on the author's family history over many generations, including the author's experiences in writing the original bestseller, as a microcosm for the struggles of indigenous people throughout the world and how their plight and collective wisdom are reflected in the events predicted for 2012 and the world thereafter, to Reid Tracy at Hay House, for English and Spanish in the US, by William Gladstone at Waterside Productions.

New York Post reporter Susannah Cahalan's BRAIN ON FIRE, a terrifying, though ultimately triumphant first-person narrative of her inexplicable physical and mental breakdown and a medical mystery unraveled by a brilliant neurologist and specialist in the exploding field of autoimmune disease, to Hilary Redmon at Free Press, in a pre-empt, for publication in Fall 2012, by Larry Weissman at Larry Weissman Literary (world).

Film and TV actor Barbara Eden's JEANNIE OUT OF THE BOTTLE, a memoir of her colorful life and a remarkable Hollywood career spanning more than 50 years, including her own personal tragedies: the birth of a still-born son; her relationship with her verbally abusive, cocaine-addicted second husband; and the accidental heroin-induced death of her 35-year-old son just months before his wedding, written with Wendy Leigh, to Tina Constable at Crown Archetype, with Sydny Miner editing, for publication in spring 2011, by Dan Strone at Trident Media Group (NA).

Soleil Moon Frye (aka Punky Brewster)'s first book HAPPY CHAOS, a combination memoir/manual, with stories from from own unconventional childhood growing up in the limelight as a child star, and thematically linked anecdotes from her experiences as a parent of two young daughters, to Carrie Thornton at Dutton, for publication in summer 2011, by Andy McNicol at William Morris Endeavor.

NARRATIVE...

Rowan Jacobsen's A SHADOW ON THE GULF: The Endangered Soul of Our Last Great Estuary, with the Deepwater Horizon disaster as its focal point, a narrative of the rich natural history of the Gulf of Mexico and the unique human culture of its coasts, as both collide with the unmanageable mega-engineering of today's oil economy, to Kathy Belden at Bloomsbury, for publication in April 2011, by Russell Galen at Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary Agency (world).

Wrap...

We Share Our Intel Programs....

From Secrecy News:

DOD DIRECTIVE ALLOWS FOR GAO ACCESS TO INTEL PROGRAMS

The Obama White House has threatened to veto a pending intelligence bill if it includes a provision that would authorize the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to perform audits of intelligence programs at the request of Congress. But a Department of Defense Directive issued last week explicitly allows for GAO access to highly classified special access programs, including intelligence programs, under certain conditions.

The newly revised DoD Directive 5205.07 (pdf) on special access programs (SAPs) states that: "General [sic] Accountability Office (GAO) personnel shall be granted SAP access if: a. The Director, DoD SAPCO [SAP Central Office], concurs after consultation with the chair and ranking minority member of a defense or intelligence committee [and] b. The GAO nominee has the appropriate security clearance level."

In other words, the Pentagon's new directive permits what the Obama Administration is stubbornly striving to prevent, namely a role for the GAO in intelligence oversight.

DoD special access programs are the most tightly secured of all the Pentagon's classified programs. They include activities within three classified domains: intelligence, acquisition, and operations.

The previous version of the same DoD Directive (pdf) on special access programs, which was issued in 2006 and revised in 2008, made no mention of the GAO. However, a 2009 DoD Instruction (pdf) stated that classified DoD information on intelligence and counterintelligence "may be furnished to GAO representatives having a legitimate need to know." ("DoD Should Not 'Categorically" Deny GAO Access to Intelligence," Secrecy News, February 4, 2009.)

As an historical matter, GAO has long had access to classified DoD programs of the highest sensitivity, and has produced numerous reports on special access programs, including many in unclassified form. But the CIA and other non-DoD intelligence agencies have resisted GAO oversight.

"In practice, defense [intelligence] agencies do not adopt the 'hard line' CIA approach but generally seek to cooperate with GAO representatives," the late Stanley Moskowitz of the CIA wrote in a 1994 memorandum for the Director of Central Intelligence.

Most recently, the Senate Intelligence Committee reportedly said it would yield to the White House and would renounce any right to use the GAO in its oversight activities. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected that concession, and she has been insisting that a role for GAO in intelligence oversight must be recognized by the Administration. To a significant extent, considering the dominance of defense intelligence agencies within the intelligence community, one could say that it now has been so recognized. Only the details remain to be negotiated.

Wrap...

Deepwater Horizon Among Coming Books...

From Publishers Lunch Weekly:

FICTION
DEBUT....

Screenwriter of FANBOYS Ernie Cline's READY PLAYER ONE, pitched as Charlie & the Chocolate Factory set in the world of massive multiplayer gaming, TRON, and Hot Tub Time Machine, to Julian Pavia and Tina Pohlman at Crown, at auction, by Yfat Reiss Gendell at Foundry Literary + Media (NA).
At the same time, film rights optioned to Warner Bros. and Donald DeLine, at auction, with Cline co-producing and writing the screenplay.

Peter Troy's THE ODYSSEY OF ETHAN MCOWEN, opening in mid-nineteenth century Ireland during the Famine when a man sails to America, later joins the famous Fighting 69th Civil War brigade, and falls in love with a Spanish society girl turned abolitionist, before their stories entwine with the perilous journeys of two slaves, a seamstress in Virginia and a freedom-seeking carpenter and poet from South Carolina, and all four lives come together in upstate New York at the war's end, to Alison Callahan at Doubleday, by Marly Rusoff of Marly Rusoff & Associates (NA).

INSPIRATIONAL...

NYT bestselling author Cindy Woodsmall's next five Amish-themed novels, two stand-alone titles and a three-book series called AMISH THREADS, to Shannon Marchese at Waterbrook Multnomah, by Steve Laube at the Steve Laube Agency (world).

THRILLER...

AuthorBuzz founder and The Reincarnationist author M.J. Rose's THE BOOK OF LOST FRAGRANCES, a suspense novel that's the next in her Reincarnationist series, to Sarah Durand at Atria (and reuniting Rose with Judith Curr, her original publisher), in a three-book deal, for publication beginning in spring 2011, by Dan Conaway at Writers House (NA).

GENERAL/OTHER...

Ann Patchett's Conradian-inspired work set in the Amazonian jungle juxtaposing two female physicians whose separate quests lead them to hitherto unimaginable discoveries on both a personal and global scale, to Jonathan Burnham at Harper, for publication in 2011, by Lisa Bankoff at ICM (NA).


The Bug author Ellen Ullman's BY BLOOD, featuring an unnamed professor who rents an office in the bowels of 1970s San Francisco following his disgraced departure from academia; he begins eavesdropping on the therapy sessions of a young woman in the office next door, and as the story of her mysterious adoption leads back to Nazi Germany, his curiosity degenerates into obsession, to Sean McDonald at Farrar, Straus, by Jay Mandel of William Morris Endeavor.

NONFICTION..

COOKING...

James Beard Award-winning and Emmy Award-winning TV food personality Ming Tsai's SIMPLY MING ONE-POT MEALS: Quick, Healthy & Affordable Recipes, co-authored with Arthur Boehm, 80 recipes with an Asian twist -- every ingredient can be found at your local market, every recipe will track its salt and fat intakes, calories, and allergens (keeping it healthful), every dish will cost under $20, and you'll only have to use one vessel in which to cook, to Anja Schmidt of Kyle Books, for publication in November 2010,

HISTORY/POLITICS/CURRENT AFFAIRS...

The first book-length account of recent oil spill, DEEPWATER HORIZON: The Oil Disaster, Its Aftermath, and Our Future, by the executive director of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Peter Lehner, writing with Bob Deans, former head of the White House Correspondents Association, to John Oakes of OR Books, for publication September 20, 2010.

MEMOIR...

Tony Hendra and son Nick Hendra's book on basketball and life, documenting, exploring and celebrating the thrills, setbacks, excitement, tedium, hopes, dreams, stark realities, emotional highs and lows, timeless human truths, hilarious predicaments, and weird, touching or insane characters they have encountered during a journey which began in earnest six years ago and whose outcome is still unknown, to Patrick Mulligan and Bill Shinker at Gotham, for publication in Spring 2012, by James Fitzgerald at the James Fitzgerald Agency (world).

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's WHILE I WAS GROWING UP, her experiences and those of her family during and immediately after World War II, drawing on her own memories, her parents' written reflections, interviews with contemporaries, and other primary source materials, giving a child's view of the time and also an adult's broader perspective, to Tim Duggan at Harper, by Robert Barnett at Williams & Connolly (world).

NARRATIVE...

Sally Koslow's THE WANDER YEARS: A Mother's Display of Public Reflection, pitched in the spirit of I Feel Badly About My Neck, it combines interviews, personal observation, and social science, on the modern phenomenon of "adultescents" (kids who return to the nest after college until who knows when) from the point of view of their beleaguered parents, to Clare Ferraro and Carolyn Carlson at Viking, at auction, by Christy Fletcher at Fletcher & Company (NA).

SPORTS...

Sports Illustrated journalist David Epstein's THE SPORTS GENOME, exploring what genetics reveals about athletic performance, and questioning the correlation between effort and excellence, to David Moldawer at Current, at auction, by Scott Waxman at Waxman Literary Agency (NA).

Wrap...

Good Books Getting Ready For Market....

From Publishers Lunch Weekly:

FICTION....
DEBUT:

Faber & Faber writing academy student S.J. Watson's BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP, about a woman suffering from catastrophic memory loss, who for 20 years wakes up not knowing who she is, portraying the events of a week and the journal in which she is writing her memories, to Jonathan Burnham and Claire Wachtel at Harper and Selina Walker at Doubleday UK, at auction, by Clare Conville at Conville & Walsh

Rights to Michael Heyward at Text Publishing, for ANZ; Iris Tupholme at Harper Canada; Julia Schade at Fischer, at auction, in Germany; Mariaguilia Castagnone at Piemme, at auction, in Italy; Luciana Villas-Boas at Record in Brazil; Chris Herschdorfer at Ambo Anthos in Holland; Marie Misandeau at Sonatine in France; Sonia Draga at Draga, in Poland; Keter in Israel, by Gal Pikarski at the Pikarski Agency; and to Angela Sotiriou at Psichogios, in Greece. A film auction is looming.
Rights: jake@convilleandwalsh.com

Benjamin Buchholz's ONE HUNDRED AND ONE NIGHTS, a story presenting Iraq from the inside out, based on the author's personal experience of the Iraqi village of Safwan (where he worked as a Civil Affairs Officer), pitched as combining the topical immediacy of current work like The Kite Runner with the magical sensibilities of Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children, to Vanessa Kehren at Little, Brown, by Jon Sternfeld of the Irene Goodman Agency.


MYSTERY/CRIME:

Mystery Writers of America's DARK JUSTICE, an anthology of original fiction with stories by Michael Connelly, edited by Lee Child, and Dennis Lehane among others, which explores the right - and sometimes wrong - things that happen when men and women take the law into their own hands, to Michael Pietsch and Asya Muchnick at Little, Brown, by Howard Morhaim at the Howard Morhaim Literary Agency (NA).


THRILLER:

C.J. Carpenter's THE RETURNED and VIBRATIONS, featuring an Irish Catholic NYPD detective on the trail of a psychopath who is sending "good girls" to God by killing them, to Kate Miciak at Bantam Dell, by Doug Grad at the Doug Grad Literary Agency (World).


GENERAL/OTHER:

HUMMINGBIRDS author Joshua Gaylord's FRONTIERLAND, set in 1975 Orange County, interweaving the stories of a twelve year-old tomboy and an ex-beauty queen both searching for escape, moving to Marjorie Braman at Holt, by Josh Getzler at Russell & Volkening (World).

Candace Bushnell's THE TWO MRS. STONES, about a love triangle, for publication in 2012, and a second novel, moving to Deb Futter at Grand Central (which published the paperback of Sex and the City), by Heather Schroder at ICM (NA).

Nikolai Grozni's WUNDERKIND, pitched as if Holden Caulfield had been thrust into the world of a fifteen-year old piano prodigy, grappling with the numbing madness all around him at Sofia (Bulgaria)'s School for the Musically Gifted during the last two years before the fall of Communism in a beautiful, tragicomic celebration of art, honesty and self-discovery, to Wylie O'Sullivan at Free Press, in a pre-empt, for publication in 2011, by Rob McQuilkin at Lippincott Massie McQuilkin (World).


CHILDREN'S/YOUNG ADULT:

Author of HEX HALL Rachel Hawkins's REBEL BELLE, about a high school Miss Popularity whose world changes when a funny thing happens on the way to the (Homecoming) coronation: she's recruited into the Paladins, a supernatural sect of bodyguards sworn to protect those who will play an important role in the future, and charged with saving her archnemesis even if it means sacrificing her place as queen bee, to Ari Lewin at Disney-Hyperion, in a three-book deal, by Holly Root at Waxman Literary Agency (NA).

BUSINESS/INVESTING/FINANCE:

Adrian Slywotsky's DEMAND: What We Want, What We Get, And How the Connection Drives the World Economy, with Karl Weber, an analysis of the business, economic, social, psychological and sociological reasons that cause demand for a product or service to rise, fall or never happen, using a wide variety of stories about companies and individuals and how they understand markets, customers, and consumers in many dimensions in order to meet one of the great challenges of the new economic order, to John Mahaney at Crown, by Mel Berger at William Morris Endeavor (NA).

HUMOR:

The louder, larger half of magic duo Penn & Teller, novelist, comedian and producer of The Aristocrats, Penn Jillette's GOD, NO! SIGNS YOU MAY ALREADY BE AN ATHEIST AND OTHER MAGICAL TALES, a reinterpretation of the ten commandments that reveals one outspoken atheist's experience in the world -- from performing on the Vegas strip alongside Siegfried and Roy to children and fatherhood to his ongoing dialogue with proselytizers of the Christian Right and the joys of sex while scuba-diving, to Sarah Hochman at Simon & Schuster, for publication in November 2010, by Steve Fisher at APA (world).

MEMOIR:

Boyd Varty's IN THE FRONT GARDEN OF EDEN, about growing up at the remarkable Londolozi Game Reserve in South Africa, his larger-than-life family, and their relationship to the land, the animals, and to each other over four generations, to Susan Kamil at Random House, in a pre-empt, for publication in 2012, by Tina Bennett at Janklow & Nesbit (NA).

SCIENCE:

Professor Paul Zak's THE MORAL MOLECULE: Vampire Economics and the New Science of Good and Evil, the first book setting out his research in neuroeconomics, a field Zak helped create, taking a step beyond the recent popular discussion of behavioral economics, and revealing the underlying biology that drives our behavior -- precisely how our brains can foster trust, generosity, and other human connections (or not), as well as suggesting ways we can foster these connections at home, in business, and around the world, to Stephen Morrow at Dutton, in a pre-empt, by Linda Loewenthal of the David Black Literary Agency (World).

Wrap...

Keep the Good Guys...Send the Gang Members...

Had a thought this morning. Sitting on the patio at the restaurant where I have breakfast every morning, saw a mess of Marines with a mess of ribbons on their chests, walk in with families. Though they were smiling, their eyes were not.

These are the good guys, sent to war to kill for us. And now they have memories that hurt. So my thought was, why not send our gangs...they like killing. Let them go kill as much as they want and not send them to jail for it. Better them than the good guys.

Wrap...

"Let Me Say It Again..."

"The Help" a first novel by Kathryn Stockett is hands down the book everyone should read. It is unforgettable, incredible, infuriating...just a mind blower! And no, I'm not kidding. Nor am I gonna tell anything about it. Once begun, there's no way in hell to put it down until the last page is read. It's that fine a piece of work.

Wrap...

The #1 Novel of the Year...Bar None!

NOTE: "The Help" a first novel by Kathryn Stockett is hands down the book everyone should read. It is unforgettable, incredible, infuriating...just a mind blower! And no, I'm not kidding. Nor am I gonna tell anything about it. Once begun, there's no way in hell to put it down until the last page is read. It's that fine a piece of work.

From Publishers Lunch Weekly...

FICTION:

Poet and physician Amit Majmudar's PARTITIONS, set in 1947 during the chaotic and violent partition of India, about the journeys to safety of twin Hindu boys, a young Sikh girl, and a Muslim doctor, to Riva Hocherman at Metropolitan, for publication in Fall 2011, by Georges Borchardt at Georges Borchardt (NA).

Brian O'Reilly's ANGELINA'S BACHELORS, combining recipes with the story of a female widow, who creates a new life and livelihood from her primary passion: food, to Tricia Boczkowski at Gallery, by Lucinda Blumenfeld at Fletcher & Company (NA).

THRILLER:

Co-founder of Soho Press and author of The Trudeau Vector (2005) Juris Jurjevics's RED FLAGS, an espionage novel set in 1966, in which an Army CID (Criminal Investigation Division) special agent confronts drug running and corruption in the remote Central Highlands of Vietnam, to Tom Bouman at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, by Neil Olson at Donadio & Olson (NA).

GENERAL/OTHER:

TV personality Star Jones self-described "juicy novel" about the female hosts of a daytime talk show who learn that a former colleague -- who departed under mysterious circumstances, and is privy to all their backstage secrets -- is coming back with a splash, to Jennifer Bergstrom at Gallery, for publication in spring 2011, by Nancy Yost at Nancy Yost Literary Agency (world).

Those twenty unpublished stories required to make the New Yorker's writers list will be anthologized, with 20 UNDER 40: Stories from The New Yorker, to Farrar, Straus, for publication as a trade paperback original in December 2010.


Argentine novelist Eduardo Sacheri's THE QUESTION IN HER EYES, the basis for the recent Oscar-winning Best Foreign Film, El secreto de sus ojos, about a retired criminal investigator still haunted by the decades-old brutal rape and murder of a young married woman and its impact on the lives around her, including his own, to Judith Gurewich at Other Press, with Katie Henderson editing, in a pre-empt, by Tom Colchie on behalf of Ir�ne Barki (world English).

NONFICTION
ADVICE/RELATIONSHIPS:

Ellen Dolgen and Jack Dolgen's SHMIRSHKY: Think Inside the Box, originally self-published, a clever and humorous, yet entirely serious girlfriend's guide to perimenopause and menopause, inspired by the author's own struggles, to Barbara Jones at Voice, in a pre-empt, for publication in Winter 2011, by Trena Keating of Keating Literary and Sally Wofford-Girand of Brick House Literary Agents (NA).

COOKING:

Food writer Alana Chernila's THE BY HAND KITCHEN, a narrative-driven collection of recipes and family stories born of her modest budget, her love for sharing recipes with her farmer's market customers, and a desire to stop buying mass-produced supermarket foods for her young family and instead create simple, delicious meals by hand -- all of which are less expensive, more satisfying, and better for the environment and the soul, to Emily Takoudes at Clarkson Potter, at auction, by Rob Weisbach at Rob Weisbach Creative Management (NA).

HISTORY/POLITICS/CURRENT AFFAIRS:

Pulitzer prize winning co-author of TIGER FORCE Mitch Weiss and AP correspondent Kevin Maurer's NO WAY OUT: A story of heroism in the mountains of Afghanistan, about a Special Forces mission in which more Silver Stars were awarded to any unit in one battle since WWII, to Natalee Rosenstein at Berkley, by Scott Miller at Trident Media Group.

Author of Troublesome Young Men and Citizens of London Lynne Olson's THE GREAT DEBATE: Fighting for America's Soul, describing, by featuring the leading personalities involved, the 18 months prior to Pearl Harbor, when the US was deeply divided about whether to get involved in the European war effort or remain isolated, to Susanna Porter at Random House, by Gail Ross (world).

Hoover Institution senior fellow Thomas Sowell's DISMANTLING AMERICA, a look at the decline of the values and institutions that have sustained and advanced American society for more than two centuries; BASIC ECONOMICS, 4th ed.; and THE THOMAS SOWELL READER, an introductory volume to Sowell's variegated fields of interest and expertise, to John Sherer at Basic, by Carol Mann at the Carol Mann Agency (world).

HOW-TO:

Expert Jeff Eisenberg's THE BED BUG SURVIVAL GUIDE, from a man whose company has exterminated everything from Lincoln Center to Bll Clinton's NYC offices, plus over 100,000 private clients, the first book with advice on how to prevent and treat infestation by these newly ubiquitous creatures (whose victims cross all economic and social lines), to Diana Baroni at Grand Central, by Mary Evans at Mary Evans and Tanya McKinnon at Victoria Sanders & Associates (world).

ILLUSTRATED/ART:

Metallica's lead guitarist Kirk Hammett's TOO MUCH HORROR BUSINESS, an intriguing view into the mind of a horror-obsessed, superstar guitar hero and his legendary collection of horror movie poster art & memorabilia, the largest private collection in the world, to David Cashion at Abrams, by Frank Weimann at The Literary Group (World).

MEMOIR:

Demi Moore's currently untitled book, chronicling her life and career, promising a candid narrative that will be framed by her complicated relationship with her mother, Virginia King, who died in 1998, and her own experiences as a mother to three daughters, to Jonathan Burnham at Harper, with Jennifer Barth editing, in a major deal, for over $2 million according to Crain's, for publication in 2012, by Luke Janklow at Janklow & Nesbit (world).

Legendary rocker and original KISS lead guitarist Ace Frehley's memoir NO REGRETS, covering his childhood in the Bronx, his ups-and-downs and influences which catapulted him into a life of sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll, and what is was like to be one of the founding members of one of the most influential bands, to Jeremie Ruby-Strauss for VH1 Books, for publication in Summer 2011, by Frank Weimann at The Literary Group (world).

Wrap...

Ah, the Intel Secrets....

From Secrecy News:

DECLASSIFICATION AND THE "CRISIS" IN INTEL HISTORY

The ongoing failure to establish a robust, reliable and productive declassification program is steadily eroding the study of intelligence history and may lead to the collapse of the entire field, one intelligence historian told the National Security Agency last month.

"I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that we're at a crisis point in the study of intelligence history in general, and signals intelligence history in particular; because there is a very real question of whether any serious historians outside of the intelligence community are going to continue trying to research and understand and write about this subject at all," said author Stephen Budiansky in an invited lecture at the National Cryptologic Museum at Fort Meade on May 24.

"The critical mass of scholars willing to invest the considerable energy required to master the technicalities of a complex and often difficult-to-understand subject is dwindling in the face of the impossibility of making a career in a field where the primary sources -- notably nearly all documents relating to the post-World War II period -- are locked away and no longer forthcoming."

"As my fellow intelligence historian David Alvarez recently remarked to me, Dave Kahn [author of the pioneering book 'The Codebreakers'] may have the unique distinction of having created an entire new field of study, watched it blossom, and lived to see its demise," Mr. Budiansky said.

"Alvarez said with only slight exaggeration that almost no one is working in the field of intelligence history any more. 'Even the crazies seem to have lost energy,' he said. He was recently on a panel to award a prominent prize for the best paper in any aspect of cryptologic history. Well past the deadline, they had received no entries at all."

The main thrust of Mr. Budiansky's lecture, entitled "What's the Use of Cryptologic History?" (and not yet published), was not a plea for favoritism toward intelligence historians, but rather an argument for the importance of intelligence history -- to the general understanding of history, and to the practice of intelligence itself.

As it happens, a new effort to expedite the declassification of historical records is now underway at the new National Declassification Center. The Center has been tasked by President Obama with eliminating the backlog of more than 400 million pages of classified records that are more than 25 years old by the end of 2013.

Millions of newly declassified pages should be publicly available by the end of this month and each month thereafter, said Assistant Archivist Michael Kurtz on a conference call on June 4.

This is a well-intentioned effort that will almost certainly yield a significant increase in public access to declassified records. But it also seems biased towards secrecy in two unfortunate ways.

First, the review of the backlog will be conducted on a Pass/Fail basis, Mr. Kurtz said. That means that if a document contains any classified information at all, even a single word or number, the entire document will be withheld from release. This approach may be necessary in order to gain some traction on the enormous backlog and to avoid getting bogged down in details. But the regrettable consequence is that none of the unclassified contents of many partly classified documents will be disclosed through this process. (The documents may be redacted for release at a later time through a Freedom of Information Act request or through a subsequent declassification review.)

Second, the documents that do pass the review and are declassified will be subjected to two quality control audits to ensure that no classified information has inadvertently passed through. One audit will be performed by the Archives and a second audit will be done by the Department of Energy. On the other hand, however, there will be no audit of withheld records to ensure that no unclassified record has been unnecessarily kept secret. In effect, the process is tilted towards minimizing disclosures of classified information rather than maximizing disclosures of unclassified information.

The National Archives has prepared a draft prioritization plan to guide its declassification activities, and has invited public input on the plan. A public forum on the subject will be held on June 23.

Wrap...

More On Wall St & Our Newspapers...

Go here to read the full LA Times story on Wall Street's Hedge Funds buying our newspapers:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-tribune-20100606,0,7572272,full.story

Wrap...

Now Wall St Corps Buy Newspapers....

We'd damned well better pay some attention here. An LA Times article in their Business section this morning...June 6th...reports that some big outfits on Wall Street are about to purchase our newspapers!!! They're talking consolidation of say, the LA Times with the Orange County Register.

Well, a corporation named Platinum has already purchased the San Diego Union-Tribune and as a San Diego person, I can tell you that the paper is a disaster. Even Platinum has come to realize that since any number of subscribers have concelled their subscriptions.

Wrap...

Justice Stevens And Habeas....

From Secrecy News...

THE JURISPRUDENCE OF JUSTICE JOHN PAUL STEVENS

"Justice John Paul Stevens played a pivotal role in determining the scope of executive-branch power in a post-9/11 world," observed the Congressional Research Service in one of a series of new reports reviewing the legacy and impact of Justice Stevens, who is set to retire from the Supreme Court next month.

"Justice Stevens authored majority opinions in two leading cases, Rasul v. Bush and Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, in which the Court allowed detainees' habeas petitions to proceed and invalidated the early incarnation of military commissions, thereby rejecting the broader views of executive power articulated shortly after the 9/11 attacks. In the cases, his view prevailed over strongly articulated dissenting opinions authored by Justice Scalia and other justices," the CRS noted.

"Justice Stevens has been instrumental in developing post-9/11 jurisprudence regarding the limits of executive power during -- and following -- armed conflicts. Prior to 9/11, the Supreme Court had rarely considered questions regarding potential limits on the President's Commander in Chief power. The wartime detention cases provide key insights into the Court's views on the reach of executive authority, as well as on other separation-of-power concerns, including Congress's role."

However, a portion of this legacy on detainees' rights may already be subject to limitation or erosion. Last week, a federal appeals court ruled that detainees held abroad by the U.S. military in Afghanistan -- unlike those in Guantanamo -- could not invoke habeas corpus to appear before a judge.

See "The Jurisprudence of Justice John Paul Stevens: Leading Opinions on Wartime Detentions" (pdf), May 13, 2010.

The companion reports from CRS are these (all pdf):

"The Jurisprudence of Justice John Paul Stevens: Selected Federalism Issues," May 19, 2010.

"The Jurisprudence of Justice John Paul Stevens: Selected Opinions on Intellectual Property Law," May 14, 2010.

"The Jurisprudence of Justice John Paul Stevens: The Constitutionality of Congressional Term Limits and the Presidential Line Item Veto," May 18, 2010.

Congress has forbidden CRS to make these and other publications directly available to the public online. Copies were obtained by Secrecy News.


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

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

To SUBSCRIBE to Secrecy News, go to:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/subscribe.html

To UNSUBSCRIBE, go to
http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/unsubscribe.html

Wrap...

Thinking About Things....

Sunday Afternoon: San Diego, CA...

Right off the top, I could give two hoots in hell about whether Supreme Judge nominee, Kagen, is a lesbian or not. That has absolutely nothing to do with her brainpower, which is considerable. In my opinion, she should be nominated for that position right quick.

The Texas Schoolboard...the whole mess of them...need their heads examined. It's pretty plain that they couldn't care less about the quality of education Texas kids get so long as the boards' ideologic opinions as expressed in those books make their way into the kids' heads and therefore, their beliefs. It's assinine. Problem: What to do about it?

So yes. Russia has sealed off gushing oil wells by bombing them. It works. Don't necessarily have to use a nuke to do it. The bunker-buster bomb ought to be powerful enough to do the job, so let's get on with it.

Now here's a question: Are the drones, currently in use especially near the Pakistan border, a good thing or not? I really don't know. Yes, they save American lives, but no, they kill innocent people...both in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Which brings us to Osama bin Laden, the cause of the Afghanistan War. Nobody knows where the hell he is. And we'll probably never find him. Money is not his problem. He's a part of the Saudi royal family, so he's set for life. Al Queda is a problem, but I'm not too sure about the Taliban...bastards tho they are to women. Far as I'm concerned, let Karzai and his government deal with them. Thing to do is get our guys outta there. We're just treading water as it is. NATO certainly wouldn't object to getting their people out either. We're not doing a bit of good there, so what's the point?

It was good that President Obama invited the Mexican President, Calderon, to visit the White House. Fact of the matter is, Mexico wouldn't be having the drug cartels shooting everybody and their brother along the border if the US legalized drugs and stopped shipping guns down there. As it is, we're after their illegal drugs and they're after money and guns. It's sort of a similar situation we had during alcohol prohibition. The only way that situation was solved was through legalization. Same with drugs now. So we'd have more car accidents, etc. same as with drinking. And they yell about smoking! At least it doesn't alter/drug your brain like drugs or drinking.

Wrap...

Problem Solving At the DOD....

From Secrecy News...

Basic scientific research sponsored by the Department of Defense has suffered a precipitous decline in recent years, according to a newly disclosed 2009 report (pdf) from the JASON defense advisory panel.

"Basic research" refers to the investigation of fundamental phenomena, and contrasts with "applied research" that aims to meet a specific mission requirement or to solve a specified problem.

"Over the past decade, there has been an exodus of scientific and technical expertise from the U.S. government and, in particular, from the DoD [basic] research enterprise," the JASONs said.

"Gone are many of the technically literate program officers who plied the streets of the scientific community to find those remarkable people who could help shape the future. Gone too are many of the scientists and engineers in the academic community [who were supported by DoD basic research contracts] and who contributed to revolutionary advances that changed the landscape of modern war fighting. And most importantly, lost is the opportunity to develop the next generation of scientific talent who would otherwise have been trained and capable of carrying the research enterprise forward."

“Despite the importance of DoD Basic Research, we believe that important aspects of the DoD basic research programs are ‘broken’ to an extent that neither throwing more money at these problems nor simple changes in procedures and definitions will fix them,” the report said.

The JASONs nevertheless offer a series of recommendations concerning program organization and personnel recruitment to strengthen basic research. Among other things, they say that DoD should reject the "peer review" model for evaluating funding decisions, since that tends to reinforce the status quo, and should instead provide funding to exceptional individuals. They favorably cite Nobel laureate Luis Alvarez saying: "In my considered opinion the peer review system, in which proposals rather than proposers are reviewed, is the greatest disaster to be visited upon the scientific community this century...."

The JASON report was originally marked "for official use only." When the Federation of American Scientists requested it last year under the Freedom of Information Act, most of the document was withheld as "deliberative." But upon appeal, DoD agreed this month to release the entire report. To accompany the release, Alan R. Shaffer, Director of Defense Research and Engineering, issued a cover memorandum stating that the JASON report was "one perspective" among several and that it was not based on a comprehensive data set.

See "S & T for National Security," JASON Summer Study, completed May 2009, released May 2010.

Wrap...

Unusual Books Coming...

From Publishers Lunch Weekly...

FICTION:
DEBUT:

David Whitehouse's debut novel, BED, to Paul Whitlatch at Scribner, by Claudia Ballard on behalf of Cathryn Summerhayes at William Morris Endeavor.
UK/Commonwealth rights to Francis Bickmore at Canongate, by Cathryn Summerhayes.

SCI-FI/FANTASY:

Greg van Eekhout's THE OSTEOMANCER'S SON, to Patrick Nielsen Hayden at Tor, in a very nice deal, in a three-book deal, by Caitlin Blasdell at Liza Dawson Associates (NA).

THRILLER:

MI6 field operative Matthew Dunn's international espionage thriller, which features a spy out to avenge his father's death and capture a brilliant and ruthless Iranian spy, to David Highfill at William Morrow, in pre-empt, for publication in summer 2011, on the same day UK rights were pre-empted by Rowland White at Orion, by Luigi Bonomi, by Susan Howe at Orion (NA).

GENERAL/OTHER:

Italian bestseller and Premio Strega finalist Silvia Avallone's ACCIAIO (STEEL), a novel of two best friends growing up in a working-class seaside town in the shadow of a steel mill, who dream of escaping together to the island of Elba, to Alessandra Lusardi at Viking, by Sonia Finotello at Rizzoli (world English).

NON-FICTION...
BUSINESS/INVESTING/FINANCE:

Jeff Ryan's SUPER MARIO: AN UNOFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY, a colorful history of Nintendo in America detailing the plot-twisted saga worthy of a video game that gave rise to the most successful franchise in the history of video games, if not entertainment, to Courtney Young of Portfolio, in a pre-empt, for publication is planned for 2012, by Lynn Johnston at Lynn Johnston Literary.

COOKING:

Baker and star of the TLC show, CAKE BOSS, Buddy Valastro CAKE BOSS: Stories and Recipes from Mia Famiglia, sharing his family's inspiring and poignant life story as a hard-working family realized their patriarch's dream of making their bake shop a household name, along with 25 recipes for the bakery's most popular treats, to Leslie Meredith at Free Press, for publication in November 2010, followed by a Cake Boss baking cooking for publication in November 2011, from Maura Teitelbaum of Abrams Artists Agency and Erin Niumata of Folio Literary Management.

HUMOR:

Comedian and writer Moshe Kasher's KASHER IN THE RYE, a comedic story exploring the universal themes of being raised by deaf parents, being kidnapped by his mother to live in the predominantly African-American neighborhood of Oakland, and embarking on a whirlwind tour of drug addiction, gangs and lock-down institutions at the age of twelve, to Ben Greenberg at Grand Central, by Richard Abate and Josh Lieberman at 3 Arts Entertainment.

MEMOIR:

Roger Ebert's memoir covering his life and career, including his relationship with Gene Siskel, his nearly fatal illness and the loss of the ability to speak or eat, and the numerous celebrities he has met and befriended, to Mitch Hoffman at Grand Central, for publication in 2011, by Joel Gotler and Brian Lipson at Intellectual Property Group (world).

Emmy award-winning actor Joe Pantoliano's THE GREAT DEPRESSION, experiences with being his mother's son, making it in Hollywood, coping with mental illness, and finding the path to recovery, to Judy Hottensen at Weinstein Books, by David Vigliano at Vigliano Associates.

POP CULTURE:

Journalists Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum's I WANT MY MTV, pitched as in the style of the book Live from New York, an oral history of MTV with exusive interviews from music and network executives, performers, managers, and fans to chronicle the heyday of the network from its founding in 1981 through the launch of The Real World in 1992, commissioned by Carrie Thornton at Dutton, for publication in 2011, by PJ Mark at Janklow & Nesbit (world)

Wrap...

Most Unusual Website....

New website!!! And a really interesting one. Surprised nobody has had this idea before that I know of.

The owner, Miles, says:

"my site is finally hot. it's not anywhere near finished but if you want to take a gander it's at:



http://www.mb1media.com "

Oh, you betcha!
Wrap...

Who's Plane Is This Anyhow?

Hah! A friend of mine recently flew back from Virginia. Here's what he saw:

So, I know the economy has been particularly rough on the airlines this past year, but
check this out:

My US Air ticket said in small print "Carrier: United Airlines" (?) so I had to literally board a United jet...It's an old commuter jet and the seats are all embossed with America West's logo. I look at the emergency procedure card in the seat back pocket and it says Mesa Airlines and when the flight attendant gives her spiel, states that the flight is operated by Canadian Air...huh???

Talk about Corporate America consolidating!

Wrap...

Different Books Coming Up.....

From Publishers Lunch Weekly...

FICTION
DEBUT....

2010 Bellwether winner Naomi Benaron's RUNNING THE RIFT, about a young Rwandan man training for his ultimate dream -- the Olympics -- amid the rising tensions of Rwanda that ultimately lead to the devastating 1994 genocide, to Kathy Pories at Algonquin, by Daniel Lazar at Writers House (World).

Erika Marks's LITTLE GALE GUMBO, in which a woman and her two teenage daughters leave an abusive home in New Orleans to start over again in a quiet Maine town where they open an authentic Creole restaurant that becomes a mainstay on the island, as does the legacy of an unlikely love affair that results in secrets that test the limits of lifelong friendships and unrequited love, to Danielle Perez at NAL, in a two-book deal, by Rebecca Gradinger at Fletcher & Company (World).

GENERAL/OTHER:

Orange Prize shortlisted author Monique Roffey's THE WHITE WOMAN ON THE GREEN BICYCLE, set in postcolonial Trinidad, an exploration of political unrest in the wake of colonial rule, as seen through the eyes a married couple and the wife's undelivered letters to Eric Williams, the island's charismatic leader, to Alexis Washam at Penguin, for publication in August 2011, by Melissa Chinchillo at Fletcher & Company, on behalf of Isobel Dixon at Blake Friedmann (US).

Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson and photographer Art Wolfe's OF DOGS AND MEN: A 15,000 YEAR ROMANCE, an illustrated celebration of the ancient and universal bond between dogs and humans, to Nancy Miller at Bloomsbury, in a good deal, for publication in fall 2011, by Peter Beren at Peter Beren Publishing, representing Art Wolfe, and Andy Ross at Andy Ross Agency, representing Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson (world).


CHILDREN'S/YOUNG ADULT:

Tara Hudson's HEREAFTER trilogy, about an eighteen-year-old whose afterlife is forever altered the night she saves a boy from drowning and suddenly finds herself haunting the all-too-willing boy, who not only sees her but is determined to reintroduce her to the world of the living, to Barbara Lalicki at Harper Children's, in a pre-empt, for publication in Summer 2011, by Catherine Drayton at Inkwell Management.
Film: Matthew Snyder at Creative Artists Agency

NYT bestselling YA author of LITTLE BROTHER and FOR THE WIN Cory Doctorow's PIRATE CINEMA, a story of teens on the raw cutting edge of the Internet, pirates who set out to save the world from Hollywood and Hollywood from itself, to Patrick Nielsen Hayden at Tor Children's, for publication in 2011, by Russell Galen at Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary Agency (NA).
Foreign: Baror International

BIOGRAPHY:

Author of the forthcoming FIFTH AVENUE, 5 A.M., Sam Wasson's BYE BYE LIFE: The Loves and Deaths of Bob Fosse, poised to be the definitive biography of the legendary choreographer whose legacy extends across the worlds of dance, theater, film, and television, with an off-stage life that was fueled by pills, drugs, and serial infidelity, and whose fingerprints on popular culture remain indelible, to George Hodgman at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, in a pre-empt, by David Halpern at The Robbins Office (NA).

BUSINESS/INVESTING/FINANCE:

Aaron Dignan's GAME FACE: UNLOCKING THE POWER OF GAME MECHANICS IN EVERYDAY LIFE, explaining how to use our naturally hard-wired affinity for play to improve our society and incentivize productive behavior in routine activities, using scenarios that range from "How can I exercise more/drive traffic to my store/improve employee work ethic/improve airline passenger boarding" to successful case studies, including the new dashboard screens on the Prius, the FourSquare app, Target's checkout system, and a reexamination of popular cases like Nike+, to Amber Qureshi at Free Press, by Meg Thompson at LJK Literary Management (World English).

COOKING:

Lisa Fain's THE HOMESICK TEXAN COOKBOOK, based on a blog of the same name, documenting her trials recreating Texas food in Manhattan with photos, stories and recipes, to Elisabeth Dyssegaard at Hyperion, with Leslie Wells editing, in a pre-empt, for
publication in September 2011, by Brettne Bloom at Kneerim & Williams (NA).

Founder of a gourmet ice cream company in Columbus, OH whose unique seasonal flavors have been hailed by Food & Wine magazine, the New York Times, and Food Network, Jeni Britton Bauer's JENI'S SPLENDID ICE CREAMS: Artisanal American Ice Creams for the Home Kitchen, showing home chefs how to create artisanal quality American-style ice cream in their own kitchens, to Ann Bramson at Artisan, at auction, by Jonah Straus at Straus Literary (world English).

PARENTING:

Vanity Fair deputy editor and journalist Bruce Handy's book on reading children's books -- an historical and erudite look at the classic books we read as kids and reread to our own children and why; a humorous and personal narrative about rediscovering lasting stories with his own kids, and a guide to reading the children's canon, from GOODNIGHT MOON to HARRY POTTER and beyond, to Sarah Hochman at Simon & Schuster, for publication in spring 2013, by Jennifer Joel at ICM.

Wrap...

On Classified Information....

From Secrecy News...

A TUTORIAL ON THE CLASSIFIED INFO PROCEDURES ACT

Last week, prosecutors in the case of Thomas A. Drake, the former NSA official who is charged with unlawfully retaining classified information that he allegedly disclosed to a reporter, asked the court to hold a pre-trial conference on the use of the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA) in that case.

CIPA was passed by Congress in 1980 to regulate the disclosure of classified information in criminal prosecutions, such as espionage cases, and to prevent so-called "graymail," in which a defendant threatens to release classified information in the hope of forcing the government to abandon the case.

In a nutshell, CIPA requires the defense to notify prosecutors and the court of any classified evidence it intends to introduce. Courts must then determine if the classified evidence is admissible. If so, the government may propose an unclassified substitution that does not involve classified information. But if the court finds that the unclassified substitution is inadequate to preserve the defendant's right to a fair trial, and if the Attorney General objects to disclosure of the classified version, then the indictment may be dismissed.

Perhaps assuming that the judge (or the defense) was unfamiliar with the law, prosecutors in the Thomas Drake case filed a motion (pdf) explaining the meaning of each section of CIPA.

The purpose of their CIPA tutorial was "to inform the Court of the applicability of CIPA and its procedures to issues involving classified information that will arise before and during the trial of this case," they wrote. See "Government's Motion for Pretrial Conference Under Section 2 of the Classified Information Procedures Act," May 5, 2010.

The development and early history of CIPA were reviewed by the Congressional Research Service in a March 2, 1989 report entitled "Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA): An Overview."

The use of CIPA to preserve defendants' rights while protecting classified information in criminal trials presents a stark contrast with the absence of any comparable procedure in civil trials, particularly those in which the government invokes the state secrets privilege to prevent the use of classified evidence.

"For almost 30 years, courts have effectively applied [CIPA] to make criminal trials fairer and safer," the Senate Judiciary Committee noted in a 2008 report on the pending State Secrets Protection Act. "Yet in civil cases, litigants have been left behind."

"Congress has failed to provide clear rules or standards for determining whether evidence is protected by the state secrets privilege. We've failed to develop procedures that will protect injured parties and also prevent the disclosure of sensitive information. Because use of the state secrets privilege has escalated in recent years, there's an increasing need for the judiciary and the Executive to have clear, fair, and safe rules," the Judiciary Committee report said.

A legislative response to the problems posed by the unilateral use of the state secrets privilege by the executive branch remains to be accomplished.

Wrap...

But Not Always Accidental....

From Secrecy News:

RISE IN FRATRICIDE SEEN IN THE WAR ON TERROR

Incidents of fratricide in the U.S. war on terrorism increased in recent years, according to a new report (pdf) from the U.S. Army.

"Fratricide" -- the unintended killing or injury of friendly forces -- "is a harsh reality during combat operations," the study states. "Over the course of 2004-2007, the number of fratricide incidents increased, and experts speculate this is due to the high operational tempo and the reliance on technology during the current war."

According to official data, "there were 55 U.S. Army fratricide incidents from 11 September 2001 to 30 March 2008. Forty of these were Class A accidents" -- involving damage costs of $2 million or more and/or destruction of an Army aircraft, missile or spacecraft and/or fatality or permanent total disability -- "resulting in the deaths of 30 U.S. Army personnel."

Human error is a primary causal factor in many fratricide incidents, the study indicated, and "therefore, human error must be considered in the design and development of fratricide countermeasures, including both technical and human-centric solutions... Improved supervision and leadership may have the greatest potential to reduce U.S. fratricide incidents."

See "An Analysis of U.S. Army Fratricide Incidents during the Global War on Terror (11 September 2001 to 31 March 2008)" by Catherine M. Webb and Kate J. Hewett, U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory, March 2010.

Wrap...

UGH!

From Voice of San Diego...

Two area congressmen had some interesting things to say about illegal immigration in the last few days. U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter on Saturday told a Tea Party gathering that he supports deporting the children of illegal immigrants -- even if they are U.S. citizens by birth. The North County Times confirmed his quote and, though the Constitution seems to be clear that anyone born in the country gets citizenship, Hunter said it should take more to be a citizen. And U.S. Rep. Brian Bilbray, responding to questions about Arizona's new immigration law -- which gives police the mandate to check the residency status of anyone they might suspect of not having proper documents -- said law enforcement can tell if someone is here illegally by the clothes they wear and how they act among many factors.

Note: Both Repug assholes.

Wrap...

And Still More Books On the Way....

From Publishers Lunch Weekly:

FICTION:
DEBUT....

Longtime CNN anchor Kitty Pilgrim's SINCLAIR, tracking abrilliant archaeologist and a renowned oceanographer as they join forces with a team of virologists trying to decode the genome of the deadly 1918 influenza pandemic, to Nan Graham and Roz Lippel at Scribner, in a two-book deal, by Mort Janklow at Janklow & Nesbit (World).

THRILLER...

O.J. Simpson prosecutor and NYT bestselling author Marcia Clark's debut GUILT BY ASSOCIATION, to Judy Clain at Little, Brown, in a pre-empt, in a two-book deal, for publication in Spring 2011, by Dan Conaway at Writers House (World).

Thomas Koloniar's CANNIBAL REIGN, in a post asteroidal world where the sun has ceased to shine and human kind has begun to savagely feed upon itself, the last five green berets on earth have chosen to make a stand, to Matthew Benjamin at William Morrow, for publication in 2011, by Ian Kleinert at Objective Entertainment (NA).

GENERAL/OTHER...

Liza Palmer's WHITE PICKET FENCES AND OTHER CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, about a teacher at a private school whose world is rocked when her school's seemingly perfect new headmistress is killed by her seemingly perfect husband; and THE LAST SUPPER CLUB about an aspiring chef who, after a disastrous attempt to make it in NY, drags herself back to Texas, taking a job preparing last meals for condemned prisoners (simultaneously being developed by the agency's film/tv department as a television series), to Carrie Feron at William Morrow, by Christy Fletcher at Fletcher & Company.

Arturo Perez-Reverte's THE SIEGE, set during Napoleon's famous 19th-century siege of Cadiz, the only Spanish city never to fall to the French, to Jennifer Hershey at Random House, by Howard Morhaim at Howard Morhaim Literary Agency on behalf of Raquel de la Concha (NA).

Lorna Graham's THE GHOST OF GREENWICH VILLAGE, the story of a woman who moves to Manhattan in search of romance and excitement, only to find that her apartment is haunted by the cantankerous ghost of an old Beat Generation writer who wants her help in finishing his life's work, all as she tries to balance a new job at a morning news show, a budding friendship with a legendary fashion designer, and a search for clues to her mother's past, to Jennifer Smith at Ballantine Trade Paperbacks, at auction, for publication in Summer 2011, by Susan Golomb at the Susan Golomb Agency (World).

NONFICTION:
ADVICE/RELATIONSHIPS...

Author of the NYT bestseller Beautiful Boy, David Sheff's THE THIRTEENTH STEP, drawing on recent research and stories of the author's own and others' experiences to show what's wrong with how we approach addiction today and the best ways to treat and prevent it, again to Eamon Dolan at Penguin Press, for publication in spring 2011, by Amanda Urban of ICM.

BIOGRAPHY...

Garry Wills' THE SPIRITUAL CROSSING, a biography of the site of St. Augustine's baptism, to Stefan Vranka at Oxford University Press, by Andrew Wylie at The Wylie Agency.

HUMOR...

Star, writer, and producer of The Office, Mindy Kaling's THE CONTENTS OF MY PURSE, a series of comic essays, drawing in part on her blog "Things I Bought That I Love," sharing personal moments -- such as her ode to the most romantic moment in any relationship (when you can scrub your makeup off before you go to sleep and not feel self-conscious), a piece about the dress she can't wear anymore because it reminds her of one of her most embarrassing public moments, and the story of the day she was horrified to learn her boyfriend could fit into her jeans, to Suzanne O'Neill at Crown, for publication in fall 2011, by Richard Abate and Howard Klein at 3 Arts Entertainment (world).

MEMOIR...

Olympic gold medal gymnast Dominique Moceanu's OFF BALANCE, revealing the often-dark underbelly of Olympic gymnastics, her controversial "divorce" from her parents at age 17 -- and the recent shocking revelation that forced her to reexamine everything she thought she knew about her family and the sport she loves, to Michelle Howry at Touchstone Fireside, for publication in 2012, by Stephanie Abou at Foundry Literary + Media.

Figure-skating champion (and star of a reality show on the Sundance Channel) Johnny Weir's collection of entertaining anecdotes and essays about "everything from pop culture to skating to fashion to Johnny himself," to Jennifer Bergstrom at Gallery, for publication in January 2011, by Dan Strone at Trident Media Group (world).

Singer Susan Boyle's THE WOMAN I WAS BORN TO BE, about her unlikely journey to stardom, to Atria, by Richard Pine at Inkwell Management, and to Transworld in the UK, for publication in fall 2010, by Mark Lucas at Lucas Alexander Whitley.

NARRATIVE...

Roseanne Montillo's THE LADY AND HER MONSTERS, pitched as in the tradition of The Professor and the Madman, about the creation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, combining literary history with the story of the real life occultists and mad scientists who inspired Shelley to write her gothic masterpiece, to Henry Ferris at William Morrow, in a pre-empt, by Jake Bauman at Rob Weisbach Creative Management (NA).
Foreign: Jenny Meyer Literary Agency

Wrap...

A Selection of Good Books Coming...

From Publishers Lunch Weekly...

FICTION
DEBUT...

Zoetrope All-Story Short Fiction Contest winner Bernie McGill's first novel THE BUTTERFLY CABINET, based on a true event, revealing what really happened on the last day in the life of 4-year-old girl, from the alternating points of view of her mother, accused of killing her, and a former nanny who wants to unburden herself of a 70-year secret, to Wylie O'Sullivan at Free Press, for publication in summer 2011, by Anna Stein on behalf of Clare Alexander at Aitken Alexander Associates (NA).

Matthew Olshan's MARSHLANDS, a tale of occupation, assimilation and treason pitched as in the tradition of Coetzee's WAITING FOR THE BARBARIANS, beginning with a doctor's release from prison and moving backward in time to discover the nature of his crime, to Courtney Hodell at Farrar, Straus, by Seth Fishman at Sterling Lord Literistic (World).

Len Rosen's ALL CRY CHAOS, in which an aging interpol agent is investigating the bizarre murder of a famous Harvard mathematician and the confounding equation he left behind when a terrifying Bosnian war criminal exacts revenge from behind bars at the Hague and has his men hunt down his family, testing him like Job, until he begins to wonder if the cases are connected by a higher power, to Martin Shepard at The Permanent Press, by Eve Bridburg and Todd Shuster at Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary Agency (World).

PARANORMAL:

Julie Kenner, writing as J.K. Beck's books four through six in her soon-to-be-published Shadow Keeper series of paranormal romances about an age-old judicial system that is hidden within and mirrors our own, to Shauna Summers at Bantam Dell, by Kimberly Whalen at Trident Media Group (world).

THRILLER:

Kate Taylor's A MAN IN UNIFORM, a historical thriller novel set in 19th century Paris, told against the backdrop of a country struggling to redefine itself after the Dreyfus Affair scandal, to John Glusman at Harmony, for publication in December 2010, by Dean Cooke at The Cooke Agency (US).


GENERAL/OTHER:

Alison Pick's FAR TO GO, an epic historical novel set during the lead-up to Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia and the fate of one Jewish family, to Claire Wachtel at Harper Perennial, by Barbara Howson at House of Anansi Press.

Author of Bound South and A Soft Place to Land Susan Rebecca White's A PLACE AT THE TABLE, set in New York and Atlanta about the literary and culinary vanguards of those cities in the twentieth century, to Trish Todd at Touchstone Fireside, in a two-book deal, by Rebecca Oliver at William Morris Endeavor (World English).

Filmmaker John Sayles' long-shopped long historical novel, SOME TIME IN THE SUN, set during the U.S. occupation of the Phillippines at the turn of the twentieth century, to Dave Eggers at McSweeney's, in a nice deal, for publication in Fall 2011, by Anthony Arnove at Roam Agency (world English).

Paul Harding's ENON, set in the same fictional town as his Pulitzer-winning TINKERS, to Susan Kamil for Random House, at auction, sold at the end of 2009, in a two-book deal, by Ellen Levine at Trident Media Group (US).

UK CHILDREN'S:

Elizabeth George's first series for young adults, starting with THE EDGE OF NOWHERE, to Tim Hely-Hutchinson at Hachette UK, for four books, for publication beginning in 2011, by Robert Gottlieb at Trident Media Group (UK/Commonwealth).

NONFICTION

BUSINESS/INVESTING/FINANCE:

Wired magazine editor Chris Anderson's THE NEW INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION, the story of how entrepreneurs are using web principles to rejuvenate manufacturing - and the economy - through open source, custom-fabrication and do-it-yourself design, predicting that we are about to see the collective potential of a million garage tinkerers unleashed on global markets, to John Mahaney at Crown, by John Brockman of Brockman (NA).

Business school professor and Deadhead Barry Barnes's MANAGEMENT SECRETS OF THE GRATEFUL DEAD, analyzing the band's remarkable thirty-year career, particularly their influence on the business world and the ways in which they pioneered ideas and practices that were subsequently embraced by corporate America, with an introduction by Grateful Dead songwriter John Perry Barlow, to Sara Weiss at Business Plus, in a good deal, in a pre-empt, by Howard Yoon of the Gail Ross Literary Agency.

HISTORY/POLITICS/CURRENT AFFAIRS:

What's the Matter with Kansas? and The Wrecking Crew author Thomas Frank's untitled book about the resurgence of conservatism in 2010, explaining how the right positioned itself to profit from the economic crisis, why it has flourished despite its discredited ideology, and what its revival means for America's future, to Sara Bershtel at Metropolitan, by Joe Spieler at The Spieler Agency (World).

MEMOIR:

73 year-old Kenyan conservationist, Dame Daphne Sheldrick's AN AFRICAN LOVE STORY, focused on the love story in the 1950s and 1960s between her and David Sheldrick, the charismatic wildlife campaigner for whom Dame Daphne left her then husband, to Eric Chinski at Farrar, Straus, and to Venetia Butterfield at Viking UK, in a pre-empt, by Patrick Walsh at Conville & Walsh.

German rights to Goldmann, in a pre-empt, and Dutch rights to De Boekerij, in a pre-empt.
Film rights sold previously to Peter Guber at Mandalay for Warner, with Walter Salles to direct, and the Imax rights sold separately to Imax, who start filming this summer in Kenya.

NARRATIVE:

GQ and Wired writer Jason Fagone's GENIUS IS NOT A PLAN, a narrative about four teams furiously competing to win the $10 million Progressive Automotive X Prize for the design of a clean, production-capable car that gets more than 100 mpg, also offering a look at the past and future of automotive innovation; the engineering of cars; and the archetype of the classic American inventor, to Rachel Klayman at Crown, by Larry Weissman at Larry Weissman Literary (world).
Foreign: kschulze@randomhouse.com

Jen Lin-Liu's GREAT NOODLE BAZAAR, a personal narrative arguing that the culinary exchanges along the Silk Road are not only the earliest examples of globalization, but more important, proof that the borders between Asia and Europe are more fluid than those created by nations, to Becky Saletan at Riverhead, by Chris Calhoun at Sterling Lord Literistic (NA).

SCIENCE:

Dr. Norman Doidge's follow up to THE BRAIN THAT CHANGES ITSELF, in which this expert on brain plasticity tells miraculous stories that further illustrate the brain is not hard-wired as previously thought, but flexible and dynamic, to Clare Ferraro at Viking, with Jim Silberman editing, for publication in 2013, by Chris Calhoun at Sterling Lord Literistic (NA).

Wrap...

So, Who?

This is a tough one...when Obama's term of President is up, who will we vote for? Shall we give him another term or should we choose someone else?

And who might that someone be? Who might run against Obama? Who might be willing to take on that horrendous job?

Given how things are going, it seems to me to be worth contemplating...
Wrap...

Peter Shurman is running against Jerry Brown....

I'd sure like to learn more from Peter Shurman (D) who is running for CA governor against Jerry Brown and the Repub candidates. He's suddenly just popped up on the scene. Had this email from him yesterday...here's part of it:


"Friends -

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for signing on to my campaign for Governor of California. The response since we launched this campaign just a little more than one week ago has been simply incredible.

We're picking up terrific press coverage, including a new Op-Ed published just moments ago, and tapping a well-spring of popular commitment to a prosperous, fair, and Democratic future for California. We're meeting with voters up and down the state, and taking part in major candidate forums. We've won our first major endorsement, from the Progressive Democrats of Los Angeles -- thank you, PDLA!

Our next big focus is the California Democratic Party Convention, this weekend in Los Angeles. It's a huge opportunity to make connections with local leaders from all over the state. We're here now busily preparing."

New lawyers WORK....

Ian Graham's non-fiction book's Chapter One title is "I'm Going To Prison". And he does, but not because he's been bad.

UNBILLABLE HOURS is the true story of Graham's becoming a lawyer who, after graduating from law school, lands a job with a high-powered Los Angeles law firm. This is a place where new lawyers damned near get worked to death.

And in the process, Ian ends up with a pro bono case...and that's why the book is titled UNBILLABLE HOURS. The lawyers work for free.

So, UNBILLABLE HOURS is both a story about a new lawyer landing a job in a big firm and just what that's like, but also about what it takes to get an innocent person out of prison.

I was fascinated. The book, sent to me by its publisher, Kaplan, should be read by all law students. It's an education in itself.

Wrap...

Soldiers Killing Themselves...Why?

From Secrecy News...

ARMY GRAPPLES WITH "EPIDEMIC" OF SUICIDES

The U.S. Army is still struggling to come to grips with the unusually high rate of suicide within its ranks.

"The Army ratios are above the national average and in some months recently, there have been more suicides in the Army than combat deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan," observed Nancy Youssef of McClatchy News last week. "There is no pattern to suicides. One third who commit suicide have never served in combat; another third commit suicide while in combat; and yet another third do it once they return, according to Army statistics."

Secretary of the Army John M. McHugh issued two directives on March 26 that are intended to further an understanding of the problem and to improve the availability of information to surviving family members.

Effectively immediately, all suspected suicides will be subject to an official (AR 15-6) investigation, the purpose of which is "to identify the circumstances, methods, and the contributing factors surrounding the event.... The completed investigation should provide clear, relevant, and practical recommendation(s) to prevent future suicides," according to Army Directive 2010-01 (pdf).

A second Army directive (pdf) provided guidance for reporting (and redacting) information to be provided to family members, who are to be "kept fully informed while the investigation is underway."

Although national security, third-person privacy and other FOIA-exempt information may be withheld, "the release authority cannot withhold information merely because it may be emotionally difficult for the surviving Family members to see or hear." However, "potentially upsetting information should be segregated from the body of the report and made available in a separate sealed envelope that is clearly marked as potentially upsetting information."

An updated official account of the number of Army suicides through the end of March will be published on Thursday, reported Sig Christenson of the San Antonio Express-News on April 2.

Wrap...

36 Dead at US Consulate After Attack...

From Stratfor:

RED ALERT: U.S. Consulate Attacked In Pakistan
April 5, 2010

Three explosions, two rocket attacks and subsequent gunfire have been reported in the near vicinity of the U.S. consulate in Peshawar, Pakistan, on April 5. The attack occurred early afternoon local time when the consulate would have been full of both American and local employees. The death toll is reported at 36 but is expected to rise.

There are no assessments yet of the damage that the consulate building has sustained, but reports indicate that the explosions led to the collapse of other, adjacent buildings. Pakistani soldiers are also reported to be engaging militants in gunfire, indicating that militants are actively engaged in an attack near the area - possibly with the intention of breaching the U.S. consulate.

Many U.S. diplomatic missions (including the one in Peshawar) have a number of built in security features, such as a perimeter wall, ample stand-off distance between the buildings and the wall, reinforced concrete structure and windows and marines stationed inside to ward off attacks. While militant activity in the tribal belt of northwest Pakistan has led to regular attacks against targets of the Pakistani state, today’s assault against the consulate is an extremely rare direct attack on a U.S. target.

STRATFOR is monitoring the situation for more details. Monitor our coverage.

Wrap....

What the Public Doesn't Know About Yet...

From Secrecy News...

BIOTERRORISM, CHANGES IN THE ARCTIC, AND MORE FROM CRS

New Congressional Research Service reports obtained by Secrecy News that have not been made readily available to the public include the following (all pdf):

"Federal Efforts to Address the Threat of Bioterrorism: Selected Issues for Congress," March 18, 2010.

"Changes in the Arctic: Background and Issues for Congress," March 30, 2010.

"Deforestation and Climate Change," March 24, 2010.

"The Impact of Major Legislation on Budget Deficits: 2001 to 2009," March 23, 2010.

"GAO Bid Protests: An Overview of Timeframes and Procedures," March 15, 2010.

"GAO Bid Protests: Trends, Analysis, and Options for Congress," February 11, 2009.

"The Future of U.S. Trade Policy: An Analysis of Issues and Options for the 111th Congress," March 24, 2010.

"Europe's Preferential Trade Agreements: Status, Content, and Implications," March 22, 2010.

"F-35 Alternate Engine Program: Background and Issues for Congress," March 22, 2010.

"Cyprus: Reunification Proving Elusive," April 1, 2010.

A bill on government transparency that was introduced by Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) last week would finally make all non-confidential CRS reports publicly available online. There must have been a dozen such proposals that have been introduced in Congress over the last 15 years without effect, and it is not clear whether the latest iteration will fare any better.


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

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

To SUBSCRIBE to Secrecy News, go to:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/subscribe.html

Wrap...