On December 17, 2020, Airman 1st Class Karla Parra, from the 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs, sent out the following press release. It is archived on The Black Vault for reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KSteZkEqCI The 60th Security Forces Squadron, in collaboration with Easy Aerial, a leading provider of autonomous drone-based monitoring solutions, launched the first automated drone-based perimeter security system for the Air Force, Dec. 11. The small unarmed aircraft initiative redefines on-base perimeter security systems to potentially advance warfighting capabilities, enhance strategic deterrence and foster full-spectrum readiness across the Air Force. “Easy Aerial’s unmanned aerial systems are a game-changer,” said…
Author: John Greenewald
Background The Intelligence Authorization Act ( IAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 ‘ requires the President to submit an annual report on security clearance determinations to Congress. The IAA directs this report to include the number of United States Government (USG) employees who held a security clearance at each level as of 1 October of the preceding year, and the number of USG employees who were approved for a security clearance at each level during the preceding FY . Similar data pertaining to USG contractors is also required . Also, for each element of the Intelligence Community ( IC) ,…
Background The following is the “President’s Intelligence Checklist” for February 1, 1962. Although previously released, The Black Vault filed a Mandatory Declassification Review request for it to be re-reviewed, and redactions lifted. Only one line was newly released, but it serves as an example that this was not a waste. The revealed line shows a document that can be sought after via FOIA. Document Archive The President’s Intelligence Checklist | February 1, 1962 [11 Pages, 2.6MB]
Background From the document below: “This reconstruction of Agency involvement in plans to assassinate Fidel Castro is at best an imperfect history. Because of the extreme sensitivity of the operations being discussed or attempted, as a matter of principle no official records were kept of planning, of approvals, or of implementation. The few written records that do exist are either largely tangential to the main events or were put on paper from memory years afterward.” In July of 2016, The Black Vault filed a Mandatory Declassification Review (MDR) request for this record. Although previously released, it was heavily redacted. The…
Background On December 16, 2020, the Department of Justice unsealed the indictment charging Cholo Abdi Abdullah. You can find their announcement archived below, along with the indictment. Department of Justice Press Release The Department of Justice announced the unsealing of an indictment charging Cholo Abdi Abdullah with six counts of terrorism-related offenses arising from his activities as an operative of the foreign terrorist organization al Shabaab, including conspiring to hijack aircraft in order to conduct a 9/11-style attack in the United States. Abdullah was arrested in July 2019 in the Philippines on local charges, and was subsequently transferred on Dec.…