Background With terrorism still prominent on the U.S. national agenda, whether the country’s prevention efforts match the threat it faces continues to be central in policy debate. One element of this debate is questioning whether the United States, like some other countries, needs a dedicated domestic intelligence agency. To examine this question, Congress directed that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of Intelligence and Analysis perform “an independent study on the feasibility of creating a counter terrorism intelligence agency”. Document Archive The Challenge of Domestic Intelligence in a Free Society. A Multidisciplinary Look at the Creation of a U.S.…
Author: John Greenewald
Background According to the document, the purpose of the report is to: “To provide strategic direction for the NRO in a changing world environment. The plan also provides a basis for focused dialogue among NRO managers regarding critical issues and choices, as well as a basis for dialogue between the NRO and its government and industry partners.” In April of 2018, I requested a Mandatory Declassification Review (MDR) on the record. On 18 May 2018, they released the below version. Document Archive The NRO Strategic Plan, 1993 [14 Pages, 2.2MB] https://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/nro/NROStrategicPlan1993.pdf
Background USCIS requests a Federal Bureau of lnvestigation (FBI) Name Check on individuals ages 14 to 79 who apply for certain immigration benefits that permit an extended or permanent stay in the United States. The FBI Name Check is performed for USCIS to determine whether records exist that might render the individual ineligible for the requested immigration benefit. The FBI Name Check is conducted on the individual’s legal name and, in some cases, the individual’s aliases. Applicable information found in the FBI’s Name Check search is forwarded to USCIS in the form of a Letterhead Memorandum (LHM). USCIS reviews the…
Background Excerpt from document: “Intelligence vital to the national security of the US now depends to a very large extent on photography acquired by overhead reconnaissance. This important intelligence source has been developed quite dramatically over the past ten years. All of our present photography has been collected by there reconnaissance systems.” Document Archive A summary of the National Reconnaissance Problem, 13 May 1965 [24 Pages, 2.9MB] https://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/nro/NationalReconProblem1965-nro.pdf
Background The following document was a “Top Secret” briefing by the Office of General Counsel at the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) regarding the “Legal Status of the NRO,” given to a Joint DOD/CIA Inspector General team on 11 September 1995. I filed the FOIA request to receive the document in April of 2018 and it was released in May of the same year. Document Archive Legal Status of NRO – Briefing to Joint DOD-CIA IG Team, 11 September 1995 [23 Pages, 1.8MB] https://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/nro/LegalStatusNRO.pdf