Background This document represents the current policy of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) for the declassification of all 25-year-old and older NRO information covered by Executive Order (E.O.) 13526. Such declassification is conducted under the NRO Instruction 56-2-3 “25-Year Automatic, Systematic and Mandatory Declassification Review” as approved on 24 February 2014. The Director, National Reconnaissance Office(DNRO) has appointed the Chief of the Information Review and Release Group (C/IRRG) in the Information Management Services Office in the Communications Systems Directorate (IMSO/COMM) as the NRO’s initial 25-Year Release and Denial Authority. The IRRG is responsible for the review, pursuant to a variety of…
Author: John Greenewald
Background According to Wikipedia: The Voynich manuscript is an illustrated codex hand-written in an unknown writing system. The vellum on which it is written has been carbon-dated to the early 15th century (1404–1438), and it may have been composed in Northern Italy during the Italian Renaissance. The manuscript is named after Wilfrid Voynich, a Polish book dealer who purchased it in 1912. Some of the pages are missing, with around 240 remaining. The text is written from left to right, and most of the pages have illustrations or diagrams. Some pages are foldable sheets. The Voynich manuscript has been studied by many professional and amateur cryptographers, including American and British codebreakers from both World War I and World…
Background The below document was received, after I filed a FOIA Request on February 27, 2017, for the following: I respectfully request a copy of records, electronic or otherwise, pertaining to: any memo to staff issued in January or February 2017 about the need to protect sensitive or internal agency information. The below record was responsive to this request, and as far as I can tell, as of the creation of this page, had never been released publicly before. Document Archive NSA Director’s Message: “Professionalism and Duty”, February 22, 2017 [3 Pages, 1.1MB]
Background The FEMA National Shelter System is a coordinated nationwide database of emergency shelter information where thousands of profiles of potential shelter resources, as well as virtually any type of facility associated with the care of disaster survivors, are maintained. FEMA, working in partnership with the American Red Cross, used lessons learned to develop a new easy to use system that includes operational data to assist emergency management professionals in times of disaster and for planning purposes. The system has the ability to track virtually any type of facility used in response to disasters. The new system also includes an…
Background In February of 2017, the magazine Computer World published the following article: A “Russian-speaking and notorious financially-motivated” hacker known as Rasputin has been at it again, hacking into universities and government agencies this time, before attempting to sell the stolen data on the dark web. According to the security company Recorded Future, which has been tracking the cybercriminal’s breaches, Rasputin’s most recent victims include 63 “prominent universities and federal, state, and local U.S. government agencies.” The security firm has been following Rasputin’s activity since late 2016 when the hacker reportedly breached the U.S. Electoral Assistance Commission and then sold EAC access credentials. Recorded Future…