Steven_Aftergood

Steven Aftergood

Steven Aftergood

Critic of US government secrecy policy

Steven Aftergood is a critic of U.S. government secrecy policy. He directs the Federation of American Scientists project on Government Secrecy and is the author of the Federation publication Secrecy News.[1]

Life and career

Aftergood has a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles and has published research in solid-state physics.[2]

In 1991, Aftergood exposed the classified Project Timberwind, an unacknowledged U.S. Department of Defense special access program to develop a nuclear thermal rocket. That episode led the Federation of American Scientists to initiate an ongoing research project on government secrecy, led by Aftergood.[3]

Controversies

Intelligence budget disclosure

Aftergood was the plaintiff in a 1997 Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Central Intelligence Agency which led to the declassification and publication of the U.S. government's total intelligence budget ($26.6 billion in 1997) for the first time in fifty years.[4]

In 2006, Aftergood won a FOIA lawsuit against the National Reconnaissance Office to release unclassified budget records.[5]

Preserving CIA email

A Central Intelligence Agency proposal in 2014 to eliminate the email records of all but 22 senior Agency officials was derailed after a reference to the move was spotted by Aftergood, triggering a critical reaction in Congress and elsewhere.[6] The proposal was formally withdrawn by the Agency in 2016.[7]

Reducing nuclear weapons secrecy

As part of an effort by the Federation of American Scientists to reduce secrecy surrounding nuclear weapons, Aftergood acquired and posted a 2019 Joint Chiefs of Staff publication on Nuclear Operations. The document describes a potential role for such weapons in U.S. warfighting plans.[8][9]

Promoting access to government information

Aftergood maintained several widely-used collections of government documents. These include Presidential national security directives,[10] US military doctrinal publications,[11] applications of the state secrets privilege,[12] uses of the Invention Secrecy Act,[13] Congressional Research Service reports,[14] and studies performed by the JASON science advisory panel.[15]

Awards

Aftergood’s work on government secrecy policy has been recognized with the Pioneer Award from the Electronic Frontier Foundation,[16] the James Madison Award from the American Library Association,[17] the Public Access to Government Information Award from the American Association of Law Libraries,[18] and the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award from the Playboy Foundation.[19]

Selected publications

  • "Making Up My Mind, and Then Changing It", H-DIPLO series on Learning the Scholar's Craft, (2021)
  • "Ethics: Taming our technologies" (review), Nature, 536: 271-272 (2016)
  • "An Inquiry Into The Dynamics Of Government Secrecy", Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, 48:2 (2013) (PDF)
  • "Reducing Government Secrecy: Finding What Works", Yale Law and Policy Review, 27: 399-416 (2009) (PDF)

References

  1. [1]
    Dana Priest (November 26, 2003). "One Man Against Secrecy; Newsletter Editor Works to Limit Classified Information" (PDF). Washington Post.
  2. [2]
    "Steven Aftergood". Federation of American Scientists.
  3. [3]
    William J. Broad (April 3, 1991). "Secret Nuclear-Powered Rocket Being Developed for 'Star Wars'". New York Times.
  4. [4]
    FAS Wins Lawsuit Against CIA on Intelligence Budget Disclosure, CIA Statement, 15 Oct. 1997.
  5. [5]
    National Reconnaissance Office Yields to FAS Lawsuit, by Steven Aftergood, 21 Dec. 2006.
  6. [6]
    David Welna (November 20, 2014). "The CIA Wants To Delete Old Email; Critics Say 'Not So Fast'". National Public Radio.
  7. [7]
    "CIA Withdraws Email Destruction Proposal". Secrecy News. April 24, 2016.
  8. [8]
    David Axe (June 20, 2019). "Oops: The Pentagon Just Revealed Its Nuclear Doctrine". The National Interest.
  9. [9]
    Julian Borger (June 19, 2019). "Nuclear weapons: experts alarmed by new Pentagon 'war-fighting' doctrine". The Guardian.
  10. [10]
    "Presidential directives and executive orders". via Federation of American Scientists.
  11. [11]
    "Defense Department Intelligence and Security Doctrine, Directives and Instructions". via Federation of American Scientists.
  12. [12]
    "The State Secrets Privilege: Selected Case Files". via Federation of American Scientists.
  13. [13]
    "Invention Secrecy". via Federation of American Scientists.
  14. [14]
    "Congressional Research Service reports". via Federation of American Scientists.
  15. [15]
    "JASON Defense Advisory Panel Reports". via Federation of American Scientists.
  16. [16]
    "Transparency Activist, Public Domain Scholar, Legal Blogger, and Imprisoned E-Voting Researcher Win Pioneer Awards". October 19, 2010.
  17. [17]
    "Past Recipients of the James Madison Award".
  18. [18]
    "Public Access to Government Information Award".
  19. [19]
    "Past Winners and Judges of the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Awards".
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