State governors to get access to classified info

It appears that the Obama administration trusts the nation's governors to keep a secret.

Sort of.

In a newly issued executive order on access to classified national security information, the administration said that governors can see such information without undergoing a background investigation, but first have to sign a non-disclosure agreement and can't have any "disqualifying conduct" in the eyes of the clearance-granting official. Their clearances also can't go beyond the "Secret" level, except on a case-by-case basis.

"To my knowledge, this is a new provision," said Steven Aftergood, a government secrecy expert at the Federation of American Scientists who noted it on his blog Aug. 23.

Prior to the issuance of the executive order, "there was no written policy specific to access by governors," confirmed William Bosanko, director of the Information Security Oversight Office, a part of the National Archives and Records Administration that oversees the classification system. But the order incorporates long-standing practice under which governors were considered "inherently trustworthy" by virtue of their jobs and thus did not require a background investigation for access to classified information, Bosanko said.

A National Governors Association spokeswoman had no further information.

In case you were wondering, members of Congress are also considered "inherently trustworthy," but don't have to sign non-disclosure agreements, according to a Congressional Research Service report. House members instead have to swear to avoid any unauthorized disclosures of classified information. The Senate apparently imposes no such obligation on its members, the report says.

Senate panel to hold hearing on Defense cuts

The Defense Department's plans to close Joint Forces Command as well as other cost-cutting moves will get a look from the Senate Armed Services Committee, according to a letter from the panel's chairman, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., to Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va.

In the Aug. 23 letter, Levin said he would seek to schedule a hearing after Congress reconvenes in September. While Levin said he shares Defense Secretary Robert Gates' goals of reducing ‘"duplication, overhead and excess in the defense enterprise,'" his "far-reaching initiatives ... deserve close scrutiny by our committee."

Gates announced the JFCOM decision Aug. 9 as part of an efficiency drive aimed at freeing up more than $100 billion over the next five years that could instead be spent on weapons buys and other purposes. Besides shuttering JFCOM, based in Norfolk, Va., Gates wants to close the Business Transformation Agency and reduce spending on service support contractors by 10 percent annually for the next three years.

Unsurprisingly, however, members of the Virginia congressional delegation have rushed to the defense of JFCOM, a major employer in the Norfolk area. In an Aug. 13 letter to Gates, Webb and five other lawmakers questioned his legal authority to dismantle the command and said the decision was apparently based on a Defense Business Board recommendation that "reflects superficial research and a lack of analytical rigor."

A House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee also plans to hold a hearing, possibly in late September, according to Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va.