Background The General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark was a supersonic, medium-range interdictor and tactical attack aircraft that also filled the roles of strategic nuclear bomber, aerial reconnaissance, and electronic-warfare aircraft in its various versions. Developed in the 1960s by General Dynamics, it first entered service in 1967 with the United States Air Force. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) also ordered the type and began operating F-111Cs in 1973. The F-111 pioneered several technologies for production aircraft, including variable-sweep wings, afterburning turbofan engines, and automated terrain-following radar for low-level, high-speed flight. Its design influenced later variable-sweep wing aircraft, and some of…
Author: John Greenewald
Background “Climate Change” is a hotbed topic among politicians, scientists, environmentalists, and many every-day people that live on Planet Earth. Are WE causing the change? Or is this a normal, scientific event that has no cause, but rather, is simply Mother Nature. Below are records pertaining to climate change found throughout different agencies. Declassified Documents Two Degrees of Separation: Abrupt Climate Change and the Adverse Impact to US National Security, April 2009 [55 Pages, 0.9MB] – Scientific evidence indicates recent global climate trends which if remain unchanged or develop further could result in abrupt climate change. Abrupt climate change could result in…
Background The following document is the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) Congressional Budget Justification for the year 2013. Although previously released a few years ago, the NRO took a couple of years to process my request. After attempting to charge me fees for the document, I appealed based on the fact that it would be of great public interest, and was GRANTED the fee waiver (a rare FOIA victory!) So, in July of 2016, the NRO released the document to me. I was surprised to see the document was considerably much more lengthy then previous releases (at least, those that I have…
Background In 2013, NBC did a very popular story on the “Secret” CIA Museum inside the agency’s compound. Here is an excerpt from their article, followed by the online video piece: The “coolest museum you’ll never see” has a new piece de resistance – the gun found next to the body of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan when Navy SEALs killed him in a midnight raid. The AK-47 is a recent addition to a collection that’s among the toughest tickets in the country for museumgoers. Tucked into various hallways at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., the museum displays the gadgets,…
Background The following was released by the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) on July 27, 2016. Today we are releasing a report on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) program at the United States Secret Service (USSS), the fifth in our series of assessments of FOIA programs at components of the Department of Homeland Security. Like other OGIS reports on agency FOIA program assessments, the report includes findings and recommendations about the USSS FOIA Program. USSS’s FOIA Program is centralized; program offices search for responsive records and the FOIA office processes them and responds to the requester. USSS accepts requests…