Steven Aftergood

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Steven Aftergood (* 1956 Los Angeles , California ) is the director of the Federation of American Scientists ' Project on Government Secrecy and the editor and author of the Federation blog and newsletter Secrecy News , which reports on new developments in the field of security policy and on efforts to Disclosure of classified information that the public may be entitled to know.

Aftergood is one of the few activists in the world who systematically and critically observes the secrecy policies of the US and other governments and takes action against them in the interests of the public. On the FAS website, Aftergood has compiled informative documents on the confidentiality policy of the US administration under President Barack Obama .

Life

Aftergood earned a bachelor's and degree in engineering in physics and electronics from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1977 . He has been with the Federation since 1989 and is critical of the US government's secrecy policy in the armaments sector, space travel, science in general and in political areas.

In 1991 Aftergood publicized the Timberwind project to develop a nuclear rocket engine for use in the SDI program, the existence of which was denied by the US Department of Defense.

In 1997, through a lawsuit against the CIA, he obtained disclosure of the entire secret service budget, at that time $ 26.6 billion.

In 2006 he won a lawsuit against the National Reconnaissance Office for disclosure of non-secret portions of the budget.

He has received several awards for his advocacy of the public's right to obtain the broadest possible knowledge about sensitive government planning.

Controversy

On the occasion of the discussion about WikiLeaks , he had to face the discussion on the weighting of state secrets on the one hand and the public's right to information on the other on behalf of the Federation (FAS). On the one hand, he praised the fact that WikiLeaks published important documents "which were unnecessarily kept secret", on the other hand he criticized the fact that the group "does not respect the law or the rights of the person" and could pose a threat to individual freedoms. Aftergood declined an invitation to join WikiLeaks in 2006. For the controversy between Aftergood / FAS and Wikileaks, see the relevant section in the WikiLeaks article.

Aftergood also commented on the importance of Wikipedia , which is classified in part as an unreliable source of information, but is valued by universities, in the media and even in intelligence circles as a convenient reference work, as he emphasized. In comments on his opinion, u. a. warned of the danger of vandalism, of attacks on certain political lobbies and of uncritical handling of the Wikipedia project, which stands or falls with a careful source base.

Awards

Publications (selection)

  • Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2007.
  • Imagery Intelligence Gallery, 2001.
  • Air Intelligence Agency, 2001.
  • Terrorism: Intelligence Threat Assessment, FAS, Washington DC, 2001.
  • Signals intelligence and communications security on the web, FAS, Washington DC, 1998.
  • Mystery aircraft, FAS, Washington DC, 1992.
  • Nuclear power in space, Emmitsburg, Maryland, 1991.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ One Man Against Secrecy , by Diana Priest, Washington Post, November 26, 2003. Retrieved September 25, 2012
  2. ^ Obama Administration Documents (on Secrecy Policy) , Federation of American Scientists. Retrieved September 25, 2012
  3. ^ Secret Nuclear-Powered Rocket Being Developed for 'Star Wars' , New York Times, April 3, 1991.
  4. ^ FAS Wins Lawsuit Against CIA on Intelligence Budget Disclosure , CIA Statement, October 15, 1997.
  5. ↑ a b EFF on October 19, 2010: Transparency Activist, Public Domain Scholar, Legal Blogger, and Imprisoned E-Voting Researcher Win Pioneer Awards. Retrieved September 25, 2012 .
  6. ↑ National Reconnaissance Office Yields to FAS Lawsuit , Steven Aftergood, December 21 of 2006.
  7. ^ A b The Guardian on April 9, 2010: Who watches WikiLeaks? Retrieved September 25, 2012 .
  8. ↑ Der Spiegel 30/2010: Afghanistan revelers expand protection of informants. Retrieved September 25, 2012 .
  9. ↑ Wikileaks Fails “Due Diligence” Review by Steven Aftergood, June 28, 2010.
  10. ^ The Wikipedia Factor in US Intelligence , by Steven Aftergood, March 21, 2007.
personal data
SURNAME Aftergood, Steven
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American scientist and publicist
DATE OF BIRTH 1956
PLACE OF BIRTH los Angeles