The Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, has sent a private message to Pope Francis as a delegation from Damascus visiting the Vatican met on aturday with the pontiff’s two most senior diplomatic representatives. The contents of the message were not disclosed by the Vatican, which said in a statement simply that Joseph Sweid, a Syrian government minister, had met both Francis’s secretary of state, Archbishop Pietro Parolin, and foreign secretary, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti. “The delegation brought a message from President Assad for the Holy Father and outlined the position of the Syrian government,” it added. But, according to Sana, Syria’s state-run … Continue reading Pope receives letter from Assad

The National Reconnaissance Office, which builds and operates U.S. intelligence satellites, has just released the unclassified portions of its FY 2014 Congressional Budget Justification, a detailed account of its budget request for the current year. Although more than 90% of the 534-page document (dated April 2013) was withheld from public release under the Freedom of Information Act, some substantive material was approved for public disclosure, providing a rare glimpse of agency operations, future plans and self-perceptions. Some examples: NRO says it recently achieved an “88 percent reduction in collection-to-analyst dissemination timelines,” facilitating the rapid dissemination of time-sensitive data.  The 2014 … Continue reading US National Reconnaissance Office Budget Annouced

In a report published today, Thursday 12 December, ahead of its launch on the floor of the House of Commons, the Liaison Committee calls on Government to establish a Parliamentary Commission into the Civil Service. The Committee, which is made up of Chairs of all the select committees charged with holding Governmental departments to account, today publishes its conclusions on the capacity of the Civil Service to manage contracts with the private sector, based on evidence provided by the Prime Minister in September and evidence collected by select committees in a range of inquiries from the roll-out of Universal Credit … Continue reading Call for Civil Service Commission