UNREDACTED: The National Security Archive Blog

In August of 1967 an American spy satellite took sensational photographs of huge unknown Soviet machine.  It looked like an aircraft was 100 meters long and weighed about 500 tons.  It was flying over the Caspian Sea waters at more than 500 kilometers per hour. Pentagon analysts called this behemoth “the Caspian sea monster.”

The “Sea Monster,” actually called “ekranoplan” by the Soviets, was perhaps Cold War’s most interesting armament.  It was a high-speed hovercraft with enormous carrying capacity, often armed with missiles. Unfortunately, after several accidents, the ekranoplan fell out of favor. However, it has now been revived.

While some Republican politicians have vehemently opposed President Obama’s energy stimulus plan, others have used it to apply for stimulus grants. Using FOIA, the Wall Street Journal has discovered the names of GOP members who applied for funding.

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act contained a troubling provision that allowed the SEC to dodge some FOIA requests. Thanks in large part to the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), both the House and Senate have voted overwhelmingly to repeal the worrisome statute. It will be removed pending the approval of the White House.  A win for transparency!

Finally, Douglas Feith’s website has a fair collection of Iraq War documents.  Take a gander and compare his dox with the ones that Joyce Battle recently presented.