Secrecy News: December 18, 2017
View this email in your browser SECRECY NEWS From the FAS Project on Government Secrecy Volume 2017, Issue No. 88 December 18, 2017 Secrecy News Blog: https://fas.org/blogs/ secrecy/ ** REVERSING COURSE, DOD WILL RETAIN CLUSTER MUNITIONS REVERSING COURSE, DOD WILL RETAIN CLUSTER MUNITIONS The Department of Defense last month abandoned a 2008 policy that would have reduced the U.S. inventory of cluster munitions and imposed strict new safety and quality control standards on these anti-personnel weapons, which have been implicated in numerous civilian fatalities. "We must not lose our qualitative and quantitative competitive advantage against potential adversaries that seek operational and tactical advantages against the United States and its allies and partners," wrote Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick M. Shanahan in a November 30, 2017 memo establishing the new policy. Therefore, "the Department will retain cluster munitions currently i