Search - classified

 
 
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Feb 12, 2022

Trump flouted the U.S. presidential records law. Will he face consequences?

While he was U.S. president, Donald Trump was known to destroy, tear up, remove and even flush White House documents down the toilet. He often eschewed the White House switchboard, using his own cellphone or those of his aides to communicate.
Japan Times
WORLD
May 25, 2021

U.S. agencies examine reports of early COVID-19 infections at Wuhan lab

Government sources cautioned that there is still no proof the disease originated at the lab.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jan 30, 2020

Trump could be acquitted in impeachment trial as early as Friday: U.S. senator

A Democratic push to force Republicans to accept witnesses at Donald Trump's impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate appeared to be flagging on Wednesday, raising the possibility the president could be acquitted as early as Friday.
WORLD
Oct 7, 2017

U.S. House committee sets new hearing on Kaspersky software

A U.S. House of Representatives committee said on Friday that it has scheduled a new hearing on Kaspersky Lab software as lawmakers review accusations that the firm's software could be used to conduct espionage on behalf of the Kremlin.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Mar 4, 2017

Trump aides' bid to plug leaks creates unease among some civil servants

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin used his first senior staff meeting last month to tell his aides he would not tolerate leaks to the news media, three sources familiar with the matter said.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 2, 2016

U.S. State Department halts review of Clinton emails at FBI's request

At the request of the FBI, the U.S. State Department has suspended plans for an internal review of whether classified information was properly handled in former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's emails, a spokeswoman said on Friday.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Oct 1, 2015

2011 Google hacking spooked Clinton, aides over email use, 'antiquated' state-issued laptops

A 2011 hacking attack of Google Inc.'s Gmail prompted Hillary Rodham Clinton and her top aides to worry about "antiquated" government-issued laptops and the security of private email accounts widely used by government officials.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2015

The real lesson from the Clinton email imbroglio

The flap over Hillary Clinton's use of private email reflects the tension between the drive for transparency and the instinct for privacy.
JAPAN
Jan 14, 2015

State secrets law could constrain researchers

The spirit of Japan's new state secrets law may officially be about protecting national security, but lawyers say it could affect a broad range of academic research as well.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jan 12, 2015

Decision on Petraeus leak allegations not yet final, Holder says

The Justice Department hasn't made a final decision about whether to prosecute retired Army Gen. David Petraeus for allegedly providing government secrets to his former mistress while he was director of the CIA, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 11, 2013

Reporters who divulge secrets could face new law's wrath: Ishiba

Two days before the contentious state secrets law getting the official nod, Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Shigeru Ishiba waded into the fray Wednesday by saying journalists could be punished for reporting state-designated classified information, only to backpedal slightly.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 4, 2013

New secrecy law seen best serving bureaucrats

The secrecy bill is dangerous because Japan already has a lot of nondisclosable information and several laws to protect it, the head of an NPO warns.
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 3, 2013

Secret documents reveal how close USSR came to launching nukes in '83

Chilling new evidence that Britain and America came close to provoking the Soviet Union into launching a nuclear attack has emerged in former classified documents written at the height of the Cold War.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 24, 2013

Cabinet to OK state secrets bill

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet is set to approve a controversial bill to protect state secrets that stops short of fully guaranteeing the public's right to know and freedom of the press.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 15, 2013

Abe defense posture welcome: U.S. intel expert

In contrast to neighboring countries, former U.S. National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair welcomes the efforts by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to reinterpret the pacifist Constitution and bolster the nation's defense capabilities, saying Japan needs to adapt itself to the changing security landscape...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 20, 2013

Why U.S. government is afraid of itself

The U.S. war on leaks has degenerated to a government deliberately destroying its property to keep its staffers from catching sight of publicly available information.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 13, 2013

Manning, Snowden share military background, tech savvy, disillusionment

In the span of three years, the United States has developed two gaping holes in its national security hull, punctures caused by leakers who worked at the lowest levels of the nation's intelligence ranks but gained access to large caches of classified material.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jun 12, 2013

Obama in Bush surveillance territory

For four years, President Barack Obama's approach to counterterrorism has been defined by his embrace of paramilitary power — the drones and the commando teams whose ruthless pursuit of al-Qaida helped cripple the terrorist network through a global targeted killing campaign.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 1, 2013

Obama no friend of free press

Barack Obama's tendency to bypass the press for social media and friendly bloggers amounts to the White House reporting on itself, thus avoiding tough questions.
Police officers issue a warning to a person riding a modified bicycle during a traffic crackdown conducted in Tokyo's Nakano Ward in December.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 17, 2024

Police report surge in moped and powered bicycle violations

When questioned, many riders claim to be unaware of the requirement for a license to operate such vehicles.
The National Police Agency coined the term "tokuryū" to classify individuals involved in dark part time jobs and quasi-gangsters, using the words "tokumei" (anonymous) and "ryūdo" (fluid) to reflect their characteristics.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
May 6, 2024

Tokuryū, a new crime menace in Japan, emerges from the shadows

Unlike the yakuza, which have a hierarchical structure and strict codes of conduct, they lack a clear organizational structure and thrive on anonymity.
The U.S. military's secretive X-37B, a crewless space shuttle-like space plane, lifts off on its seventh mission to orbit, the vehicle's first launch atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket capable of lofting it far higher than ever before, from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, last December.
WORLD
May 18, 2024

New star wars plan: Pentagon rushes to counter threats in orbit

Citing rapid advances by China and Russia, the United States is building an extensive capacity to fight battles in space.
Missile systems form part of the Victory Day military parade in Moscow on May 9. The FBI tries to maintain a tricky balance in spy operations: the more access informants have to valuable intelligence, the higher the risk that they could be compromised.
WORLD / Politics
May 21, 2024

FBI shed informants linked to Russian influence operations

After a secret review several years ago, the bureau cut off confidential sources thought to be connected to Russian disinformation.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is seen in this screen shot taken from video in London on Monday.
WORLD
Jun 25, 2024

WikiLeaks' Julian Assange to be freed after pleading guilty to U.S. Espionage Act charge

Assange, 52, has agreed to plead guilty to a single criminal count of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified U.S. national defense documents.
This screen grab taken from video posted on the WikiLeaks X account on Tuesday shows WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange looking out the window of a private jet as he flies from London to Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands after reaching a plea deal with the U.S. authorities.
WORLD / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Jun 26, 2024

Assange walks free, but plea deal sets a chilling precedent

The Committee to Protect Journalists says the prosecution had grave implications for journalists and press freedom worldwide.
A passerby holding a parasol wipes her face as she walks on the street amid a heatstroke alert in Tokyo and other prefectures, in Tokyo on July 9.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Boiling Point
Jul 19, 2024

How to prevent and respond to heatstroke in Japan this summer

Staying hydrated and controlling the rise in one's body temperature are the fundamental ways for preventing and alleviating heat-related illnesses.
U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump speaks to members of the media at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Wednesday.
WORLD
Jan 10, 2025

U.S. court declines to block release of special counsel report on Trump

The ruling from the Atlanta-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit appeared to clear the way for the release of the report as early as next week.
U.S. President Donald Trump with Elon Musk and his son at the White House this month. The Pentagon is scheduled on Friday to brief Musk on the U.S. military’s plan for any war that might break out with China, two U.S. officials said Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 21, 2025

Musk set to get access to top-secret U.S. plan for potential war with China

Providing Musk with access to some of the nation’s most closely guarded military secrets would bring into sharp relief questions about his conflicts of interest.
U.S. President Donald Trump sits in his car, "The Beast," as he arrives for a dinner at the Huis ten Bosch Royal Palace during a NATO leaders summit in The Hague on Tuesday.
WORLD
Jun 25, 2025

Strike set back Iran’s nuclear program by only a few months, U.S. report says

The findings suggest that President Donald Trump’s statement that Iran’s nuclear facilities were obliterated was overstated.
A girl uses her smartphone as she walks her dog in Moscow on July 30.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 21, 2025

Online behavior under scrutiny as Russia hunts 'extremists'

Internet users who search for web pages, books, artwork or music albums that the authorities deem extremist will be fined under new legislation.

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?