A government interpretation of the public-disclosure laws governing federal advisory committees puts the National Defense Panel, charged with evaluating the Quadrennial Defense Review, outside transparency requirements ordinarily applied to similar groups. For the 2013 incarnation of the NDP, Pentagon officials are pointing to a provision in the Federal Advisory Committee Act that states the openness requirements apply only in cases where committees advise a government agency, but not Congress. Pentagon officials made the same argument for a similar panel formed...
