1997 Report of the Overseas Jurisdiction Advisory Committee
A decade ago Congress established an advisory committee to examine the very issues of contractor liability in war zones abroad that have recently been in the headlines again.
The Overseas Jurisdiction Advisory Committee spent a year analyzing the state of the law, found “significant jurisdictional gaps” in the government’s ability to prosecute crimes committed abroad by contractors, and recommended legislative remedies.
The Committee’s extensive report (pdf) laid the foundation for the 2000 Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which applied to defense contractors, and which would be extended by now-pending legislation to non-defense contractors as well.
Up to now, the Committee’s report has not been available online, rendering it practically inaccessible. A copy of the report obtained by Secrecy News is now available on the Federation of American Scientists web site.
See the Report of the Advisory Committee on Criminal Law Jurisdiction Over Civilians Accompanying the Armed Forces in Time of Armed Conflict (Overseas Jurisdiction Advisory Committee), April 1997.
Given the unreliability of private market funding for agricultural biotechnology R&D, substantial federal funding through research programs such as AgARDA is vital for accelerating R&D.
“Given the number of existential crises we must collectively confront, I have found policy entrepreneurship to be a fruitful avenue towards doing some of that work.”
We sit on the verge of another Presidential election – an opportunity for meaningful, science-based policy innovations that can appeal to lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
Outdated Bureau of Labor Statistics classifications hampers the federal government’s ability to design and implement effective policies for emerging technologies sectors.