The records of several noteworthy congressional hearings that were held in the past two years have been published in the last few weeks, including these:
“A Report Card on Homeland Security Information Sharing,” House Homeland Security Committee, September 24, 2008.
“Turning Spy Satellites on the Homeland: The Privacy and Civil Liberties Implications of the National Applications Office,” House Homeland Security Committee, September 6, 2007.
“Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation” (pdf), Senate Judiciary Committee, March 27, 2007.
“FISA Amendments: How to Protect Americans’ Security and Privacy and Preserve the Rule of Law and Government Accountability,” October 31, 2007.
Sen. Patrick Leahy and Sen. Charles Grassley of the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote to Attorney General Holder (pdf) on October 20, asking the Department of Justice to comply with outstanding Committee requests for information that have gone unanswered, in some cases for several years.
There is no question this is a Big Deal. If you are a university or research lab, or aspire to work in one, or are simply an enthusiast of federally-funded research, what’s next will matter.
The emerging federal metascience community is asking fascinating questions that are equally vital for democratic legitimacy: beyond “did this program work” to “how does the federal R&D enterprise itself work, and how could it work better?”
If you’re new to the climate intervention space, welcome! The TL;DR: if we can’t stop the most catastrophic impacts of climate change with current tools quickly enough, then we need a bigger toolbox.
After months of delay, the council tasked by President Trump to review the FEMA released its final report. Our disaster policy nerds have thoughts.