Some recent reports of the Congressional Research Service on Middle East-related topics include the following.
“Israel: Background and Relations with the United States,” updated March 16, 2006.
“Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas: Overview of Internal and External Challenges,” updated March 9, 2006.
“Iraq: Elections, Government, and Constitution,” updated March 13, 2006.
“Iraq: U.S. Regime Change Efforts and Post-Saddam Governance,” updated March 7, 2006.
“Women in Iraq: Background and Issues for U.S. Policy,” updated March 13, 2006.
“Lebanon,” updated March 16, 2006.
“Saudi Arabia: Current Issues and U.S. Relations,” updated February 24, 2006.
“Afghanistan: Post-War Governance, Security, and U.S. Policy,” updated March 17, 2006.
January saw us watching whether the government would fund science. February has been about how that funding will be distributed, regulated, and contested.
This rule gives agencies significantly more authority over certain career policy roles. Whether that authority improves accountability or creates new risks depends almost entirely on how agencies interrupt and apply it.
Our environmental system was built for 1970s-era pollution control, but today it needs stable, integrated, multi-level governance that can make tradeoffs, share and use evidence, and deliver infrastructure while demonstrating that improved trust and participation are essential to future progress.
Durable and legitimate climate action requires a government capable of clearly weighting, explaining, and managing cost tradeoffs to the widest away of audiences, which in turn requires strong technocratic competency.