The broad implications of the death of Osama bin Laden were discussed in a new report from the Congressional Research Service.  The report does not contain any new factual information or much in the way of new analysis.  Rather, it presents an account of the policy questions arising from bin Laden’s death that may warrant congressional attention.  See “Osama bin Laden’s Death: Implications and Considerations” (pdf), May 5, 2011.

A retrospective tabulation of U.S. aid to Pakistan, up to and including the FY2012 budget request, was prepared in updated form yesterday by the Congressional Research Service.  See “Direct Overt U.S. Aid and Military Reimbursements to Pakistan, FY2001-FY2012” (pdf), May 4, 2011.

In a news story today about the imminent arrival of the federal government’s debt limit (“Debt Ceiling Has Some Give, Until Roof Falls In” by Binyamin Appelbaum), the New York Times cited a Congressional Research Service report that was performed “in February” concerning the impact of the debt limit.

But that report has been updated and superseded, though one might not know it due to congressional secrecy policy, which precludes direct public access to CRS publications.  The current version is “Reaching the Debt Limit: Background and Potential Effects on Government Operations” (pdf), April 27, 2011.

I will be participating in a panel discussion on “The Future of CRS,” including prospects for improving public access to non-confidential CRS reports, on Monday, May 9 at 2 pm in 2203 Rayburn House Office Building.  It is sponsored by the Sunlight Foundation.

As of March 2011, Congress had approved a total of more than $1.2 trillion dollars for costs associated with the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and other post-9/11 “war on terror” operations, the Congressional Research Service said in its most recent update on the subject.  See “The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11,” March 29, 2011.

Other new or newly updated CRS reports include the following (all pdf).

“Afghanistan Casualties: Military Forces and Civilians,” April 6, 2011.

“The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Terrorism Investigations,” April 27, 2011.

“U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF): Background and Issues for Congress,” March 28, 2011.

“Sensitive Covert Action Notifications: Oversight Options for Congress,” April 6, 2011.

“Covert Action: Legislative Background and Possible Policy Questions,” April 6, 2011.

New reports from the Congressional Research Service on various topics include these (all pdf):

“Non-Governmental Organizations’ Activities in North Korea,” March 25, 2011.

“Turkey-U.S. Defense Cooperation: Prospects and Challenges,” April 8, 2011.

“FY2011 Appropriations in Budgetary Context,” April 14, 2011.

“Judicial Discipline Process: An Overview,” April 7, 2011.

“Effects of Radiation from Fukushima Daiichi on the U.S. Marine Environment,” April 15, 2011.

Some new or newly updated reports from the Congressional Research Service include the following (all pdf).

“Privacy Protections for Personal Information Online,” April 6, 2011.

“Department of Defense Contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan: Background and Analysis,” March 29, 2011.

“Iran Sanctions,” April 4, 2011.

“Asylum and ‘Credible Fear’ Issues in U.S. Immigration Policy,” April 6, 2011.

“The Changing Demographic Profile of the United States,” March 31, 2011.

Congress does not permit the public to gain direct access to reports of the Congressional Research Service online.

A statutory limit on total federal debt has been in place since 1917.  In the past decade, Congress has voted to raise the debt limit ten times and it will now have to do so once again.

The history of the debt limit and its current implications were discussed in a recently updated report from the Congressional Research Service. See “The Debt Limit: History and Recent Increases” (pdf), March 7, 2011. And see, relatedly, “Reaching the Debt Limit: Background and Potential Effects on Government Operations,” February 11, 2011.

Reports from the Congressional Research Service have become such an integral part of the national policymaking process that two CRS reports were cited this month in an opinion (pdf) issued by the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel concerning the President’s constitutional authority to use military force in Libya.

One of the reports addressed “Instances of Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad, 1798-2010” and the other was on “Haiti: Developments and U.S. Policy Since 1991 and Current Congressional Concerns.”

Remarkably, however, neither of the CRS reports that was cited in the OLC opinion is available on any congressional website, since Congress stubbornly opposes direct public access to CRS products.  To find them online, one must turn to non-congressional websites.

Members of the public enjoy unrestricted access to all reports of the Congressional Research Service, according to the Librarian of Congress, Dr. James H. Billington.

“Though CRS has no direct public mission, at present the public has unfettered access to the full inventory of CRS Reports for the Congress at no cost through the office of any Member or committee,” he wrote in an April 4 letter (pdf) to Amy Bennett of Openthegovernment.org.

Unfortunately, that assertion is quite wrong.  The public does not have access to the full inventory of CRS Reports. There is not even a public index of CRS reports that would enable people to request specific reports by title.

No Member of Congress or committee permits unfettered public access to all CRS Reports, which are produced and updated at a rate of perhaps a dozen a day, although individual reports will often be released upon specific request.  (Some CRS Reports are prepared confidentially for individual Members and those are not available to others under any circumstances, except when the Member chooses to release them.)

Still, Dr. Billington’s mistaken belief that the public already has “unfettered access” to the entire CRS database is a hopeful sign, because it tends to confirm that providing such access to non-confidential CRS Reports is a sensible and achievable goal.  Indeed, otherwise well-informed people like the Librarian of Congress assume that it must already be true.

Postponed: I will be participating in a panel discussion on “The Future of CRS” on Monday, April 11, sponsored by the Sunlight Foundation’s Advisory Committee on Transparency, which will address the issue of public access to CRS products and related issues. Update: This event has been postponed.

Noteworthy new reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include the following (all pdf).

“Military Justice: Courts-Martial, An Overview,” March 31, 2011.

“The State Secrets Privilege: Preventing the Disclosure of Sensitive National Security Information During Civil Litigation,” March 28, 2011.

“Rare Earth Elements in National Defense:  Background, Oversight Issues, and Options for Congress,” March 31, 2011.

“Government Shutdown: Operations of the Department of Defense During a Lapse in Appropriations,” April 1, 2011.

Violent instability in Central America poses a growing threat to the countries of the region, with direct and indirect consequences for the United States, according to a new report (pdf) from the Congressional Research Service.

“The seven nations of Central America face significant security challenges. Well-financed and heavily armed criminal threats, fragile political and judicial systems, and persistent social hardships such as poverty and unemployment contribute to widespread insecurity in the region. The United States has allocated $260 million in security assistance to support Central America since FY2008 under what is now known as the Central America Regional Security Initiative; however, security conditions have continued to deteriorate,” the CRS report said.

A copy of the report was obtained by Secrecy News.  See “Central America Regional Security Initiative: Background and Policy Issues for Congress,” March 30, 2011.

Other noteworthy new CRS reports include the following (all pdf).

“The Japanese Nuclear Incident: Technical Aspects,” March 31, 2011.

“Nuclear Power Plant Sites: Maps of Seismic Hazards and Population Centers,” March 29, 2011.

“Japan’s 2011 Earthquake and Tsunami: Economic Effects and Implications for the United States,” March 25, 2011.

“Funeral Protests: Selected Federal Laws and Constitutional Issues,” March 22, 2011.

“War in Afghanistan: Strategy, Military Operations, and Issues for Congress,” March 9, 2011.

The first six days of Odyssey Dawn, the US war in Libya, cost an estimated $400 million, according to a new report (pdf) from the Congressional Research Service.

“Using operational details provided by DOD and DOD cost factors, a ‘bottoms-up’ estimate of the cost of initial operations suggests that in the first six days of operations, DOD has spent roughly $400 million,” the report said.

“U.S. participation in Operation Odyssey Dawn and NATO operations around Libya raises a number of questions for Congress, including the role of Congress in authorizing the use of force, the costs of the operation, the desired politico-strategic end state, the role of U.S. military forces in an operation under international command, and many others,” said the CRS report, which fleshed out many of those questions.

See “Operation Odyssey Dawn (Libya): Background and Issues for Congress,” March 28, 2011.

The decision to impose a no-fly zone on Libya is scrutinized from various perspectives in a new report (pdf) from the Congressional Research Service.

The report distinguishes “authorization” to establish a no-fly zone from the “legality” of the move, and also from its “legitimacy.”  “The three concepts overlap but are all distinct,” the report says.

The report, which may help to inform congressional deliberations, also treats operational and cost issues.  A copy was obtained by Secrecy News.  See “No-Fly Zones: Strategic, Operational, and Legal Considerations for Congress,” March 18, 2011.

“From the Washington Administration to the present, Congress and the President have enacted 11 separate formal declarations of war against foreign nations in five different wars,” according to another newly updated CRS report.  Yet there have been hundreds of U.S. military engagements over the past two centuries.

The significance of a declaration of war as compared to an “authorization” for the use of force was explored in detail in “Declarations of War and Authorizations for the Use of Military Force: Historical Background and Legal Implications,” March 17, 2011.

For a brief overview of Japan’s nuclear disaster, see “Fukushima Nuclear Crisis,” March 15, 2011.