U.S. military forces have been deployed in military conflicts abroad hundreds of times over the past two centuries — not including covert actions or training exercises.  An updated tabulation is given in “Instances of Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad, 1798-2010” (pdf), Congressional Research Service, March 10, 2011.

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

“Middle East and North Africa Unrest: Implications for Oil and Natural Gas Markets,” March 10, 2011.

“The Strategic Petroleum Reserve and Refined Product Reserves: Authorization and Drawdown Policy,” March 11, 2011.

“Terrorist Use of the Internet: Information Operations in Cyberspace,” March 8, 2011.

“International Criminal Court and the Rome Statute: 2010 Review Conference,” March 10, 2011.

“International Criminal Court Cases in Africa: Status and Policy Issues,” March 7, 2011.

“Closing Yucca Mountain: Litigation Associated with Attempts to Abandon the Planned Nuclear Waste Repository,” March 4, 2011.

“U.S. Tsunami Programs: A Brief Overview,” March 14, 2011.

Mary B. Mazanec has been appointed acting director of the Congressional Research Service. Ms. Mazanec is the current CRS deputy director.  She will serve in an acting capacity until the selection of a new director is made by Librarian of Congress James H. Billington.  The current director, Daniel P. Mulhollan, will retire on April 2.

Public interest groups hope that the change in CRS leadership will coincide with, or will help to promote, a change in CRS publication policy.  Currently, at congressional direction, CRS does not permit direct public access to its reports.

When law enforcement agencies use a Global Positioning System device to track the motor vehicle of a potential suspect, is that a “search” that is subject to constitutional protections under the Fourth Amendment?  Or is it comparable to visual inspection of public information that enjoys no such protection?

The Supreme Court has not ruled on the subject, and lower courts have issued a range of opinions in different cases, according to a new report (pdf) from the Congressional Research Service that carefully delineated the issues.

“Depending on how one reads the courts’ decisions, one could conclude that there is a split in the courts regarding whether law enforcement must first obtain a warrant before using a GPS device.  Conversely, one could also conclude that the courts’ decisions are reconcilable and that the outcomes of the cases are fact-sensitive.”

A copy of the CRS report was obtained by Secrecy News.  See “Law Enforcement Use of GPS Devices to Monitor Motor Vehicles: Fourth Amendment Considerations,” February 28, 2011.

Some other new or newly updated CRS products include these (all pdf):

“Mandatory Vaccinations: Precedent and Current Laws,” February 24, 2011.

“The U.S. Postal Service’s Financial Condition: Overview and Issues for Congress,” February 24, 2011.

“War Powers Resolution: Presidential Compliance,” February 3, 2011.

The number of private security contractors employed by the Department of Defense in Afghanistan has reached a new record high, according to DoD statistics in a recently updated report (pdf) from the Congressional Research Service.

“In Afghanistan, as of December 2010, there were 18,919 private security contractor (PSC) personnel working for DOD, the highest number since DOD started tracking the data in September 2007. The number of PSC personnel in Afghanistan has more than tripled since June 2009,” the CRS report said.

“The United States relies on contractors to provide a wide variety of services in Afghanistan and Iraq, including armed security. While DOD has previously contracted for security in Bosnia and elsewhere, it appears that in Afghanistan and Iraq DOD is for the first time relying so heavily on armed contractors to provide security during combat or stability operations.”

“Much of the attention given to private security contractors (PSCs) by Congress and the media is a result of numerous high-profile incidents in which security contractors have been accused of shooting civilians, using excessive force, being insensitive to local customs or beliefs, or otherwise behaving inappropriately.

“Some analysts believe that the use of contractors, particularly private security contractors, may have undermined U.S. counterinsurgency efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq,” the report said.

See “The Department of Defense’s Use of Private Security Contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq: Background, Analysis, and Options for Congress,” February 21, 2011.

Official reporting on the conduct of the war in Afghanistan is grossly inadequate to inform policymaking or to provide public accountability, wrote Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in a recent assessment of available metrics.

“The war in Afghanistan is now in its tenth year. In spite of that fact, the US, allied countries, the ISAF, and the UN have failed to develop credible reporting in the progress of the war, provide meaningful transparency on the problems and challenge it faces, and a meaningful plan for the future. Moreover, since June 2010, the unclassified reporting the US does provide has steadily shrunk in content – effectively ‘spinning’ the road to victory by eliminating content that illustrates the full scale of the challenges ahead,” Cordesman wrote.

Dozens of public interest groups wrote to the Librarian of Congress last week to urge him to appoint a new Director of the Congressional Research Service who would work with Congress to promote public access to CRS reports.

“The public needs access to these non-confidential CRS reports in order to discharge their civic duties,” the letter (pdf) stated. “American taxpayers spend over $100 million a year to fund the CRS, which generates detailed reports relevant to current political events for lawmakers. But while the reports are non-classified, and play a critical role in our legislative process, they have never been made available in a consistent and official way to members of the public.”

There are several large collections of CRS reports that have been placed online by public interest groups, including the Federation of American Scientists.  But Congress has prohibited CRS from providing its products directly to the public.  And the current CRS director, Daniel Mulhollan, who is retiring in the next few weeks, has actively supported that non-disclosure policy.

What has happened under Mr. Mulhollan’s tenure is that CRS reports have been commodified.  Instead of being made freely available to the public, they are marketed by vendors.  A typical ten-page report may be sold for as much as $29.95 ($19.95 for students!).  Mr. Mulhollan has produced a litany of arguments (pdf) against public distribution of CRS reports, but all of them are mooted by the simple fact that the reports are distributed anyway– for a fee.

The appointment of a new CRS Director will be an opportunity to chart a new, more sensible course for the congressional support agency, to include free public distribution of non-confidential reports.

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

“U.S. Response to the Global Threat of Tuberculosis: Basic Facts,” February 22, 2011.

“U.S. Response to the Global Threat of Malaria: Basic Facts,” February 22, 2011.

“U.S. Response to the Global Threat of HIV/AIDS: Basic Facts,” February 22, 2011.

The implications of a shutdown of the federal government due to funding gaps are discussed in a newly updated report (pdf) from the Congressional Research Service.

“Failure of the President and Congress to reach agreement on interim or full-year funding measures occasionally has caused government shutdowns, the longest of which lasted 21 days, from December 16, 1995, to January 6, 1996. Government shutdowns have necessitated furloughs of several hundred thousand federal employees, required cessation or reduction of many government activities, and affected numerous sectors of the economy.”

See “Shutdown of the Federal Government: Causes, Processes, and Effects,” February 18, 2011.

See also, relatedly, this CRS report on “Reaching the Debt Limit: Background and Potential Effects on Government Operations,” February 11, 2011.

Newly updated reports of interest from the Congressional Research Service include the following (all pdf).

“Egypt: The January 25 Revolution and Implications for U.S. Foreign Policy,” February 11, 2011.

“Amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Set to Expire February 28, 2011,” February 10, 2011 (a three month extension until May 27, 2011 was passed by Congress last week).

“Intelligence Identities Protection Act,” January 28, 2011.

“Closing the Guantanamo Detention Center: Legal Issues,” February 11, 2011.

“Nanotechnology and Environmental, Health, and Safety: Issues for Consideration,” January 20, 2011.

“Foreign Aid: An Introduction to U.S. Programs and Policy,” February 10, 2011.

New reports from the Congressional Research Service on natural gas and miscellaneous other topics include the following (all pdf).

“Implication’s of Egypt’s Turmoil on Global Oil and Natural Gas Supply,” February 11, 2011.

“Israel’s Offshore Natural Gas Discoveries Enhance Its Economic and Energy Outlook,” January 31, 2011.

“Global Natural Gas: A Growing Resource,” December 22, 2010.

“The Army’s Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) and Early Infantry Brigade Combat Team (E-IBCT) Programs,” January 18, 2011.

“Cuba: Issues for the 112th Congress,” January 28, 2011.

“Mexico’s Drug Trafficking Organizations: Source and Scope of the Rising Violence,” January 7, 2011.

“Is Biopower Carbon Neutral?,” January 25, 2011.

“Violence Against Members of Congress and Their Staff: Selected Examples and Congressional Responses,” January 25, 2011.

“The Obama Administration’s Feed the Future Initiative,” January 10, 2011.

Noteworthy new reports from the Congressional Research Service include the following (all pdf).

“Political Transition in Tunisia,” February 2, 2011.

“National Security Letters: Proposals in the 112th Congress,” February 1, 2011.

“Murder or Attempted Murder of a Member of Congress and Other Federal Officials and Employees: Implications in Federal Criminal Law and Procedure of Events in Tucson,” January 25, 2011.

“The U.S. Foreign-Born Population: Trends and Selected Characteristics,” January 18, 2011.

There are seventeen so-called Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), such as Chagas disease, dengue fever and leprosy, that are found in some 149 countries, a new report (pdf) from the Congressional Research Service explains.

“Estimates indicate that some 2 billion people are at risk of contracting an NTD, of whom more than 1 billion people are afflicted with one or more. Roughly 534,000 people are believed to be killed by an NTD annually. Although these diseases are concentrated among the world’s poor, population shifts and climate change increase the vulnerability of the United States to some of these diseases, particularly Chagas disease and dengue,” the CRS report said.

Efforts to combat the diseases, and the challenges facing those efforts, are described by the CRS in “Neglected Tropical Diseases: Background, Responses, and Issues for Congress,” January 21, 2011.

The Congressional Research Service is not equipped to provide up-to-the-minute coverage of current news events, like the continuing upheaval in Egypt.  But CRS does provide deeply researched background on factual matters including U.S. economic and military aid to Egypt, as well as a detailed account of many aspects of U.S.-Egypt political relations. See the newly updated report “Egypt: Background and U.S. Relations,” January 28, 2011.

On events in Tunisia, see “Tunisia: Recent Developments and Policy Issues,” January 18, 2011.

Daniel P. Mulhollan, director of the Congressional Research Service, told CRS staff last week that he will be retiring in April.  Mr. Mulhollan, who joined CRS in 1969, has been director of the congressional support organization for the past 14 years, making him its longest-serving leader.

Although the basic parameters of CRS operation are set by Congress, Mr. Mulhollan’s departure may encourage reconsideration of some particular CRS policies that he favored.  These could include, for example, the CRS posture of strict neutrality, the deliberate erosion of CRS expertise in recent years, and perhaps the policy of barring direct public access to CRS reports.

“Dan loved CRS, and he worked hard to keep it above the Hill’s political fray,” said one CRS analyst.  “He kept CRS from suffering what GAO did– getting downsized because it was viewed as too friendly to one political party.”

But a former CRS analyst saw the issue of CRS impartiality differently:  “In 2003, Dan invented a new standard of ‘neutrality’ that prohibits any analyst, no matter the weight of evidence, from stating that one position is stronger than another.  The result is a remarkable watering down of CRS reports, a trend that has been noticed not only by congressional staff but by readers outside of Congress.  Neither CBO nor GAO follows the standard of ‘neutrality’,” the former analyst said.

Another question is whether CRS should provide greater depth of analytical expertise or whether it should emphasize basic tutorials and reference services geared particularly towards new members and younger staffers.

The Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 mandated the appointment of highly qualified Specialists and Senior Specialists at CRS to be “available for special work” for congressional committees and members, on topics such as American government, foreign policy, economics, and others.

Under Mr. Mulhollan, these top two levels of CRS expertise have atrophied.  “Not since 1989 has CRS hired a Senior Specialist,” according to a former analyst.  In 1988 there were 18 of them.  “The number is now down to four, with all facing retirement.”  Similarly, in the late 1980s there were 38 research Specialists.  “The number is now down to five, with all close to retirement.”

“In short, Dan over his reign has wiped out the two top levels of analytical competence” at CRS, the former analyst said.  He has allocated their slots and salaries to “full-time administrators who have never done analytical work.”

A current CRS analyst said the future of the organization would have to be different from its past, and that sophisticated subject matter expertise may not be the main thing that Congress is looking for.  “CRS is famed for being apolitical and expert, but some congressional staff also find it a bit stodgy.  For example, the CRS website lacks full text search, and it doesn’t have podcasts or videos.  It’s just a heap of long, dry reports, and often what the staffers need are primers or short essays.”

As for the policy of blocking direct public access to CRS reports, Congress is responsible for that, but it was firmly embraced by Mr. Mulhollan.  (On various occasions since the 1990s, he expressed disapproval of FAS due to our continuing practice of publishing CRS reports online.)  His successor could conceivably help to facilitate a change of direction in this area.

Before his departure, Mr. Mulhollan is expected to name an acting director, “someone who likely will continue his management policies and practices,” according to one observer.  The appointment of a new CRS director will be up to the Librarian of Congress.

The history and characteristic features of the State of the Union address, to be delivered by President Obama on January 25, were reviewed in a recent report (pdf) from the Congressional Research Service.

“Presidents often acknowledge the difficult nature of the goals they set, but such acknowledgment is qualified by a strong statement that Americans will always fulfill their destiny, solve intractable problems, and ultimately ‘establish a more perfect Union’. ”

“No President has ever reported that the crisis facing the nation was insurmountable.”

See “The President’s State of the Union Address: Tradition, Function, and Policy Implications,” November 17, 2010.