Up for Debate: Should U.S. Reduce Arms Sales Abroad?
Over the coming year, high school students around the country will debate whether the U.S. should reduce its arms sales to foreign countries.
Specifically, the national debate topic that was selected for the 2019-20 school year is: Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially reduce Direct Commercial Sales and/or Foreign Military Sales of arms from the United States.
As required by statute, the Congressional Research Service prepared a bibliography reflecting diverse points of view on U.S. arms sales to help inform student debaters on this topic.
“This selective bibliography, with brief annotations, is intended to assist debaters in identifying resources and references on the national debate topic,” the CRS document says. “It lists citations to journal articles, books, congressional publications, legal cases, and websites. The bibliography is divided into three broad sections: basic concepts and definitions, general overviews, and specific cases.”
The runner-up topic for this year’s national high school debate was: Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially change its nuclear weapons strategy.
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Other noteworthy new publications from the Congressional Research Service include the following.
The Department of Defense’s JEDI Cloud Program, updated August 2, 2019
Department of Defense Energy Management: Background and Issues for Congress, July 25, 2019
U.S.-Iran Tensions and Implications for U.S. Policy, updated July 29, 2019
3D Printing: Overview, Impacts, and the Federal Role, August 2, 2019
Resolutions to Censure the President: Procedure and History, updated August 1, 2019
The proposed Office will resurrect the long-closed Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), the archive of which has been maintained by FAS for decades at https://ota.fas.org/.
If Congress needs help understanding the risks and rewards of a piece of technology, they shouldn’t have to rely solely on the sparknotes from a salesman. The rub is much simpler: Congress needs nerds.
If we set up the new OTA to do its job well, members will see it as the first stop to see what issues are lurking around the corner. They will bring their questions early. And they will keep coming back for more.
Even the best-designed policy rests on assumptions about who will staff it, how it will be funded, whether the responsible institutions have ever coordinated, and if the goals are achievable.