New and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that Congress has withheld from online public distribution include the following.
Bitcoin: Questions, Answers, and Analysis of Legal Issues, December 20, 2013
The Crisis in South Sudan, December 27, 2013
Increasing the Efficiency of Existing Coal-Fired Power Plants, December 20, 2013
Spectrum Policy: Provisions in the 2012 Spectrum Act, December 23, 2013
Brief History of NIH Funding: Fact Sheet, December 23, 2013
The Medical Device Excise Tax: Economic Analysis, December 23, 2013
In Re Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001: Dismissals of Claims Against Saudi Defendants Under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), December 27, 2013
Environmental Laws: Summaries of Major Statutes Administered by the Environmental Protection Agency, December 20, 2013
Iran’s Nuclear Program: Tehran’s Compliance with International Obligations, December 20, 2013
Thailand: Background and U.S. Relations, December 20, 2013
Science and Technology Issues in the 113th Congress, December 27, 2013
Satellite imagery of RAF Lakenheath reveals new construction of a security perimeter around ten protective aircraft shelters in the designated nuclear area, the latest measure in a series of upgrades as the base prepares for the ability to store U.S. nuclear weapons.
It will take consistent leadership and action to navigate the complex dangers in the region and to avoid what many analysts considered to be an increasingly possible outcome, a nuclear conflict in East Asia.
Getting into a shutdown is the easy part, getting out is much harder. Both sides will be looking to pin responsibility on each other, and the court of public opinion will have a major role to play as to who has the most leverage for getting us out.
How the United States responds to China’s nuclear buildup will shape the global nuclear balance for the rest of the century.