Update on Comprehensive Test Ban, & More from CRS
The Congressional Research Service has prepared an updated account of the status of the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty (CTBT), which would prohibit explosive testing of nuclear weapons.
“As of August 2016, 183 states had signed the CTBT and 164, including Russia, had ratified it. However, entry into force requires ratification by 44 states specified in the treaty, of which 41 had signed the treaty and 36 had ratified.” The U.S. has not ratified it.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold a hearing on the CTBT tomorrow, September 7.
See Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty: Background and Current Developments, September 1, 2016.
Other new and updated products from the Congressional Research Service include the following.
Climate Change: Frequently Asked Questions about the 2015 Paris Agreement, September 1, 2016
U.S. Textile Manufacturing and the Proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, September 1, 2016
Comparing DHS Component Funding, FY2017: Fact Sheet, September 2, 2016
OPM Announces Premium Increase in the Federal Long-Term Care Insurance Program, CRS Insight, September 1, 2016
The European Union’s Small Business Act: A Different Approach, September 1, 2016
Zika Response Funding: Request and Congressional Action, updated September 1, 2016
The research community lacks strategies to incentivize collaboration on high-quality data acquisition and sharing. The government should fund collaborative roadmapping, certification, collection, and sharing of large, high-quality datasets in life science.
The potential of new nuclear power plants to meet energy demand, increase energy security, and revitalize local economies depends on new regulatory and operational approaches at the NRC.
In anticipation of future known and unknown health security threats, including new pandemics, biothreats, and climate-related health emergencies, our answers need to be much faster, cheaper, and less disruptive to other operations.
To unlock the full potential of artificial intelligence within the Department of Health and Human Services, an AI Corps should be established, embedding specialized AI experts within each of the department’s 10 agencies.