DoD Role During Flu Pandemics, and More from CRS
Noteworthy new reports from the Congressional Research Service obtained by Secrecy News include the following (all pdf).
“Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty: Updated ‘Safeguards’ and Net Assessments,” June 3, 2009.
“The Role of the Department of Defense During a Flu Pandemic,” June 4, 2009.
“Congressional Oversight and Related Issues Concerning International Security Agreements Concluded by the United States,” June 2, 2009.
“The President’s Office of Science and Technology Policy: Issues for Congress,” updated June 3, 2009.
“Landsat and the Data Continuity Mission,” May 22, 2009.
“Geospatial Information and Geographic Information Systems (GIS): Current Issues and Future Challenges,” June 8, 2009.
January saw us watching whether the government would fund science. February has been about how that funding will be distributed, regulated, and contested.
This rule gives agencies significantly more authority over certain career policy roles. Whether that authority improves accountability or creates new risks depends almost entirely on how agencies interrupt and apply it.
Our environmental system was built for 1970s-era pollution control, but today it needs stable, integrated, multi-level governance that can make tradeoffs, share and use evidence, and deliver infrastructure while demonstrating that improved trust and participation are essential to future progress.
Durable and legitimate climate action requires a government capable of clearly weighting, explaining, and managing cost tradeoffs to the widest away of audiences, which in turn requires strong technocratic competency.