What is the role of ethics in intelligence and at the CIA in particular?
“Some former employees and others with experience at the agency have been critical of CIA’s ethics program as focusing too much on legal compliance in a reactive, ad hoc manner that falls short of a comprehensive approach to ethics education at the CIA,” the Congressional Research Service said in a recent discussion of the topic.
But “Others are skeptical of introducing training on morality into what is often viewed as the inherently amoral environment of covert action or clandestine foreign intelligence.” See CIA Ethics Education: Background and Perspectives, CRS In Focus, June 11, 2018.
Other new and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service include the following.
United States Special Operations Command Acquisition Authorities, July 9, 2018
Defense Acquisitions: How and Where DOD Spends Its Contracting Dollars, updated July 2, 2018
Mexico: Organized Crime and Drug Trafficking Organizations, updated July 3, 2018
China-U.S. Trade Issues, updated July 6, 2018
Navy Force Structure and Shipbuilding Plans: Background and Issues for Congress, July 6, 2018
The Army’s Modular Handgun Procurement, CRS In Focus, June 19, 2018
President Trump Nominates Judge Brett Kavanaugh: Initial Observations, CRS Legal Sidebar, July 10, 2018
Who Interprets Foreign Law in U.S. Federal Courts?, CRS Legal Sidebar, July 9, 2018
The Designation of Election Systems as Critical Infrastructure, CRS In Focus, July 6, 2018
Section 232 Investigations: Overview and Issues for Congress, July 5, 2018
The Congressional Review Act: Determining Which “Rules” Must Be Submitted to Congress, July 5, 2018
Federal Quantum Information Science: An Overview, CRS In Focus, July 2, 2018
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.