The records of several noteworthy congressional hearings that were held in the past two years have been published in the last few weeks, including these:
“A Report Card on Homeland Security Information Sharing,” House Homeland Security Committee, September 24, 2008.
“Turning Spy Satellites on the Homeland: The Privacy and Civil Liberties Implications of the National Applications Office,” House Homeland Security Committee, September 6, 2007.
“Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation” (pdf), Senate Judiciary Committee, March 27, 2007.
“FISA Amendments: How to Protect Americans’ Security and Privacy and Preserve the Rule of Law and Government Accountability,” October 31, 2007.
Sen. Patrick Leahy and Sen. Charles Grassley of the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote to Attorney General Holder (pdf) on October 20, asking the Department of Justice to comply with outstanding Committee requests for information that have gone unanswered, in some cases for several years.
Investing in interventions behind the walls is not just a matter of improving conditions for incarcerated individuals—it is a public safety and economic imperative. By reducing recidivism through education and family contact, we can improve reentry outcomes and save billions in taxpayer dollars.
The U.S. government should establish a public-private National Exposome Project (NEP) to generate benchmark human exposure levels for the ~80,000 chemicals to which Americans are regularly exposed.
The federal government spends billions every year on wildfire suppression and recovery. Despite this, the size and intensity of fires continues to grow, increasing costs to human health, property, and the economy as a whole.
To respond and maintain U.S. global leadership, USAID should transition to heavily favor a Fixed-Price model to enhance the United States’ ability to compete globally and deliver impact at scale.