A recent Congressional Research Service report observed irregularities in government spending on military space.
“Tracking the DOD space budget is extremely difficult since space is not identified as a separate line item in the DOD budget. Additionally, DOD sometimes releases only partial information (omitting funding for classified programs) or will suddenly release without explanation new figures for prior years that are quite different from what was previously reported.”
See “U.S. Military Space Programs: An Overview of Appropriations and Current Issues” (pdf), updated August 7, 2006.
Pending proposals to restructure Foreign Service personnel compensation policy are described in “The Foreign Service and a New Worldwide Compensation System” (pdf), updated November 16, 2006.
U.S. economic sanctions that are currently imposed against North Korea and the potential application of additional restrictions are addressed in another recent CRS report, provided courtesy of the National Committee on North Korea. See “North Korea: Economic Sanctions” (pdf), updated October 17, 2006.
If this proposed rule were enacted it would have deleterious effects on government workers in general and federal researchers and scientists, specifically.
When we introduce “at-will” employment to government employees, we also introduce the potential for environments where people are more concerned about self-preservation than service to others.
There is no better time to re-invigorate America’s innovation edge by investing in R&D to create and capture “industries of the future,” re-shoring capital and expertise, and working closely with allies to expand our capabilities while safeguarding those technologies that are critical to our security.
Russia currently maintains nearly 5,460 nuclear warheads, with an estimated 1,718 deployed. This represents a slight decrease in total warheads from previous years but still positions Russia as the world’s largest nuclear power alongside the United States.