Some recent reports of the Congressional Research Service that have not previously been made readily available in the public domain include the following (all pdf).
“Climate Change: Science and Policy Implications,” January 25, 2007.
“Foreign Science and Engineering Presence in U.S. Institutions and the Labor Force,” updated January 12, 2007.
“U.S. Military Dispositions: Fact Sheet,” updated January 30, 2007.
“Navy Ship Names: Background For Congress,” updated January 17, 2007.
“Latin America: Terrorism Issues,” updated January 22, 2007.
“U.S. National Science Foundation: An Overview,” updated January 24, 2007.
“War Powers Resolution: Presidential Compliance,” updated January 16, 2007.
“Laos: Background and U.S. Relations,” updated February 5, 2007.
“Kyrgyzstan’s Constitutional Crisis: Context and Implications for U.S. Interests,” updated January 5, 2007.
At the conclusion of a widely cited article on U.S. policy towards Iran in the latest issue of The New Yorker, Seymour Hersh referred to a November 2006 report by CRS “on what it depicted as the Administration’s blurring of the line between C.I.A. activities and strictly military ones.”
The referenced report is “Covert Action: Legislative Background and Possible Policy Questions,” November 2, 2006.
The proposed Office will resurrect the long-closed Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), the archive of which has been maintained by FAS for decades at https://ota.fas.org/.
If Congress needs help understanding the risks and rewards of a piece of technology, they shouldn’t have to rely solely on the sparknotes from a salesman. The rub is much simpler: Congress needs nerds.
If we set up the new OTA to do its job well, members will see it as the first stop to see what issues are lurking around the corner. They will bring their questions early. And they will keep coming back for more.
Even the best-designed policy rests on assumptions about who will staff it, how it will be funded, whether the responsible institutions have ever coordinated, and if the goals are achievable.