The procedures by which the U.S. Air Force establishes international agreements for the exchange of intelligence information with foreign military services were described in a new Air Force Instruction. “Foreign military organizations being considered for inclusion in an IIA (international intelligence agreement) must clearly support U.S. security and foreign policy objectives. The foreign government must […]
New and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that Congress has not made available to the public include the following. The U.S. Science and Engineering Workforce: Recent, Current, and Projected Employment, Wages, and Unemployment, May 6, 2013 Securing U.S. Diplomatic Facilities and Personnel Abroad: Background and Policy Issues, May 7, 2013 Tax Reform in […]
The theory and practice of no-fly zones, including questions of their legal authorization and financial cost, are reviewed in a newly reissued report from the Congressional Research Service. The report does not reference the current conflict in Syria. See No-Fly Zones: Strategic, Operational, and Legal Considerations for Congress, May 3, 2013. Some of the other […]
For a variety of reasons, from institutional lethargy to calculated tactical opposition, the rate at which the Obama Administration’s judicial nominees are confirmed by Congress has become painfully slow, to the detriment of the judicial system and the possibility of justice itself. A new Congressional Research Service analysis of judicial nominations and confirmations since the […]
By Hans M. Kristensen The Russian ballistic missile submarine fleet is being modernized but conducting so few deterrent patrols that each submarine crew cannot be certain to get out of port even once a year. During 2012, according to data obtained from U.S. Naval Intelligence under the Freedom of Information Act, the entire Russian fleet […]
“During calendar year 2012, the Government made 1,856 applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for authority to conduct electronic surveillance and/or physical searches for foreign intelligence purposes.” That somewhat opaque statistic was disclosed in the Justice Department’s latest annual report to Congress on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, filed on Tuesday. As is usually […]
The process of declassifying national security records, which is hardly expeditious under the best of circumstances, will become slower as a result of the mandatory budget cuts known as sequestration. Due to sequestration, “NARA has reduced funding dedicated to the declassification of Presidential records,” the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) said in a report […]
A new report from the Congressional Research Service assesses the economic state of post-revolution Egypt and finds it fairly grim. “After more than two years of social unrest and economic stagnation following the 2011 popular uprising, the government of Egypt is facing serious economic pressures that, if not remedied, could lead to economic collapse and […]
The international agreements that constitute the infrastructure of international trade and investment are spotlighted in an informative new report from the Congressional Research Service. “In the absence of an overarching multilateral framework on investment, bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and investment chapters in free trade agreements (FTAs), collectively referred to as ‘international investment agreements,’ have emerged […]
By Hans M. Kristensen Does the U.S. Navy have more ballistic missile submarines than it needs? Dramatic reductions in deterrent patrols – but not submarines – suggest so. Over the past thirteen years, the number of deterrent patrols conducted each year by U.S. ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) has declined by more than half. During most […]
“Intelligence activity in the past decades has, all too often, exceeded the restraints on the exercise of governmental power that are imposed by our country’s Constitution, laws, and traditions,” according to the Congressional Research Service. The CRS, which shuns polemical claims, presents that assertion as a simple statement of fact (although cautiously sourced to the […]
The Department of Defense has revised its 1996 directive on non-lethal weapons (NLW) to guide future development and procurement of this category of weaponry. “Unlike conventional lethal weapons that destroy their targets principally through blast, penetration, and fragmentation, NLW employ means other than gross physical destruction to prevent the target from functioning. NLW are intended […]