The escalating confrontation between the United States and Iran over the latter’s nuclear program has triggered much debate about what actions should be taken to ensure that Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon. How might certain actions against Iran affect the global economy?
What are the major national security threats facing the United States, and what can the next president do to prepare for a potential disaster? Three days after the 2012 national election, FAS hosted a symposium featuring policy experts who provided recommendations (in memo form) to the Obama administration on how to best respond to catastrophic threats to national security.
Over the objections of its authors, the Department of Homeland Security classified a 2007 report from the National Academy of Sciences on the potential vulnerability of the U.S. electric power system until most of it was finally released yesterday. The report generally concluded, as other reports have, that the electric grid is lacking in resilience […]
New or newly updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include the following. Privacy: An Abbreviated Outline of Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping, October 9, 2012 Privacy: An Overview of Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping, October 9, 2012 Privacy: An Overview […]
During a recent visit to Germany I did an interview with the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk magazine FAKT on the status of the B61 nuclear bomb modernization. . By Hans M. Kristensen Last week, I was in Berlin to testify before the Disarmament Subcommittee of the German Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee on the future of the U.S. […]
President Obama’s declared goal of making his “the most transparent Administration in history” generated successive waves of enthusiasm, perplexity, frustration, and mockery as public expectations of increased openness and accountability were lifted sky high and then — often, not always — thwarted. Every Administration including this one presides over the release of more government information […]
Selected reports from the Congressional Research Service on veterans’ affairs which Congress has not made readily available to the public include the following. “Who is a Veteran?” — Basic Eligibility for Veterans’ Benefits, January 23, 2012 Employment for Veterans: Trends and Programs, October 23, 2012 GI Bills Enacted Prior to 2008 and Related Veterans’ Educational […]
In a new case of alleged mishandling of classified materials, a Navy contract linguist who served in Bahrain until earlier this year was charged with unlawful retention of national defense information after several classified documents were found in his possession. But although James F. Hitselberger, an experienced Arabic translator, was charged under an Espionage Act […]
New and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service that Congress has not made available to the public include the following. Natural Gas in the U.S. Economy: Opportunities for Growth, November 6, 2012 The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act: Title VII, Derivatives, November 6, 2012 Same-Sex Marriages: Legal Issues, November 5, 2012 […]
The Department of Defense Inspector General (IG) announced that it will begin to review the Department’s classification practices, as required by the 2010 Reducing Over-Classification Act. The review will evaluate the policies and procedures “that may be contributing to persistent misclassification of material.” It will also address “efforts by the Department to decrease over-classification,” wrote […]
The members of the Electoral College who formally enact the election of the President are expected or even required to represent the wishes of the voters who elected them, but sometimes they don’t! “Notwithstanding the tradition that electors are bound to vote for the candidates of the party that nominated them, individual electors have sometimes […]
Updated below The New York Times reported last week that the Congressional Research Service had withdrawn a report that found no correlation between reduced tax rates and increased economic growth after some Republican Senators took exception to it. (“Nonpartisan Tax Report Withdrawn After G.O.P. Protest” by Jonathan Weisman, November 1.) But “withdrawn” here means withdrawn […]