Democracy as a political system has not advanced around the world in the past decade and by some measures it has actually declined, a new report from the Congressional Research Service observes. The obstacles are not all located abroad. Unlike its predecessors, the Trump Administration does not include democracy promotion as part of its national […]
The planning and execution of US Army information operations are the subject of a new Army manual for practitioners. Information operations are activities that involve the use of information to support US and allied military objectives and/or to degrade adversary functions. The field of information operations includes military deception, cyberspace operations, and other sub-disciplines. The first step is to characterize […]
Last June, the White House issued a set of proposals to reform and reorganize government functions in dozens of executive branch agencies. The proposals range from cosmetic (e.g., renaming the Department of Health and Human Services) to substantial (e.g., combining the Departments of Labor and Education) with significant implications for domestic and foreign policy, as well as […]
With the support of U.S. intelligence, the Colombian Air Force last year engaged dozens of aircraft suspected of illicit drug trafficking, leading to the seizure of 4.4 metric tons of cocaine. In 2017, “Colombia, with the assistance of the United States, responded to 80 unknown assumed suspect (UAS) air tracks throughout Colombia and the central/western […]
The most recent Department of Defense plan for its military aviation programs is unusually “full of details on specific programs, including cancellations, life extensions, and new starts. Some are explicit; others, between the lines,” writes Jeremiah Gertler of the Congressional Research Service. He identified the some of the novelties in a new CRS publication. See […]
Government agencies may remove or omit budget information from their public financial statements and may present expenditures that are associated with one budget line item as if they were associated with another line item in order to protect classified information, the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board concluded last week. Under the newly approved standard, government […]
New and updated publications from the Congressional Research Service include the following. Russian Compliance with the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty: Background and Issues for Congress, updated October 5, 2018 Defense Primer: The NDAA Process, CRS In Focus, updated October 3, 2018 Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards, CRS In Focus, updated October 2, 2018 Lebanon, […]
By Hans M. Kristensen The latest New START treaty aggregate numbers published by the State Department earlier today show a slight increase in U.S. deployed strategic forces and a slight decrease in Russian deployed strategic forces over the past six months. The data shows that the United States and Russia as of September 1, 2018 […]
We were very sad to learn that Steve Garfinkel, the former director of the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), passed away on September 24. Appointed by President Carter in 1980, Mr. Garfinkel served as the second ISOO director for two decades until his retirement in January 2002. In that position, he played an influential role […]
Noteworthy new and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service include the following. Selected Legal Tools for Maintaining Government Contractor Accountability, September 26, 2018 Federalism-Based Limitations on Congressional Power: An Overview, September 27, 2018 EPA Proposes the Affordable Clean Energy Rule to Replace the Clean Power Plan, CRS Legal Sidebar, September 26, 2018 EPA Proposes New […]
After years of cumulative and seemingly irreversible growth, the backlog of pending security clearance investigations declined in the last three months in response to new policy guidance. Since June, the National Background Investigation Bureau has reduced its background investigation inventory from 725,000 cases to 657,000 cases, according to a new quarterly report on security clearance policy. […]
A new report from the Congressional Research Service examines how and why the U.S. Supreme Court would overturn one of its own rulings interpreting the Constitution. There are at least 141 cases where such rulings have in fact been overturned, including three in the Court’s latest term, and these are tabulated in an appendix to the report. See The […]