Friday, November 30, 2007

Friday's Miscellany for 11-30-2007

Air Force Association

American Security Project

Amnesty International

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Center for Security Policy

Center for Strategic and International Studies

Congressional Budget Office

Energy Information Administration (EIA)

Foreign Policy Research Institute

Government Accountability Office (GAO)

Heritage Foundation

Institute for Science and International Security

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

International Crisis Group

Jamestown Foundation

    • New Generation of al-Qaeda on Trial in Yemen
    • Al-Qaeda, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group and Jihad in North Africa
    • PKK Leadership Under Pressure in the Post-Ă–calan Era
    • MKO Uses YouTube to Display Military Prowess

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press

Project for Excellence in Journalism RAND

Strategic Studies Institute

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

Washington Institute for Near East Policy

Friday, November 23, 2007

Friday's Miscellany 11-23-2007

Amnesty International

Bread for the World

British American Security Information Council (BASIC)

Brookings

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Center for American Progress

Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS)

Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)

Defense Science Board (DSB)

Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI)

Government Accountability Office (GAO)

Heritage Foundation

Human Rights Watch

International Crisis Group

International Relations and Security Network (ISN)

Jamestown Foundation

Joint Economic Committee

Pew Research Center

Progressive Policy Institute (PPI)

Rand

SENLIS Council

Strategic Studies Institute

Thursday, November 22, 2007

REPORT - Deployment of the National Guard and Reserves

The Defense Science Board has posted a new report on the Deployment of Members of the National Guard and Reserves in the Global War on Terror. The report can be found at on the DSB reports page -- http://www.acq.osd.mil/dsb/reports.htm or directly at

http://www.acq.osd.mil/dsb/reports/2007-11-National_Guard_and_Reserve_in_the_Global_War_on_Terrorism.pdf

The task force examined the question of optimal length and frequency of deployment of members of the National Guard and reserve. According to the report, the task force found “that there is a general consensus that the guidelines for the reserve components satisfy their needs for predictability and sustainability. However, given current levels of operational demand, today’s Army active National Guard, and reserve force structure will not support DoD’s policy. Nor can it be supported when planned increases in end-strength are reached.”

The report also expressed concern about the availability of Guard and reserve personnel and equipment to meet homeland security, civil support and domestic emergency requirements along with the robust overseas deployments

Various charts and graphs are included.


Friday, November 16, 2007

Friday's Miscellany for 11-16-2007

Amnesty International

British American Security Information Council (BASIC)

Brookings Institution
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
CATO
The Center for a New American Security (CNAS)
Center for American Progress

Center for Defense Information
Center for Security Policy
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)
Foreign Policy Research Institute
Government Accountability Office (GAO)
The Henry L. Stimson Center
  • The Cooperation Between the U.S. and Japan on Our Respective Defense Exchanges with Other Countries to Improve the International Security Environment. http://www.stimson.org/pub.cfm?id=480
Heritage Foundation
Human Rights Watch
International Alert
Institute for Science and International Security
International Crisis Group
International Relations and Security Watch
Jamestown Foundation
Lexington Institute
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Progressive Policy Institute
Rand
Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College
Swiss Peace
Washington Institute for Near East Policy
U.S. China and Security Economic Review Commission

REPORT - U.S. China and Security Economic Review Commission

U.S. China and Security Economic Review Commission released its 2007 report yesterday. While the full report won’t be posted on their site until Monday [Nov 19th] several parts, including the Intro, the Executive summary and the Commission’s Recommendations from the latest report are available now.

The main commission website is http://www.uscc.gov/

The Intro which gives the good news/bad news view -- http://www.uscc.gov/annual_report/2008/intro.pdf

Executive Summary -- http://www.uscc.gov/annual_report/2008/executive_summary.pdf

Commission Recommendations -- http://www.uscc.gov/annual_report/2008/Comprehensive%20Recoms.pdf

Previous reports:

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

REPORT -- Cost of the Wars

As noted in the news -- the Joint Economic Committee Majority Staff has just published a report on the Cost of the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They estimate it could exceed $3.5 trillion.

"November 13: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) will join Joint Economic Committee (JEC) Chairman Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), and JEC Vice Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) today released a new report exposing the hidden costs of the war in Iraq. The Joint Economic Committee report investigates the costs of the war in Iraq that are not included in direct budgetary appropriations, including long term veteran’s health care, foregone investment, oil market disruptions and interest payments on borrowed war funding. The JEC estimates these costs could total in the trillions of dollars."

Joint Economic Committee -- War at Any Price?—the Total Economic Costs of the War Beyond the Federal Budget and it is available at http://jec.senate.gov/Documents/Reports/11.13.07IraqEconomicCostsReport.pdf

The press release includes a brief summary
http://jec.senate.gov/Documents/Releases/11.13.07IraqReportRelease.pdf

Individual charts are available as follows:

The response from the Joint Economic Committee Republicans can be found at http://www.house.gov/jec/news/2007/Nov/JEC%20GOP%20Response.pdf

They say the report should be withdrawn -- that it is politically motivated and filled with errors and poor methodology. A second press release from them indicates that some errors were quietly corrected on the web version. http://www.house.gov/jec/news/2007/Nov/JEC%20GOP%20Response%2011-14.pdf

Friday, November 9, 2007

Friday's Miscellany for 11-09-2007


American Enterprise Institute (AEI)

Amnesty International

Arms Control Association

British American Security Information Council (BASIC)

Brookings Institution

Canadian Defence & Foreign Affairs Institute

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Center for American Progress

Center for a New American Security (CNAS)

Center for Defense Information

Center for Security Policy

Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

Command and Control Research Program (CCRP)

  • International C2 Journal [Fall 2007] http://www.dodccrp.org/html4/journal_v1n2.html Special Issue: "Decision Support for Network-Centric Command and Control"
    o Automation Architecture for Single Operator, Multiple UAV Command and Control
    o Custom Work Aids for Distributed Command and Control Teams: A Key to Enabling Highly Effective Teams
    o Adaptive Automation for Human-Robot Teaming in Future Command and Control Systems
    o Improving Planning and Replanning: Using a Formal Grammar to Automate Processing of Command and Control Information for Decision Support

Combat Studies Institute

Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)

Department of Defense Inspector General (DODIG)

FBI

Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI)

Government Accountability Office (GAO)

Heritage Foundation

Human Rights Watch

Interagency Working Group on Import Safety

International Crisis Group

James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Monterey Institute of International Studies

Lexington Institute

Rand

Strategic Studies Institute

UN Office of Drugs and Crime

Washington Institute for Near East Policy