REPORT - Global War on Terrorism: An Assessment

The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment (CSBA) has released its new report – The Global War on Terrorism: An Assessment.

According to their press release, this 280 page report concludes that the US position in the Global War on Terror has slipped since 2003 but also suggests that the “tide may be turning against Jihadi Extremism.”

Friday's Miscellany 02-22-2008

American Enterprise Institute

• Iran's Parliamentary Elections and the Revolutionary Guards' Creeping Coup d'Etat
• Iranian Influence in the Levant, Iraq, and Afghanistan
  

American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science

• Nuclear Forensics: Role, State of the Art, Program Needs
  

BASIC

• Iran Update, No. 114
  

Brookings

• The Cuban Economy After Castro
• Testing the "Israel Lobby" Thesis
• What Does Fidel Castro's Retirement Mean for Cuba?
  

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

• Nuclear Renaissance and Non-Proliferation
  

Center for a New American Security

• CNAS-Foreign Policy Magazine: U.S. Military Index
  
• Strengthening the Readiness of the U.S. Military
  

James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies

• Study Finds U.S. Intelligence Community Confidence in Iran's Chemical Weapons Capability has Diminished Steadily Since 2003
  

Center for Security Policy

• Garcia's Two Terms
• "John Doe" Telecoms
• Mugniyeh's True Legacy
• The Ethics of "Exporting" Education
  

Center for Security Studies

• ESDP After Lisbon: More Coherent and Capable?
  
• Russian Analytical Digest No. 35 -- Russia's Health and Demographic Situation

Center for Strategic and International Studies

• President Bush’s Africa Trip
  

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

• Public Health Preparedness: Mobilizing State by State
  

Committee on the Present Danger

• Senator Lieberman on Iran
  

Congressional Budget Office

• The Deductibility of State and Local Taxes
  

Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)

• The North African Regimes are a Security Problem for Themselves, for the EU and for The US: Violence, Depolitisation and Islamisation Characterise North African Societies
  
• Shia-Islamist Political Actors in Iraq
  

Director of National Intelligence (DNI)

• Data Mining Report to Congress
  

EU Institute for Security Studies (EUISS)

• US Policy on Iraq: Past, Present and Future
  

Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI)

• Kenya Update
  

Government Accountability Office (GAO)

• Bank Secrecy Act: Increased Use of Exemption Provisions Could Reduce Currency Transaction Reporting While Maintaining Usefulness to Law Enforcement Efforts
• Bank Secrecy Act: Surveys of Financial Institutions and CTR Users
• Disaster Cost Estimates: FEMA Can Improve Its Learning from Past Experience and Management of Disaster-Related Resources
• Embassy Security: Upgrades Have Enhanced Security, but Site Conditions Prevent Full Adherence to Standards
• Information Security: Protecting Personally Identifiable Information
• Military Personnel: The DOD and Coast Guard Academies Have Taken Steps to Address Incidents of Sexual Harassment and Assault, but Greater Federal Oversight Is Needed
  

Heritage Foundation

• Big Labor Can't Handle the Truth About Colombia
• Cuba's Phony Transition: Fidel Resigns, Raul Reigns
• Providing for the Common Defense: What 10 Years of Progress Would Look Like
• President Bush's Trip to Africa: Solidifying U.S. Partnerships with the Region
• The West Must Back Full Independence for Kosovo
  

Human Rights Watch

• Flooding South Lebanon: Israel’s Use of Cluster Munitions in Lebanon in July and August 2006
• On the Margins of Profit: Rights at Risk in the Global Economy
• Russia: Choking on Bureaucracy: State Curbs on Independent Civil Society Activism
  

Information Sharing Environment (ISE)

• ISE Key Issues Guidance
  

International Crisis Group

• Kenya in Crisis
• Sri Lanka's Return to War: Limiting the Damage

ISN Security Watch

• Armenia: Sarkisian Poll Triumph Challenged
• Chad: Between Sudan's Blitzkrieg, Darfur's War
• The Global Kidney Bazaar
• The Internet's Vulnerability
• Kosovo Declares Independence
  
• Pakistan and Violence
• Pakistan's Surprise Elections
• Technology and the Fog of War
• A View of the Cuban Revolution
  

Jamestown Foundation

• "New Quality" in Jihadi Threats
  

Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO)

• JIEDDO FY 2007 Annual Report

Lexington Institute

• Army Fiscal Pressures Encourage Huge Depot to Innovate
• Our Failed, Punitive Policy
  

National Security Archive

• Southern Cone Rendition Program: Peru's Participation: Operation Condor Crimes Focus of Italian Indictments

Office of Immigration Statistics (OIS)

• Estimates of the Legal Permanent Resident Population in 2006
  

Pew Global Attitudes Project

• Global Views on Castro and Cuba
  

Rand

• Education and the Asian Surge: A Comparison of the Education Systems in India and China
  

Strategic Studies Institute

• Dissent and Strategic Leadership of the Military Professions

Washington Institute for Near East Policy

• Headscarf Dilemma: Implications for Turkey and the United States
• Iran's Parliamentary Elections: Assured Victory for the Supreme Leader
  

Friday's Miscellany 02-15-2008

American Enterprise Institute (AEI)

• What If?: A World Without a U.S.-ROK Alliance

Amnesty International

• Cambodia Burns Homes of the Poor
  

Brookings

• Facing Protectionism Generated By Trade Disputes: China’s Post-WTO Blues
• Fires, Floods, Earthquakes and Tsunamis: A Human Rights Perspective for Major Natural Disasters
• Inauguration of Lee Myung-bak: Grappling with Korea’s Future Challenges
• Iraqi Internal Displacement and International Law
• North Korea Now: Will the Clock Be Turned Back?
• Protecting Darfur’s Internally Displaced
• Russia's Virtual Economy
• The Shanghai Cooperation Organization and Japan: Moving Together to Reshape the Eurasian Community
  

Canadian Defence & Foreign Affairs Institute

• Military Transformation: Key Aspects and Canadian Approaches

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

• Assessing Secretary of State Rice's Reform of U.S. Foreign Assistance
  

Combating Terrorism Center

• CTC Sentinel, v. 1, no. 3 (February 2008)
• Counter-Terrorism Issues for the Next President By Richard Clarke and Rob Knake
• U.S. Security Assistance to Philippines: A Success Story Against Terrorism By Peter Chalk
• Takeovers of Moderate Muslim Institutions: Radical Islamist Tactics at the Local Level By Madeleine Gruen
• Radical Madrasas in Southeast Asia By Scott Atran, Justin Magouirk & Jeremy Ginges
• The Salafi-Jihad as a Religious Ideology By Assaf Moghadam
• Somalia’s al-Shabab Reconstitutes Fighting Force By Anonymous
• Deconstructing the Myth about al-Qa`ida and Khobar By Thomas Hegghammer
• Return of the Arabs: Al-Qa`ida’s Military Role in the Afghan Insurgency By Brian Williams
• After Action Report: An Army Lieutenant’s View of AQI’s Operations in al-Khidr and Hanaswa By First Lieutenant Jon Patrick Cheatwood
• Recent Highlights in Terrorist Activity

Congressional Budget Office (CBO)

• Analysis of the Growth in Funding for Operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Elsewhere in the War on Terrorism
• Geographic Variation in Health Care Spending
• Policy Options for Reducing CO2 Emissions
• Technological Change and the Growth of Health Care Spending
• Update of CBO's Economic Forecast
  

CATO

• Learning the Right Lessons from Iraq

Center for Defense Information

• Afghanistan Update: Jan. 1-31, 2008

Center for Security Policy

• Tehran Threat in the US' Backyard

Center for Strategic and International Studies

• Current Questions about the U.S. Political Scene Posed by Mexicans
• Letter to General Rodriguez on the situation in Afghanistan
• The Situation in Iraq: A Briefing from the Battlefield

Council on Foreign Relations

• A Crucial Vote in Pakistan
• President Bush Travels to Africa
• Profile: Imad Mugniyah
• Resolving African Conflicts
  

Defense Science Board (DSB)

• The Defense Science Board Permanent Task Force on Nuclear Surety: Report on the Unauthorized Movement of Nuclear Weapons
• Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on DoD Energy Strategy "More Fight - Less Fuel"

Director of National Intelligence

• DNI Statement for the Record - Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
• DNI's CNN American Morning Interview
• DNI’s Op-Ed in the Washington Post
  

EU Institute for Security Studies (ISS)

• Crisis in Chad: Implications for the EU

Federation of American Scientists

• Iranian Nuclear Science Bibliography: Open Literature References
• Toward True Security: Ten Steps the Next President Should Take to transform U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy

Foreign Policy Research Institute

• Dissent and Strategic Leadership of the Military Professions
• Faith, Reason, and the War Against Jihadism
  

Government Accountability Office (GAO)

• Department of Homeland Security: Progress Made in Implementation of Management and Mission Functions, but More Work Remains, by David M. Walker, comptroller general of the United States, before the Subcommittee on Homeland Security, House Committee on Appropriations
• DOD Personnel Clearances: DOD Faces Multiple Challenges in Its Efforts to Improve Clearance Processes for Industry Personnel, by Jack E. Edwards, Acting Director, Defense Capabilities and Management, before the Subcommittee on Readiness, House Committee on Armed Services
• DOD Personnel Clearances: Improved Annual Reporting Would Enable More Informed Congressional Oversight
• Emergency Transit Assistance: Federal Funding for Recent Disasters, and Options for the Future
• Federal Government's Financial Health: A Citizen's Guide to the 2007 Financial Report of the U.S. Government
• Health Information Technology: HHS Is Pursuing Efforts to Advance Nationwide Implementation, but Has Not Defined a National Strategy, by Valerie C. Melvin, Director, Human Capital and Management Information Systems Issues, before the Senate Committee on the Budget
• Hydrogen Fuel Initiative: DOE Has Made Important Progress and Involved Stakeholders but Needs to Update What It Expects to Achieve by Its 2015 Target
• Information Security: Although Progress Reported, Federal Agencies Need to Resolve Significant Deficiencies, by Gregory C. Wilshusen, Director, Information Security Issues, before a joint hearing of the Subcommittee on Government Management, Organization, and Procurement, and the Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and National Archives, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
• Los Alamos National Laboratory: Information on Security of Classified Data, Nuclear Material Controls, Nuclear and Worker Safety, and Project Management Weaknesses
• Military Readiness: Impact of Current Operations and Actions Needed to Rebuild Readiness of U.S. Ground Forces, by Sharon L. Pickup, Director, Defense Capabilities and Management, before the House Committee on Armed Services
• Nuclear Security: Action May Be Needed to Reassess the Security of NRC-Licensed Research Reactors
• Runway Safety: Progress on Reducing Runway Incursions Impeded by Leadership, Technology, and Other Challenges, by Gerald L. Dillingham, Director, Physical Infrastructure Issues, before the Subcommittee on Aviation, House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
• "Saving Our Future Requires Tough Choices Today," by David M. Walker, Comptroller General of the United States, at the Heritage Foundation Conservative Members Retreat, in Baltimore, Maryland
• "Saving Our Future Requires Tough Choices Today," by David M. Walker, Comptroller General of the United States, before the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, in Princeton, New Jersey
• Wildland Fire Management: Federal Agencies Lack Key Long- and Short-Term Management Strategies for Using Program Funds Effectively, by Robin M. Nazzaro, Director, Natural Resources and Environment, before the Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, House Committee on Appropriations

Heritage Foundation

• Combating Enemies Online: State-Sponsored and Terrorist Use of the Internet
• Death of a Terrorist: Imad Mugniyah
• Defense Trade Cooperation Treaties with Australia and the U.K. Will Improve Security
• The Heritage Foundation's Research on FISA
• A Neighbor Calls: Mexican President Calderón Visits the U.S.
• Russia on the March: The Return of the Red Square Parades
• Trojan Dragon: China's Cyber Threat
• U.S. Public Diplomacy: The Search for a National Strategy

Human Rights Watch

• Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission: A Critical Assessment
• The Torture of Tasneem Khalil: How the Bangladesh Military Abuses Its Power under the State of Emergency

International Crisis Group

• Political Murder in Central Asia: No Time to End Uzbekistan’s Isolation

ISN Security Watch

• Djibouti in Eye of the Storm

Joint Chiefs of Staff

• Detainee Operations [Joint Pub 3-63]

Lexington Institute

• Fading Signal: The Neglect of Electronic Warfare
  

Long War Journal

• Inside Iraqi Politics – Part 3. Examining the Legislative Branch

Pew Research Center

• U.S. Population Projections: 2005-2050

Potomac Institute

• Conflict in the 21st Century: The Rise of Hybrid Wars

Rand

• War by Other Means -- Building Complete and Balanced Capabilities for Counterinsurgency: RAND Counterinsurgency Study -- Final Report
• Counterinsurgency in Iraq (2003-2006): RAND Counterinsurgency Study -- Volume 2.
• Portfolio-Analysis Methods for Assessing Capability Options
• Ungoverned Territories, Testimony by Angel Rabasa presented before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs on February 14, 2008

U.S. Coast Guard (USCG)

• ADM Allen's remarks at the National Press Club on the State of the Coast Guard [video file]
• US Coast Guard Posture Statement 2008
• USCG Budget Request FY 2009

Washington Institute for Near East Policy

• The Final Year: End-of-Term Presidents and the Middle East

DSB - another new report - DOD Energy Strategy

The Defense Science Board has posted their latest report. All reports can be found at http://www.acq.osd.mil/dsb/reports.htm

Their new "Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on DoD Energy Strategy "More Fight - Less Fuel" is available at http://www.acq.osd.mil/dsb/reports/2008-02-ESTF.pdf

This task force was chaired by Dr. James R. Schlesinger and General Michael P.C. Carns USAF (ret.). The report "examines DoD's strategy to achieve assured energy supplies of DOD missions." "The final report concluded that the DoD faces two primary energy challenges: unnecessarily high, and growing, batttlespace fuel demand compromises our operational capability and can jeopardize mission success; and critical missions at military installations are vulnerable to loss from commercial power outage and inadequate backup power supplies."

RAND Counterinsurgency Study -- Final Report

Rand has posted the final report of their Counterinsurgency Study series.

The central question the study attempted to answer was “How should the United States improve its capabilities to counter insurgencies, particularly those that are heavily influenced by transnational terrorist movements and thus linked into a global jihadist network?”

War by Other Means -- Building Complete and Balanced Capabilities for Counterinsurgency. RAND Counterinsurgency Study -- Final Report

Previous reports

• Heads We Win -- The Cognitive Side of Counterinsurgency (COIN). RAND Counterinsurgency Study -- Paper 1
• Subversion and Insurgency. RAND Counterinsurgency Study -- Paper 2
• Understanding Proto-Insurgencies. RAND Counterinsurgency Study -- Paper 3
• Money in the Bank -- Lessons Learned from Past Counterinsurgency (COIN) Operations. RAND Counterinsurgency Study -- Paper 4
• Byting Back -- Regaining Information Superiority Against 21st-Century Insurgents. RAND Counterinsurgency Study -- Volume 1
• Counterinsurgency in Iraq (2003-2006). RAND Counterinsurgency Study -- Volume 2

New DSB report - Nuclear Weapons Surety - report on an Unauthorized Movement of Nuclear Weapons

The Defense Science Board (DSB) has posted their latest report
“The Defense Science Board Permanent Task Force on Nuclear Surety: Report on the Unauthorized Movement of Nuclear Weapons.”

Other DSB reports are available from the DSB report web site

“The Task Force report is an independent assessment of the systemic causes of the August 30 unauthorized movement of nuclear warheads from Minot AFB, North Dakota to Barksdale AFB, Louisiana. Based on the information and insights gained from investigating and assessing these systemic causes, the report includes 16 recommendations to strengthen nuclear weapons surety.”

Friday's Miscellany 02-08-2008

American Enterprise Institute

• The Incidence of a U.S. Carbon Tax: A Lifetime and Regional Analysis
• Chicken Little Is Right: State of the U.S. military, and Its Equipment

Amnesty International

• Justice Failed in Kosovo
• Police Ill-Treatment Plagues Bosnia and Herzegovina

BASIC

• Iran Update, No. 113

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

• Lebanon’s Sunni Islamists: A Growing Force

CATO

• What to Do about Climate Change

Center for American Progress

• Issue Pulse: Waterboarding Is Torture
• The Surge Isn't Working: Pulse on Iraq

Center for Contemporary Conflict (CCC)
Strategic Insights (v. 7, no. 1, February 2008)

• Energy Security: Current and Future Strategic Challenges
  * Introduction: Special Edition on Energy Security by Friedrich Steinhäusler, James A. Russell, and Daniel Moran
  * The Militarization of Energy Security by Daniel Moran and James A. Russell
  * Security of Energy: The Conflict after Next? by David W. Hamon and Arnold C. Dupuy
  * Energy Security or a New Globalization of Conflicts? Oil and Gas in Evolving New Power Structures by Uwe Nerlich
  * The Middle East: Petroleum Supply Security or Political Stability? by Naji Abi-Aad
  · Supply Chain and Infrastructure Security
  * Security Risks to the Oil and Gas Industry: Terrorist Capabilities by Friedrich Steinhäusler, P. Furthner, W. Heidegger, S. Rydell, and L. Zaitseva
  * Integrated Security Concept for the Oil and Gas Industry by P. Furthner and Friedrich Steinhäusler
  * Scenario Development in Oil and Gas Management: “Envisioning the Future” by Means of Analytical Techniques by James David Ballard and Fred C. Dilger
  * Severe Accidents in the Oil Chain with Emphasis on Oil Spills by Peter Burgherr and S. Hirschberg
  * A Guideline: Using or Creating Incident Databases for Natural Gas Transmission Pipelines by Achim Hilgenstock
  * Gas Analytical Technologies for Physical Protection of Oil and Gas Objects by Vladimir Gruznov and M. Baldin
  * Gas Analyzing System Based on Semiconductor Sensors for Providing Safety of Oil and Gas Pipeline Operations by O. Tolbanov, O. Anisimov, V. Sachkov, G. Sakovich, Alexander Vorozhtsov, N. Eisenreich, and M. Krausa
  * Inline Inspection from an Operator’s Point of View by Thomas Huwener
  * Remote Detection of Leaks in Gas Pipelines with an Airborne Raman Lidar by Sergey M. Bobrovnikov, Ilia B. Serikov, Yuri F. Arshinov, G. Sakovich, Alexander Vorozhtsov, and N. Eisenreich
  * Emergency Shut-Down Valve for Gas Pipelines by Alexander Vorozhtsov, V. Arkhipov, and I. Plekhanov
  Viewpoints: Emerging Resource Conflict Zones
  * Resource Wars: Energy, Resource Conflict, and the Emerging World Order with Michael T. Klare
  * Cold Front Rising: As Climate Change Thins Polar Ice, a New Race for Arctic Resources Begins by Barry Zellen
  * The United Nations Africa Union Mission in Darfur—UNAMID by Glen Segell

Center for Defense Information

• FY 09 Air Force Space Budget: Modest Increase
• Defense Monitor: Special Issue: The World At War

Center for Security Policy

• Russia Extends a Helping Hand to Chavez
• A Teaching Moment: Saudi Arabia Funded al Qaeda Outside

Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA)

• FY 2009 Request Would Bring DoD Budget to Record (or Near-Record) Levels

Center for Strategic and International Studies

• The CNGR Final Report: The Best Shot for a Stronger, Sustainable Reserve Component
• Integrating 21st Century Development and Security Assistance
• Managing the Transition to a Secure, Low-Carbon Energy Future
• Why Georgia's Election Matters
• U.S. Policy Options for Strengthening Coordination between Global HIV/AIDS and TB Programs

Committee on the Present Danger

• Cracks in Iran's Economic Façade

Council on Foreign Relations

• The French Military in Africa
• Iraq, Afghanistan, and the U.S. Economy
• Leading Africa
• Pakistan’s New Generation of Terrorists
• Tellis: Pakistan’s Mixed Record on Anti-Terrorism
• Tensions Rise in Iraq’s Kurdish North

Department of the Interior Inspector General

• Assessment of the United States Park Police

Director of National Intelligence

• Annual Threat Assessment of the Director of National Intelligence for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 5 February 2008.

EU Institute for Security Studies (EUISS)

• Is There an Albanian Question? [Chaillot Paper n°107]

Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI)

• Bush, the Nudge-in-Chief

Government Accountability Office (GAO)

• Homeland Security: Preliminary Observations on the Federal Protective Service's Efforts to Protect Federal Property, by Mark L. Goldstein, director, physical infrastructure issues, before the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management, House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
• Department of Homeland Security: Status and Accountability Challenges Associated with the Use of Special DHS Acquisition Authority, by John K. Needham, acting director, acquisition and sourcing management, before the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology, House Committee on Homeland Security
• The Department of Defense's Civilian Human Capital Strategic Plan Does Not Meet Most Statutory Requirements
• Immigration Benefits: Internal Controls for Adjudicating Humanitarian Parole Cases Are Generally Effective, but Some Can Be Strengthened.
• "Saving Our Future Requires Tough Choices Today," by David M. Walker, comptroller general of the United States, on the Fiscal Wake-Up Tour at Chandler-Gilbert Community College, in Chandler, Arizona.
• "U.S. Financial Condition and Fiscal Future Briefing," by David M. Walker, comptroller general of the United States, at the University of Akron, Akron, Ohio.

Heritage Foundation

• Administration Makes Needed Reforms in the Arms Export Control Process
• The Commission on the National Guard and Reserves: Reforming the Reserve Component
• Northern Exposure: The Right Way to Address U.S.–Canadian Counterterrorism

Institute for Science and International Security

• ISIS Statement Regarding "A Shot in the Dark" in the February 11 Issue of the New Yorker, by Seymour Hersh
  ISIS Report on Iran: Iran Installing More Advanced Centrifuges at Natanz Pilot Enrichment Plant: Factsheet on the P-2/IR-2 Centrifuge

International Assistance and Strategy Center

• Bank Liability Under the Anti-Terrorism Act. Dispelling the ‘Routine Banking Services” Defense in Material Support Cases
• China's Emerging 5th Generation Air-to-Air Missiles

International Crisis Group

• Afghanistan: The Need for International Resolve
• Iraq’s Civil War, the Sadrists and the Surge

International Federation for Human Rights

• Surplus People? Undocumented and Other Vulnerable Migrants in South Africa

Lexington Institute

• Powering JSF: One Engine Is Enough
• 2009 Defense Budget: Key Patterns and Priorities

Project on Defense Alternatives

• Cul de Sac: 9/11 and the Paradox of American Power
• A Prisoner to Primacy: Dearth of New Thinking Regarding Security Policy

Project on National Security Reform

• Proceedings from a Conference on "Integrating Instruments of National Power in the New Security Environment

Rand

• Assessing the Impact of Revisions to the EU Horizontal Food Labelling Legislation
• Assessing the Impact of Revisions to the EU Nutrition Labelling Legislation
• Estimating the Benefits of the Air Force Purchasing and Supply Chain Management Initiative
• Guidelines and Metrics for Assessing Space System Cost Estimates
• Maintaining Military Medical Skills During Peacetime

Small Wars Journal

• COIN and Irregular Warfare in a Tribal Society

Stanley Foundation

• Arab Media and US Policy: A Public Diplomacy Reset
• Oil and Security
• Restructuring America's Ground Forces: Better, Not Bigger

Strategic Studies Institute

• Deterrence, Missile Defense, and Collateral Damage in the Iranian-Israeli Strategic Relationship
• Developing Strategic Leaders for the 21st Century

United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

• Afghanistan Opium Winter Rapid Assessment

United States Commission on Helping to Enhance the Livelihood of People (HELP)

• HELP Commission website
• Final report - Beyond Assistance: The HELP Commission Report on Foreign Assistance Reform

USAF Chief of Staff

• “The Nation’s Guardians—21st Century Air Force” White Paper

Washington Institute for Near East Policy

• Egypt Working to Contain Gaza
• Winograd Part II: Implications for U.S.-Israeli Relations

Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control

• Iran Watch Roundtable: An Assessment of Europe's Leadership in Confronting the Iranian Nuclear Challenge

Afghanistan Study Group report

In case you didn't catch this one last week, the Afghanistan Study Group headed by Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering and General James L. Jones has been released and is now available.

Entitled "Revitalizing Our Efforts, Rethinking Our Strategies" it is available directly at http://www.thepresidency.org/pubs/Afghan_Study_Group_final.pdf or as a link from the Center for the Study of the Presidency's Afghanistan Study Group website http://www.thepresidency.org/Leadership/afghan.html

ODNI - new standards on reporting of Suspicious Activity related to terrorism

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) has released
a set of standards for how local, state and federal law enforcement
agencies should share information about suspicious activity with
potential links to terrorism.

The Information Sharing Environment (ISE) Functional Standard (FS)
Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) ISE-FE-200 [version 1.0] is
available as a zipped file.

Friday's Miscellany 02-01-2008

American Enterprise Institute (AEI

• In Search of Moderate Muslims

Arms Control Association

• What Are Nuclear Weapons For? Recommendations for Restructuring U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces

Atlantic Council of the United States

• Saving Afghanistan: An Appeal and Plan for Urgent Action

BASIC

• Getting to Zero Update

Brookings Institution

• Building Capacity for Stabilization & Reconstruction
  
• The Shanghai Cooperation Organization and Japan: Moving Together to Reshape the Eurasian Community

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

• India's Trade Policy Choices: Managing Diverse Challenges
• Pakistan and the War on Terror: Conflicted Goals, Compromised Performance

Center for a New American Security

• Solarium II Energy Security Strategy

Center for American Progress

• The Forgotten Front
• Iraq Benchmark Report Card: One Year After the Surge
• Playing Politics with Intelligence: Bush Puts Security at Risk
• Remembering the Forgotten War in Afghanistan

Center for Defense Information

• Fueling the Arms Race in the Middle East
• The State of Space Security

Center for Security Policy

• The State Department and Chavez
• Olmert: Grimmacing to Victory, Grinning to Defeat
• Chavez to Colombia: The FARC be With You

Center for Strategic and International Studies

• The Afghan-Pakistan War: Threat Developments
• Decoding Chinese Politics: Intellectual Debates and Why They Matter
• U.S. Air Force Bomber Modernization Plans: An Independent Assessment
• US-Turkish Relations: Another Honeymoon?

Center for the Study of the Presidency

• Afghanistan Study Group
• Afghanistan Study Group Report - Revitalizing Our Efforts Rethinking Our Strategies

Commission on the National Guard and Reserves

• Commission on the National Guard and Reserves website
• Transforming the National Guard and Reserves into a 21st Century Operational Force

Congressional Budget Office (CBO)

• Technological Change and the Growth of Health Care Spending
• Testimony on Growth in Health Care Costs

Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)

• China’s Yin, India’s Yang
• Domestic Spy War Intensifies
• Divisions Simmer Behind Iran’s Public Face
• In Last Lap, Bush Seeks Unity on Iraq
• Winograd Commission Final Report

Defense Science Board (DSB)

• Defense Science Board Task Force on Directed Energy Weapons
• Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Strategic Communication

Department of Homeland Security

• Privacy Impact Assessment for the ICE Pattern Analysis and Information Collection (ICEPIC)
• Privacy Impact Assessment for the Use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Technology for Border Crossings
• Report of the DHS National Small Vessel Security Summit

Department of Homeland Security. Inspector General

• Major Management Challenges Facing the Department of Homeland Security

Dept of the Army

• FM 3-21.75 - The Warrior Ethos and Soldier Combat Skills

EU Institute for Security Studies (EUISS)

• Peace in the Middle East: Is There a Way Forward?
• Pioneering Foreign Policy: The EU Special Representatives [Chaillot Paper n°106]
• Provoking an Agreement? The Hormuz Incident Revisited

Foreign Policy Research Institute

• Americanism vs. Islamism: A Personal Perspective

Government Accountability Office (GAO)

• Best Practices: Increased Focus on Requirements and Oversight Needed to Improve DOD's Acquisition Environment and Weapon System Quality
• Federal Oversight of Food Safety: FDA's Food Protection Plan Proposes Positive First Steps, but Capacity to Carry Them Out Is Critical, by Lisa R. Shames, director, natural resources and environment, before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
• Global War on Terrorism: Reported Obligations for the Department of Defense
• Long-Term Fiscal Outlook: Action Is Needed to Avoid the Possibility of a Serious Economic Disruption in the Future, by David M. Walker, comptroller general of the United States, before the Senate Committee on the Budget.
• Military Readiness: Navy Is Making Progress Implementing Its Fleet Response Plan, But Has Not Fully Developed Goals, Measures, and Resource Needs
• "Saving Our Future Requires Tough Choices Today," by David M. Walker, comptroller general of the United States, on the Fiscal Wake-Up Tour in Tallahassee, Florida.

Heritage Foundation

• Congress Must Stop Playing Politics with FISA and National Security
• Congress Should Withhold Funding for Spendthrift U.N.
• A Second Look at Container Security: Lessons from Hong Kong
  
• The EU Reform Treaty: Why Washington Should Be Concerned
• Thwarting Terrorists While Protecting Innocents: The Material Support and Related Provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act

Homeland Security Institute (HSI)

• Homeland Security Strategic Planning: Mission Area Analysis
• Radicalization: An Overview and Annotated Bibliography of Open-Source Literature from the Homeland Security Institute
  
• Underlying Reasons for Success and Failure of Terrorist Attacks: Selected Case Studies
• Venture Capital Concept Analysis

Human Rights Watch

• World Report 2008: Events of 2007

International Crisis Group

• Burma/Myanmar: After the Crackdown

Lexington Institute

• Brazil’s $1 billion for Cuba
• Future Combat Systems: Why the Army is so Committed

National Defense Intelligence College Press

• The Coast Guard Intelligence Program Enters the Intelligence Community
• Critical Thinking and Intelligence Analysis
• Improving the Law-Enforcement-Intelligence Community Relationship
• Mongolia's Peacekeeping Commitment
• A Muslim Archipelago Islam and Politics in Southeast Asia

Naval War College

• Defense Strategy and Forces: Setting Future Directions - Workshop Proceedings

Rand

• Advancing the U.S. Air Force's Force-Development Initiative
• Estimating the Value of Water-Use Efficiency in the Intermountain West
• International Perspectives on Interagency Reform - testimony
• Navy/OSD Collaborative Review of Acquisition Policy for DoD C3I and Weapon Programs
• Presenting Uncertainty About Climate Change to Water-Resource Managers: A Summary of Workshops with the Inland Empire Utilities Agency
• Preparing for an Uncertain Future Climate in the Inland Empire: Identifying Robust Water-Management Strategies

Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR)

• Differences in Services and Fees for Management and Administration of Iraq Reconstruction Contracts
• Quarterly Report and Semiannual Report to Congress (January 30, 2008)

Strategic Studies Institute

• Transforming to Effects-Based Operations: Lessons from the United Kingdom Experience

Union of Concerned Scientists

• Nuclear Power in a Warming World

Washington Institute for Near East Policy

• Blacklisting Terrorism Supporters in Kuwait
• Iranian Threats and the UN Sanctions Debate
• Kirkuk's Article 140: Expired or Not?
• Setbacks in Arab League Mediation on Lebanon
• U.S. Foreign Policy and Israel's Qualitative Military Edge: The Need for a Common Vision