Friday's Miscellany [on Wednesday] 12-24-2009

Happy Holidays to all!

Brookings Institute
· Afghanistan Index: Tracking Variables of Reconstruction & Security in Post-9/11 Afghanistan
o Latest [updated December 22, 2009]
o Archive
· Iraq Index: Tracking Variable of Reconstruction & Security in Post-Saddam Iraq
o Latest [updated December 11, 2009]
o Archive
· Pakistan Index: Tracking Variables of Reconstruction & Security in Pakistan
o Latest [Updated December 22, 2009]
o Archive

Canadian Defence & Foreign Affairs Institute (CDFAI)
· Don’t Overburden or Undervalue NATO

Center for a New American Security
· Contractors in American Conflicts: Adapting to a New Reality
· Time for Action: Redefining SOF Missions and Activities

Center for American Progress
· Paying for the Troop Escalation in Afghanistan: Ten Ways to Cut Baseline Defense Spending to Fight this War within Our Means

Center for Contemporary Conflict (CCC)
· Strategic Insights, Winter 2009/2010, v. 8, no. 5,
o Extended Deterrence, Security Guarantees, and Nuclear Proliferation: Strategic Stability in the Gulf Region by Daniel J. Moran and James A. Russell
o Extended Deterrence and Communicating Resolve by James M. Acton
o Extended Deterrence, Security Guarantees and Nuclear Weapons: U.S. Strategic and Policy Conundrums in the Gulf by James A. Russell
o Security Guarantees and Extended Deterrence in the Gulf Region: A European Perspective by Bruno Tertrais
o Extended Deterrence and Iran by Shahram Chubin
o Strategic Reassurance if Iran “Goes Nuclear”: A Framework and Some Propositions by Lewis A. Dunn
o Beyond Afghanistan: Recharging European: Foreign and Security Policy by Sergey Smolnikov
o The North African Franchise: AQIM’s Threat to U.S. Security by Captain Russell J. Isaacs
o U.S. National Security Strategy: Is There an Empirical Relationship Between Economic Freedom and Political Freedom? by Major Shon A. McCormick and David A. Anderson
o Oil and Conflict: Fatal Attraction? A Correlational Examination of Oil Resources and Armed Conflict by James E. McGinley
o North Korea After Kim Jong Il: Four Scenarios by Sico van der Meer
o No One Talks to the Generals by Peter A. Coclanis

Center for International Policy
· After Plan Colombia

Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS)
· Securing Cyberspace for the 44th Presidency

Centre for European Reform
· Cameron’s Europe: Can the Conservatives Achieve Their EU Objectives?

Chatham House
· Economic Drivers of Conflict and Cooperation in the Horn of Africa
· The World Today, January 2010
o United States Presidency: First-Year Blues, Nicolas Bouchet
o Afghanistan: Perfect Paralysis, Prem Shankar Jha
o Israelis and Palestinians: Contest for Control, Rosemary Hollis
o Children in Conflict: Thailand's Red Zone, Charu Lata Hogg
o International Criminal Court: Peace and Justice, Richard Dicker
o Somalia: Bad Situation, Getting Worse, Sally Healy and Mark Bradbury
o European Diplomatic Service: Putting Europe First, Jan Gaspers
o Digital Age Diplomacy: Time to Text, Ivor Roberts
o Ukraine: Democratic Dangers, James Sherr
o Energy Conflicts in Europe and Eurasia: Clogging the Hubb, Louis Skyner
o Gas for the Nabucco Pipeline: Energy Aria, Alexandros Petersen

Combat Terrorism Center (CTC)
· CTC Sentinel [Dec 2009, v. 2, no. 12]
o The Danger of Prison Radicalization in the West
o LIFG Revisions Posing Critical Challenge to Al-Qa`ida
o Assessing the Progress of Pakistan’s South Waziristan Offensive
o The Internet and its Role in Terrorist Recruitment and Operational Planning
o Prisons in Iraq: A New Generation of Jihadists?
o Developing Regional Counterterrorism Cooperation in South Asia
o Singapore’s Approach to Counterterrorism

Conference of Defence Associations
· A Canadian Military Presence in Afghanistan Post 2011

Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)
· Debating a New Role for the Fed
· Nuclear Agenda Rising to Top of World Issues in 2010 [interview]

Department of State
· Foreign Relations of the United States series - v. 31, Foreign Economic Policy, 1973-1976
· Pakistan Assistance Strategy Report

Department of State Inspector General
· MERO-A-10-02 - Status of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Counternarcotics Programs in Afghanistan

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
· Uniform Crime Report 2009 (preliminary)

Government Accountability Office (GAO)
· International Space Station: Significant Challenges May Limit Onboard Research, GAO-10-9
· Managing Sensitive Information: Actions Needed to Prevent Unintended Public Disclosures of U.S. Nuclear Sites and Activities, GAO-10-251

Heidelberg Institute on International Conflict Research
· Conflict Barometer 2009

Institute for the Study of War
· Accelerating Combat Power in Afghanistan
· ISW's Michael Gordon interviews Ambassador Richard Holbrooke (CFR) [Webcast]
· James Danly speaks about the National Guard's role in Iraq and Afghanistan (CPR) [Webcast]

International Crisis Group
· Jonglei’s Tribal Conflicts: Countering Insecurity in South Sudan
· The Philippines: After the Maguindanao Massacre

International Relations and Security Network
· Ethiopia’s Ogaden Insurgency Threat
· A Feast of Abundance
· Pakistan Pushes Back
· Rattling the Resource Chain
· Reaping What Children Sow
· Selective Counterterrorism in Pakistan
· Russian Analytical Digest, no. 70 - The North Caucasus Crisis
o Chechnya After the Cancellation of Counter-Terrorist Operations
o Ingushetia: on the Road to Overcoming Social-Political Instability?
o Dagestan and the Russian State: “Stable Instability” Forever?
o The Northern Caucasus: Administrative Subdivisions [Map]
o Official Statistics for the Southern Federal District [Statistics]
o "What is Going On in the Northern Caucasus?" [Opinion Poll]

Jamestown Foundation
· Terrorism Monitor, December 23, 2009, v. 9, no. 39
o Is the Chinese Navy Reluctant to Use Force Against Somali Pirates?
o Taliban Issue Interview with the Jihad Leader of Sar-i-Pul Province
o The Disconnection of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and al-Qaeda from the Afghan Jihad Experience
o Militant Iraqi Nationalists Struggle with Approach to al-Qaeda's Islamic State of Iraq

National Academies Press
· Achieving Effective Acquisition of Information Technology in the Department of Defense [free download, registration required]

National Democratic Institute (NDI)
· Afghanistan Election Data website [includes reports and maps]

Pew Hispanic Center
· Latinos Online, 2006-2008: Narrowing the Gap

RAND
· The Acquisition Cost-Estimating Workforce: Census and Characteristics
· Natural Gas and Israel’s Energy Future: Near-Term Decisions from a Strategic Perspective
· Natural Gas and Israel's Energy Future: A Strategic Analysis Under Conditions of Deep Uncertainty
· RAND Project AIR FORCE Annual Report 2009
· Recasting NATO’s Strategic Concept: Possible Directions for the United States
· Spotlight on 2009: Helping Policymakers Find a Way
· Trends in Connectivity Technologies and Their Socioeconomic Impacts: Final Report of the Study: Policy Options for the Ubiquitous Internet Society

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
· Arms Transfers to East and Southern Africa
· North Korea’s Nuclear Test Explosion, 2009
· Terrorism in Asymmetrical Conflict: Ideological and Structural Aspects

Small Wars Journal
· Behavioural Conflict From General to Strategic Corporal: Complexity, Adaptation and Influence · End States vs. Strategies
· War is about Killing and Destruction, It is Not Armed Social Science

Strategic Studies Institute
· Medvedev's Plan: Giving Russia a Voice but not a Veto in a New European Security System
· Talent: Implications for a US Army Officer Corps Strategy

Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
· Planning Guidelines and Design Standards for Checked Baggage Inspection Systems

US Institute of Peace (USIP)
· Establishing Leadership on Civilian Assistance to Afghanistan