CRS – Russian Political, Economic, and Security Issues and U.S. Interests. Jim Nichol, Coordinator, Specialist in Russian and Eurasian Affairs. March 5, 2014. “Russia made uneven progress in democratization during the 1990s, but this limited progress was reversed after Vladimir Putin rose to power in 1999-2000, according to many observers. During this period, the State Duma (lower legislative chamber) became dominated by… Continue Reading
Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002
Category Archives: Defense
2014 edition of the European Foreign Policy Scorecard
“The European Foreign Policy Scorecard is an innovative project that provides a systematic annual assessment of Europe’s performance in dealing with the rest of the world. The scorecard assesses the performance of the EU institutions on 80 policy areas arranged around six key themes.” Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – E-Record Health Programs, Nuclear Proliferation, 2013 Sequestration, VA Health Care
ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORD PROGRAMS: Participation Has Increased, but Action Needed to Achieve Goals, Including Improved Quality of Care, GAO-14-207: Published: Mar 6, 2014. Publicly Released: Mar 6, 2014. NUCLEAR NONPROLIFERATION: Stronger Planning and Evaluation Needed for Radiological Security Zone Pilot Project, GAO-14-209: Published: Mar 6, 2014. Publicly Released: Mar 6, 2014. 2013 SEQUESTRATION: Agencies Reduced Some Services and Investments, While… Continue Reading
DoD Releases Report on North Korea’s Military and Security Developments
“The Defense Department published a congressionally mandated, unclassified report on the Military and Security Developments involving the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea today. The report is posted at http://www.defense.gov/pubs/North_Korea_Military_Power_Report_2013-2014.pdf.” Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – Medicare, National Defense, Overseas Threats, Climate Change
MEDICARE: Contractors and Private Plans Play a Major Role in Administering Benefits, GAO-14-417T: Published: Mar 4, 2014. Publicly Released: Mar 4, 2014. NATIONAL DEFENSE: The Air Force’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Competitive Procurement, GAO-14-377R: Published: Mar 4, 2014. Publicly Released: Mar 4, 2014. COUNTERING OVERSEAS THREATS: DOD and State Need to Address Gaps in Monitoring of Security Equipment… Continue Reading
DOD Quadrennial Defense Review
“The Department of Defense has released the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR). The QDR Factsheet can be found here. The news article is Quadrennial Defense Review Charts Strategy Evolution. he 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) is a legislatively-mandated (USC 10, Sec. 118 (a)) review of the Department of Defense (DoD) strategy and priorities… and outlines the strategic direction… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – Army Workload, Aviation Workforce
ARMY WORKLOAD AND PERFORMANCE SYSTEM: Actions Needed to Complete Assessment of Unnecessary Overlap with Logistics Modernization Program, GAO-14-266: Published: Feb 28, 2014. Publicly Released: Feb 28, 2014. AVIATION WORKFORCE: Current and Future Availability of Airline Pilots, GAO-14-232: Published: Feb 28, 2014. Publicly Released: Feb 28, 2014. AVIATION WORKFORCE: Current and Future Availability of Aviation Engineering and Maintenance Professionals, GAO-14-237: Published: Feb 28, 2014. Publicly… Continue Reading
Report – Encryption Would Have Stopped Snowden From Using Secrets
Chris Strohm, Bloomberg: “Edward Snowden could have been thwarted from leaking classified U.S. documents if the National Security Agency encrypted the information to make it unreadable, two former senior cybersecurity officials said. Snowden would have needed a digital key to decipher the secrets after gaining access to them if the data was scrambled, Ira “Gus” Hunt, former… Continue Reading
Assessment of DoD Wounded Warrior Matters: Managing Risks of Multiple Medications
Assessment of DoD Wounded Warrior Matters: Managing Risks of Multiple Medications. Inspector General, Department of Defense, February 21, 2014. Special Plans and Operations Reports. DODIG-2014-040. “During the fieldwork for the assessment of Wounded Warrior programs, we identified challenges pertaining to medication management practices. This follow-on assessment focused on DoD and Service policies and programs intended to manage… Continue Reading
Cybersecurity and the North American Electric Grid
Cybersecurity and the North American Electric Grid: New Policy Approaches to Address an Evolving Threat. A Report from the Co-chairs of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Electric Grid Cybersecurity Initiative, February 2014. “Protecting the nation’s electricity grid from cyber attacks is a critical national security issue. Evidence collected by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) suggests that cyber attacks on key… Continue Reading
The Economist, Essay – What’s gone wrong with democracy
[snipped – article includes charts and graphics] – “Democracy is going through a difficult time. Where autocrats have been driven out of office, their opponents have mostly failed to create viable democratic regimes. Even in established democracies, flaws in the system have become worryingly visible and disillusion with politics is rife. Yet just a few… Continue Reading
Army Field Manual for Cyber Electromagnetic Activities
Via Defense One, by Patrick Tucker – How the Army Plans to Fight a War Across the Electromagnetic Spectrum: “The Pentagon long has made a big effort to showcase its budding cyberwarfare capabilities. But the military has been less forthcoming about a key, more tangible component of cyber — electronic warfare – until now. The Army just publically released its… Continue Reading
