Report of the Subcommittee on Military Justice in Combat Zones

The Defense Legal Policy Board has released a report dated May 30, 2013 which addresses both best practices and areas for improvement regarding "military justice in cases of U.S. Service members alleged to have caused the death, injury or abuse of non-combatants in Iraq or Afghanistan." The Secretary of Defense's questions explored by the committee were:

1. The manner in which such alleged offenses are initially reported and investigated; are there ways to ensure that alleged offenses are reported and investigated promptly, thoroughly, and accurately? Are there ways to improve cooperation with local law enforcement and local communities?
2. The command level at which the initial and final disposition authority now resides in such cases; is it at the right levels, or should the disposition authority be withheld to a different level?
3. In joint, deployed areas, should military justice be pursued within the joint force, utilizing joint resources, rather than having cases handled separately and within each component service?
4. In deployed areas, are resources adequate for the investigation of offenses and the administration of military justice?
5. Should the system of military justice be revised in some manner to improve the way in which cases involving multiple defendants are handled? In cases involving multiple defendants, should the system be revised in some manner to better secure the testimony and cooperation of those involved in the offense? Are there lessons to be learned from the civilian system?
6. Does the military justice system in deployed areas fully preserve the rights of the accused, while also respecting the rights and needs of victims and witnesses?

To read the Report of the Subcommittee on Military Justice in Combat Zones access: http://www.caaflog.com/wp-content/uploads/20130531-Subcommittee-Report-REPORT-OF-THE-SUBCOMMITTEE-ON-MILITARY-JUSTICE-IN-COMBAT-ZONES-31-May-13-2.pdf

Targeting U.S. Technologies

The Defense Security Service has published its 2013 annual report about the targeting of U.S. technology by foreign entities. Targeting U.S. Technologies: A Trend Analysis of Cleared Industry Reporting uses "information contained in reports from industry to develop analytical assessments that articulate the threat to U.S. information and technology..." Key findings include that electronics was "East Asia and the Pacific's most commonly reported targeted technology, with attempts aimed at specific sensitive components rather than complete systems." U.S. defense technology may be the target of South and Central Asia while Near East entities tend to use "complicated and opaque procurement networks to attempt to avoid export-control regulations." Europe and Eurasia ranked fourth in collection attempts, but contain some of the most skillful collectors targeting U.S. information and technology.

Reports from 2008 through 2013 are available from the Defense Security Service's Counterintelligence Report's page.

SIGAR (Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction) Quarterly Report

The July 30, 2013 SIGAR (Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction) Quarterly Report pinpoints key concerns in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. In the introduction to the report, John F. Sopki, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan, states a concern that the Army has failed to act "on SIGAR’s recommendations to prevent supporters of the insurgency, including supporters of the Taliban, the Haqqani network, and al-Qaeda, from receiving government contracts." Among the contracting and procurement concerns he mentions is that the Afghan Public Protection Force (APPF) has a monopoly on providing security service and USAID implementing partners who need armed security have to pay often inconsistent and inappropriate fees. The report also mentioned the Defense Department is "moving forward with a $771.8 million purchase of aircraft the Afghan National Army cannot operate or maintain."

SIGAR is launching a high risk list that will "call attention to programs, projects, and practices in Afghanistan that SIGAR finds especially vulnerable to waste, fraud, and abuse, or which may be otherwise seriously detrimental to the U.S. government’s reconstruction objectives."

The July 30 report along with other SIGAR reports is available from http://www.sigar.mil/audits/reports.html.

NSA's Core Values

Given the recent NSA leaks by Edward Snowden, NSA's Deputy Director, John C. Inglis, has added explanation of NSA/CSS's core values to its website. In addition to a core value message, Inglis has given answers to a set of questions about civil liberties vs national security and provided a link to a NSA/CSS Core Values Brochure.

A group composed of civil society groups, industry and international experts in communications surveillance law, and policy and technology experts has published a set of principles they believe nations should consider in relation to State surveillance of communications. International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance discusses the following principles: legality, legitimate aim, necessity, adequacy, proportionality, competent judicial authority, due process, user notification, transparency, public oversight, integrity of communications and systems, safeguards for international cooperation, and safeguards against illegitimate access.

Organizations participating in the International Principles are listed on the website as follows:

The International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance was co-operatively written by privacy organizations and advocates worldwide, including but not limited to Access, Article 19, Asociación Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia, Asociación por los Derechos Civiles, Association for Progressive Communications, Bits of Freedom, Center for Internet & Society India, Comision Colombiana de Juristas, Electronic Frontier Foundation, European Digital Rights, Fundación Karisma, Open Net Korea, Open Rights Group, Privacy International, and the Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic. In addition, we also want to thank IP Justice, SHARE Foundation - SHARE Defense and Instituto NUPEF for help connecting concerned groups together.

Texas Senate Bill 5 Video Available

The Texas Senate maintains video archives of its committee hearings and proceedings. The June 25th Senate Session containing Senator Wendy Davis' 11 hour filibuster is now available online.

Effects of Climate Change on Sub_Saharan Africa, South Asia and South East Asia

Turn Down the Heat: Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts, and the Case for Resilience is now available from the World Bank (A report for the World Bank by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Climate Analytics. Washington, DC:World Bank. License: Creative Commons Attribution—NonCommercial–NoDerivatives3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0.)The report makes a strong case "that climate change is a fundamental threat to economic development and the fight against poverty" in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and South East Asia and that there "can be no substitute for aggressive national emissions reduction targets."

2012 Revision of the World Population Prospects

Do you need world population data? The UN has released its online 2012 Revision of the World Population Prospects. Information is available from quick search images or from the left side bar which includes links under the broad topics of Data, Documentation, Methodology, Research, and Other Information.

New Mental Health Website

Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, announced the launch of MentalHealth.gov, an online resource providing information about mental health. The site includes information about "about the signs of mental illness, how individuals can seek help, and how communities can host conversations about mental health." Also included are videos from people sharing their stories about mental illness, recovery, and hope.

A companion piece, the SAMHSA Toolkit for Community Conversations About Mental Health, will be available soon through the SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration) website or store or MentalHealth.gov.

Public Access to Federally-Supported R&D Data and Publications: Planning Meetings

The National Academies recently held two meetings to solicit comments by interested stakeholders regarding public access to federally-supported research and development data and publications. The first meeting focused on scientific data while the second focused on scholarly publications. The agenda, archived webcast, written statements, PowerPoints, and transcripts of public comments are now available for both meetings at http://sites.nationalacademies.org/DBASSE/CurrentProjects/DBASSE_082378#.UZ5etPWO7Kc (scroll to the bottom).

Instances of Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad, 1798-2013

On May 3, 2013 the Congressional Research Service published a report by Barbara Salazar Torreon listing "hundreds of instances in which the United States has used its Armed Forces abroad in situations of military conflict or potential conflict or for other than normal peacetime purposes." Its purpose is to serve as a rough survey for the time period 1798-2013 without "without reference to the magnitude of the given instance noted." As such, it is a good starting point for more extensive research.

Congressional Research Service reports on an extensive variety of topics are available to those with Rice access as part of ProQuest Congressional. Sources of free Congressional Research Service reports are listed on Fondren's Congress subject page.

Unemployment from a Child's Perspective

The Urban Institute, a nonpartisan economic and social policy research center arising in 1968 out of a blue-ribbon commission created by President Lyndon Johnson, released an issue brief In March 2013 by Julia Isaacs about how unemployment affects children. Unemployment from a Child's Perspective "provides estimates of children affected by unemployment by state and metropolitan area, considers the effects of parental job loss on child development, and reviews policies affecting the safety net for children of the unemployed."

New Report on Transitions to Alternative Vehicles and Fuels

The National Academies Press has published a new report that assesses the potential for reducing petroleum consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by 80% across the U.S. light-duty vehicles fleet by 2050 compared to 2005. Entitled Transitions to Alternative Vehicles and Fuels, the report analyzes scenarios that combine various fuel and vehicle pathways, "identifies barriers to implementation of these technologies and suggests policies to achieve the desired reductions." Both a free PDF and a reasonably priced paperback version of the report are available from the Academies' website.

New American Community Survey Bills

Representative Ted Poe (R-TX) and Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) are sponsoring two new bills limiting the reach of the American Community Survey. Representative Poe's bill, H.R.1078, seeks to make participation in the American Community Survey voluntary except with respect to certain basic questions. Senator Paul's bill, S.530, has similar wording. Poe explains the purpose of his bill on his website as does Senator Paul in a March 15, 2013 press release.

Terri Ann Lowenthal from The Census Project, an informal network of census stakeholder organizations, expresses strong concerns about the bills in her March 20, 2013 blog entry.

Impacts of Sequestration

With the threat of Sequestration cuts looming on March 1, many are wondering what the possible effects of Sequestration will be. The United States Senate Committee on Appropriations is conducting Sequestration hearings now and has made available letters from various government agencies discussing possible impacts. For more information, see The Impacts of Sequestration page.

Medigap: Spotlight on Enrollment, Premiums and Recent Trends

The Kaiser Family Foundation and the University of California at Los Angeles have released an analysis of Medigap plans designed to help with expenses not covered by Medicare. The study looks at national and state trends in enrollment and finds a variation across the country and within states regarding monthly premiums for identical plans. For more information access the study at http://www.kff.org/medicare/upload/8412.pdf .

President Obama's Plan to Reduce Gun Violence

President Obama's gun control plan called Now is the Time is available from the White House at http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/wh_now_is_the_time_full.pdf.

The Protection of Classified Information: The Legal Framework

When WikiLeaks published classified information, many wondered about the legalities involved. Legal background information is now available from a new Congressional Research Service report, The Protection of Classified Information: The Legal Framework by Legislative Attorney Jennifer K. Elsea. According to the summary, the report

provides an overview of the relationship between executive and legislative authority over national security information, and summarizes the current laws that form the legal framework protecting classified information, including current executive orders and some agency regulations pertaining to the handling of unauthorized disclosures of classified information by government officers and employees. The report also summarizes criminal laws that pertain specifically to the unauthorized disclosure of classified information, as well as civil and administrative penalties. Finally, the report describes some recent developments in executive branch security policies and legislation currently before Congress (S. 3454).

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* Understanding the Risks Inherent in Shadow Banking

Staff at the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank have published a paper exploring how shadow banking relates to systemic risk and the recent financial crisis. The paper, Understanding the Risks Inherent in Shadow Banking: A Primer and Practical Lessons Learned by David Luttrell, Harvey Rosenblum and Jackson Thies, is divided into two parts. "The first serves as a primer on shadow banking; the second provides a narrative of how the system froze during the financial crisis and pertinent lessons learned for the current reform effort." The paper explains shadow banking came about because technological advances opened up new avenues of credit. "The various other avenues of credit flow have been called the shadow banking system— so named because they intermediate credit with less transparency and regulation than in traditional banking. Shadow banks are at the center of our global market-based financial intermediation system, conducting maturity, liquidity, and credit transformation without explicit public sector credit guarantees or liquidity access."

Long-Term Implications of an Aging Population

The National Academies recently released a congressionally mandated study from the National Research Council about the long-term economic implications of the ratio of people aged 65+ to people aged 20-64 rising by 80%. Entitled Aging and the Macroeconomy: Long-Term Implications of an Older Population, the report offers "four practical approaches for preparing resources to support the future consumption of households and for adapting to the new economic landscape." A free pdf of the 239 page report is available from the Academies website as is a $49.00 paperback version. More information is available from the press release.

ACS Online Response Option

According to a Dec. 17, 2012 news release, in 2013 the Census Bureau will begin offering a secure online response option for the American Community Survey (ACS). Households sampled for the ACS will receive a package introducing the survey and providing a secure website to complete the survey which also includes new questions about computer and internet use. Alternative paper, telephone, and personal interviewing options are available for those not choosing the cost-effective secure website option.