Nation At Risk: Policy Makers Need Better Information to Protect the Country (PDF; 455 KB)
Source: The Markle Foundation Task Force on National Security in the Information Age
For all the nation has invested in national security in the last several years, we remain vulnerable to terrorist attack and emerging national security threats because we have not adequately improved our ability to know what we know about these threats. The Obama administration confronts a stark set of national security challenges including terrorism, instability from the global economic crisis, energy security, climate change, cybersecurity, and weapons of mass destruction. President Obama and his administration cannot identify, understand, and respond to these threats without the collaboration and sharing of information among officials across the government so fragments of information can be brought together to create knowledge. To improve decision making, the new administration needs to take immediate steps to improve information sharing.
Today, we are still vulnerable to attack because–as on 9/11–we are still not able to connect the dots. At the same time, civil liberties are at risk because we don’t have the government-wide policies in place to protect them as intelligence collection has expanded.
The President and Congress must reaffirm information sharing as a top priority, ensuring that policymakers have the best information to inform their decisions. We are at a critical moment, where immediate action at the start of the Obama administration is required. There is unfinished business in implementing an information sharing framework across all agencies that have information important to national security (including state and local organizations). If there is another terrorist attack on the United States, the American people will neither understand nor forgive a failure to have taken this opportunity to get the right policies and structures in place. An information sharing framework will allow government to collaborate effectively across diverse areas to inform policymakers better without undermining civil liberties. The President and Congress must ensure that all government information relevant to national security is discoverable and accessible to authorized users while audited to ensure accountability. Otherwise we will remain vulnerable.
Hat tip: Secrecy News
The Budgetary Effects of Expanding Governmental Support for Preventive Care and Wellness Services (PDF; 585 KB)
Source: Congressional Budget Office
From CBO Director’s Blog:
On Friday CBO released a letter that discusses how the agency’s budget estimates reflect potential reductions in federal costs from improvements in health that might result from expanded governmental support for preventive medical care and wellness services.
Preventive medical care includes services such as cancer screening, cholesterol management, and vaccines. In making its estimates of the budgetary effects of expanded governmental support for such care, CBO takes into account any estimated savings to the government that would result from greater use of preventive care as well as the estimated costs of that additional care. Although different types of preventive care have different effects on spending, the evidence suggests that for most preventive services, expanded utilization leads to higher, not lower, medical spending overall.
That result may seem counterintuitive. For example, many observers point to cases in which a simple medical test, if given early enough, can reveal a condition that is treatable at a fraction of the cost of treating that same illness after it has progressed. But when analyzing the effects of preventive care on total spending for health care, it is important to recognize that doctors do not know beforehand which patients are going to develop costly illnesses. To avert one case of acute illness, it is usually necessary to provide preventive care to many patients, most of whom would not have suffered that illness anyway. Judging the overall effect on medical spending requires analysts to calculate not just the savings from the relatively few individuals who would avoid more expensive treatment later, but also the costs of the many who would make greater use of preventive care.
New JEC Report Reveals Women Experiencing Double-Whammy Of Losing Health Insurance Coverage Due To Their Own Or Spouse’s Job Loss
Source: U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee
Today, Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney, Chair of the Joint Economic Committee (JEC), along with Rep. Elijah Cummings and Rep. Jim Moran released a JEC new report entitled, “Comprehensive Health Insurance Reform: An Essential Prescription for Women.” The report reveals that during the recession, women are experiencing a double-whammy of lost health insurance as they lose their insurance due to either their own or their spouse’s job loss. In addition, the JEC report chronicles the vulnerability created by women’s dependence on their spouse’s employer-sponsored health insurance, the unique risk of un-insurance for younger and older women, and the spike in newly uninsured children of unemployed single mothers.
+ Full Report (PDF; 400 KB)
New Resource Provides Nurses with Current Information on Buprenorphine
Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
Buprenorphine: A Guide for Nurses, a new manual which provides nurses with general information about buprenorphine products, is now available through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
The guide is #30 in the Technical Assistance Publication (TAP) series released by SAMHSA’s Knowledge Application Program (KAP). TAPs are compilations from various sources that provide practical guidance and information related to the delivery of treatment services to individuals with alcohol and drug abuse disorders, issued by SAMHSA’s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT). TAP 30 serves as a resource in improving treatment outcomes for individuals receiving office-based treatment for opioid addiction.
TAP 30 addresses the following topics:
- Buprenorphine and the Role of the Nurse
- Buprenorphine Pharmacology
- Buprenorphine Treatment Protocols-Office-Based Treatment
- Precipitated Withdrawal and Withdrawal Symptoms
- Physicians’ and Patients’ Responsibilities
- Nursing Practice and the Use of Buprenorphine for the Treatment of Opioid Addiction
+ Full Document (PDF; 2.2 MB)
D-2009-093 Ship Utilization in Support of the Global War on Terror (Project No. D2008-D000AB-0193.000) (PDF; 1.71 MB)
Source: U.S. Department of Defense, Office of Inspector General
USTRANSCOM’s commercial vessel selection process does not evaluate whether a liner or charter vessel is the most cost-effective alternative. Also, USTRANSCOM officials do not document Southwest Asia vessel selection rationale when selecting from SDDC recommendations. SDDC does not enforce penalties for late delivery of cargo under the Universal Service Contract-5. USTRANSCOM has no formal process to implement or document DoD requirements to annually size the United States sealift fleet in order to meet peacetime, contingency, and projected wartime requirements. We identified internal control weaknesses for the USTRANSCOM vessel selection process and for SDDC relating to the absence of contract management controls to enforce penalties for late deliveries of cargo.
Philanthropy by Commonwealth electoral division, 2006–07 (PDF; 173 KB)
Source: Parliamentary Library of Australia
Using the latest available data published by the Australian Taxation Office for the 2006–07 income year, this background note looks at levels of philanthropy, or more specifically, tax deductible giving in Australia.
China’s New Think Tanks: Where Officials, Entrepreneurs, and Scholars Interact
Source: Brookings Institution
In contrast to many of their counterparts in the West, where independence from the government is usually seen as a mark of credibility, Chinese think tanks often strive for strong ties to the government, and especially value a close connection with the upper stratum of the Chinese leadership. According to its charter, the CCIEE is to operate “under the guidance and supervision of the National Development and Reform Commission [NDRC] in terms of its business scope.” The NDRC, whose purview is the macroeconomic management of the Chinese economy, is widely considered to be the most important ministry in the Chinese government. Another indicator of the CCIEE’s close ties to the Chinese leadership is its physical proximity to the levers of power—its current office is located only a few hundred meters from Zhongnanhai, the headquarters of both the Chinese Communist Party and the State Council.
The growing importance of think tanks in China and the frequency with which they are able to facilitate international exchanges is understandable within the context of China’s rise on the world stage. Many Chinese people are now conscious that their country is not only in the midst of profound socioeconomic transformations, but is also rapidly emerging as a major player in global affairs. They wish to understand the complex and internationally intertwined challenges that China faces in order to take intelligent positions on the issues involved.
+ Full Document (PDF; 569 KB)
The Changing Face of the Federal Judiciary
Source: Brookings Institution
Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s appointment to the United States Supreme Court highlights attention again on the Court’s demographic makeup. She is the first Hispanic member and third woman. There have been two African-American appointees.
The rest of the federal judiciary is also changing demographically. Sotomayor has been part of three trends since the 1950s—an increase in the proportion of women and in members of racial and ethnic minorities and a decrease in the proportion of district judges appointed, as was she, from among private lawyers.
This paper lays out some basic data on these changes, as we await the confirmation of President Obama’s initial nominees to the lower federal courts. The paper does not engage the debate—illustrated by the controversy over Sotomayor’s “wise Latina women” remark—over how much judges’ backgrounds do or should influence their decision-making. Nor does it postulate a proper proportion of various demographic groups on the federal bench. That matter is tied up with the proportion of members of those groups in the relatively small pool of lawyers whom judicial selectors consider professionally qualified for appointment to the federal bench—hardly a precise definition—and who fit within the varying political party calculi that influence federal judicial recruitment.
+ Full Paper (PDF; 2.2 MB)
Bank Crime Statistics — Q2 2009
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
The BCS provides a nationwide view of bank robbery crimes based on statistics contributed by FBI field offices responding to bank robberies or otherwise gathered when provided to the FBI from local and state law enforcement.
Statistics were recorded as of 07/23/2009, at FBI Headquarters.
“They Want Us Exterminated” — Murder, Torture, Sexual Orientation and Gender in Iraq
Source: Human Rights Watch
This 67-page report documents a wide-reaching campaign of extrajudicial executions, kidnappings, and torture of gay men that began in early 2009. The killings began in the vast Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, a stronghold of Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia, and spread to many cities across Iraq. Mahdi Army spokesmen have promoted fears about the “third sex” and the “feminization” of Iraq men, and suggested that militia action was the remedy. Some people told Human Rights Watch that Iraqi security forces have colluded and joined in the killing.
NTSB Issues Update on Its Investigation Into the Midair Collision Over the Hudson River
Source: National Transportation Safety Board
In its continuing investigation of the midair collision of an air tour helicopter and a small plane over the Hudson River on Saturday, the National Transportation Safety Board has developed the following factual information…
Forty Years After Woodstock, A Gentler Generation Gap
Source: Pew Research Center
Forty years after the Woodstock music festival glorified and exacerbated the generational fractures in American life, the public today says there are big differences between younger and older adults in their values, use of technology, work ethic, and respect and tolerance for others.
But this modern generation gap is a much more subdued affair than the one that raged in the 1960s, for relatively few Americans of any age see it as a source of conflict — either in society at large or in their own families.
Moreover, there’s now broad agreement across the generations about one realm of American culture that had been an intense battlefield in the 1960s: the music.
FDA Issues Public Health Notification on Glucose Monitoring Technology
Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today advised health care practitioners and patients against using certain glucose monitoring technology that employs a specific test strip when the patients are also receiving therapeutic products containing non-glucose sugars.
Non-glucose sugars contained in some therapeutic products such as peritoneal dialysis solutions and certain immunoglobulins can falsely elevate glucose results, which may prompt excessive insulin administration. These therapeutic products, which are labeled to indicate that they may interfere with this particular glucose monitoring technology, are mostly used in patients with serious medical conditions, including kidney failure and moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis.
In a Public Health Notification and an accompanying Advice for Patients, the FDA listed the manufacturers and brands of glucose test strips that contain glucose dehydrogenase pyrroloquinoline quinone (GDH-PQQ)—the chemical that reacts with the non-glucose sugars (maltose, galactose and xylose) contained in some therapeutic products that produce a falsely high test result,
Most GDH-PQQ devices are used in health care facilities, which should instead use a laboratory assay to measure a patient’s glucose if the patient is also receiving an interfering product. The FDA also makes recommendations to minimize the risk of potential shortages of these products until health care facilities can obtain non-GDH-PQQ strips and meters.
+ FDA Public Health Notification: Potentially Fatal Errors with GDH-PQQ Glucose Monitoring Technology
+ FDA Advice for Patients: Serious Errors with Certain Blood Glucose Meters and Strips
The Plastic Safety Net — How Households are Coping in a Fragile Economy
Source: Demos
While the economic recession continues to threaten the financial security of low- and middle-income households, its effects have been heightened by the reality that, even before the downturn, millions of households were experiencing difficulties meeting the most basic expenses. Now, as families experience declining home values and tightened credit markets, many are falling behind on their mortgage and credit card payments.
The following report shows how skyrocketing costs, dwindling savings, stagnant wages and medical debt have forced low and middle-income families to turn to plastic as the de-facto safety net.
The report is based on a survey conducted between April and August 2008-consisted of 1,205 phone interviews with low- and middle-income households whose incomes fell between 50 percent and 120 percent of local median income; such households comprise roughly half of all households in the country.
+ Full Report (PDF; 920 KB)
The Manhattan Project, the Apollo Program, and Federal Energy Technology R&D Programs: A Comparative Analysis (PDF; 202 KB)
Source: Congressional Research Service (via OpenCRS)
Some policymakers have concluded that the energy challenges facing the United States are so critical that a concentrated investment in energy research and development (R&D) should be undertaken. The Manhattan project, which produced the atomic bomb, and the Apollo program, which landed American men on the moon, have been cited as examples of the success such R&D investments can yield. Investment in federal energy technology R&D programs of the 1970s, in response to two energy crises, have generally been viewed as less successful than the earlier two efforts. This report compares and contrasts the three initiatives.
In 2008 dollars, the cumulative cost of the Manhattan project over 5 fiscal years was approximately $22 billion; of the Apollo program over 14 fiscal years, approximately $98 billion; of post-oil shock energy R&D efforts over 35 fiscal years, $118 billion. A measure of the nation’s commitments to the programs is their relative shares of the federal outlays during the years of peak funding: for the Manhattan program, the peak year funding was 1% of federal outlays; for the Apollo program, 2.2%; and for energy technology R&D programs, 0.5%. Another measure of the commitment is their relative shares of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) during the peak years of funding: for the Manhattan project and the Apollo program, the peak year funding reached 0.4% of GDP, and for the energy technology R&D programs, 0.1%.
Besides funding, several criteria might be used to compare these three initiatives including perception of the program or threat, goal clarity, and the customer of the technology being developed. By these criteria, while the Manhattan project and the Apollo program may provide some useful analogies for thinking about an energy technology R&D initiative, there are fundamental differences between the forces that drove these historical R&D success stories and the forces driving energy technology R&D today. Critical differences include (1) the ability to transform the program or threat into a concrete goal, and (2) the use to which the technology would be put. On the issue of goal setting, for the Manhattan project, the response to the threat of enemy development of a nuclear bomb was the goal to construct a bomb; for the Apollo program, the threat of Soviet space dominance was translated into a specific goal of landing on the moon. For energy, the response to the problems of insecure oil sources and high prices has resulted in multiple, sometimes conflicting, goals. Regarding use, both the Manhattan project and the Apollo program goals pointed to technologies primarily for governmental use with little concern about their environmental impact; for energy, in contrast, the hoped-for outcome depends on commercial viability and mitigation of environmental impacts from energy use.
Although the Manhattan project and the Apollo program may provide some useful analogies for funding, these differences may limit their utility regarding energy policy. Rather, energy technology R&D has been driven by at least three not always commensurate goals–resource and technological diversity, commercial viability, and environmental protection–which were not goals of the historical programs.
