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Afghanistan: Politics, Elections, and Government Performance

Description: This report discusses the current political state of Afghanistan, as well as the Afghan government. This report also discusses Afghanistan's relationship with the United States, particularly U.S. efforts to urge President Hamid Karzai, to address corruption within the Afghan government. The report also includes discussion of election fraud and corruption in Afghanistan.
Date: March 30, 2012
Creator: Katzman, Kenneth
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Navy Irregular Warfare and Counterterrorism Operations: Background and Issues for Congress

Description: The Navy for several years has carried out a variety of irregular warfare (IW) and counterterrorism (CT) activities. Among the most readily visible of the Navy's recent IW operations have been those carried out by Navy sailors serving ashore in Afghanistan and Iraq. The May 1-2, 2011, U.S. military operation in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that killed Osama bin Laden reportedly was carried out by a team of 23 Navy special operations forces. The Navy's IW and CT activities pose a number of potential ov… more
Date: April 6, 2012
Creator: O'Rourke, Ronald
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Guam: U.S. Defense Deployments

Description: This report provides a basic overview of the island of Guam, including population and location, as well as the strategic significance of Guam for boosting U.S. deterrence and power projection in Asia.
Date: March 29, 2012
Creator: Kan, Shirley A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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U.S. Foreign Aid to the Palestinians

Description: The U.S. government has committed over $4 billion in bilateral assistance to the Palestinians Since the establishment of limited Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the mid-1990s. This aid has been requested to support prevention/combating against terrorism, creating coexistence with Israel and self-governance, and meeting humanitarian needs.
Date: April 4, 2012
Creator: Zanotti, Jim
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Navy Nuclear Aircraft Carrier (CVN) Homeporting at Mayport: Background and Issues for Congress

Description: This report provides background information and issues for Congress on the Navy's proposal to homeport a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier (CVN) at Mayport, FL. Transferring a CVN from Norfolk, VA, to Mayport would shift from Norfolk to Mayport the local economic activity associated with homeporting a CVN, which some sources estimate as being worth hundreds of millions of dollars per year.
Date: April 6, 2012
Creator: O'Rourke, Ronald
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The G-20 and International Economic Cooperation: Background and Implications for Congress

Description: The G-20 is an international forum for discussing and coordinating economic policies among major advanced and emerging economies. Congress may want to exercise oversight over the Administration's participation in the G-20 process, including the policy commitments that Administration is making in the G-20 and the policies it is encouraging other G-20 countries to pursue.
Date: April 12, 2012
Creator: Nelson, Rebecca M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The U.S. Postal Service's Financial Condition: Overview and Issues for Congress

Description: This report provides an overview of the U.S. Postal Service's (USPS's) financial condition, legislation enacted to alleviate the USPS's financial challenges, and possible issues for the 112th Congress. It also includes a side-by-side comparison of two of the postal reform bills, H.R. 2309 and S. 1789.
Date: January 27, 2012
Creator: Kosar, Kevin R.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Meeting the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) Mandate for Cellulosic Biofuels: Questions and Answers

Description: The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) was expanded under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA; P.L. 110-140) in an effort to reduce dependence on foreign oil, promote biofuel use, and stabilize transportation fuel prices, among other goals. Over a 15-year period, the RFS seeks to establish a market for biofuels in the transportation sector by requiring that increasing amounts of biofuels-36 billion gallons by 2022-be blended into transportation fuel. The mandate is to be accomplis… more
Date: January 11, 2012
Creator: Bracmort, Kelsi
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Navy Ohio Replacement (SSBN[X]) Ballistic Missile Submarine Program: Background and Issues for Congress

Description: This report discusses the Navy's plan to develop and design a class of 12 next-generation ballistic missile submarines, or SSBN(X)s, as replacements for the 14 Ohio class SSBNs currently in operation. The report explores certain related issues for Congress, including the affordability of the project and its potential impact on other Navy shipbuilding programs, alternatives to the program, and which shipyard or shipyards will build the proposed ships.
Date: April 5, 2012
Creator: O'Rourke, Ronald
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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F-35 Alternate Engine Program: Background and Issues for Congress

Description: This report discusses the past four years of administration proposals to terminate the program to develop the General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 engine as an alternative to the Pratt & Whitney F135 engine that currently powers the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). These proposals have been continually rejected by Congress. The Obama Administration's FY2011 budget submission against proposes to terminate the program. This report explores both sides of the termination argument.
Date: January 10, 2012
Creator: Gertler, Jeremiah
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Changes in the Arctic: Background and Issues for Congress

Description: The diminishment of Arctic sea ice has led to increased human activities in the Arctic, and has heightened interest in, and concerns about, the region's future. The United States, by virtue of Alaska, is an Arctic country and has substantial interests in the region. The Arctic has increasingly become a subject of discussion among political leaders of the nations in the region. In varying degrees, the Arctic coastal states have indicated a willingness to establish and maintain a military presenc… more
Date: February 27, 2012
Creator: O'Rourke, Ronald
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Chemical Facility Security: Issues and Options for the 112th Congress

Description: This report provides a brief overview of the existing statutory authority and the regulation implementing this authority. It describes several policy issues raised in previous debates regarding chemical facility security and identifies policy options for congressional consideration. Finally, legislation in the 112th Congress is discussed.
Date: January 13, 2012
Creator: Shea, Dana A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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U.S. Response to the Global Threat of Tuberculosis: Basic Facts

Description: Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the most widespread infectious diseases in the world, infecting an average of 9 million people annually. Although TB is curable, more than 1 million TB-related deaths occur each year. Due in part to a growing global response to TB, progress has been made in combating the disease. Globally, new TB infection rates have begun to slowly decline and TB mortality rates have decreased significantly since 1990. At the same time, absolute numbers of people infected with TB, p… more
Date: January 5, 2012
Creator: Kendal, Alexandra E.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Protecting Classified Information and the Rights of Criminal Defendants: The Classified Information Procedures Act

Description: A criminal prosecution involving classified information may cause tension between the government's interest in protecting classified information and the criminal defendant's right to a constitutionally valid trial. In some cases, a defendant may threaten to disclose classified information in an effort to gain leverage. Concerns about this practice, referred to as "graymail," led the 96th Congress to enact the Classified Information Procedures Act to provide uniform procedures for prosecutions i… more
Date: April 2, 2012
Creator: Liu, Edward C. & Garvey, Todd
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Rare Earth Elements in National Defense: Background, Oversight Issues, and Options for Congress

Description: Some Members of Congress have expressed concern over U.S. acquisition of rare earth materials composed of rare earth elements used in various components of defense weapon systems. On March 13, 2012, President Obama announced that the United States had joined with Japan and the European Union to bring a World Trade Organization joint dispute resolution case against China because of China's restrictive policies on rare earths and other minerals. Congress may encourage DOD to develop a collabora… more
Date: April 11, 2012
Creator: Grasso, Valerie Bailey
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Hydraulic Fracturing and Safe Drinking Water Act Issues

Description: This report reviews past and proposed treatment of hydraulic fracturing under the Safe Water Drinking Ace, the principal federal statute for regulating the underground injection of fluids to protect groundwater sources of drinking water. It reviews current provisions for regulating underground injection activities, and discusses some possible implications of, and issues associated with, enactment of legislation authorizing the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate hydraulic fracturing und… more
Date: April 10, 2012
Creator: Tiemann, Mary & Vann, Adam
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Nuclear Power Plant Design and Seismic Safety Considerations

Description: This report presents some of the general design concepts of operating nuclear power plants in order to discuss design considerations for seismic events. This report does not attempt to conclude whether one design is inherently safer or less safe than another plant. Nor does it attempt to conclude whether operating nuclear power plants are at any greater or lesser risk from earthquakes given recent updates to seismic data and seismic hazard maps.
Date: January 12, 2012
Creator: Andrews, Anthony & Folger, Peter
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Funding Emergency Communications: Technology and Policy Considerations

Description: This report identifies areas where changes in existing policies and practices may facilitate achievement of the important goals for emergency communications that Congress and others have identified. Why these goals have become important, and recent planning efforts to achieve these goals, is discussed first. Next, possible barriers to achieving these goals are identified and described. The conclusion revisits key options presently under consideration by Congress.
Date: January 5, 2012
Creator: Moore, Linda K.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Pakistan: U.S. Foreign Assistance

Description: The 112th Congress has been focused measures to reduce the federal budget deficit. This backdrop may influence congressional debate over the third-ranking U.S. aid recipient, Pakistan-a country vital to U.S. national security interests but that some say lacks accountability and even credibility.
Date: April 10, 2012
Creator: Epstein, Susan B. & Kronstadt, K. Alan
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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