Congressional Research Service Reports - 274 Matching Results
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- The Endangered Species Act (ESA), Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA), and Department of Defense (DOD) Readiness Activities: Current Law and Legislative Proposals
- This report provides a brief overview of how the Endangered Species Act (ESA)1 and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA)2 and their relevant regulations may apply to military training and readiness activities of the Department of Defense (DOD). Military activities may “take” protected creatures directly (e.g,. killing with ordnance during rifle, gunnery or assault drills), or might destroy habitat (e.g., artillery or bombing practices), even if these results are not the purpose of the activities. The applicability of the MBTA and ESA to military readiness activities has been controversial recently and legislation has been enacted in both the 107th and 108th Congresses on these topics.
- Terrorism and National Security: Issues and Trends
- No Description Available.
- Military Courts-Martial: An Overview
- No Description Available.
- Japan's Response to the Persian Gulf Crisis: Implications for U.S. -Japan Relations
- This report provides information and analysis for use by Members of Congress as they deliberate on the Japanese response to the Gulf crisis and, perhaps more important, what it may mean for future U.S.-Japanese relations. The first chapter briefly reviews Japanese government actions in response to the crisis, from August 1990 to February 1991. A second section examines in detail the various factors and constraints that affected Japanese policy. The final section offers conclusions and examines implications of the episode for future U.S.-Japanese relations. Published sources for the report are cited in footnotes.
- Chemical Agent Attacks in Japan
- The release of the nerve agent Sarin in Tokyo's subway system on March 20, marks the first clearly non-state terrorist use of chemical weapons. The agent was highly diluted andmfatalities were relatively few (10), though the number of injured was substantial (5,000+, with 600 hospitalized). This incident clearly indicates the potential political effectiveness of chemical weapons against an unprotected civilian population. Once a population has been sensitized by an incident like this, even the threat of CW can become significantly disruptive. Some have credited fear of another attack with contributing to the cautiousness of the Japanese police investigation
- The Convention on Nuclear Safety - A Fact Sheet
- Until the catastrophic accident with the former Soviet Union's Chernobyl nuclear power plant showed that radioactivity from a major nuclear accident could reach neighboring nations, nuclear safety was held to be an exclusively sovereign responsibility of each nation. Now it is recognized that a nuclear accident in one state can release radioactivity dangerous to another. As a result, many now view international cooperation as one way to help to assure safe operation of each nation's civil nuclear power stations.
- Defense Research: A Primer on the Department of Defense's Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT and E) Program
- This report describes the basic elements and issues of the Department of Defense's (DOD) Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) Program. It defines basic activities supported by the program, presents budget trends, discusses the management of program, and describes the infrastructure in which the program is implemented. This report is for staff new to the area of defense research and for senior staff interested in historical trends.
- National Missile Defense: Status of the Debate
- No Description Available.
- National Missile Defense: Issues for Congress
- No Description Available.
- Defense Research: DOD's Research, Development, Test and Evaluation Program
- Congress supports the research and development efforts of the Department of Defense (DOD) with a Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) appropriation. The appropriation primarily supports the development of the nation’s future military hardware and software and the technology base upon which those products rely. It is the federal government’s single largest research and development account. Besides supporting the nation’s military needs, some of the technology developed with RDT&E funds spills over into the commercial sector. For these reasons, RDT&E funding draws a considerable amount of attention within Congress each year.
- Military Pay and Benefits: Key Questions and Answers
- No Description Available.
- Nuclear Nonproliferation Issues
- No Description Available.
- Nuclear Nonproliferation Issues
- No Description Available.
- War Powers Resolution: Presidential Compliance
- No Description Available.
- United Nations Peacekeeping: Issues for Congress
- No Description Available.
- United Nations Peacekeeping: Issues for Congress
- No Description Available.
- The Middle East Peace Talks
- No Description Available.
- The Middle East Peace Talks
- No Description Available.
- Palestinians and Middle East Peace: Issues for the United States
- No Description Available.
- Palestinians and Middle East Peace: Issues for the United States
- No Description Available.
- POWs and MIAs: Status and Accounting Issues
- No Description Available.
- Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict
- This report presents an overview of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. This is a clash between the principles of territorial integrity and self-determination that is occurring in the Caucasus, creating the longest inter-ethnic dispute in the former Soviet Union. The report includes the background and analysis of history, warfare and peace process in the region. The report discusses the Armenian and Azerbaijani perspective, the role and views of others (Iran, Turkey, Russia), as well as the U.S. policy regarding the conflict.
- Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict
- This report presents an overview of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. This is a clash between the principles of territorial integrity and self-determination that is occurring in the Caucasus, creating the longest inter-ethnic dispute in the former Soviet Union. The report includes the background and analysis of history, warfare and peace process in the region. The report discusses the Armenian and Azerbaijani perspective, the role and views of others (Iran, Turkey, Russia), as well as the U.S. policy regarding the conflict.
- Iraq: Compliance, Sanctions, and U.S. Policy
- No Description Available.
- Iraq: Weapons Programs, U.N. Requirements, and U.S. Policy
- No Description Available.
- Military Medical Care Services: Questions and Answers
- No Description Available.
- Military Medical Care Services: Questions and Answers
- No Description Available.
- Peacekeeping: Issues of U.S. Military Involvement
- No Description Available.
- Theater Missile Defense: Issues for Congress
- No Description Available.
- Nuclear Arms Control: The U.S.-Russian Agenda
- No Description Available.
- Nuclear Arms Control: The U.S.-Russian Agenda
- No Description Available.
- Nuclear Arms Control: The U.S.-Russian Agenda
- No Description Available.
- Instances of Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad, 1798-1999
- No Description Available.
- Chechnya Conflict: Recent Developments
- This report examines military airstrikes and ground operations that Russia launched against its Chechnya region in late September 1999. It provides background information on earlier Chechen guerrilla attacks on the neighboring Dagestan region of Russia and on the unsolved terrorist bombing of several apartment buildings in Russia. Current problems of governance in Chechnya are discussed, as well as Chechnya’s response to the Russian offensive. The concerns of the United States and other Western governments about the conflict are examined. A map is included. This report supersedes CRS Report RS20358, Chechnya Conflict.
- Intelligence to Counter Terrorism: Issues for Congress
- This report discusses the need for cooperation between law enforcement and intelligence agencies and for human intelligence (humint), the use of agents to gather information, to counter terrorism and the risks associated with humint. Updated May 27, 2003.
- Military Transformation: Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance
- No Description Available.
- Nuclear Arms Control: The Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty
- No Description Available.
- U.S. Armed Forces Abroad: Selected Congressional Roll Call Votes Since 1982
- No Description Available.
- Iraq: U.S. Military Operations
- No Description Available.
- An Overview of the U.S. Public Health System in the Context of Bioterrorism
- No Description Available.
- Supplemental Appropriations FY2003: Iraq Conflict, Afghanistan, Global War on Terrorism, and Homeland Security
- No Description Available.
- U.S. Treatment of Prisoners in Iraq: Selected Legal Issues
- No Description Available.
- Border Security: Inspections Practices, Policies, and Issues
- Some argue that this reorganization of border inspections has been long needed and is resulting in a more streamlined and efficient set of procedures at the border with a clear, single, chain of command. Others warn that the different types of inspections are quite complex in their own right and that the reorganization is exacerbating the conflicting priorities at the border, ultimately resulting in many more people and goods being sent to secondary inspections. This report, which will not be updated, discusses a range of legal, administrative, and policy issues that are emerging with the implementation of the unified border inspections.
- Bioterrorism Countermeasure Development: Issues in Patents and Homeland Security
- In the 109th Congress, several bills have been introduced, including S. 3, the Protecting America in the War on Terror Act, and S. 975, the Project Bioshield II Act, that would generate additional incentives for the creation of new technologies to counteract potential biological threats. These bills propose reforms to current policies and practices associated with intellectual property, particularly patents, and the marketing of pharmaceuticals and related products. This report includes patents and innovation, the role of patents in pharmaceutical/biomedical R&D, legislative developments and proposals for change.
- Federal Counter-Terrorism Training: Issues for Congressional Oversight
- No Description Available.
- Kosovo: Greek and Turkish Perspectives
- No Description Available.
- Vieques, Puerto Rico Naval Training Range: Background and Issues for Congress
- No Description Available.
- Vieques, Puerto Rico Naval Training Range: Background and Issues for Congress
- On April 30, 2003 – one day ahead of schedule – the Department of the Navy (DoN) closed down its controversial live-fire training range on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques and transferred the land to the Department of the Interior on May 1, 2003. The Secretary of the Navy had certified to Congress on January 10, 2003, that DoN would cease training operations on the island by May 1, 2003. The Navy Secretary’s certification was required by Section 1049 of the FY2002 defense authorization act (P.L. 107-107; S. 1438). The Navy announced in February 2003 that it also intends to close down its supporting activity at Roosevelt Roads on mainland Puerto Rico by September 30, 2003. The Senate Armed Services Committee’s report (H.Rept. 107-151 of May 15, 2002) on the FY2003 defense authorization bill (S. 2514) directed the Navy to submit a report to Congress by March 1, 2003 on, among other things, alternate locations for conducting the training previously conducted at Vieques. This CRS report will be updated as events warrant.
- Navy Network-Centric Warfare Concept: Key Programs and Issues for Congress
- No Description Available.
- Naval Transformation: Background and Issues for Congress
- No Description Available.