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61. Trust the Process: National Technology Strategy Development, Implementation, and Monitoring and Evaluation

Author:
Loren DeLonge Schulman and Ainikki Riikonen
Publication Date:
04-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for a New American Security (CNAS)
Abstract:
The United States is navigating a new paradigm of competition, one that centers not merely on traditional measures of military might, but on technology innovation and its contributions to comprehensive national power. Technology and innovation are critical enablers of American military, political, and economic power. To succeed in great-power competition, the United States should adopt a national technology strategy. This report does not offer the content of a strategy—that is outlined in another report in this series, “Taking the Helm: A National Technology Strategy to Meet the China Challenge”—but it offers a framework for the bureaucratic connective tissue necessary to bring a strategy to life. To effectively execute a national technology strategy, the U.S. government will need to create new processes to develop, implement, and monitor and evaluate the strategy. It will also need to optimize existing processes in new ways, as bureaucratic foundations in this space have so far been uncoordinated, under resourced, and undervalued. Institutions such as the National Security Council (NSC), National Economic Council (NEC), and Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) are, in their current structure and partitions, not fully equipped to meet the challenge of creating and executing a coherent response to this challenge. To support a strategy, this report offers key ingredients for designing processes but does not prescribe detailed action plans; the best design is not the one that is most “right” but the one that leadership will use. It does offer sample tactics for policy interventions, using the promote-protect-partner-plan framework proposed in the CNAS report “Taking the Helm” as a foundation. This report divides recommendations into stages of strategy development, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. Themes that cut across these stages include ensuring executive attention, facilitating buy-in among internal and external stakeholders, exercising convening powers, inventorying and coordinating policy tools, acquiring talent and expertise, building pipelines for tailored information and analysis, and establishing a means for reviewing and revising the process and strategy. Overall, designing transparency, clarity, and accountability into the process will create one that leadership can both trust and verify.
Topic:
National Security, Science and Technology, Accountability, and Transparency
Political Geography:
China, North America, and United States of America

62. The Case for Transparency in Power Project Contracts: A Proposal for the Creation of Global Disclosure Standards and PPA Watch

Author:
Mohamed Rali Badissy, Charles Kenny, and Todd Moss
Publication Date:
08-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development (CGD)
Abstract:
he purpose of a nation’s power sector is to deliver reliable electricity at the lowest cost and for the greatest benefit. At the heart of any private electricity generation project is a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), a contract that contains key provisions such as price, payment stipulations, and obligations by the offtaker utility and/or host-government. Despite their significant effects on service quality and public finances, these contracts are often negotiated and signed in secret, with even the most basic terms shielded from the citizenry. This opacity has created risks and, in a growing number of cases, contributed to costly and damaging outcomes, such as overpayment, overcapacity, large debts, and grid instability. Drawing on examples from enhanced transparency in public budgets, sovereign debt, and extractive industries, we propose that governments agree to publish PPAs with any public sector obligation and that funders of private generation projects also agree to minimum disclosure standards. The objective is to create incentives for better practice, improve governance of the power sector, reduce transaction costs, and ultimately, to deliver cheaper and more reliable power for people and businesses. Transparency of PPAs would support the efforts of government policymakers and planners, investors, and development finance institutions to accelerate energy market development and to reap the benefits of open competition. Greater disclosure would also provide crucial information for citizens to hold their own governments accountable for the contracts they sign on behalf of the public.
Topic:
Economics, Energy Policy, Transparency, Electricity, and Purchasing Power
Political Geography:
Global Focus

63. What is Wrong

Author:
Kemal Koprulu
Publication Date:
06-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Turkish Policy Quarterly (TPQ)
Institution:
Transatlantic Policy Quarterly (TPQ)
Abstract:
While delving further into the systemic issues such as corruption, biased media, and lack of accountability that have been plaguing the American political system, this article, the second of a multi-part article, argues that the Biden administration’s policies in the next four years will have irreparable repercussions for the US and global community alike. America is far from being “back”—and, in fact, is at its weakest. With the specter of a rising China and its ties to Democratic politicians and donors becoming increasingly visible, containing China during Biden’s presidency will be impossible. Despite their efforts to divert attention away from China and toward Russia, Democrats’ corrupt acts will come back to haunt them— especially ahead of the 2022 and 2024 elections.
Topic:
Corruption, Leadership, Accountability, and Transparency
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

64. Access and Use of ICT in Budget Transparency and Accountability in Local Governments

Author:
Florence Kuteesa, Susan Namirembe Kavuma, and Richard Ayesigwa
Publication Date:
07-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE)
Abstract:
This study examined the levels of awareness, access and capacities of local Government administration to use ICT tools and e-government services in the budgeting process in the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pursuit of improved e-government services for budget transparency and accountability became the norm in Uganda. The Public Finance Management Act 2015, Section 12(2) mandates all stakeholders to promote and enforce transparent, efficient, and effective management of public expenditure.The findings of the study showed the potential of ICT to significantly enhance Budget Transparency and Accountability.
Topic:
Government, Science and Technology, Communications, Budget, Accountability, and Transparency
Political Geography:
Uganda and Africa

65. Anonymity and Openness in Gamete Donation: The Russian Policy on the Third-Party Reproduction

Author:
Rafal Lukasiewicz and Angelo Viglianisi Ferraro
Publication Date:
09-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Liberty and International Affairs
Institution:
Institute for Research and European Studies (IRES)
Abstract:
The Russian Federation is one of the few jurisdictions where recipients and gamete donors have a wide scope of choice between anonymous, identifiable, and known donations. This paper examines how the Russian law regulates this sphere and how it is applied in practice basing on data collected in the largest reproductive cells bank in Russia. It demonstrates that the Russian Federation should be regarded as a country in which there is no single dominant approach to the matter of donor anonymity. The assessment of this ‘freedom of choice’ is not unambiguous. It gives recipients and donors the right to decide which option is the most suitable for their needs and motivations, simultaneously not resolving which values take precedence over others. The donor-conceived persons’ right to disclose donor’s identifying data sometimes may conflict with the donor’s right to protect their privacy and usually, jurisdictions decide which one has the priority.
Topic:
Law, Transparency, Reproductive Rights, and Donors
Political Geography:
Russia and Europe

66. To Patch or Not to Patch: Improving the US Vulnerabilities Equities Process

Author:
Josh Kenway and Michael Garcia
Publication Date:
06-2021
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Third Way
Abstract:
The process that determines when and how the US government discloses unknown cybersecurity vulnerabilities to relevant companies or withholds them for government purposes lacks sufficient accountability, transparency, and public trust. Malicious actors do not hesitate to exploit “zero-day vulnerabilities,” or vulnerabilities that a company has had zero days to patch, with Chinese-based hackers most recently using a zero-day in Microsoft Exchange Servers to infect hundreds of thousands of systems.1 Yet, the government also uses zero-days to carry out activities that are in the nation’s interest and, as a result, does not tell the impacted software or hardware vendor about the vulnerability. In this case, the government determines that the benefit of not disclosing the vulnerability outweighs the consequence of a bad actor potentially exploiting the vulnerability for nefarious purposes. In 2010, the US government created the Vulnerabilities Equities Process (VEP) to convene federal agencies that represent a range of national interests—including security, intelligence, foreign policy, commerce, and civil rights and liberties protection—to weigh distinct perspectives on how vulnerabilities should be patched or briefly kept open for law enforcement, intelligence gathering, or military purposes. However, the VEP is not codified in law and has failed to deliver greater transparency around government retention of vulnerabilities nor ensures accountability for the government’s decisions. Congress and the Biden administration should address deficiencies with the VEP to increase transparency, strengthen accountability, build public and industry trust, and establish a world-leading model for decision-making around what to do about high-value vulnerabilities. This paper details seven steps for the Biden administration to enhance transparency and accountability in the VEP while preserving government priorities, as well as flexibility for the defense of democratic values and institutions.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Science and Technology, Governance, Cybersecurity, and Transparency
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

67. Concrete Steps Toward a Feminist Foreign Policy

Author:
Stephenie Foster, Susan Markham, and Sahana Dharmapuri
Publication Date:
01-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Our Secure Future
Abstract:
This paper seeks to do one thing: to make recommendations about how a feminist foreign policy could be operationalized within the US government. Main Recommendations: Diversify Representation; Prioritize Gender in Information Collection and Analysis; Ensure Input From Those Affected; Reform the Institutional Structure; Increase Accountability of Individuals and Transparency of Institutions; Increase Resources; Utilize Technology.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Government, Science and Technology, Feminism, Representation, Diversity, Accountability, Institutions, Transparency, and Gender
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

68. Northeast Asia Defense Transparency Index 2020-21

Author:
M. Patrick Hulme and Tai Ming Cheung
Publication Date:
02-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC)
Abstract:
Growing distrust in East Asia, especially in the security arena, is increasingly critical as new and long-standing hotspots— including the Taiwan strait, Korean peninsula, East China Sea, and South China Sea—become more volatile. The need for confidence-building measures is clear, and a central tool of confidence building is defense transparency. The Defense Transparency Index (DTI), a project of the University of California’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, ranks six countries on their efforts to promote transparency in defense and national security, including the People’s Republic of China, Japan, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), the Republic of Korea, and the major external powers most involved in the region—the United States and Russia.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Geopolitics, and Transparency
Political Geography:
Russia, Japan, Taiwan, East Asia, Asia, North Korea, Korea, East China, and United States of America

69. The Use of Video Surveillance for Police Accountability: Benefits, Limitations, and Considerations

Author:
Kathrin Baumann and Sarabeth Murray
Publication Date:
09-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
Increased calls for evidence-based policing, together with technological advancements in recent years, have led to a rise in the use of surveillance tools such as Closed-Circuit Television, dash-cams, and body-worn cameras in policing, both for accountability purposes and for crime prevention and responses. However, the effectiveness of such tools has often been questioned and concerns have been raised repeatedly about privacy, wrongful criminalization, the laterality of police officers’ access to footage, erratic and selective use of camera technology, and the erosion of civil rights.
Topic:
Science and Technology, Surveillance, Accountability, Police, Transparency, and Police Brutality
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

70. 2021 Small Arms Trade Transparency Barometer

Author:
Elodie Hainard and Olena Shumska
Publication Date:
12-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Small Arms Survey
Abstract:
The 2021 edition of the Small Arms Trade Transparency Barometer—which scores the transparency of top and major exporters’ reporting on authorized arms trade activities carried out in 2018—finds Switzerland to be the most transparent small arms exporter. Countries scored an average of 12.61 points out of a maximum of 25, which is a slight increase of last year’s score (12.36). The most transparent countries are, in descending order: Switzerland (21.75 points), the Netherlands (21.00), Germany (20.25), Serbia (19.75), and the United Kingdom (19.50). Meanwhile, North Korea (0.00 points), Iran (0.00), Saudi Arabia (0.50), and Israel (3.00) remain the least transparent countries in terms of arms trade activities.
Topic:
Weapons, Transparency, and Trade
Political Geography:
Europe