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1012. Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Training Superiority Training Surprise
- Author:
- Ralph Chatham and Joe Braddock
- Publication Date:
- 01-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
- Abstract:
- In late 1998 the Undersecretary of Defense (Personnel Readiness), the Director, Defense Research and Engineering, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff requested the Defense Science Board to create a task force on training and education. Drs. Joe Braddock and Ralph Chatham were appointed co-chairmen. The task force met periodically throughout 1999 and early 2000. This document is the report of our deliberations.
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, Development, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- United States
1013. Commentaries: The U.S. National Intelligence Council's Global Trends 2015: Excerpts, Commentaries, And Response
- Author:
- Ellen Laipson, Michael A. Ledeen, Michael J. White, John Gannon, Eugene J. Carroll, Richard P. Cincotta, Johanna Mendelson Forman, Michael Hanssler, Liliana Hisas, Leslie Johnston, Gavin Kitchingham, Gayl D. Ness, David Rejeski, Ervin J. Rokke, Judith Shapiro, Aleksei V. Yablokov, and Arno Weinmann
- Publication Date:
- 01-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Wilson Center
- Abstract:
- In January 2001, the U.S. National Intelligence Council (NIC), a center within the Central Intelligence Agency that provides the agency's director with mid- and long-term strategic thinking and direction, published Global Trends 2015: A Dialogue About the Future with Nongovernmental Experts. This unclassified and public report, which expanded on the NIC's previous effort Global Trends 2010, takes a look at the world over the next 15 years from the perspective of the national security policymaker.
- Topic:
- Security, Development, Environment, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- United States
1014. Environmental Stress and Human Security in Northern Pakistan
- Author:
- Richard A. Matthew
- Publication Date:
- 01-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Wilson Center
- Abstract:
- Environmental and social factors are generating high levels of conflict and insecurity in Northern Pakistan. Several factors make this case an important subject for analysis and discussion: (a) the strategic location of the region; (b) the potential for far-reaching and even global consequences should conflict spill across the borders and into countries such as Afghanistan and India; and (c) the similarities between this case and many others in the world. The article concludes with policy suggestions for both domestic and foreign parties concerned about the situation.
- Topic:
- Security, Development, Environment, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India
1015. Conflict: A Cause and Effect of Hunger
- Author:
- Marc J. Cohen, Ellen Messer, and Thomas Marchione
- Publication Date:
- 01-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Wilson Center
- Abstract:
- Ensuring food security—especially in Africa—depends on breaking cycles of hunger and conflict. Whether one believes that (a) environmental scarcities (including food insecurity) can cause conflict, or (b) that conflict is primarily caused by political factors, it is indisputable that access to food is always disrupted by conflict. Much has been written about the linkages between environmental scarcities, hunger, and conflict. This article (a) highlights certain gaps in the information about the steps that lead from hunger to conflict, and then (b) suggests policies and actions to break these connections.
- Topic:
- Security, Development, Environment, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- Africa
1016. Dilemmas For Conservation In The Brazilian Amazon
- Author:
- Margaret E. Keck
- Publication Date:
- 01-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Wilson Center
- Abstract:
- More than a decade after images of flames devouring the rainforest focused international attention on the Brazilian Amazon, the fires continue to burn. This article traces the history of conservation efforts in the Brazilian Amazon and then argues that repeated failure to understand or accommodate the political factors at work in the Amazon undermines environmentalists' efforts to protect the rainforest.
- Topic:
- Security, Development, Environment, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- Brazil
1017. Brazil's SIVAM: As It Monitors The Amazon, Will It Fulfill Its Human Security Promise?
- Author:
- Thomaz Guedes da Costa
- Publication Date:
- 01-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Wilson Center
- Abstract:
- As Brazil implements its System for Vigilance of the Amazon (SIVAM), the country's leadership continues to tout the system as a major effort towards achieving its national security objectives—especially (a) preserving the countr y's sovereignty over its territories in that tropical forest region; (b) assisting in Amazon law enforcement, particularly in deterring illegal flights associated with contraband and narco-trafficking; and (c) providing environmental information aimed at promoting sustainable development and the preservation of natural habitats in the Amazon. But while official arguments promise SIVAM will contribute to all three objectives, the lack of: (a) transparency in the program's development and implementation; and (b) greater participation by non-official organizations in how SIVAM will gather, process, and disseminate information threatens the environmental and human security value of the system.
- Topic:
- Security, Development, Environment, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- Brazil
1018. Facilitating Private - Public Partnerships for Drinking Water
- Publication Date:
- 11-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Abstract:
- The WaterLife Foundation is a New York-based charity designed to engage the corporate sector in small-scale/big impact sustainable drinking water partnerships in the developing world. WaterLife will work with local communities to install new wells, repository systems, sanitation systems, and a variety of other solutions, depending on the local need. WaterLife hosted "Facilitating Private - Public Partnerships for Drinking Water" in New York City on November 2, 2001. The meeting was sponsored by ExxonMobil and Columbia University, and the meeting logistics were organized by The Conference Board. The WaterLife Foundation hosted this innovative meeting with three goals in mind: Raise the corporate sector's awareness of the global drinking water problem Discuss the opportunities for partnerships between the corporate and non-profit sector Give the corporate sector the opportunity to design mutually beneficial partnerships with the WaterLife Foundation, in the area of sustainable drinking water initiatives. The emphasis of the November 2 meeting, and of the WaterLife Foundation, is on field work. WaterLife is not a research or policy organization, and this meeting resulted in concrete steps for ensuring corporate sector involvement in the active implementation of sustainable drinking water projects in the developing world.
- Topic:
- Energy Policy, Environment, International Cooperation, Science and Technology, and Water
- Political Geography:
- New York
1019. Biotechnology and the Future of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention
- Author:
- Jean Pascal Zanders, Frida Kuhlau, and John Hart
- Publication Date:
- 11-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
- Abstract:
- The spectre of the deliberate use of disease in war has long haunted humankind. The biological warfare threat became more realistic after the terrorist attacks against New York and Washington on 11 September 2001. Not only did the terrorists demonstrate that they were prepared to murder large numbers of people indiscriminately, they also exposed the vulnerability of many societies. The sense of vulnerability was increased by attacks in the United States with letters containing anthrax bacteria, which killed several people and infected many more. Against this background the Fifth Review Conference of the States Parties to the 1972 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction (BTWC) convened in Geneva on 19 November 2001. One of its main tasks was to evaluate the functioning of the treaty in the light of scientific and technological developments. Biotechnology has expanded rapidly in the past three decades—offering the prospect of a better quality of life—but it can be applied to design new types of biological weapons (BW). This raises concern as to whether the BTWC is sufficiently comprehensive to cover these developments.
- Topic:
- Security, Arms Control and Proliferation, Science and Technology, Terrorism, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
- Political Geography:
- United States, New York, and Washington
1020. Constitutional Causes for Technological Leadership: Why Europe?
- Author:
- Jurgen G. Backhaus
- Publication Date:
- 08-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Independent Institute
- Abstract:
- In a paper circulated towards the end of 1997 under the title Why Europe?, Gordon Tullock poses a simple question and provides a tentative, yet provocative answer. The question is why the technological take off took place in Europe and in the 19th century when well into the 18th century other areas of the world, and notably China, looked much better poised for technological and scholarly leadership than Europe. His tentative answer turns on the constitutional composition of the landscape of political entities in Europe. This essay tries to provide some further underpinnings to aspects of Gordon Tullock's preliminary answer.
- Topic:
- Industrial Policy and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- China and Europe