2010 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference: Key Issues and Implications (open access)

2010 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference: Key Issues and Implications

The report includes a short summary of the provisions and goals of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a brief history of past review conferences. It also discusses the key issues that the participants are likely to address during the 2010 conference.
Date: May 3, 2010
Creator: Kerr, Paul K.; Nikitin, Mary Beth; Woolf, Amy F. & Medalia, Jonathan
System: The UNT Digital Library
Iran: U.S. Concerns and Policy Responses (open access)

Iran: U.S. Concerns and Policy Responses

This report discusses the reasons that Iran is considered a threat to U.S. security, including Iran's nuclear program, involvement with terrorist organizations, and involvement with neighboring countries' local governments. The report also discusses ways which the U.S. hopes to modify Iran's behavior with sanctions, and the effectiveness of these sanctions.
Date: May 3, 2010
Creator: Katzman, Kenneth
System: The UNT Digital Library
Navy Force Structure and Shipbuilding Plans: Background and Issues for Congress (open access)

Navy Force Structure and Shipbuilding Plans: Background and Issues for Congress

This report provides background information and presents potential issues for Congress concerning the Navy's ship force-structure goals and shipbuilding plans. The planned size of the Navy, the rate of Navy ship procurement, and the prospective affordability of the Navy's shipbuilding plans have been matters of concern for the congressional defense committees for the past several years. Decisions that Congress makes on Navy shipbuilding programs can substantially affect Navy capabilities and funding requirements, and the U.S. shipbuilding industrial base.
Date: May 3, 2010
Creator: O'Rourke, Ronald
System: The UNT Digital Library
The New START Treaty: Central Limits and Key Provisions (open access)

The New START Treaty: Central Limits and Key Provisions

This report provides an overview of the New Strategic Arms Reductions Treaty (START), including a comparison to the original START Treaty, the belief of the Obama Administration and outside analysts that New START will enhance U.S. national security, and the criticisms of those who say that New START is a distraction from more important items on the nonproliferation agenda.
Date: May 3, 2010
Creator: Woolf, Amy F.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Nitrous Oxide from Agricultural Sources: Potential Role in Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction and Ozone Recovery (open access)
An Overview of USDA Rural Development Programs (open access)

An Overview of USDA Rural Development Programs

None
Date: May 3, 2010
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
State Efforts to Deter Unauthorized Aliens: Legal Analysis of Arizona's S.B. 1070 (open access)

State Efforts to Deter Unauthorized Aliens: Legal Analysis of Arizona's S.B. 1070

This report discusses the major provisions of S.B.1070, as modified by H.B. 2162, and the legal and constitutional considerations possibly implicated by their implementation. The report focuses primarily on those provisions that require state enforcement of federal immigration law and impose criminal penalties for immigration-related conduct, and discusses preemption issues that might be raised by these measures.
Date: May 3, 2010
Creator: Garcia, Michael J.; Eig, Larry M. & Kim, Yule
System: The UNT Digital Library
U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces: Background, Developments, and Issues (open access)

U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces: Background, Developments, and Issues

This report reviews the ongoing programs that will affect the expected size and shape of the U.S. strategic nuclear force structure. It begins with an overview of this force structure during the Cold War, and summarizes the reductions and changes that have occurred since 1991. It then offers details about each category of delivery vehicle--land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) and heavy bombers--focusing on their current deployments and ongoing and planned modernization programs. The report concludes with a discussion of issues related to decisions about the future size and shape of the U.S. strategic nuclear force.
Date: May 3, 2010
Creator: Woolf, Amy F.
System: The UNT Digital Library
U.S.-Vietnam Economic and Trade Relations: Issues for the 111th Congress (open access)

U.S.-Vietnam Economic and Trade Relations: Issues for the 111th Congress

This report will examine each of these trade issues, discussing their main elements and exploring their implications for the 111th Congress. This will be followed by an analysis of key trends in bilateral trade to discern any potential sources of trade friction in the future.
Date: May 3, 2010
Creator: Martin, Michael F.
System: The UNT Digital Library
United States-Canada Trade and Economic Relationship: Prospects and Challenges (open access)

United States-Canada Trade and Economic Relationship: Prospects and Challenges

The United States and Canada conduct the world's largest bilateral trade relationship, with total merchandise trade (exports and imports) exceeding $429.7 billion in 2009. This report examines the various aspects of this trade partnership and presents several policy options for Congress.
Date: May 3, 2010
Creator: Fergusson, Ian F.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Anaerobic Digestion: Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction and Energy Generation (open access)

Anaerobic Digestion: Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction and Energy Generation

Anaerobic Digestion technology may help to address two congressional concerns that have some measure of independence: Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction and Energy Generation.
Date: May 4, 2010
Creator: Bracmort, Kelsi
System: The UNT Digital Library
Canada-U.S. Relations (open access)

Canada-U.S. Relations

This report provides a short overview of Canada's political scene, its economic conditions, and its recent security and foreign policy, focusing particularly on issues that may be relevant to U.S. policymakers. This brief country survey is followed by several summaries of current bilateral issues in the political, trade, and environmental arenas. The report is updated annually.
Date: May 4, 2010
Creator: Ek, Carl
System: The UNT Digital Library
Cars, Trucks, and Climate: EPA Regulation of Greenhouse Gases from Mobile Sources (open access)

Cars, Trucks, and Climate: EPA Regulation of Greenhouse Gases from Mobile Sources

This report focuses on EPA's potential actions regardin regulation of Greenhouse gasses emissions from mobile sources under Title II of the Clean Air Act.
Date: May 4, 2010
Creator: McCarthy, James E.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Corporate-Owned Life Insurance (COLI): Insurance and Tax Issues (open access)

Corporate-Owned Life Insurance (COLI): Insurance and Tax Issues

This report provides information about the Insurance and Tax Issues of Corporate Owned Life Insurance (COLI).These policies are distinct and separate from typical from group life policies offered to many employees.
Date: May 4, 2010
Creator: Webel, Baird
System: The UNT Digital Library
Iran Sanctions (open access)

Iran Sanctions

This report focuses on the United States' relationship with Iran and how the Obama Administration is handling prior administrations' economic sanctions against Iran. The Obama Administration's policy approach toward Iran has contrasted with the Bush Administration's by attempting to couple the imposition of sanctions to an active and direct U.S. effort to negotiate with Iran on the nuclear issue.
Date: May 4, 2010
Creator: Katzman, Kenneth
System: The UNT Digital Library
Navy Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Program: Background, Issues, and Options for Congress (open access)

Navy Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Program: Background, Issues, and Options for Congress

This report provides background information and potential issues for Congress on the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), a relatively inexpensive Navy surface combatant equipped with modular "plug-and-fight" mission packages. The Navy's proposed FY2012 budget requests funding for the procurement of four LCSs. Current issues for Congress concerning the LCS program include changes or potential changes to the composition of LCS mission modules announced by the Navy in January 2011, the combat survivability of the LCS, and hull cracking on LCS-1. Congress's decisions on the LCS program could affect Navy capabilities and funding requirements, and the shipbuilding industrial base.
Date: May 4, 2010
Creator: O'Rourke, Ronald
System: The UNT Digital Library
Private Health Insurance Provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) (open access)

Private Health Insurance Provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)

None
Date: May 4, 2010
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
Russia’s Economic Performance and Policies and Their Implications for the United States (open access)

Russia’s Economic Performance and Policies and Their Implications for the United States

None
Date: May 4, 2010
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
Structure and Functions of the Federal Reserve System (open access)

Structure and Functions of the Federal Reserve System

This report examines the structure and operations of the major components of the Federal Reserve System and provides an overview of congressional oversight activities. In addition, the report discusses the provisions of one of the pending pieces of legislation (S. 3217, the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010) that would affect the structure and operations of the System.
Date: May 4, 2010
Creator: Smale, Pauline
System: The UNT Digital Library
Telework for Executive Agency Employees: A Side-by-Side Comparison of Legislation Pending in the 111th Congress (open access)

Telework for Executive Agency Employees: A Side-by-Side Comparison of Legislation Pending in the 111th Congress

The 111th Congress is considering legislation (S. 707 and H.R. 1722) to foster the development of telework in executive agencies of the federal government. Legislation to augment telework in executive agencies of the federal government is currently pending in the 111th Congress. S. 707, the Telework Enhancement Act of 2009, and H.R. 1722, the Telework Improvements Act of 2010, were introduced on March 25, 2009, by Senator Daniel Akaka and Representative John Sarbanes, respectively. This report presents a side-by-side comparison of the provisions of S. 707, as reported, and H.R. 1722, as ordered to be reported.
Date: May 4, 2010
Creator: Schwemle, Barbara L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The United Nations Human Rights Council: Issues for Congress (open access)

The United Nations Human Rights Council: Issues for Congress

This report provides historical background of the Council, including the role of the previous Commission. It discusses the Council's current mandate and structure, as well as U.S. policy and congressional actions.
Date: May 4, 2010
Creator: Blanchfield, Luisa
System: The UNT Digital Library
United States Military Casualty Statistics: Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom (open access)

United States Military Casualty Statistics: Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom

This report presents statistics regarding U.S. military casualties in the active Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF, Afghanistan), as well as operations that have ended: Operation New Dawn (OND, Iraq) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF, Iraq). It includes statistics on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), amputations, evacuations, and the demographics of casualties. Some of these statistics are publicly available at the Department of Defense's (DOD's) website; others have been obtained through contact with experts at the DOD.
Date: May 4, 2010
Creator: Fischer, Hannah
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Google Library Project: Is Digitization for Purposes of Online Indexing Fair Use Under Copyright Law? (open access)

The Google Library Project: Is Digitization for Purposes of Online Indexing Fair Use Under Copyright Law?

In December 2004, Google announced its Library Project, which was to entail digitizing, indexing, and displaying "snippets" of print books in the collections of five major libraries, among other things. The Library Project was not limited to books in the public domain (e.g., books whose terms of copyright protection had expired), and Google did not seek the permission of copyright holders, in part, because it asserted that its proposed uses were fair uses. Many authors, publishers, and other rights holders disagreed. This report provides background on the Library Project, legal issues raised by digitization and indexing projects, and the status of the litigation over the Library Project.
Date: May 5, 2010
Creator: Manuel, Kate M.
System: The UNT Digital Library