An Inconvenient Truth is about Gore himself as well as global warming. It shows the man that I met in the 1980s at scientific roundtable discussions, passionate and knowledgeable, true to the message he has delivered for years. It makes one wonder whether the American public has not been deceived by the distorted images of him that have been presented by the press and television. Perhaps the country came close to having the leadership it needed to deal with a grave threat to the planet, but did not realize it.

We have reached a critical tipping point.

We have at most ten years -- not ten years to decide upon action, but ten years to alter fundamentally the trajectory of global greenhouse emissions. If we do not, climate disasters will become unavoidable.

When nations must abandon large parts of their land because of rising seas, what will our liability be? And will our children, as adults in the world, carry a burden of guilt, as Germans carried after World War II?

The Threat to the Planet

This report fits neatly into the recent/ongoing thread about An Inconvenient Truth.

Disaster research, which has focused historically on emergency response and recovery, is incomplete without the simultaneous study of the societal hazards and risks associated with disasters, which includes data on the vulnerability of people living in hazard-prone areas. Historically, hazards and disaster research have evolved in parallel, with the former focusing primarily on hazards vulnerability and mitigation, the latter primarily on disaster response and recovery, and the two veins intersecting most directly with common concerns about disaster preparedness. It is vital, however, that future social science research treat hazards and disaster research interchangeably and view the above five core topics of hazards and disaster research within a single overarching framework (see Figure S.1). Such integration also provides the foundation for increased collaborative work by social scientists with natural scientists and engineers.

This report, conducted with support from the National Science Foundation, assesses the current state of social science hazards and disaster research and provides a set of recommendations that reflect opportunities and challenges in the field. Although research to date has revealed much about how societies respond to natural and technological disasters of various types, it is clear from the following report that we need to learn more. Among the most needed types of research are studies that compare systematically the unique circumstances of catastrophic events such as major earthquakes, hurricanes, and acts of terrorism. Such comparative studies will allow researchers to examine societal response in relation to variables such as the amount of advanced warning, the magnitude, scope, and duration of impacts, and the special requirements for dealing with chemical, biological, and radiological agents. Among the report's other recommendations is the need for systematic studies of how societies complement expected and sometimes planned responses with improvised activities. In the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, for example, first responders had to work around the loss of New York City's Emergency Operations Center, which was located in one of the towers.

Facing Hazards and Disasters: Understanding Human Dimensions | NAP

The insurgency in Iraq is increasingly carried out by paid-for-hire recruits and youth. The authors of this piece believe that to counter this, U.S. forces must focus their efforts at preventing the enemy foot-soldiers from enjoining the battle and, on the other end, disengaging them — or dissuading, deterring, and turning them when possible. Only such a novel and proactive approach will yield the results we desire.

A New IO Strategy: Prevention and Disengagement

This report is based on the Symposium on Counterinsurgency held at RAND’s Washington Office during the week of 16 April 1962. The purpose of the symposium was to bring together those with first-hand experience of guerrilla and counterguerrilla warfare for informal exchanges of information that might lead to fresh insights and a detailed body of expert knowledge. The subjects discussed include patterns and techniques of counterinsurgency, effective organizational and operational approaches, political action, psychological warfare, intelligence and counterintelligence, and requirements for victory. This new release of the report includes a new foreword by Stephen T. Hosmer that elucidates the relevance of this symposium to contemporary guerrilla and counterguerrilla operations.

Counterinsurgency: A RAND Symposium, April 16-20, 1962

Again, this plays into the thread about An Inconvenient Truth.

This research brief describes an analytical approach developed by RAND to manage scientific uncertainty, which involves the use of computer programs to frame strategies that will work well across a wide range of plausible futures.

Despite Deep Scientific Uncertainty, Long-Term Problems Can Be Tackled

In Sunday's Globe there was a front page article about how JIEDDO had grown from a small tiger team to become a $3B operation.

In the Global War On Terrorism, the relevance of biometric technology has grown exponentially. The military must achieve identity dominance, where U.S. military forces have the distinct ability to separate friend from foe by linking people to their previous identities and past terrorist or criminal activities. We can use biometric technology to achieve identity dominance and must deploy it to meet the requirements of force protection, actionable intelligence, and law enforcement. Establishing identity dominance through a comprehensive Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) will enable the U.S. military to identify friend or foe to keep America safer. This article was originally published in the September/October 2005 issue of Military Review and is included as a RAND reprint because its analysis is relevant to RAND’s work for the Department of Defense Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO).

Using Biometrics to Achieve Identity Dominance in the Global War on Terrorism

Two former AT&T employees say the telecom giant has maintained a secret, highly secure room in St. Louis since 2002. Intelligence experts say it bears the earmarks of a National Security Agency operation.

Is the NSA spying on U.S. Internet traffic?

It's like, these days, everyone applies for a security clearance.

"Is there something about their lifestyle that we might find questionable or that we might find goes against the core values of our corporation?"

For Some, Online Persona Undermines a Resume

As I asked yesterday, if killing one thing you know produces three things you don't, are you really making progress?

Mr. Zarqawi's network lost no time in vowing to carry on. And from the experience of the war so far, it seems at least an even bet that an octopus-like Qaeda network, seemingly able to grow new tentacles to replace those it loses, will continue to bedevil the Americans, fed by a generation of young Muslim men from the Middle East, North Africa and Asia who are ready to travel down the chain of mosques and safehouses that ends, often, with a suicide bombing in Iraq.

Most Wanted Now: War-Weary Sunnis

"If this were a graduating class of C.I.A. case officers, my advice would be short and to the point: Admit nothing, deny everything and make counteraccusations."

Graduates Get an Earful, From Left, Right and Center