The article titled How Semantic Search is Killing the Keyword on iMedia heralds the end of keyword-driven search in place of semantic search, or the user’s intention. Based mainly on Google’s work on the Knowledge Graph, a web of information that attempts to connect related data and provide a user with answers to questions they might not have known to ask. The article goes so far as to call keyword-centered content a thing of the past.
The Department of Defense began producing the Quadrennial Defense Review in 1997 in response to requests from Congress triggered by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. Four of them have been released and the fifth will begin to appear in February or March of 2014.
The Department of State began producing the Quadrennial Diplomacy & Development Review in 2010. Unlike the Congressionally mandated QDR, this review was undertaken when Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State with the intent to push American diplomacy out of its dated approach. Since John Kerry has replaced Hillary Clinton there is speculation that a 2014 QDDR may not be published. This has to be taken seriously, given that it appeared in Foreign Policy magazine.
The Department of Homeland Security also produced the QHSR for the first time in 2010. Like the QDR, this one was ordered by Congress, rather than internally motivated like the QDDR.
The Quadrennial Intelligence Community Review(warning: pdf) was first published in 2001, then again in 2005 and 2009, but I do not find a document for 2013. This is a mystery which I will delve into further, but this should not be read as the IC being behind in some fashion – the National Intelligence Council has produced a Global Trends report for each incoming president since 1979.
Looking at these four areas, Congress sought a systematic review of defense after the end of the Cold War and they made a similar effort to better understand Homeland Security in 2010. The State Department wishes for a better balance between diplomacy and defense and undertook their own quadrennial review. The NIC, now part of the DNI, has been in the habit of producing quadrennial reports for incoming presidents, but this is a work product for them, rather than an oversight and planning related document. They do produce some material like this, but it isn’t queued up for a top level review the way the other three are.
The QDR covers nearly $700 billion in annual expenditures. DHS has a budget of $60 billion, the State Department is about $55 billion, and it’s harder to characterize the intelligence budget but $50 billion is close to the mark.
The Intelligence Community’s Overloaded Life Boat begins to address counter-intelligence concerns at a time when budget cuts are going to lead to the elimination of programs. Edward Snowden’s whistle blowing has laid bare an NSA that is completely out of control, but he’s done us a huge favor in making it obvious we need better oversight. Both Manning and Snowden were young, low level employees who were in a position to walk away with their employer’s most important secrets. Does anyone believe that this hasn’t already happened with other contractors, acting out of a profit motive rather than patriotism?
Congress can begin to do its duty to the American people by formalizing quadrennial review requirements for both the State Department and the seventeen agencies under management by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
There is great p***ing and moaning about Federal fiscal irresponsibility. IMHO, most of it is misplaced and motivated by a desire to redirect resources from makers to takers. However, the following two articles are pretty good. Object of second article, Sen Tom Coburn's (R-OK) 2013 Wastebook is attached for your convenience. Some of the items showcased are pretty egregious. My personal favorite(?) is the ten or eleven camouflage utility uniforms within the military Services.
Analysis of 330 articles in ABI-INFORM that have “intelligence reform” in the title, abstract or subject. [Bates Information Services, 24 December 2013]
South Sudan is at the brink of civil war and societal collapse
History is just one of those hard things to ignore, especially in South Sudan.
In 2011, the U.S. midwifed the creation of a new nation, South Sudan. Though at the time Obama invoked the words of Dr. Martin Luther King speaking about Ghana (“I knew about all of the struggles, and all of the pain, and all of the agony that these people had gone through for this moment”) in officially recognizing the country, many were more focused on the underlying U.S. motives,
Abuse of power …………………………………………………………………………… 6
Altering the Constitution …………………………………………………………….. 7
Appointment of officers ………………………………………………………………. 8
Arms …………………………………………………………………………………………. 9
Bill of rights ………………………………………………………………………………. 13
Checks and balances …………………………………………………………………… 15
Constitution is not alterable by government …………………………………. 26
Constitution is recommended not imposed …………………………………… 27
Constitutional Convention ………………………………………………………….. 28
Corruption ………………………………………………………………………………… 29
Defense …………………………………………………………………………………….. 31
Democracy ………………………………………………………………………………… 32
Due process ……………………………………………………………………………….. 34
Economics …………………………………………………………………………………. 35
Electoral college …………………………………………………………………………. 36
Emergency powers ……………………………………………………………………… 37
Equality / inequality …………………………………………………………………… 39
Eternal vigilance against usurpation ……………………………………………. 40
Ex post facto laws ………………………………………………………………………. 44
Example for world ……………………………………………………………………… 45
Executive Branch, the nature of …………………………………………………… 46
Faction ……………………………………………………………………………………… 50
Federal/national nature of U. S. government ………………………………… 54
Federations/federal governments; nature of …………………………………. 62
Foreign intrusions ………………………………………………………………………. 63
Future taken into consideration …………………………………………………… 64
General Welfare' not blank check …………………………………………………. 66
Government for the benefit of those who govern ……………………………. 68
Gridlock desirable ……………………………………………………………………….. 70
Human nature …………………………………………………………………………….. 72
Impeachment ……………………………………………………………………………… 77
Judiciary; nature of the ……………………………………………………………….. 79
Jurisdiction of federal government limited to enumerated objects …… 85
Law and equity ……………………………………………………………………………. 93
Laws must be executed ………………………………………………………………… 95
Laws must be few, understandable, and stable ………………………………. 96
Laws; various types of …………………………………………………………………. 98
Legislature; Nature of the ………………………………………………………….. 102
Legislature not to accord themselves privileges ……………………………. 106
Limited jurisdiction of the federal/national government ………………. 108
Maxims …………………………………………………………………………………….. 116
Militia ………………………………………………………………………………………. 123
Minority rights ………………………………………………………………………….. 133
Miscellaneous……………………………………………………………………………. 135
Monetary system ………………………………………………………………………. 146
National concerns sacrificed to local interests (pork barreling) ……… 147
Novelty of the Constitution ………………………………………………………… 148
Paper money …………………………………………………………………………….. 149
Parchment barriers insufficient …………………………………………………… 151
Part-time legislature ………………………………………………………………….. 152
People – the ultimate source of authority………………………………………. 153
People must protect themselves from the government ………………….. 158
Policy changes …………………………………………………………………………… 165
Property……………………………………………………………………………………. 167
Purpose of government ……………………………………………………………… 169
Qualifications for office ……………………………………………………………… 171
Ratification; Method and significance of ……………………………………… 172
Rebellion ………………………………………………………………………………….. 173
Representatives to control purse strings ……………………………………… 175
Representatives to know the will of constituents ………………………….. 176
Republican form; ingredients of …………………………………………………. 177
Republics require enlightened citizenry ………………………………………. 182
Respectability abroad ………………………………………………………………… 184
Rights given up upon joining society …………………………………………… 185
Seat of government – exclusive legislation over …………………………….. 186
Senate; Nature of the …………………………………………………………………. 188
Slavery ……………………………………………………………………………………… 189
Standing armies ………………………………………………………………………… 190
State governments need voice in federal/national government ……… 203
States' rights …………………………………………………………………………….. 204
States to guard against encroachments of federal government ………. 207
Suffrage; voters qualifications …………………………………………………….. 214
Suing a sovereign ………………………………………………………………………. 215
Taxes ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 216
Term limits ………………………………………………………………………………. 220
Titles of nobility ………………………………………………………………………… 221
Treaties ……………………………………………………………………………………. 222
Usurpation ……………………………………………………………………………….. 224
Veto power ……………………………………………………………………………….. 235
War ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 237
Appendix 1- The Constitution …………………………………………………….. 240
Appendix 2 – The Federalist Papers – Links …………………………………. 256
Appendix 3 – Chronology of the Federalist Papers ………………………… 262
As the cost of higher education mounts, debt-laden students, cash-strapped parents and members of the media are asking: is traditional college still the answer? Correspondent Mona Iskander reports on Enstitute, a two-year apprenticeship program that matches 18- to 24-year-olds with some of New York's top entrepreneurs.
