Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports and Issue Briefs articles from February 2004

Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports and Issue Briefs archives from February 2004

North Korea's nuclear weapons: how soon an arsenal?
February 2, 2004... Summary In December 2002, North Korea ended the 8-year-old freeze on its nuclear program by expelling inspectors and reopening its plutonium production facilities. The CIA assessed that North Korea could produce 5-6 weapons by mid-2003, to...

Campaign finance: constitutional and legal issues of soft money.
February 4, 2004... SUMMARY Prior to enactment of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA), P.L. 107-155, the term "soft money" generally referred to unregulated funds, perceived as resulting from loopholes in the Federal Election Campaign Act...

Ricin: technical background and potential role in terrorism.
February 4, 2004... Summary On February 2, 2004, the deadly toxin ricin was detected in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Ricin, derived from castor beans, has been identified as a potential bioweapon. Ricin is extremely toxic by ingestion, inhalation and...

Pakistan: chronology of recent events.
February 5, 2004... Summary This report provides a reverse chronology of recent events involving Pakistan and Pakistan-U.S. relations. (1) For a substantive review, see CRS Issue Brief IB94041, Pakistan-U.S. Relations. This report will be updated monthly. ...

Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
February 6, 2004... Summary This report analyzes the status of many of the major foreign terrorist organizations that are a threat to the United States, placing special emphasis on issues of potential concern to Congress. The terrorist organizations included...

Pakistan-U.S. relations.
February 6, 2004... SUMMARY Key areas of U.S. concern regarding Pakistan include regional terrorism; weapons proliferation; the ongoing Kashmir dispute and Pakistan-India tensions; human rights protection; and economic development. A U.S.-Pakistan...

Visa waiver program.(CRS Report for Congress: received through the CRS Web)
February 10, 2004... Summary Since the events of September 11, 2001, concerns have been raised about the ability of terrorists to enter the United States under the visa waiver program. The visa waiver program (VWP) allows nationals from certain countries to...

Visa issuances: policy, issues, and legislation.
February 11, 2004... Summary Since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, considerable concern has been raised because the 19 terrorists were aliens who apparently entered the United States with temporary visas despite provisions in immigration laws that...

U.S. immigration policy on permanent admissions.
February 18, 2004... Summary When President George W. Bush announced his principles for immigration reform in January 2004, he included an increase in permanent immigration as a key component. Some commentators are speculating the President is promoting...

Iraq: U.S. regime change efforts and post-Saddam governance.
February 23, 2004... Summary Operation Iraqi Freedom accomplished a long-standing objective, the overthrow and capture of Saddam Hussein, but replacing that regime with a stable, moderate, democratic political structure has run into difficulty. Past U.S....

India: chronology of recent events.
February 24, 2004... Summary This report provides a reverse chronology of recent events involving India and India-U.S. relations from September 2001. (1) For a substantive review, see CRS Issue Brief IB93097, India-U.S. Relations. This report will be updated...

India-U.S. economic relations.
February 25, 2004... Summary India is a country with a long history and a large population (more than one billion people, nearly half living in poverty). Given that it is the world's most populous democracy, a U.S. ally in anti-terrorism efforts, and a...

India-U.S. relations.
February 25, 2004... SUMMARY The end of the Cold War freed India-U.S. relations from the constraints of global bipolarity, but New Delhi-Washington relations continued for a decade to be affected by the burden of history, most notably the longstanding...