Scowcroft Papers

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http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/158820
The Scowcroft Institute has initiated a Scowcroft Papers series on issues of interest to policymakers and an informed public. The series covers four categories of publications: - Significant addresses delivered at the Bush School by visiting scholars and policy makers, - Academic papers by Scowcroft post-doctoral fellows and Bush School and Texas A&M faculty, - Papers presented at Scowcroft conferences and policy papers commissioned by the Scowcroft Institute from prominent experts on issues of the day, - Policy papers written by senior Scowcroft fellows, and links to research funded by the Scowcroft Institute and published in academic journals.

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 10
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    International Higher Education Facing New Political Realities: A Call to the Community for a Compelling Research Agenda and Advocacy Strategy
    (2017-09-27) Davis, Herbert
    The international higher education community is now confronting unprecedented challenges as it pursues ongoing federal support for its long-established programs. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the need for a more comprehensive research agenda (i.e., to support the value of international higher education) and suggest how to develop an effective and forward-looking advocacy strategy for pursuing such funding. This paper also highlights the role of U.S. public and land-grant universities in international development and international education—as well as the significant contributions of USAID to international higher education development
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    Global Health Security: The Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network
    (2017-02-28) Heymann, David L. MD
    : In the mid-1990s two infectious disease outbreaks – Pneumonic Plague in Surat, India and Ebola in Kikwit, Democratic Republic of Congo (then Zaire) - caused great concern globally. At that time the standard communication system of the World Health Organisation (WHO) - telephone, telex and facsimile – was unable to handle requests and information dissemination in a timely manner, resulting in uncertainty and misunderstanding that increased concern among its member countries. With a vision of using up-to-date communication technologies to avoid such problems in the future, the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) was created. Its roots were in the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) emerging infections programme established in 1966, and the goal of GOARN was to increase the sensitivity of global disease detection and the rapidity of global risk assessment, risk communication and outbreak response. By using the most up-to-date communications technologies, GOARN changed the way in which the WHO received, assessed, and responded to information about infectious disease outbreaks.
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    'Science Tikkun': Repairing the World through the Science of Neglected Diseases, Science Diplomacy, and Public Engagement
    (2017-02-28) Hotez MD PhD, Peter J.
    We define Science Tikkun broadly as an added role for leading U.S. scientists to elevate the profile of their knowledge and findings, and educate leaders in the areas of government, business, religion, the military, the media and other sectors in order to improve the human condition. Through a process of science diplomacy Science Tikkun also seeks to promote international cooperation and scientific collaboration to improve the human condition. The term derives from the ancient Jewish concept of tikkun olam (repairing the world) that gained momentum in the 16th century contemporaneously with Galileo, William Gilbert, and the origins of modern scientific approaches. There are key historical global health precedents for scientists to directly take on not only the science, but the necessary public advocacy and policy activities.
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    For National Security: Gen. Brent Scowcroft
    (2017-02-28) Sparrow, Bartholomew
    “A friend in Washington is someone who stabs you in the chest.” Brent Scowcroft sometimes tells this joke to break the ice when beginning a speech. The irony, though, is that Scowcroft has a great many friends and admirers. It is this capacity for friendship, together with his other personal qualities, his upbringing, military background, and intellectualism, that have made him so remarkably effective and so very much respected and, it is fair to say, so adored in Washington, around the country, and around the world.
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    Shifting the Culture of Quarantine
    (2017-02-28) Katz, Rebecca
    Quarantine will likely never be a comfortable experience for anyone, but there are concrete steps that can be taken to improve the experience and help shift perceptions of quarantine in the United States from punishment to social responsibility. Changing perceptions, however, requires changing the reality of the quarantine experience, which must be done through a series of policies, regulations and tangible support to individuals who have had their freedom of movement curtailed. These actions must also be taken to reinforce the public’s trust in government. This paper looks at how quarantine has been used in recent history, assesses what we can learn from the experiences, and proposes a set of actions the United States could take to improve the quarantine experience, and eventually change perceptions.
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    A Continent in Chaos: The Security Implications of the European Migrant Crisis
    (2017-02-28) Dahl, Ann-Sofie
    This report analyzes the migrant crisis which in 2015 tormented, and in 2016 continues to torment, Europe: what happened and why, and most importantly, the implications of the crisis for Europe and the EU, with a special focus on Sweden and Denmark. In all other ways, these two neighboring Scandinavian countries come across to the outside world as almost identical, but thus represent opposite positions with regard to the migration and refugee issue. In short, how did Europe end up in this chaos, and what will be the implications on security, for Sweden, Denmark and the rest of Europe?
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    The Role and Importance of the National Security Advisor
    (2017) Hadley, Stephen J.
    It is impossible to talk about the role of the National Security Advisor without talking about Brent Scowcroft. It is fair to say that Henry Kissinger was the father of the “ inter-agency system” that is still with us today. Dr. Kissinger established the network of committees at various levels within the Executive Branch that bring together representatives of the relevant departments and agencies to address national security and foreign policy issues. But General Scowcroft is the father of the modern-day National Security Advisor. The manner and method by which Brent Scowcroft performed the role became the model or “base case” for all those who came after him. David Rothkopf, with his authoritative studies of the role of the National Security Advisor and the various individuals who have filled that position, concludes that the “Scowcroft Model” is the one that best serves the President and our nation’s national security decision-making process.
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    The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Compared with the Law of Electronic Surveillance in Europe
    (2017-02-27) Sievert, Ronald J.
    The purpose of this article is to compare the fundamental operative provisions of the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) with the equivalent directives of European surveillance law in five representative countries. The specific provisions being compared relate to the ability to monitor the content of individual communications within the nation state or citizens outside territorial borders. The author is not greatly concerned at this point with the procedure required before interceptions of noncitizens outside the country as under U.S. law this is not limited in a manner that endangers the nation. Foreign residents outside the country are not protected by the Fourth Amendment and thus there are less obstructive regulations. Nor is there a need at this time to concentrate on metadata collection, which is simply the accumulation of data on numbers dialed, time, and duration of calls made by telephone subscribers. Metadata does not include content. Although the provisions of the USA Freedom Act will increase the burden on the government by directing that this data be stored with the separate telecommunications providers instead of NSA, the threat posed by these provisions is minor compared to the dangers created by the restraints of the FISA statute on the ability of the government to intercept citizens and communications domestically.
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    The Challenges of Risk Perception and Infectious Disease Response: Counteracting Inaccurate Risk Perception
    (2017-02-27) Crudo, Christine
    In 2014 an Ebola epidemic swept through western Africa, killing tens of thousands of people. When a case of the virus appeared in Dallas, TX, the American public began to panic. There was concern that the disease would spread quickly and uncontrollably like it had in Africa. Much of the fear and anxiety surrounding Ebola in the United States was perpetuated by a lack of understanding about the virus and a highly exaggerated perception of the chance of infection; an inaccurate perception fueled by the CDC’s poor communication throughout the outbreak. Many Americans did not understand that a main reason Ebola was able to spread so rapidly in Africa was due to lack of personal protective equipment— specifically gloves—, a lack of infrastructure and properly trained healthcare workers, and the traditional burial practices of many of the affected communities (WHO, 2015). In reality, the American healthcare system, with the addition of designated definitive treatment centers and appropriate use of personal protective equipment, is fully equipped and capable of safely containing cases of Ebola virus, which is most commonly spread through contact with infected bodily fluids, similar to HIV. What motivates most of the misperceptions about diseases like Ebola is fear and a lack of understanding about disease transmission. Fear is a difficult emotion to overcome. It is a primal response; a survival instinct. It often takes over logical thinking. Panic or an unrealistic level of fear can be one of the greatest challenges facing public health officials during an infectious disease outbreak. Exaggerated fear makes it unlikely that a disease will spread, but it can have a disproportion economic impact, as was the case with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003. Inaccurate levels of fear can also be a challenge when the situation is reversed and the public’s perception of the risk is lower than the reality of the risk. Lower than realistic risk perception is an obstacle health authorities face every influenza season. “The flu” is often used as a catch-all term when people are feeling under the weather and it is difficult for the public to understand how deadly the influenza virus can be. The CDC estimates that during the 2014 flu season there were 707,155 influenza-related hospitalizations and 19,490 influenza-related deaths in the United States (CDC, 2016a), while there was 11,310 Ebola deaths in West Africa that same year (CDC, 2016b). A lower than realistic risk perception of influenza means that many people do not get a flu shot or take any sort of protective measures against infection. This article examines how risk perception affects the public’s ability and willingness to follow recommended actions during a disease outbreak. I also seek to identify the most significant challenges in changing risk perception and provide suggestions for doing so.