Last week, Dr. Neal Kelly, authoring committee member for our report Securing the Vote: Protecting American Democracy, spoke to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology regarding voting technology vulnerabilities. Dr. Kelly is the registrar of voters for Orange County, CA and discussed the key findings of our consensus study report.
During his speech, Dr. Kelly presented observations from his position as registrar of voters for Orange County and the takeaways from our report. He identified the best voting practices used in Orange Country, discussed barriers in election security enhancement, and described the role of congress in guiding states and counties towards secure election processes. As one of the largest voting jurisdictions in the United States, Dr. Kelly notes that Orange County has been an ideal location to implement and evaluate pilot programs. He has been able to identify areas for improvement and apply actions towards correcting the holes in election security systems. He plays a critical role in promoting sound election security procedures.
Securing the Vote: Protecting American Democracy assesses the security of the U.S. election system. This report elaborates on the Russian government’s role in the 2016 election, discusses how specific heightened security measures can prevent similar threats, and offers insight to further develop secure election procedures for the future. To learn more, read the report online or download the PDF for free.
During the 2016 presidential election, America’s election infrastructure was targeted by actors sponsored by the Russian government. Securing the Vote: Protecting American Democracy examines the challenges arising out of the 2016 federal election, …
Our weekly roundup of the new books on the NAP site this week includes a technical assessment of modeling, simulation and gaming, a look at science education in the 21st century and a couple of publications around energy.
The technical and cultural boundaries between modeling, simulation, and games are increasingly blurring, providing broader access to capabilities in modeling and simulation and further credibility to game-based applications. The purpose of this study is to provide a technical assessment of Modeling, Simulation, and Games (MS&G) research and development worldwide and to identify future applications of this technology and its potential impacts on government and society. Further, this study identifies feasible applications of gaming and simulation for military systems; associated vulnerabilities of, risks to, and impacts on critical defense capabilities; and other significant indicators and warnings that can help prevent or mitigate surprises related to technology applications by those with hostile intent. Finally, this book recommends priorities for future action by appropriate departments of the intelligence community, the Department of Defense research community, and other government entities.
The Rise of Games and High Performance Computing for Modeling and Simulation will serve as a useful tutorial and reference document for this particular era in the evolution of MS&G. The book also highlights a number of rising capabilities facilitated by MS&G to watch for in the coming years.
Review and Assessment of Closure Plans for the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility and the Chemical Agent Munition Disposal System: Letter Report (final)
Some weeks are bigger than others, and this week is one of those big weeks. Two of our publications got a lot of attention—School Meals and Hidden Costs of Energy—so we thought we’d feature both of them.
There are plenty more, though: two publications on childhood obesity, as well as publications covering tobacco use in the military, the Department of Defense’s Fast Track of SBIR, NASA, and state voter registration.
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Ensuring that the foods provided to children in schools are consistent with current dietary recommendations is an important national focus. Various laws and regulations govern the operation of school meal programs. In 1995, Nutrition Standards and Meal Requirements were put in place to ensure that all meals offered would be high in nutritional quality.
School Meals: Building Blocks For Healthy Children reviews and provides recommendations to update the nutrition standard and the meal requirements for the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program. The recommendations reflect new developments in nutrition science, increase the availability of key food groups in the school meal programs, and allow these programs to better meet the nutritional needs of children, foster healthy eating habits, and safeguard children’s health.
School Meals sets standards for menu planning that focus on food groups, calories, saturated fat, and sodium and that incorporate Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the Dietary Reference Intakes. This book will be used as a guide for school food authorities, food producers, policy leaders, state/local government and parents.
Despite the many benefits of energy, most of which are reflected in energy market prices, the production, distribution, and use of energy causes negative effects. Many of these negative effects are not reflected in energy market prices. When market failures like this occur, there may be a case for government interventions in the form of regulations, taxes, fees, tradable permits or other instruments that will motivate recognition of these external or hidden costs.
Hidden Costs of Energy defines and evaluates key external costs and benefits that are associated with the production, distribution, and use of energy, but not reflected in market prices. In aggregate, the damage estimates presented here are substantial, and reflect damages from air pollution associated with electricity generation, motor vehicle transportation, and heat generation. The book also considers other effects not quantified in dollar amounts, such as damages from climate change, effects of some air pollutants such as mercury, and risks to national security.
While not a comprehensive guide to policy, this analysis indicates that major initiatives to further reduce other emissions, improve energy efficiency, or shift to a cleaner electricity-generating mix could substantially reduce the damages of external effects. A first step in minimizing the adverse consequences of new energy technologies is to better understand these external effects and damages. Hidden Costs of Energy will therefore be a vital informational tool for government policy makers, scientists, and economists in even the earliest stages of research and development on energy technologies.
