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ROBERT S. MUELLER's inquiry into President Donald Trump's possible collusion with Russia has engulfed US politics and US-Russia relations for the last two years, reaching levels of hysteria among political pundits and the media. Was it a "witch hunt," as Trump supporters believed, or a necessary look into impeachable offenses?

"As the nation that developed the Internet, the world expects us to ensure that the digital revolution works as a tool for individual empowerment, not government control." -President Barack Obama, Speech on NSA Reforms, January 17, 2014After Edward Snowden revealed how the National Security Agency gathered personal data and spied on US allies, President Obama in 2013 commissioned the REVIEW GROUP ON INTELLIGENCE AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGIES to address this controversy.The Review Group produced a comprehensive report, Liberty and Security in a Changing World, which lists forty-six recommendations in order to rebuild trust regarding intelligence gathering. The report's objectives are to protect national security and strengthen foreign policy while respecting privacy and civil liberties. Among the recommendations are:- Limit Bulk Collection of Telephony Meta-Data;- Enhance the Privacy of Non-US Persons;- US Support for Encryption Standards;- US Support for International Norms Enhancing the Security of Online Communications.Although many recommendations of this report were well-received, a strong dissenting voice came from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, expressing its disappointment that this report seemed to support continued mass surveillance.In this publication, you will also find two speeches by President Obama from December 20, 2013, and January 16, 2014, on the NSA reforms. Lastly, the Presidential Policy Directive PPD-28 of 2015, which implements those changes, is included in this publication.

"The term terrorism means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents." -From 22 U.S. Code § 2656fIn a year when the world continued to suffer from terrorist threats and attacks, the U.S. State Department in June 2016 released its annual review of global terrorism, the Country Reports on Terrorism 2015.Although according to this report most attacks happened in a small group of countries (Afghanistan, India, Iraq, Nigeria, and Pakistan), the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) remained the greatest threat globally, being responsible for most deaths (6,050) versus runner-up Boko Haram (5,450.) ISIL also increased its focus on mass-casualty attacks, for example in France and Turkey, and was able to inspire attacks in 2015 by individuals or small groups of self-radicalized individuals in several cities around the world. In addition to an up-to-date description of the terror threat in many countries, it also includes an overview of 58 Foreign Terrorist Organizations, from the Abdallah Azzam Brigades in Lebanon to Tehrik-e Taliban in Pakistan. Furthermore, the Annex of Statistical Information offers information on the number of individuals, including U.S. citizens and dual nationals, killed, injured, or kidnapped by each terrorist group during 2015.Students of terrorism, academics, journalists, and anyone concerned about the geopolitical state of the planet and the asymmetrical dangers the U.S. faces in the early 21st century will find this a vital background briefing.

What will the future of conflicts look like in 2035? The study Joint Operating Environment- JOE 2035: The Joint Force in a Contested and Disordered World looks into the future and tries to describe the circumstances that could change the security environment and the implications for the U.S., its interests, and allies.This study focuses first on two strategic challenges: Contested norms, where adversaries will challenge the rules and agreements of the current international order; and persistent disorder, where adversaries will exploit the inability of states to provide functioning and stable governance.It then continues with describing key trends, such as the changing world order in economic and military terms; human geography (population growth and migration); and developments in science and technology. These trends will shape the context of conflict, for example violent ideological competition, disruption of the global commons in open sea and space, and cyberspace attacks. This study ends with implications for how the U.S. should adapt and prepare for a wide range of very different security threats.Trend watchers, military buffs, journalists, and readers interested in how the world may change, should find this brief report very useful and interesting.

Given the increasing frequency and severity of anti-Semitic incidents (particularly in Western Europe) since the beginning of the 21st Century, members of the international community have been compelled to focus on such offenses with renewed energy.The Rise of Global Anti-Semitism was submitted by the US Department of State to the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on International Relations in 2004. As a result, the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, as part of the State Department, made it available to the general public in early 2005.In an authoritative format, this report presents subject matter on:• Identifying the Four Main Sources of anti-Semitism• Acts of Harassment, Vandalism, and Physical Violence• The Role of International Media in Promoting anti-Semitism• US Government Actions to Monitor and Prevent anti-SemitismIn addition, a special section is included on Congressional Bill H.R. 4230, proposing the creation of an office to monitor and combat anti-Semitism within the US State Department.

"Open and accountable government is one of the bedrock principles of our democracy. Yet virtually since Inauguration Day, questions have been raised about the Bush Administration's commitment to this principle. News articles and reports by independent groups over the last four years have identified a growing series of instances where the Administration has sought to operate without public or congressional scrutiny.[t]he Bush Administration has acted to restrict the amount of government information that is available." - Executive Summary, Secrecy in the Bush AdministrationProduced at the request of Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-CA), this report is a comprehensive examination of secrecy in the Bush Administration. It analyzes how the Administration has implemented our nation's major open government laws - yet have worked consistently to undermine them.The information contained in ON RESTORING OPEN GOVERNMENT: Secrecy in the Bush Administration covers a wide assortment of topics from restricting the public release of the papers of past presidents to expansion of the authority to classify documents to the dramatic increase in the number of documents classified.Among the documents the Bush Administration have classified and refused to release to the public and members of Congress include:· Contact between energy companies and Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force· Communications between the Defense Department and the Vice President's office aboutcontracts awarded to Halliburton· Documents describing the prison abuses at Abu Ghraib and the military's related actions· Information regarding what The White House knew about Iraq's weapons of mass destructionIncluded is a section relating to Restoring Open Government (H.R. Bill 5073) proposed in September 2004 by Rep. Henry A. Waxman and referred to The Committee on Government Reform.

"The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that if current laws and policies remained the same, the federal government would run budget deficits of $368 billion in 2005 and $295 billion in 2006. However.those estimates omit a significant amount of spending that will occur this year-and conceivably for some time in the future-for U.S. military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan and for other efforts in the war on terrorism." - Summary, The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2006 to 2015The Budget and Economic Outlook presents topics related to leading economic issues including:· A review of 2004's budget outlook and the concept behind CBO's baseline projections· The importance of productivity growth for economic and budget projections as well as an overview of CBO's two-year forecast· Revenues by source and revenue projections in detail· An outlook of mandatory and discretionary spending, including net interest· Budget resolution targets vs. actual budget outcomesTHE U.S. BUDGET & ECONOMIC OUTLOOK: 2006-2015 is one of a series of reports on the state of the U.S. budget and economy that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued each year. It is the requirement of Section 202(e) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 for the CBO to submit to the Committees on the Budget periodic reports about fiscal policy and to provide baseline projections of the federal budget.In accordance with the CBO's mandate to provide impartial analysis, the report makes no recommendations. For additional information about the Congressional Budget Office, please visit www.cbo.gov.

The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects, written by Captain Edward Ruppelt in 1956, was the first serious, unbiased account written about UFOs by anyone connected with the official government investigations of UFO phenomena. Ruppelt, who coined the term "unidentified flying objects" and headed Project Blue Book from 1951 to 1953, includes his personal investigations and findings in his extensive research on UFOs. He discusses both well-publicized UFO sightings and lesser-known accounts, as well as the inner workings of Air Force UFO research. This edition is the original 1956 edition; in 1960 Ruppelt released a second edition which seemed to weaken his original views that some UFO reports could not be explained, and reinforce the Air Force's position that there was nothing mysterious about UFOs.

"For the first time, the government tries to find out, not what nations but what races are pouring into America, and It reaches some conclusions that will make the average man stare." -from "The races that go into the American melting pot," New York Times, May 21, 1911In the early 1900s, US immigration changed dramatically. Not only did the annual immigration levels soar to over one million a year, resulting in an immigrant population of 10 million, but the origin of immigrants was changing greatly as well. In the 1880s, 87 percent of the immigrants came from northern and western Europe, while by the early 1900s, 81 percent came from southern and eastern Europe. From 1899 on, immigrants were no longer classified by country of birth, but according to race or people. This was due to the many new immigrants, from the Austro-Hungarian or Russian empires, who could not easily be distinguished by country of birth. In 1907, the US IMMIGRATION COMMISSION (a.k.a. the Dillingham Commission), a joint House and Senate commission, was formed to study these changes in immigration. The commission's chairman, the Republican Senator William P. Dillingham (1843-1923) and a Progressive reformer, was a vocal advocate of restriction of immigration. As part of its 41-volume report on immigration, the commission released the Dictionary of Races and Peoples in 1911. It was written by the commission's senior researcher Daniel Folkmar with his wife Elnora, and became a crucial source of anthropological, cultural, historical, and geographical information about the many races entering the US. Although it consisted of many cultural stereotypes, it was initially well received and only from the early 1950s on did it receive widespread criticism.The Dictionary of Races and Peoples and the commission's overall findings, including that the "new" immigration formed a serious threat to American society and should be greatly reduced, were later used in 1920s legislation reducing immigration. Students of immigration, academics, journalists, and anyone interested in the history of US immigration and solutions for 21st century America will find this controversial dictionary a vital background reading.