scholarly journals Government Agencies and Private Companies Undertake Actions to Limit the Impact of Foreign Influence and Interference in the 2020 U.S. Election

2021 ◽  
Vol 115 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-317

After Russia targeted the 2016 presidential election, U.S. government authorities repeatedly warned about the prospects of foreign interference in and influence on the 2020 election. Throughout the fall of 2020, government officials and private companies took a number of actions to address threats to the election, including issuing public warnings, imposing sanctions, and taking down foreign government-linked accounts. In a declassified report released in March 2021, the intelligence community concluded that although Russia and Iran carried out influence operations to affect the election, there are “no indications that any foreign actor attempted to alter any technical aspect of the voting process in the 2020 US elections, including voter registration, casting ballots, vote tabulation, or reporting results.” In December 2020, however, U.S. cybersecurity firm FireEye disclosed that it suffered a breach by a nation-state sponsored actor, and numerous U.S. government agencies soon revealed that they too had been breached in intrusions widely attributed to Russia.

Author(s):  
Igor Ponomarenko ◽  
Kateryna Volovnenko

The subject of the research is a set of approaches to the statistical analysis ofthe activities of small business entities in Ukraine, including micro-enterprises. The purpose of writing this article is to study of the features of functioningof small business entities in Ukraine. Methodology. The research methodology isto use a system-structural and comparative analysis (to study the change in thenumber of small enterprises by major components); monographic (when studyingmethods of statistical analysis of small businesses); economic analysis (when assessing the impact of small business entities on socio-economic phenomena andprocesses in Ukraine). The scientific novelty consists to determine the features ofthe functioning of small businesses in Ukraine in modern conditions. The influenceof the activities of the main socio-economic and political indicators on the activities of small enterprises in recent periods of time has been identified. It has beenestablished that there is flexibility in the development of strategies by small businesses in conditions of significant competition, which makes it possible to quicklyrespond to changing situations in specific markets. Conclusions. The use of acomprehensive statistical analysis of small businesses functioning in Ukraine willallow government agencies to develop a set of measures to optimize the activitiesof these enterprises, which ultimately will positively affect the strengthening oftheir competitiveness and will contribute to the growth of the national economicsystem.


Author(s):  
Richard A. Best

This article discusses the dilemma of the defense intelligence. It discusses the interweaving yet complicated relationship of the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Office of Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). Immersed in a divided and a “stovepiped” culture, the member agencies of the intelligence community lacked coordination and collaboration. In this article, the nature of the three agencies of the DOD: the National Security Agency (NSA), the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) are discussed. The evolution of coordination among the intelligence community agencies and the impact of 9/11 on the cooperation and collaboration between the agencies are also discussed including the era of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and the challenges posed by the future space surveillance.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
W. Kip Viscusi

Abstract The value of a statistical life (VSL) establishes the money-risk tradeoff that U.S. government agencies have used for four decades to monetize the mortality reduction benefits of proposed regulations. This article advocates the adoption of the VSL more generally both for policy evaluation purposes and for setting the magnitude of regulatory sanctions involving fatalities. Agencies currently employ the inconsistent practice of using the VSL to set the stringency of regulations, while at the same time, reverting to very low monetary values of sanctions for violations that result in fatalities. Reform of penalty levels to reflect the VSL will require increasing the current statutory limits on regulatory penalties. Revamping the penalty structure also will incentivize private companies to incorporate the VSL in their corporate risk analyses. Government agencies, including those concerned with national defense, similarly could profit from greater expansion of the use of the VSL in policy decisions.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 59-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Decio Coviello ◽  
Stefano Gagliarducci

We study the impact of politicians' tenure in office on the outcomes of public procurement using a dataset on Italian municipal governments. To identify a causal relation, we first compare elections where the incumbent mayor barely won or barely lost another term. We then use the introduction of a two-term limit, which granted one potential extra term to mayors appointed before the reform. The main result is that an increase in tenure is associated with “worse” procurement outcomes. Our estimates are informative of the possibility that time in office progressively leads to collusion between government officials and local bidders. (JEL D72, H57, H76)


2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-156
Author(s):  
PAUL S. REICHLER

AbstractThe Nicaragua case demonstrates the Court's competence in receiving and interpreting evidence, and in making reasoned findings of fact, even in the most complicated evidentiary context, as is often presented in cases involving use of force and armed conflict. The Court applied well-established standards for evaluating the conflicting evidence presented to it. In particular, the Court determined that greater weight should be given to statements against interest made by high-level government officials than to a state's self-serving declarations. The Court also determined that statements by disinterested witnesses with first-hand knowledge should receive greater weight than mere statements of opinion or press reports. In applying these guidelines, the Court found, correctly, that (i) the United States had used military and paramilitary force against Nicaragua both directly and indirectly, by organizing, financing, arming, and training the Contra guerrillas to attack Nicaragua; (ii) the evidence did not support a finding that the United States exercised direct control over the Contras’ day-to-day operations; and (iii) there was no evidence that Nicaragua supplied arms to guerrillas fighting against the government of El Salvador during the relevant period, or carried out an armed attack against that state. While Judge Schwebel's dissent criticized the last of these findings, in fact, the evidence fully supported the Court's conclusion. In subsequent decisions during the past 25 years, the Court has continued to rely on the approach to evidence first elaborated in the Nicaragua case and has continued to demonstrate its competence as a finder of fact, including in cases involving armed conflict (Bosnia Genocide) and complex scientific and technical issues (Pulp Mills).


2021 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 295-317
Author(s):  
Chipo Dendere

AbstractWhat is the impact of access to political party finance – money that parties use to fund their campaign activities – on politics in Africa? While multiparty elections have become more regular in the developing world, many opposition parties are still failing to win elections. This paper argues that poor access to political finance weakens democratic consolidation and negatively impacts the participation of less-resourced candidates who are unable to self-fund. As a result, opposition parties are forced to rely on weak promises of aid from international donors and unreliable state funding. This in-depth analysis of political finance, based on extensive interviews with politicians and government officials in Zimbabwe, political documents, news reports and a review of court cases, reveals that uneven financing has weakened opposition parties and serves as an extra advantage for incumbents.


2021 ◽  
Vol 90 (3) ◽  
pp. 377-398
Author(s):  
Casey D. Nichols

Starting in 1964, the U.S. federal government under President Lyndon Johnson passed an ambitious reform program that included social security, urban renewal, anti-poverty initiatives, and civil rights legislation. In cities like Los Angeles, these reforms fueled urban revitalization efforts in communities affected by economic decline. These reforms closed the gap between local residents and government officials in California and even subsequently brought the city’s African American and Mexican American population into greater political proximity. Looking closely at the impact of the Chicano Movement on the Model Cities Program, a federal initiative designed specifically for urban development and renewal, this article brings the role of U.S. government policy in shaping social justice priorities in Los Angeles, and the U.S. Southwest more broadly, into sharper view.


2008 ◽  
Vol 68 (4 suppl) ◽  
pp. 967-981 ◽  
Author(s):  
FA. Esteves ◽  
A. Caliman ◽  
JM. Santangelo ◽  
RD. Guariento ◽  
VF. Farjalla ◽  
...  

Neotropical coastal lagoons (NCL) are human-dominated ecosystems. Their distribution along densely populated coastal areas of developing countries makes these systems among the most threatened in the world. Here, we summarize some aspects of the causes and consequences of NCL biodiversity, their functioning, their importance to the surrounding populations, their fragility, and their responses to local and global anthropogenic impacts and the challenges that Neotropical countries face in conserving these systems. Although still scarce and geographically concentrated, a growing body of studies has shown that NCLs are physiographically diversified systems, which harbor a considerable and particular proportion of the Neotropical inland aquatic biodiversity. Despite the fact that coastal lagoons are ecotones that are intricately connected to surrounding environments, they develop mechanisms for structural and functional regulation, which confer to these systems higher productivity and carrying capacities than surrounding ecosystems. Such traits attract residential developments and subsidize local traditional populations with important economic and aesthetic ecosystem revenues such as fisheries and scenic beauty. However, the disorganized human occupation around NCLs are causing profound impacts such as eutrophication, salinization, exotic species introduction, as well as other effects, which are ultimately imposing major habitat degradations and biodiversity extirpations in NCLs. We argue that interdisciplinary conservation strategies, which integrate scientific expertise, government officials, private companies and the general public, are the most likely to overcome the geographic and economic obstacles to NCL conservation.


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