A weak pillar for American national security: The CIA's dismal performance against WMD threats

American preemptive or preventive military action against WMD-armed adversaries in the future will simply not be feasible without high-quality and timely intelligence. But is American intelligence up to this load-bearing task for the post-11 September national security? This article surveys the Central Intelligence Agency's record of gauging potential WMD threats for more than a decade and assesses its overall performance as dismal. The CIA's recent intelligence debacle against Iraq was one of the greatest in a long series of failures that has publicly exposed the Agency's profound weaknesses. These intelligence failures were due in large measure to the CIA's poor human intelligence collection and shoddy analysis, areas that cannot be remedied alone by the creation of the new Director of National Intelligence post. This article recommends steps needed to increase the quality of intelligence produced by CIA, or elsewhere in the new intelligence community, to move American intelligence in lockstep with military transformation to give the Commander-in-Chief realistic options for countering hostile nation-states or terrorist groups seeking or acquiring WMD.     

Saving more than the children: the role of child-focused NGOs in the creation of southern security norms

The past decade has seen the emergence of ‘new critical discourses’ on security that argue for a widening of the term. This article hopes to add to such discussions by specifically examining the position of children and of the ngos that champion their rights in relation to the evolving security discourse in Southern societies. With this in mind, the first section of the article outlines the role of ngos in the contemporary practice of security. This will serve as an introduction to section two, where the activity of ngos vis-à-vis children will be considered. Such activity raises a number of questions with regard to the usefulness of incorporating children into the security discourse specifically, and to the social construction of ‘children’ generally. These will be outlined in section three. Section four argues for children to be considered as inherent to the creation of Southern security norms, while the final section concludes.     

American diplomatic realism: A tradition practised and preached by George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan's work remains pertinent to the contemporary debate over American foreign policy in which voices calling for a realistic conduct of American diplomacy have been faint. Kennan's thought contains a framework that can be used to examine critically the drift in American diplomacy from the realist assumptions held by the American Founding Fathers towards the liberal or Wilsonian school of international relations. Wilsonianism has seized the world view of contemporary American diplomats and statesmen, particularly during the Clinton administration. Kennan's analysis provides a salutary word in the debate over the course of post‐Cold War American foreign policy that takes Wilsonian assumptions for granted.     

Does Training and Documentation Improve Emergency Department Assessments of Domestic Violence Victims?

This study aimed to determine whether training and documentation led to improved assessment of female victims of assault due to domestic violence presenting to an emergency department. Eighty clinical records were audited using a valid and reliable audit tool over four time periods for variables including history, risk assessment, and examination. Documentation differed across the four groups (p?=?0.011). Between group analysis found there was a difference (p?=?0.055) between Groups 1 (before training) and 2 (after training), and Group 3 (with a specialist form in place), and there was a difference (p?=?0.009) between Groups 1 and 4 (8 years later). Training alone did not lead to change. Introducing specialist documentation with training was associated with an improvement in the standard of clinical assessment of female victims of assault due to domestic violence and this change increased over time.     

Stressful Life Experiences and Peer Externalizing Behaviors Mediate the Relation Between Reduced Family Support and Externalizing Symptoms in Low-Income Urban Youth

Family support, urban stressors, and peer behavior were examined in relation to externalizing symptoms in 605 predominantly low-income urban sixth through eighth grade adolescents. Mother and father support were each associated with lower levels of externalizing symptoms in both males and females. For males, father absence was associated with increased peer externalizing behavior and heightened rates of youth externalizing symptoms. Stress (in the form of major life events, daily hassles, and exposure to violence) and peer externalizing behavior were examined as mediators of the relation between parent support and youth externalizing symptoms. Increased stress exposure mediated the relation between weak mother and father support and youth externalizing symptoms. Additionally, for females, peer externalizing behavior mediated the relation between weak mother support and youth externalizing symptoms.     

Correlation between saw blade width and kerf width

Most studies of saw marks have focused on morphological characteristics and their utility in identifying saws suspected to have been utilized in cases of criminal dismemberment. The present study examined the extent to which metric analysis may be used to correlate saw blade measurements with minimum kerf widths (MKWs). A sample of 56 partially defleshed white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) long bones was utilized as proxy for human remains. The long bones were cut using a variety of commercially available saws, including 11 manual‐powered and 5 mechanical‐powered saws. A total of 496 false start kerfs (FSKs) were created. Two experiments were performed, with the first test examining the MKWs of FSKs produced on specimens that were restrained using a bench vise, while the second test analyzed the MKWs of FSKs produced on minimally restrained specimens. Statistical analysis using Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) indicated a positive relationship between saw blade width (mm) and MKW, with blade width (p < 0.001) and the overall difference between the mechanical‐ and manual‐powered saws (p = 0.029) tested, reaching statistical significance. A comparison of MKWs produced using manual‐powered saws on restrained and minimally restrained bones suggests that restraint condition (p = 0.009) has a statistically significant effect. In comparisons of MKWs to blade widths, the average ratio for mechanical‐powered saws is 18.7% greater than the average ratio for manual‐powered saws. While the mode of the ratios was 1.42, thus supporting the general rule that MKW does not exceed 1.5 times blade width, multiple individual ratios did surpass 1.5.     

Forensic determination of hair deposition time in crime scenes using electron paramagnetic resonance

Several types of biological samples, including hair strands, are found at crime scenes. Apart from the identification of the value and the contributor of the probative evidence, it is important to prove that the time of shedding of hair belonging to a suspect or victim matches the crime window. To this end, to estimate the ex vivo aging of hair, we evaluated time‐dependent changes in melanin‐derived free radicals in blond, brown, and black hairs by using electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR). Hair strands aged under controlled conditions (humidity 40%, temperature 20–22°C, indirect light, with 12/12 hour of light/darkness cycles) showed a time‐dependent decay of melanin‐derived radicals. The half‐life of eumelanin‐derived radicals in hair under our experimental settings was estimated at 22 ± 2 days whereas that of pheomelanin was about 2 days suggesting better stabilization of unpaired electrons by eumelanin. Taken together, this study provides a reference for future forensic studies on determination of degradation of shed hair in a crime scene by following eumelanin radicals by utilizing the non‐invasive, non‐destructive, and highly specific EPR technique.     

Does Ambivalent Sexism Influence Verdicts for Heterosexual and Homosexual Defendants in a Self-Defense Case?

The current research examined the role of defendant and participant sex, presence or absence of expert testimony of the “battered person syndrome”, and sexual orientation of the defendant on perceptions of guilt in a self-defense case. The role of sexism in judgments of culpability was also examined. A sample of 442 participants read a self-defense case scenario and responded to questions pertaining to verdict, defendant culpability, legal element ratings, and sexist attitudes. Results revealed a four-way interaction, showing female participants prescribed the lowest guilt ratings to heterosexual female and homosexual male defendants who received expert testimony of the battered person syndrome. When heterosexual male defendants received expert testimony, ratings of guilt significantly increased. A multiple regression was conducted to determine whether legal and extra-legal factors predicted defendant culpability. Sexist attitudes (benevolent sexism towards men and women) and certain legal elements were predictive of defendant culpability. Limitations and implications are discussed. Study findings were presented in a poster at the annual meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society (APLS), Jacksonville, Florida (March, 2008).