Enactment and Implementation of the National Security Personnel System: Policy Made and Policy Unmade

This case study reviews the enactment and implementation of the National Security Personnel System (NSPS) in the U.S. Department of Defense. Proponents of reform seized the opportunity to enact reform in the aftermath of 9/11, basing their arguments on national security concerns. However, the policy‐making process did not produce a consensus for reform among key stakeholders in the personnel management policy community. Instead, the NSPS angered and alienated the Office of Personnel Management, the public employee unions, and a number of congressional Democrats. Implementation of the NSPS became problematic as Defense Department officials attempted to move quickly and independently to get the new system online, eventually forcing the department to put the system on hold. In the end, Congress imposed limits on its implementation, advocates for the system disappeared, and a new president supported the repeal of NSPS. This case provides useful insights into the formulation of future strategies for personnel management reform.     

Recovery of DNA from Latent Fingerprint Tape Lifts Archived Against Matte Acetate

This study was driven by court order to examine methods to remove, extract, and STR‐type potential DNA entrapped between latent fingerprint lifting tape and matte acetate that was collected from a 1977 crime scene. Results indicate that recovery of appreciable quantities of DNA is more challenging once adhesive is attached to matte acetate cards and even more difficult when fixed following black powder enhancement. STR amplification of extracts from entrapped fingermarks collected following the dusting/lifting procedure did not produce robust profiles, and extraneous peaks not expressed by print donors were detected for some samples. A hearing was set to argue whether there was DNA remaining to be tested, and if so, whether that DNA could be exculpatory in this postconviction matter. The studies herein provided the basis for the court's decision to not require the testing.     

PE‐Swab Direct STR Amplification of Forensic Touch DNA Samples

The PE‐Swab direct STR amplification workflow was developed to process low‐level “touch DNA” samples. In this workflow, a forensic sample is first collected on a 4‐mm PE‐Swab (a novel sample collection device); two 2‐mm punches containing collected samples are then generated from the PE‐Swab and directly amplified for STR typing. Compared to the conventional STR workflow, which involves DNA extraction, purification, and elution volume reduction, the PE‐Swab direct STR amplification workflow does not require sample preparation and takes <60 sec before a touch sample is ready for STR amplification. Because there is no DNA loss due to sample preparation, the PE‐Swab workflow is more sensitive than the conventional STR workflow. The average peak height per sample obtained by the PE‐swab workflow is 3 times higher than that from the conventional workflow with both low‐level single source and two‐contributor mixture samples tested in this study.     

Non-Traditional Overall National Security Outlook

The “New Security Concept” put forward by the Chinese authorities at the turn of the century, with “mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, and coordination” at its core, dealt mainly with non-traditional security approaches and measures in external security. However, it did not touch upon internal security or other traditional or non-traditional security issues in a broader sense. Therefore it is a low form of non-traditional security outlook and a low form of non-traditional national security outlook. When reviewing overall national security issues besides external security and international security, China has stuck to a traditional national security outlook. In comparison, taking “the people’s security as its aim,” the Overall National Security Outlook (ONSO) embodies non-traditional thinking and “attaches importance to both traditional and non-traditional security.” It is, therefore, an advanced non-traditional national security outlook. Though incorporating rich non-traditional national security issues, the ONSO deals with various traditional national security issues, as well. The ONSO is non-traditional in that it handles and highlights non-traditional national security issues; it is holistic because it pays dual attention to both traditional and nontraditional national security issues; it is advanced as it incorporates both traditional and non-traditional national security issues by means of non-traditional thinking.     

State policy and industrial promotion in Taiwan: an interrupted time series analysis, 1956-1994

Over the past decade, the statist perspective has been popular in interpreting the economic success of the East Asian countries. Proponents of this perspective discredit the neoclassical view that market forces alone were the most important dynamic behind these economic achievements. Instead, they credit the state as the key factor of East Asian economic success. This study employs an interrupted time series analysis to examine the validity of the statist perspective on Taiwan's industrial promotion policy. The results suggest that the government of Taiwan has been successful in upgrading the island's industrial structure. This finding supports the statist perspective on development. It does not, however, deny the utility of the neoclassical view since market forces also contributed to the growth of Taiwan's industrial structure.     

In the eye of the storm: Ambassador James Richards' mission to Iraq in April 1957

This article discusses the visit of James Richards, President Eisenhower's special emissary to the Middle East, to Iraq in April 1957 following the pronouncement of the Eisenhower Doctrine. An analysis of the Richards Mission encompasses a range of specific issues, including the relationship in Iraq between the US and UK and American assessments of the stability of the Iraqi government. Moreover, this article examines the American strategy for navigating the rising tide of Arab nationalist sentiment in Iraq after the Suez War. This article explores the ways in which US policy-makers privileged the notions of ‘stability’ and ‘order’ in Iraqi political affairs and reflects on the critical dilemmas and contradictions underlying American policy towards Iraq and the Middle East after the 1956 Suez War.     

The English protoindustrial family: old and new perspectives

English research on protoindustrial communities in general and the protoindustrial family in particular has fallen somewhat behind that in many continental countries. Constrained by inadequate sources and a historiographical literature that has constantly placed the small and simple nuclear unit at the heart of English residential arrangements, English historians have often seen the protoindustrial family as little different in form and function from those to be observed in rural areas or market towns. This article uses sources generated by the English poor law to offer different perspectives. Focusing on Lancashire, as the protoindustrial phase of its development began to truly break down in the early 19th century, the article suggests that the English protoindustrial family was volatile in form and size and that the nature of underlying protoindustrial demography and the communal welfare system provided a powerful impetus to a process that saw the constant redistribution of kin between related households. It concludes that in Lancashire the expectation among protoindustrial families must have been volatility and that complex families rather than simple nuclear families have long held the English imagination.