The FBI released several documents and updates on their investigations on the Boston Marathon bombings, including a 2011 request from a foreign government on information about Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

After more than a decade of war and several years of a deep financial crisis, many Americans are asking whether the country should focus more of its attention—and more of its resources—at home. That said, the impulse to lead is still strong in both political parties and most polls show that Americans still feel both a moral and strategic imperative to remain fully engaged in the world.

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Linda Robinson discusses her recently released Council Special Report, The Future of U.S. Special Operations Forces, which calls for conceptual, institutional, and operational changes to reorient U.S. special operations forces to ensure that they are employed to best effect.

These reports, mandated by Congress in the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Trade Act of 1974, describe the performance of other governments in practicing their international commitments on civil, political, individual, and worker rights, as defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The UN and the Chinese government produce similar reports.

It is time for Washington to rebalance its dual-track policy toward Iran, strengthening the diplomatic track in order to seize the opportunity created by the pressure track. The United States should now dedicate as much energy and creativity to negotiating directly with Iran as it has to assembling a broad international coalition to pressure and isolate Iran. Only by taking such a rebalanced approach might the United States achieve its objectives with respect to Iran's nuclear program.

Moscow and Washington share a number of significant interests that require cooperation, despite heightened bilateral tensions over human rights issues, says former U.S ambassador Jack F. Matlock, Jr.

A preview of world events in the coming week from CFR.org: Investigations into the Boston Marathon explosions continue; King Abdullah II of Jordan visits the United States; and the ASEAN summit takes place in Brunei.

Immigration reform that includes a pathway to citizenship would have sweeping effects on the lives of the estimated eight million undocumented Hispanics living within the United States. But it would not have an acute, immediate effect on U.S. politics.

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Stateline's Maggie Clark reports that cameras are an integral tool in the effort to track and combat 21st century crime, like the Boston terror bombings.

In the final Bloomberg View excerpt of his forthcoming book The Power Surge, Michael Levi explores the future of hybrid and electric vehicles.

Michèle Flournoy discusses U.S. defense policy and strategy as well as broader international security challenges.

In light of the terrorist attack at the 2013 Boston Marathon, Max Boot writes, "Keep calm and carry on."

Calls for more popular participation are not essential to populism; rather, they are a symptom of perceived exclusion (which might well be a reality, especially in Latin America). But cries for political inclusion are different from demands for direct democracy. Where direct democracy is very much a part of normal politics – in Switzerland, for example – populist parties have been doing better, not worse, than elsewhere.

Michèle Flournoy discusses U.S. defense policy and strategy as well as broader international security challenges.

The House of Representatives Subcommittee on Communications and Technology passed the Internet Governance Bill on April 17, 2013, which reinforces the "policy of the United States to preserve and advance the successful multistakeholder model that governs the Internet." The bill will go on for a vote in the House.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon reflects on the terrorist bombing at the Boston Marathon.

According to Michael Levi in this serial of The Power Surge, decreasing demand "is the only real path to confronting the climate consequences of abundant oil."

American policymakers have long been concerned about the eroding U.S. advantage in educating science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) students. With much of the assembly work for lucrative high-technology products having moved to Asia, future U.S. prosperity depends increasingly on innovating new products and techniques—innovation that requires training (or importing) a new generation of scientists and engineers.

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A panel of experts discuss the new HBO documentary film, Manhunt, which details the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

The Chinese Information Office of the State Council published this white paper on April 16, 2013. It discusses the security, social, and economic challenges China's forces faces domestically and internationally.