Council Special Reports

Council Special Reports (CSRs) are concise policy briefs that provide timely responses to developing crises or contributions to current policy dilemmas. The Studies Program commissions a CSR when events make a particular situation or conflict ripe for useful intervention and the window of opportunity is likely to close if action is not taken in a timely manner. Because a Special Report can be prepared quickly, it can have an impact when changing events create a space for useful involvement.

After the Surge

Author: Steven Simon

This Council Special Report concludes that only if the United States disengages militarily will it minimize the strategic costs of its failure in Iraq.

See more in Iraq, Wars and Warfare

Darfur and Beyond

Author: Lee Feinstein

This report argues that the new UN secretary-general should take the General Assembly's endorsement of responsibility to protect as a mandate and as a mission statement. And the United States and others must take steps to bolster UN action and be available when the UN is not.

See more in Sudan, Humanitarian Intervention

Living with Hugo

Author: Richard Lapper

With polls showing Chávez strongly in the lead in the December 3, 2006, Venezuelan presidential election, the United States needs to prepare for another six-year term with the controversial leader. This report proposes a new strategic framework for U.S. policy toward Venezuela. This report is also available in Spanish.

See more in Venezuela, Public Diplomacy

Peace in Papua

Author: Blair A. King

This report urges the Indonesia Government to follow through with its commitments to achieve a comprehensive solution to the conflict in Papua by engaging with legitimate representatives of Papuan society, fully implementing special autonomy, improving local governance, and reforming security arrangements.

See more in Indonesia, Conflict Assessment

Preventing Catastrophic Nuclear Terrorism

Author: Charles D. Ferguson

The threat of a nuclear attack—especially a nuclear detonation—by terrorists has never been greater. The United States and the international community must do more to prevent terrorists from buying, stealing, or building nuclear weapons. This report identifies where efforts have fallen short in securing and eliminating nuclear weapons and weapons-usable nuclear materials, and it offers realistic recommendations to plug these gaps in the U.S. and international response.

See more in Russian Fed., Weapons of Mass Destruction, Weapons of Terrorism

Getting Serious About the Twin Deficits

Author: Menzie D. Chinn

Twenty years ago, the United States was the world’s largest creditor nation, unsurpassed in its ownership of assets outside of its borders, even after deducting what foreigners owned inside its borders. Yet over the past two decades, America has been transformed into the world’s largest debtor nation.

See more in Economics, Public Diplomacy

Forgotten Intervention?

Authors: Major General William L. Nash and Amelia Branczik

This report identifies the principal steps that the United States can take to secure the investment it has made in the western Balkans and facilitate the region's progress toward its rightful destiny within the EU. In doing so, Forgotten Intervention? lays out a straightforward and doable strategy for the United States that will pay dividends.

See more in Balkans

A New Beginning

Authors: Craig Charney and Nicole Yakatan

The United States can improve its image in the Muslim world. Focus group research in three key Islamic countries--Egypt, Morocco, and Indonesia--shows that the widely held view that nothing can be done about the spread of negative attitudes toward the United States among Muslims in the Middle East and Asia is incorrect. The key to a new dialogue with the Muslim world is a humbler American perspective, based on respectful partnership and agreeing to disagree when necessary.

See more in Media and Public Opinion

Power-Sharing in Iraq

Author: David L. Phillips

This report identifies the principle issues to be addressed in Iraq's constitution. It recommends power-sharing arrangements between Iraq's national government and federal Iraqi state governments. It proposes a role for the United States and the United Nations to play in this process, and suggests ways the Iraqi government can encourage cooperation with Iraq's neighbors.

See more in Iraq