Independent Task Force Program

With the Arctic warming at twice the rate as the rest of the planet and melting sea ice opening up the resource-rich region to new trade routes and commercial activities, the Arctic offers both opportunities and challenges for the United States and other countries. Composed of twenty experts from a wide range of backgrounds, the Independent Task Force on U.S. Strategy in the Arctic was convened to assess U.S. interests in the region in the face of changing conditions there.

For over forty years, the Korean Peninsula has been trapped in a familiar cycle of provocation. Yet in some ways, developments of the past year have altered the North Korea problem in important ways, offering the next U.S. president new opportunities to halt the cycle of provocation and increase pressure on North Korea to resolve its nuclear and human rights problems.

Over the past ten years, India, the world's largest democracy, has lifted more than 130 million people out of poverty. The country has rebounded from a recent economic growth slump, surpassing China this year to become the world's fastest-growing major economy. "If India can maintain its current growth rate, let alone attain sustained double digits, it has the potential over the next two to three decades to follow China on the path to becoming another $10 trillion economy," notes the Task Force.