The Foreign Service Journal, January-February 2022

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2022 15 T he phrase “national security” has become a household term, a watchword of the global war on terror and a cornerstone of U.S. foreign pol- icy. Identifying national security risks requires a broad knowledge of people, movements and happenings on Ameri- can soil and around the world. To help navigate this ever- evolving landscape, WTOP National Security Correspondent J.J. Green investigates national security issues facing the U.S. in his weekly Target USA podcast. Through interviews with subject matter experts, poli- cymakers and eyewitnesses, each episode is devoted to a pressing current event and its ripple effect on domestic and international policy. Recent editions include Havana syndrome, Afghanistan and the Belarus-Poland migrant standoff at the border. “Whether its terrorists, anar- chists, cyber criminals or nation states, America has a target on its back,” the program says. “We inves- tigate the threats, the people behind them, the agencies fighting them, and their impact on you.” Explore all the episodes at bit.ly/ TargetUSApodcast. Podcast of the Month: Target USA The appearance of a particular site or podcast is for information only and does not constitute an endorsement. said she hopes to make local voices the center of USAID’s work: “We’ve got to tap into the knowledge of local communities, and their lived experiences. Otherwise, we risk reinforcing the systemic inequities that are already in place.” Finally, she spoke of the importance of relying on data-backed insights to ensure programming has the desired impact on underserved communities. To achieve this, Power said she will establish a new office of behavioral sci- ence and experimental economics to help design new programs and conduct trials to measure the success of initiatives. Power concluded by reiterating the crux of her agenda: to “offer people not a vision merely of international development, but a vision of inclusive development.” U.S.-China Cooperation at COP26 A fter two weeks of intense negotia- tions at the United Nations climate summit, world leaders signed off on the Glasgow Climate Pact in Scotland in mid- November. The final deal was weakened by last- minute compromises, and many nations did not agree to rein in emissions fast enough for the world to avoid irreversible climate change damage. Still, the summit brought some progress and a surprise agreement. The U.S. and China—the world’s top two greenhouse gas–emitting countries, which together account for about 40 percent of the world’s annual carbon output —agreed to cooperate on limiting emissions to address the climate crisis. The agreement aims to accelerate emissions reductions toward the goals set in the 2015 Paris Agreement. That accord held governments worldwide responsible for emissions cuts that would keep the global temperature rise at 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) relative to preindustrial times. “It’s the first time China and the United States have stood up and said, ‘We’re going to work together to accelerate the reduction,’” U.S. Climate Envoy John Kerry told NPR on Nov. 11. “This is beneficial not only to our two countries but the world as a whole,” Chi- nese special climate envoy Xie Zhenhua said at a news conference. “We need to think big and be responsible.” The agreement declares an intent to take “concrete actions” on emissions reductions, share policy and technology development, announce new national targets for 2035 by the year 2025, and revive amultilateral working group on climate change. Despite the bilateral agreement, the pledges made at COP26 added together won’t keep the world within the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit. Instead, the International Energy Agency says, the world is on track for 1.8 degrees Celsius of warming. This is an improvement over past years, but depends entirely on coun- tries following through on their prom- ises—and pledges are voluntary, with no enforcement mechanism in place. CDC Revises Dog Import Ban T he Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued revised regu- lations for importing dogs from high-risk countries. Effective Dec. 1, 2021, dogs vaccinated in the United States by a U.S.-licensed