The Foreign Service Journal, December 2008

eign Assistance Act of 1961 ( http:// foreignaffairs.house.gov/press_dis play.asp?id=507 ). Testimony on “Foreign Assistance Reform in the Next Administration: Challenges and Solutions” was presented by experts such as Lael Brainard of the Brookings Institute’s Task Force on Reforming Foreign Assistance for the 21st Cen- tury, Stephen Rattelet of the Center for Global Development, Oxfam President Raymond C. Offenheiser, and Ross Kolbe of the German Mar- shall Fund ( http://foreignaffairs.ho use.gov/testimony.asp?pg=6 ). Brainstorming on Particular Issues. Both the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Brookings Institution have dedicated spots on their Web sites for advice to the new team. Carnegie’s “Foreign Policy for the Next President” is a series of re- ports on the most critical foreign poli- cy challenges facing the Obama administration. The reports cull the good ideas from the unworkable on each issue and focus on how to achieve them ( www.carnegieendowment. org/topic/index.cfm?fa=viewTopic &topic=3000154 ). The Brookings Institution’s “Presi- dential Transition” page features a series of policy recommendations, reports, memos to the president-elect and public events on a wide range of domestic, economic and foreign policy issues, as well as background on past presidential transitions ( www.brook- ings.edu/topics/presidential-transi- tion.aspx ). Among Brookings’ foreign policy– specific recommendations, a summary of the top 10 global economic chal- lenges facing the 44th president pro- vides a trenchant overview of the gen- eral policy environment ( www.brook ings.edu/reports/2008/10_global_ economics_top_ten.aspx ). Also, scholars Martin Indyk and Kenneth Pollack make recommendations on dealing with the Middle East ( www. brookings.edu/papers/2009/0105 _middle_east_memo.aspx ) and Carlos Pascual shares a memo to the president-elect, “Restore American Leadership to Address Transnational Threats” ( www.brookings.edu/pap ers/2009/0115_american_leader ship_memo.aspx ). The Center for Strategic and Inter- national Studies offers a wealth of per- tinent material. Its Africa program has established eight working groups to assess “Africa Policy after President Bush.” The groups will issue recom- mendations in key areas ( www.csis. org/africa/afterbush/ ). “Closing Guantanamo: From Bum- per Sticker to Reality,” by Sarah Men- delson, is the CSIS Human Rights and Security Initiative’s blueprint for shut- ting down the controversial detention facility, a stated goal of the president- elect ( www.csis.org/hrs/gtmorepo rt/ ). The CSIS Asia Economic Task Force has issued what its authors call a “user’s guide” for the Obama adminis- tration in managing economic rela- tions with Asia: “Crafting U.S. Econo- mic Strategy Toward Asia: Lessons Learned from 30 Years of Experience” ( www.csis.org/media/csis/pubs/081 016_freeman_craftusecon_web. pdf ). A bipartisan group of current and former government officials and other experts, who have been involved in all of the major Asian economic pol- icy initiatives in the recent period, pool their wisdom on how to handle rela- tions with a dynamic region that is becoming ever more important to U.S. interests. At a Trilateral Commission meeting last April, Strobe Talbot, Deputy Secretary of State in the Clinton administration and now president of the Brookings Institution, set out broad outlines for the new administra- tion. He urges the new team to attend to the Western Hemisphere, nuclear proliferation and climate change, in particular ( www.trilateral.org/Ann Mtgs/PROGRAMS/08washpdf_fol D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 8 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 13 C Y B E R N O T E S