Internet Resources on American Foreign Policy
By Cameron Brown, Jeremy Sharon, and Yeru Aharoni*
In January 2006 the Bush administration completes its fifth year in office. This research guide provides an updated survey of U.S. policy and personnel toward the Middle East, including sources for research.
For those examining American foreign policy, the internet has become an extraordinarily powerful tool. Within minutes, it is now possible to:
Internet sources are growing rapidly and becoming more widely available. While some written resources have been available for nearly a decade, the advent of broadband internet access has also allowed for increasing use of video and audio as well. As time goes, agencies are also making sure more archival material is being made available online. All that is needed to access this information and much more is to know where to look.
General
Sites
An excellent site to begin research on any given topic related to American
policy (domestic or foreign) is FirstGov http://www.firstgov.gov/,
a portal and yahoo-style search engine that searches the pages of U.S.
government and military sites.
Another good general site is C-SPAN http://www.c-span.org/, a cable channel created to provide access to the live proceedings of the House of Representatives, Senate, the White House, and other places where public policy is discussed, debated, and decided. This site not only allows you to watch or listen to whatever is currently playing on any of its three stations, but also contains thousands of video clips covering past events. Some clips, such as State of the Union addresses, go back as far as 1974, with transcripts available since 1945. http://www.c-span.org/executive/stateoftheunion.asp.
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) http://www.archives.gov/ is an independent federal agency that oversees the management of every federal record produced by every U.S. government institution. This impressive collection of hundreds of millions of items contains documents from every president, Congress, agency, and commission. From the Displaced Persons Commission (1948-52), to the Foreign Agricultural Service (1901-76), to the administration of the Panama Canal (1848-1982), NARA has records on all of these. While many of these holdings are not on-line, an on-line catalog and a database of descriptions and digital copies of hundreds of thousands of their resources located throughout the United States NARA Archival Information Locator: http://www.archives.gov/research/index.html.
The
Executive Branch
The President
As the prime institution for forming American foreign policy, the White House http://www.whitehouse.gov
is one of the most important sites for gathering information on policy
initiatives. This site contains virtually (and virtually contains) every White
House press release, press briefing, speech by the president or vice-president,
and executive order since the President was inaugurated in January 2001--all of
which can be accessed by clicking on the "News" section on the
left-hand side.
This site also houses brief histories and reports released by several divisions of the White House, such as the National Security Council (NSC) http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc and the Office of Management and Budget http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb.
For those researching previous presidential policy, presidential libraries and centers are an excellent resource, as they preserve and make available for research the papers, audiovisual materials, and memorabilia of past presidents:
William
J. Clinton Presidential Center http://www.clintonlibrary.gov/
George
Bush Presidential Library http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu
Ronald W. Reagan Presidential Library http://www.reagan.utexas.edu
Jimmy Carter Library http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.org/
Gerald
R. Ford Library http://www.ford.utexas.edu/
Richard Nixon Library http://www.nixonfoundation.org
and http://www.archives.gov/nixon/
Lyndon B. Johnson Library http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu
John F. Kennedy Library http://www.jfklibrary.net/
Dwight
D. Eisenhower Presidential Library http://www.eisenhower.utexas.edu
Harry S. Truman Library http://www.trumanlibrary.org/
Franklin D. Roosevelt Library http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu
Herbert
Hoover Library http://hoover.archives.gov/
Calvin
Coolidge Library http://www.forbeslibrary.org/coolidge/coolidge.shtml
Theodore
Roosevelt Library http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/modern/harvardcol.htm
William
McKinley Library http://www.mckinley.lib.oh.us/
Lastly, for those researching presidents, the site "Presidents" is helpful for finding bibliographical information, as well as the texts of the more notable speeches and documents. http://www.ibiblio.org/lia/president. C-Span's site http://www.americanpresidents.org is also full of interesting audio-visuals, like TV commercials from the 1976 Carter, 1988 Bush, or 1992 Clinton presidential campaigns, or the previously mentioned clip of Ronald Reagan where he demanded, "Mr. Gorbechov, tear down this wall."
The George W. Bush Administration
In this expanded research guide, we have compiled biographies for many of the top government officials in the current Bush administration playing key roles in foreign policy, particularly those dealing with the Middle East.
In addition, we have collected the texts of those fundamental documents which signaled shifts in policy or served as important declarations of the policies undertaken during Bush's first term.
There are thousands of other sites that deal with George W. Bush and his administration. One of the best sources is the dedicated section within the Washington Post's website, which has links to several in-depth series of analyses and articles relating to Bush's government http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/politics/administration/?sub=AR (free registration required).
Vincent Ferraro, Professor of International Politics at Mount Holyoke College has also assembled an impressive list of newspaper articles on and lectures by Bush administration officials: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/bush/bush.htm.
The State Department
The next best mine for primary source material on U.S. foreign policy is the State Department site http://www.state.gov. Most importantly, it contains video and audio recordings (as well as printed transcripts) of major speeches by dozens of State Department officials, as well as all of the department's daily press briefings. In addition, the site contains the Secretary of State's biography and Senate confirmation hearing statement, a link list for U.S. Embassies, press releases, background notes on countries of the world, as well as pages discussing cross-border challenges, such as the environment http://www.state.gov/g/oes/ and non-proliferation http://www.state.gov/t/np/.
Formerly known as the U.S. Information Agency (USIA), the U.S. State Department's International Information Program http://usinfo.state.gov has a server filled with all manner of public addresses and documents relating to U.S. foreign policy. Besides being keyword searchable (http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pdq/pdq.htm) this site also has a very good Middle East and North Africa page, with a collection of documents dealing with a variety of Middle East issues: http://usinfo.state.gov/mena/ (also offered in Arabic, Persian, Spanish, French, Russian, and Chinese).
Many U.S. embassies in the Middle East (a list of which can be found at http://usembassy.state.gov/#NEA) offer a wide variety of materials on different regional policies. The embassy in Israel http://www.usembassy-israel.org.il/ is one example, offering relevant information on dozens of both country and region-specific issues, such as arms control, Iraq, the peace process, terrorism, democracy, and human rights http://www.usembassy-israel.org.il/official.html.
Fortunately for researchers, in addition to all the documents related to the Bush administration, the State Department has retained the Clinton Administration's website in its entirety. The pre-January 20, 2001 website, including all significant documents, is now located at http://www.state.gov/index.html--where it appears that it will be permanently located. Information and speeches from former Secretary of State Madeline Albright http://www.state.gov/www/outreach.html, transcripts of the daily briefings http://secretary.state.gov/www/briefings/index.html, the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs http://www.state.gov/www/regions/nea/index.html, and more are still available on this new site just as they were before 2001.
In addition, the University of Illinois at Chicago has also created the Electronic Research Collection to archive older State Department documents, for instance, daily briefings from as early as January 1991: http://dosfan.lib.uic.edu/ERC/briefing.html.
Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS), put out by the State Department's Office of the Historian, is a series containing historical documentation of significant foreign policy decisions and diplomacy of the United States dating back to 1861. The series is made up of over 350 volumes and the more recent volumes are accessible on site at http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/frus/. The publication includes declassified records from the foreign affairs agencies such as the Departments of State and Defense and the Agency for International Development, and also includes Presidential library documents and private papers. All volumes from 1952 and on are organized by Presidential administration.
The Department of Defense
In addition to a biography (http://www.defenselink.mil/bios/secdef_bio.html) and statements (http://www.defenselink.mil/speeches/secdef.html) made by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, the Department of Defense http://www.defenselink.mil/, and its headquarters at the Pentagon, have numerous sites devoted to all types of defense-related topics http://www.defenselink.mil/sites/, from Anthrax inoculations to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). It also contains various reports, such as "Iraqi Elections" http://www.defenselink.mil/home/features/2005/IraqElections/ and transcripts of briefings http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/ and press releases http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/. Speeches and statements from 1995 and on are also available at http://www.defenselink.mil/speeches/.
Beyond the Department of Defense, there are sites for the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) http://www.jcs.mil/ (which contains speeches by the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the JCS), the Army http://www.army.mil, Navy http://www.navy.mil, Air Force http://www.af.mil/, and Marines http://www.usmc.mil/. The National Defense University http://www.ndu.edu and the Defense Technical Information Program http://www.dtic.mil are also quite interesting, especially the site on Joint Vision 2020 http://www.dtic.mil/futurejointwarfare/, which grapples with the future of war-fighting. On the CIA website http://www.cia.gov, reports from 1997 and forward can be obtained http://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/index.html. In addition to press releases, congressional testimonies, speeches and briefings, and reports (http://www.nsa.gov/public/publi00002.cfm), the National Security Agency http://www.nsa.gov also offers declassified documents http://www.nsa.gov/public/publi00003.cfm.
The Quadrennial Defense Review http://www.comw.org/qdr/ is also a helpful resource for finding official documents and analysis of defense strategy, force planning, and policy reviews.
The Department of Energy
The
Department of Energy http://www.energy.gov/engine/content.do
is important when dealing with issues of non-proliferation, efforts regarding
nuclear material http://www.ne.doe.gov,
or with oil and natural gas supplies http://www.fe.doe.gov/,
both of critical importance to Middle
East policy.
The
Legislative Branch
Congress
Congress plays an important role in several aspects of foreign policy. It decides fiscal appropriations (i.e., the foreign aid budget), passes resolutions and laws relating to certain topics (sanctions for example), holds hearings, and drafts open letters to the president.
On the U.S. House of Representatives http://www.house.gov and Senate http://www.senate.gov websites, one can find information on individual members (including their speeches and writings), and more importantly, congressional committees--some of which wield a great deal of influence.
A few of the more powerful committees in the House are the Armed Services http://www.house.gov/hasc/, International Relations http://www.house.gov/international_relations, Appropriations, Energy and Commerce http://www.house.gov/commerce/ committees.
In the Senate, it is the Foreign Relations http://www.senate.gov/~foreign, Appropriations http://www.senate.gov/~appropriations/, Armed Services http://armed-services.senate.gov/, and Energy and Natural Resources http://energy.senate.gov/ committees, as well as the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence http://intelligence.senate.gov where foreign policy decisions are made.
Many of the most useful documents are hosted by THOMAS http://thomas.loc.gov/, a Federal program under the auspices of the Library of Congress designed to make legislative information freely available to the Internet public. This site provides the texts of legislation (including bills that are pending), and through the publication Congressional Record, transcripts of committee hearings and debates on the floor of the Congress. This site can also be searched by topic or bill number.
Lobbies
Another powerful group of players in the foreign policy process are the various special interest lobbies found in Washington. Foremost among those dealing with foreign policy issues is the well-known American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) http://www.aipac.org, which lobbies on behalf of Israel.
On the other side of the fence is the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) http://www.adc.org which lobbies on behalf of the Palestinians.
Lastly, for those researching these two competing lobbying groups, Mitchell Bard wrote an interesting article "The Israeli and Arab Lobbies" http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/US-Israel/lobby.html, which discusses their histories and effectiveness.
Academic Sources
Complementing the primary source material on American foreign policy found at the websites above, there is an abundance of secondary source material. For example, Dore Gold of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs wrote an article on the shift in U.S. foreign policy to Israel from the Clinton to the Bush administrations entitled, "Bush Erases the Clinton Parameters" http://www.jcpa.org/brief/brief3-21.htm
Yet this is but the tip of the iceberg. So how does one deal with this abundance of analysis? One of the best guides to this wealth of information is Barry Rubin's U.S. Policy Database, an annual report on American policy in the Middle East (available from 1979 until present-day) http://meria.idc.ac.il/us-policy/policy.htm. These reports give a timeline of changes in American policy, citing sources where more information can be found.
Finally, in-depth analysis of American foreign policy can be found at numerous research centers. Those focusing on U.S. Middle East policy include the Council on Foreign Relations http://www.cfr.org, the Brookings Institute's Foreign Policy Studies Department http://www.brook.edu/fp/, the RAND National Security Research and Analysis Program http://www.rand.org/research_areas/national_security/index.html, the Johns Hopkins University SAIS Foreign Policy Institute http://www.sais-jhu.edu/centers/fpi/index.html, the Henry Stimson Center http://www.stimson.org (which focuses mainly on weapons of mass destruction and regional security issues), and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (which focuses specifically on U.S. Middle East policy) http://www.washingtoninstitute.org.
Cameron Brown is Deputy Director of the GLORIA Center and Assistant Editor of MERIA Journal.
Yeru Aharoni is a research assistant at the GLORIA Center.
This guide is an updated and much expanded edition of that published in January 2001.