Congressional Research Service
CRS Source Goes Offline
Over the past couple of years ResourceShelf has worked hard to keep you updated with recently published or recently updated Congressional Research Service material. A favorite source was via a gateway on Congressman Chris Shay’s or Congressman Mark Green’s web site to a server on the U.S. House web server. What follows is a reprint of an article from Secrecy News that discusses the fact that these two sites have been taken down. Thanks to Secrecy News editor, Steven Aftergood, for allowing ResourceShelf to reprint.
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ACCESS TO CRS REPORTS (TEMPORARILY?) CURTAILED
Secrecy News
Publicly accessible links from congressional web sites to an internal database of Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports suddenly went dead last week without explanation. But they may yet be restored. For about three years, the Congressional Research Service has provided online public access to hundreds of selected reports through a portal like this one:
http://www.house.gov/markgreen/w3ccrs.htm
No longer.
The publicly accessible CRS portals were part of a “pilot program,” explained a congressional staffer in Rep. Green’s office. “The pilot program has just expired.” Goodbye, CRS reports.
But fortunately, there’s more to it than that.
Members can still opt to provide public access through their websites to the internal database of selected CRS reports, explained another staffer from the House Committee on House Administration. Or they can provide online access to individual reports of special interest, as they see fit. In either case, they must make new arrangements through the Administration Committee.
FAS has written to Rep. Mark Green (R-WI) and Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT) asking them to restore at least the same level of access to CRS reports that their web sites have provided for the past three years.
A selection of recent CRS reports on aspects of national security policy, including some that were never presented in the public database, is available on the FAS web site here:
http://www.fas.org/irp/crs/index.html
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In addition to the FAS site listed above, here are a few other sources for CRS reports. All of these sites not only do a good job of posting new reports but also update older reports. This is very important.
* Via the Foreign Press Center
* Via the U.S. Embassy in Rome
* Via the National Enviromental Library
* Via the Federation of American Scientists
—Military and National Security
—Intelligence
—Nuclear, Chemical and Missile Weapons and Proliferation
—Civil Space
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CRS Reports: Intellectual Property, Cyberlaw, Electronic Commerce
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