Research for Politics

Over the period 1955-1975 the Navy and Marine Corps played an active role in U.S. crisis management diplomacy, responding to 99 international incidents and crises, exclusive of the Vietnam War. This paper provides a summary history of these operations, focusing upon major trends in the Navy's operations over the 21-year period. Particular emphasis is given to the employment of major projection forces (aircraft carriers and amphibious units) in these responses. Brief descriptions of the 99 incidents and responses are also presented. Volume II is a classified volume containing the following: Appendix C - Summaries of Incidents and Responses, 1955-1975, Appendix D - Additional Events Which are not Included in the Main List of Responses, Appendix E - Projection Operations, Appendix F - USN and USMC Responses to International Events, 1919-1939. See also CNA Research Contribution 429 and CNA Research Memorandum 85-71.

This paper traces out patterns in public and elite attitudes on security issues in three allied nations and shows what implications these patterns have for American defense policy.

What should the United States do if some oil imports are cheaper but less secure than domestic energy production? In answer to this recurring question, the Oil Security System provides for more oil security and more imports too. It permits imports from insecure sources, either upon payment of a fee or if backed by commitments of emergency oil supplies issued by suppliers of secure oil. Such commitments, called guarantees, are obligations to sell on the market oil in an emergency from such sources as inventories, existing wells operated below capacity, capped wells, new wells drilled during the emergency, and diversions of U.S. exports of crude oil and refined products. In turn, possession of a guarantee is the qualification for receiving a fee-exempt import allowance. Both guarantees and fee-exempt import allowances would be bought and sold. Importers of oil would choose the cheaper way of importing between paying the fee and acquiring a fee-exempt import allowance. Under the Oil Security System the information on guarantees would at all times permit the government to maintain a detailed plan specifying where oil would come from and when it would be supplied in an emergency. In most situations, substituting an Oil Security System for an alternative import policy would both reduce the cost of importing oil and increase oil security in the form of emergency oil supplies.

This paper measures the views of states on two broad questions: freedom of scientific research, and the future of the intergovernmental oceanographic commission.