Overview
CRS Insight report
You are a country/issue specialist for the Congressional Research Service (CRS). You have been assigned to write an Insight document evaluating a current foreign policy issue for the United States House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Your options here are quite broad - anything that falls under the umbrella of foreign policy and could conceivably be of interest to the US legislative branch is a workable option. The main goal is to familiarize yourself with policy writing in an introductory way. You don't need to write this with a particular bill in mind, so you don't need a "policy implications for Congress" section at the end.
When selecting a topic, you must observe the following guidelines:
- You can't write on a topic that has been covered in a previous CRS report within the last three-five years. If you are writing on a past topic but with updates for current political issues and interests, that would be fine.
- Otherwise, it can be safest to choose a very recent issue that CRS is unlikely to have covered yet. This can be very niche/narrow - don't worry if it wouldn't actually be likely to serve as a CRS report topic.
- Spy balloons - capabilities and implications?
- Earthquake in Turkey/Syria - political dimensions of aid decisions
- Canadian patrol aircraft and Haitian gangs