Word: programming
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...longtime CBO analyst and now senior fellow at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, says the CLASS Act doesn't have strong enough work requirements, which are intended to be a proxy for physical fitness. Americans who perform only seasonal work, for example, could qualify for the program. He adds that penalties for letting premium payments lapse are not strong enough. "The criticisms are absolutely true, but you design things the best you can. If we only did [legislation] that entailed no risk, I don't think we'd ever do much of anything...
...They helped cops last week locate a sophisticated, 260-yard narco-tunnel beneath Tijuana that almost reached the U.S. border.) Despite that, Mexican officials concede they have an utterly inadequate witness-protection system in place. "There is a vacuum regarding the rules and how to operate a witness-protection program," a high-level source inside the Mexican attorney general's office (PGR, after its Spanish initials) tells TIME. "We keep [informants] in secure houses, but they can move around and do as they want. This does not work like the American system - we do not have [protective] marshals...
Attorney General Arturo Chávez says he'll review Mexico's witness-protection program. But it will be difficult to build a proper protection apparatus when the Mexican cops assigned to do the protecting can so rarely be trusted. The Mexican government has vowed to investigate Bayardo's murder; presumably one of the key focuses will be whether any officers inside the witness-protection program itself tipped off cartel bosses as to his movements and whereabouts...
...epic levels that Mexican drug-trafficking and violence have reached today, the government needs every intelligence resource it can get. The U.S. has pledged almost $1.5 billion for Mexico's war against the cartels, and critics say more of it should be directed to software like police-modernization programs instead of hardware like Blackhawk helicopters. A reliable witness-protection program should be on that list before more soplones get whacked...
...Seoul say the North has sent signals recently that it is interested in negotiating a peace treaty with South Korea. That would be politically enticing to a segment of the South Korean population, but the Obama Administration now views it as a distraction. "The main agenda is the nuclear program, and Bosworth has made it clear he's not going to allow the North to sprinkle a bunch of diplomatic fairy dust around to divert attention," says a source in East Asia. "These guys are very focused now." (See pictures of North Korea's rubber-stamp elections...