Over the course of a decade, a stream of credible scientific reports from various government agencies, congressionally-mandated commissions and federal research organizations have warned of the grave vulnerability of our nation's most important asset: the electric power grid. For millions of us, life in 21st Century America would be all but impossible without access to electricity. As this compendium of the government's own studies makes clear, the protracted unavailability of the power required for all of our critical infrastructures poses a truly existential threat to our country and its people-unless we take practical and relatively low-cost steps to prevent it.

In August of 2004, an alert Maryland Transportation Authority Police officer observed a woman wearing traditional Islamic garb videotaping the support structures of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, and conducted a traffic stop. The driver was Ismail Elbarasse and detained on an outstanding material witness warrant issued in Chicago in connection with fundraising for Hamas.The FBI's Washington Field Office subsequently executed a search warrant on Elbarasse's residence in Annandale, Virginia. In the basement of his home, a hidden sub-basement was found; it revealed over 80 banker boxes of the archives of the Muslim Brotherhood in North America. One of the most important of these documents made public to date was entered into evidence during the Holy Land Foundation trial. It amounted to the Muslim Brotherhood's strategic plan for the United States and was entitled, "An Explanatory Memorandum: On the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America." The Explanatory Memorandum was written in 1991 by a member of the Board of Directors for the Muslim Brotherhood in North America and senior Hamas leader named Mohammed Akram. It had been approved by the Brotherhood's Shura Council and Organizational Conference and was meant for internal review by the Brothers' leadership in Egypt. It was certainly not intended for public consumption, particularly in the targeted society: the United States. For these reasons, the memo constitutes a Rosetta stone for the Muslim Brotherhood, its goals, modus operandi and infrastructure in America. It is arguably the single most important vehicle for understanding a secretive organization and should, therefore, be considered required reading for policy-makers and the public, alike.

On 8 April, 2010, President Obama and Russian President Medvedev signed the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or "New START," lowering the limit on deployed strategic nuclear weapons by either nation. The following week, President Obama hosted the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C., the stated purpose of which was to address "the threat of nuclear materials in the hands of terrorists or criminals." Against this backdrop, three panels of distinguished experts on nuclear policy convened in Washington, D.C. to offer critical assessment of President Obama's nuclear agenda-and weather it is compatible with maintaining an American nuclear arsenal that can credibly, reliably, and effectively address today's threats.

The fifth volume of the Center for Security Policy's National Security Policy Proceedings includes transcripts of remarks by Michelle Van Cleave, Jeff Kueter, Ted Bromund, Mackenzie Eaglen, Mark Groombridge, David Satter and Sarah Stern. It also includes book reviews by Gordon Chang, Clare M. Lopez and Tom Blau.