The Evening: New CDC Guidelines, Hard Choices: Memos to the President, Hand me Down (Ripple) and More

New CDC Guidance

Two weeks after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention removed online guidance about airborne transmission of the coronavirus, the agency has replaced it with language citing new evidence that the virus can spread beyond six feet indoors, adrift in the air, as the NYT reports.

Moscow Invites Chem Weapons Watchdog

Russia has invited the leading international chemical-weapons watchdog to help with the case of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who German authorities said was poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent, in the latest development in an incident that has drawn international condemnation, as the WSJ reports.

Hard Choices: Memos to the President

The next administration will face a series of hard choices. In a new series of short memos CSIS will publish leading up to the November presidential election, our scholars will analyze the opportunities and decisions the next administration will face . Our first Memo to the President comes from CSIS’s Jon Alterman, “Actions in Anticipation of Iranian Elections.”

CSIS Executive Education

CSIS's Risk and Foresight Group is hosting a new global executive education program that weaves together important issues, trends, and revolutions that government and business leaders must understand as they position themselves for the next 25 years. Register for the course here.

Video Shorts

Check out CSIS’s new series of video shorts: “Testify,” "What's Happening," "Preview," and “High Resolution.” And don’t forget to subscribe to the CSIS YouTube Channel!

In That Number

43,000

Every day, some 43,000 new coronavirus cases are being reported—far fewer than during the surge in the summer, but still an uncomfortably large number.

Source: NYT

Critical Quote

“Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life.”

— President Donald Trump

iDeas Lab

Satellite imagery analysis presents India as a growing regional security provider against China's attempts to take over Bhutanese territory in sectors of the disputed Doklam Plateau.

The Andreas C. Dracopoulos iDeas Lab at CSIS enhances our research with the latest in cutting-edge web technologies, design, and multimedia.

Optics

(Photo credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images.) White House physician Sean Conley (C) arrives to answer questions surrounded by other doctors, during an update on the condition of US President Donald Trump, on October 5, 2020, at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

Recommended Reading

“Preparing the Workforce for 2030: A Pillar of Trade Leadership,” by CSIS’s Bill Reinsch, Matthew Goodman, Scott Miller, and Jack Caporal.

This Town Tomorrow

Tomorrow, at 9:00 a.m., join CSIS to discuss how stakeholders can support Lebanon's most vulnerable communities.

Then, at 10:30 a.m., the Wilson Center hosts The Aerospace Corporation and NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine for a closer look at the security of our space systems.

Later, at 2:00p.m., join The Brookings Institution to examining technology policy in the next presidential administration.

Video

On September 17, CSIS Expert Amy Lehr testified before the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade on “Enforcing the Ban on Imports Produced by Forced Labor in Xinjiang.” Watch the full testimony here.

Podcasts

Today's Impossible State episode examines signs of democratic backsliding in the Moon administration, underscoring it as part of a broader trend in a global decline of democracy.

Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.

Smiles

“It's a hand-me-down, the thoughts are broken
Perhaps they're better left unsung
I don't know, don't really care
Let there be songs to fill the air.”

This month the Grateful Dead are marking another 50 ^th anniversary. This time it’s the anniversary of their 5^th studio album, “American Beauty.”

Ranked number 215 by Rolling Stone magazine’s top 500 rock albums of all time, “American Beauty” contained some of their best-loved songs, “Ripple,” “Brokedown Palace,” “Truckin,’” and “Friend of the Devil” to name just a few. For me, the sleeper on the record is “Till the Morning Comes,” a song the Dead only performed 5 times live.

As part of the 50^th anniversary, the Dead are releasing “American Beauty: The Angel’s Share,” a 56 song trove of unreleased demoes and outtakes of the album cuts as they developed. All of this comes out next week, but a preview of 10 songs has dropped as a teaser. Here’s a taste of an early version of “Ripple” which at the time they were calling “Hand Me Down.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kvj0-52cEyo&list=OLAK5uy_kluPxzjh4x7k8ZcHO7LzqnGIL_bpTDPms&index=6.