With U.S. oil production on a long-term uptick, the long-standing ban on direct exports of crude should be abolished. Bills in both houses of Congress propose to do just that, and on July 30 the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee sent one of them, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s Energy Policy Modernization Act, to the Senate floor for a vote.

Let’s hope the export ban is lifted with broad bipartisan support. The result will increase U.S. jobs and increase the country’s influence in world oil markets, with little risk of higher gasoline prices for consumers.

Today the Senate Intelligence Committee released reports from the majority and minority concerning CIA detention and interrogation activities following the 9/11 attacks. Americans and their friends should not welcome the report of the majority members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. It is inaccurate, it endangers U.S. security, and it is unfair to administration officials, members of Congress and intelligence officers.

"President Obama has put energy and the environment at the top of his second-term agenda. The focus has been on climate change, and on exploiting the unexpected plenty of North American oil, gas and energy technology. The administration's progress has been notable...," writes John Deutch.

"The president's highest priority is to reduce the carbon-dioxide emissions of existing electricity generating power plants....The projected CO2 reductions—about 30% below 2005 levels by 2030—are reasonable and shouldn't significantly increase industry or consumer costs."

The president's new manufacturing technology initiative understandably stresses the potential advantage to U.S. firms and workers, write John Deutch and Edward Steinfeld. However, they argue, "It doesn't acknowledge the growing global character of manufacturing, especially in high-technology fields, or the difficulty of designing assistance programs that target 'inside the U.S.' activities only."

"Two summers ago, natural gas cost $4.50 per thousand cubic feet, which was less than half what it had cost two summers earlier. Today the price is under $2.50," writes John Deutch, former director of teh C.I.A. and a member of the Belfer Center's International Council. "A United States hopelessly dependent on imported oil and natural gas is a thing of the past. Most energy experts now project that North America will have the capacity to be a net exporter of oil and natural gas by the end of this decade."

Mr. Obama took a giant step beyond the Bush administration's "Afghanistan policy" when he named the issue "AfPak" -- Afghanistan, Pakistan and their shared, Pashtun-populated border. But this is inverted. We suggest renaming the policy "PakAf," to emphasize that, from the perspective of U.S. interests and regional stability, the heart of the problem lies in Pakistan.

Research and development activities, known as the "technology base" program, are a vital part of the United States defense program and must be adequately funded.

Carter, Deutch, and Zelikow addresses the threat of Catastrophic Terrorism in Foreign Affairs.

While the danger of Catastrophic Terrorism is new and grave, there is much that the United States can do to prevent it and to mitigate its consequences if it occurs. The objective of the Catastrophic Terrorism Study Group is to suggest program and policy changes that can be taken by the United States government in the near term, including the reallocation of agency responsibilities, to prepare the nation better for the emerging threat of Catastrophic Terrorism.

Op-ed by Carter, Deutch, and Perry in USA Today