Early Omicron

Top federal health officials said on Tuesday that they were expanding a surveillance program at some of the largest U.S. airports as part of a sprawling effort to identify and contain what could be the first cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant in the United States, as the NYT reports.

And, according to the Times, two people who tested positive for the coronavirus in the Netherlands more than a week ago were infected with the Omicron variant, Dutch health officials reported on Tuesday. The timing is significant because it suggests that the variant was already present in the country for at least a week before the arrival of two flights from South Africa on Friday, and before the World Health Organization labeled Omicron a “variant of concern.”

WH Search for Omicron Contingency Funding

Senior White House officials have in the past few days studied how much funding they have available to respond to the Omicron variant, as the Biden administration makes contingency plans to deal with the next potential stage in the pandemic, as the Washington Post reports.

Fed Chair Weighs In

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell signaled the central bank would consider quickening the wind down of its easy-money policies as it grapples with elevated inflation, which would open the door to raising interest rates in the first half of next year, as the WSJ reports.

CSIS and DINSN Announce the 2021 U.S. National Security & Foreign Affairs Leadership List

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), in partnership with the Diversity in National Security Network (DINSN), is pleased to announce the 2021 U.S. National Security & Foreign Affairs Leadership List.

Executive Education

Register for “The Defense Enterprise Today” course to learn about the current state of and future challenges facing the defense enterprise, including classic defense activities as well as the intelligence community, irregular warfare, and gray zone competition.

Video Shorts

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

In That Number

4.9%

The European Union’s statistics agency said on Tuesday that consumer prices in the eurozone were 4.9% higher than in November 2020, by far the fastest annual rise since records began in 1997.

Source: WSJ

Critical Quote

“I think the risk of higher inflation has increased.”

— Jerome H. Powell, chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve

iDeas Lab

Recent analysis from CSIS shows that the U.S. Air Force has stabilized its force structure at about 5,500 aircraft after a sharp decline from 2002 to 2009, and that it has maintained its inventories by allowing the average aircraft age to increase to 30.6 years.

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: Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images.) An ambulance sits at a police road block restricting access to Oxford High School following a shooting on November 30, 2021 in Oxford, Michigan, that left three people killed and six others wounded.

This Town Tomorrow

At 9:00 a.m., the CSIS Wadhwani Chair hosts experts to discuss the midterm performance of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi's government on foreign direct investment, economic reforms, and solving the nonperforming assets crisis.

And, at 9:30 a.m., join the CSIS China Power Project for a discussion on the challenges posed by China’s growing power, featuring keynote remarks by Secretary of the U.S. Army Christine Wormuth.

Then, at 3:00 p.m., the CSIS Middle East Program hosts Glenn E. Robinson to discuss his new book, Global Jihad: A Brief History, which traces the history of global jihadism in the twentieth century through four distinct jihadi waves that each had global ambitions.

Video

Yesterday, the CSIS Korea Chair held a discussion on the different approaches to exploring understudied issues in North Korean society, markets, and ideology.

Podcasts

On the second episode of CSIS’s newest podcast, NATO’s Road to Madrid, CSIS's Rachel Ellehuus meets with experts from the RAND Corporation and NATO's Nuclear Policy Directorate to discuss the alliance’s ability to deter and defend against threats to its members.

Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.

Smiles

Everyone has been digging the Wilco tracks, so here’s one more.

I invite you to email me at [email protected] and follow me on Twitter @handrewschwartz

The Evening is my daily guide to key insights CSIS brings to the events of the day. It is composed with the External Relations team: Kendal Gee, Paige Montfort, and Christopher Healey.