Mr. Pierini blames EU treaty law for giving the U.K., France and Germany the power to stifle a common foreign policy and says the separation of aid and humanitarian assistance from the EU's diplomatic decision-making has undermined some of the soft power it can otherwise project.

WSJ: Syria Debate Illustrates EU's Foreign-Policy Weakness

In March 2012, the Allen Institute for Brain Science embarked upon a ten-year project to understand the neural code: how brain activity leads to perception, decision making, and ultimately action.

WHITEHOUSE: Fact Sheet: BRAIN Initiative

And what we're hoping to do is at least some of the decision-making based a little bit more on what are the engineering plans that determine this is the best project to go forward.

WHITEHOUSE: Creating New Jobs by Investing in High-Speed Rail