Charles Homans considers “The Last Secrets of the Bush Administration” in the latest Washington Monthly. “An accounting of the Bush years is a less daunting prospect than it seems from the outset,” he says. “If the new president and leaders on Capitol Hill act shrewdly, they can pull it off while successfully navigating the political realities and expectations they now face. A few key actions will take us much of the distance between what we know and what we need to know.”
A review of the White House website reveals unacknowledged modifications to White House press releases and suggests an unwholesome willingness to distort the public record, the authors of a recent study contend. See “History Reloaded: Changing The Past To Suit The Present” by Thomas Claburn, Information Week, November 26.
“President-elect Barack Obama’s top pick to head the CIA blamed his sudden withdrawal from consideration on critics who blamed him for harsh Bush administration policies on interrogations, detentions and secret renditions.” See “Potential CIA chief cites critics in ending bid” by Pamela Hess, Associated Press, November 26.
“The next White House Web site should tell us a lot about whether Obama believes what he has said about bringing transparency and accountability to the government,” writes Dan Froomkin in the Nieman Watchdog. See “It’s time for a Wiki White House,” November 25.
If Congress needs help understanding the risks and rewards of a piece of technology, they shouldn’t have to rely solely on the sparknotes from a salesman. The rub is much simpler: Congress needs nerds.
If we set up the new OTA to do its job well, members will see it as the first stop to see what issues are lurking around the corner. They will bring their questions early. And they will keep coming back for more.
Even the best-designed policy rests on assumptions about who will staff it, how it will be funded, whether the responsible institutions have ever coordinated, and if the goals are achievable.
These fellows will be working to turn ambitious ideas into actionable policy – from improving how frontier AI models are evaluated for government use to strengthening biosecurity protections and building the workforce needed to keep AI systems safe.