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.
DNA synthesis and export controls remain the primary regulatory safeguards against de novo production of harmful biological agents, yet governance frameworks lack the situational awareness and enforcement capacity to keep pace with rapidly falling technical barriers.
Called today to speak on behalf of U.S. science and technology, Dr. Jedidah Isler, astrophysicist, educator, strategist, policy-maker, and science communicator, will provide constructive, nonpartisan feedback to the House Committee’s hearing “American Global Competitiveness at 250: Legislative Proposals to Secure U.S. Technology Leadership.”
“Federal data and access to it is not a partisan issue. It is a people issue. Our country cannot achieve greatness without access to the data that measure what we value, who we are, and where we’re heading.”
The United States’ biosecurity governance system is structurally incapable of detecting and responding to certain classes of threats. U.S. biosecurity tools have not kept pace with technological advancements or a changing threat landscape.