US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 08/28/13 By Steven Nelson The advocacy group representing the Religious Society of Friends, more commonly known as Quakers, is hastily appealing for calm ahead of what it fears is an imminent U.S. military strike on Syria, which is two years into a civil war. “The […]
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 08/27/13 By Michael Shank If the United States was genuinely interested in preventing an escalation of violent conflict in Syria, we would impatiently pursue all preventive mechanisms available to us – from international law to international diplomacy to international weapons inspection – before adding more […]
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 08/20/13 By Michael Shank As Doctors Without Borders announced last week that they’re quitting Somalia after 20-plus years in the country due to an increase in violent attacks, the need for new solutions to this crisis is key. The answer to the rebel group al-Shabaab’s […]
FOX NEWS 08/16/13 By Michael Shank When Americans think of Somalia, famine or violence comes to mind — a fair perception because the country has suffered both — or they think of the movie “Black Hawk Down” about U.S. attacks in Mogadishu. The reality in Mogadishu, however, and throughout Somalia, […]
TIME 07/26/12 By Rep. Steve Stockman I am the sponsor of a recently introduced bill, H.R. 2606, along with my colleague Peter Welch, Democrat of Vermont, calling for the establishment of a U.S. Office of Contingency Operations. Why is this necessary? Bluntly speaking, the way the United States currently plans […]
BUZZFEED 07/25/13 By Rosie Gray WASHINGTON — Civil libertarians are warning that an amendment to an anti-propaganda law that will allow United States government-made news to be spread to Americans could lead to “blowback” from our adversaries and inundate Americans with government propaganda. The change to the Smith-Mundt Act, which […]
NATIONAL JOURNAL 07/15/13 By Michael Shank Rarely does one turn to Congress for innovation. That is certainly the case with energy efficiency. Congress may be a go-to on oversight and accountability but not innovation. The Pentagon, in contrast, while not a leader in oversight and accountability (with no audit planned […]
ROLL CALL 07/15/13 By Michael Shank and Matt Southworth The House Foreign Affairs Committee heard a compelling case recently for better oversight and accountability of war funding. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen delivered the agency’s final oversight report to the Subcommittee on the Middle East and North […]
THE GUARDIAN 07/09/13 By Michael Shank and US Congressman Steve Cohen The Department of Defense is spending more than three-quarters of a billion dollars to buy Russian-made aircraft for an Afghan aviation squad that lacks the troops and expertise to operate or maintain them. We know about this example of […]
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 07/01/13 By Michael Shank The scandal at the Internal Revenue Service illustrates well the critical importance of an inspector general in keeping an administration accountable, regardless of which party holds the presidency. Had it not been for the Office of the Inspector General within the […]