Tag: pakistan

Confronting Homeland Security’s ‘SSSS’ Watch List

HUFFINGTON POST 05/21/15 By Michael Shank It’s official. The Department of Homeland Security has placed me on a travel watch list. Every time I travel abroad, I now have “SSSS”, which stands for Secondary Security Screen Selection, on my boarding documents. That means I get an extra rigorous full-body screening, […]

Rethink America’s Yemen Policy, Set New Standard for Syria, Iraq

HUFFINGTON POST 09/29/14 By Michael Shank and Casey Harrity Authors Michael Shank and Casey Harrity published a policy brief this month as part of FCNL’s “Shared Security” series. For the full 20-page “Security in Yemen” report, click here. Below is the executive summary excerpted from the report. Yemen is on […]

Why I’m Going to Yemen

HUFFINGTON POST 04/25/14 By Michael Shank Following on the heels of the “massive and unprecedented” U.S. drone strikes in Yemen this month, which killed scores of Yemenis, I’m headed there for a week’s worth of research. Admittedly, the timing isn’t great as al-Qaeda is likely keen to counter the Obama […]

The Dangers of Soft Power

US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 04/14/14 By Michael Shank The United States Department of Defense used it recently in Yemen and Pakistan. The U.S. State Department is using it right now in Afghanistan and Nigeria. The U.S. Agency for International Development used it in the last elections in Kenya. It’s […]

Schools, Not Casualties

ALBANY DEMOCRAT-HERALD 12/18/13 By Ray Kauffman The Oct. 25 issue of U. S. News and World Report has an article titled “Books on the Ground, Not Unmanned Robots in the Sky,”  written by Michael Shank, director of foreign policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation, and adjunct faculty at […]

Drones Strikes in Pakistan Are Hurting America

US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 10/25/13 By Michael Shank Irrespective of the latest reports on possible collusion between U.S. and Pakistani spy agencies, Amnesty International’s newest report on the unlawful American drone killings in Pakistan – that kill more civilians than the White House admits and could amount to war […]

Americans Have Had Enough Conflict

CNN 09/27/13 By Michael Shank, Matt Hoh and Danny L. Davis Editor’s note: Matthew Hoh served with the U.S. Marines in Iraq and on State Department teams in Afghanistan and Iraq and is a Senior Fellow with the Center for International Policy. Michael Shank is director of foreign policy at […]

7 Ways Obama’s U.N. Speech Revealed His Inconsistent Foreign Policy

US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 09/24/13 By Michael Shank President Barack Obama’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly today deserves some fact checking. There were multiple assertions that skewed reality and are worth debunking as a result. First, Obama questioned “whether the United Nations can meet the tests of […]

Does the U.S. Have a Moral Imperative in Syria?

WASHINGTON POST 09/05/13 By Michael Shank There are three fallacies floating around Washington regarding a war with Syria, rhetoric that has the potential to dangerously dictate how Congress will determine authorization.  A failure to address these fallacies, furthermore, puts us squarely on the cusp of another intractable war, one that […]