Tag Archives: State Department

Iran Nuclear Agreement: Disagreeing Over How To Disagree

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Secretary of State John Kerry shook hands with Iran Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Sharif on a nuclear agreement earlier this month. But the two don't agree on what they agreed to. [Credit:vocfm.com]

Sec­re­tary of State John Ker­ry shook hands with Iran For­eign Min­is­ter Moham­mad Javad Sharif on a nuclear agree­ment ear­li­er this month. But the two don’t agree on what they agreed to. [Credit:vocfm.com]

The par­ties to the Iran nuclear agree­ment don’t agree on what they agreed to.  Con­gress is strug­gling to agree on how to express its dis­agree­ment with the agreement.

Such is the debased state into which U.S. for­eign pol­i­cy and con­sti­tu­tion­al gov­er­nance have descend­ed. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

The Moral Hazard of Government

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Sting wrote the stalker's anthem, "Every Breath You Take," a song that takes on new meaning in light of newest NSA revelations. [Credit: Davids Zondy]

Sting wrote the stalk­er’s anthem, “Every Breath You Take,” a song that takes on new mean­ing in light of newest NSA rev­e­la­tions. [Cred­it: Davids Zondy]

The intel­li­gence community’s gild­ed rep­u­ta­tion, already tar­nished by months of unau­tho­rized dis­clo­sures, was dragged into the realm of the creepy last Fri­day when an NSA offi­cial told a reporter about an agency employ­ee who had tapped secret gov­ern­ment data to spy on his ex-wife. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

While the President Slept — New Report Questions President’s Handling of Benghazi Attack

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obama-may-1-2011

Pres­i­dent tuned into bin Laden killing, tuned out of Beng­hazi attack.

Five House Com­mit­tee Chair­men last week released an “Inter­im Progress Report”  on their joint inves­ti­ga­tion into last September’s ter­ror­ist attack on a US diplo­mat­ic facil­i­ty in Beng­hazi, Libya. The report, giv­en lit­tle atten­tion by most major media out­lets, was imme­di­ate­ly denounced by Demo­c­ra­t­ic Mem­bers of those 5 com­mit­tees as a “par­ti­san staff report” that vio­lat­ed “reg­u­lar order.”

They’re right both about the report’s par­ti­san tenor and its depar­ture from reg­u­lar order. The pro­ce­dure for fil­ing com­mit­tee reports is almost as old as Con­gress itself. That process is well-defined and includes, where appro­pri­ate, a sec­tion for the minor­i­ty to state its views. There is noth­ing of the sort in this “inter­im report.” It reads more like an indict­ment than a judg­ment. It presents only one side of the story.

That one side of the sto­ry, how­ev­er, includes a chronol­o­gy that is care­ful­ly doc­u­ment­ed and well-sourced. Con­tin­ue read­ing →