Challenges for the next AG

Today I reported a radio story about the challenges for the next Attorney General, with contributions from Elisa Massimino of Human Rights First, Jameel Jaffer of the ACLU, Benjamin Wittes of Brookings and Eugene Fidell of the National Institute of Military Justice.

How the world works

Check out this fascinating piece From Kurdistan to K-Street  by the intrepid Laura Rozen.

Here’s the open:

The routine of Washington foreign policymaking is straightforward and, well, a little boring. Presidents and secretaries of state issue pronouncements in speeches. Diplomats have discussions in ornate ceremonial rooms. That’s the official version, anyhow, and even if we’re well aware that reality departs from the C-Span, Foreign Affairs version of things, the rhythm, pomp, and ceremony shape our understanding of how countries relate to each other.

This is a story of the other world, the one whose real power players never show up in the CNN headline crawl. It’s the story of a man with a habit of popping up, Zelig-like, at the nexus of foreign policy and the kinds of businesses that thrive in times of war—security contracting, infrastructure development and postwar reconstruction, influence and intelligence brokering.

It’s also the story of how this entrepreneur and middleman, in the shadowy environment created by the 9/11 attacks and Washington’s advance on Iraq, seized the opportunity to propel himself from small-time businessman into global player. The trajectory of Shlomi Michaels is testament not only to one man’s driven intensity, but also to the opportunities the war on terror has presented to those with the information, connections, and ambition to seize them.

Full piece is here.