News + Media

	précis May 19, 2020 The cult of the persuasive: The organizational origins of US strategy in military assistance PhD candidate Rachel Tecott explains in her essay that "as long as the White House and the Congress continue to grant the military the autonomy and the resources to perpetuate military assistance projects without serious evaluation...the cult of the persuasive is likely to persist, and US military assistance projects are likely to fail."
	précis May 19, 2020 Contesting the Iranian Revolution: The Green Uprisings Pouya Alimagham is a historian of the modern Middle East, with a focus on Iran, Iraq, and the Levant. In Contesting the Iranian Revolution: The Green Uprisings, he harnesses the wider history of Iran and the Middle East to highlight how activists contested the Islamic Republic's legitimacy to its very core.
	précis May 19, 2020 End Notes End Notes features the professional achievements of our scholars, students, and staff. This includes recent awards, speaking engagements, and publications.
	In the News May 18, 2020 Former inspector general: Trump is attacking the ‘institution’ of oversight Lawrence O'DonnellMSNBC Joel Brenner, who served as Inspector General of the National Security Agency under President Bush, tells Lawrence O’Donnell the firing of several inspectors general shows President Trump believes all government officials owe him “personal loyalty.”
	In the News May 18, 2020 Trump’s ‘highly unusual’ politicization of government watchdogs Yamiche AlcindorPBS News Hour President Trump has fired three inspectors general recently, including State Department watchdog Steve Linick on Friday. Yamiche Alcindor talks to Joel Brenner, a former national security inspector general and director of national intelligence, about how politicizing the IG role is “all wrong.”
	In the News May 15, 2020 Inspectors general: oversight, authority, and removal with Joel Brenner National Security Law Today Joel Brenner discusses the Inspectors General role during the Covid-19 crisis and Trump's removal on National Security Law Today.
	In the News May 11, 2020 National security is in the eye of the beholder Brad GlossermanJapan Times Richard Samuels quoted: MIT Professor Richard Samuels describes this as the belief that societies must “organize to defend the wealth of individuals they comprise” — their skills, productive relationships, firms and R&D centers that create their wealth — and argues that this logic has long prevailed in Japan.
	Analysis + Opinion May 10, 2020 Can the democrats avoid Trump’s China trap? Democrats, and Republicans who truly put American security first, face a choice. Joe Biden in particular will decide whether to lead his party into Mr Trump’s trap or play a different game.
	Analysis + Opinion May 9, 2020 An ode to the humble balcony It is private, yet public; exposed, yet secluded. It offers company without the demands of intimacy, and we should never take it for granted again, writes Bernardo Zacka in a New York Times opinion piece available here.
	In the News May 8, 2020 Trump wages a war on watchdogs as coronavirus elevates their importance Liz GoodwinThe Boston Globe Joel Brenner quoted: “It absolutely sends a chill through the whole community,” said Joel Brenner, former inspector general of the National Security Agency. “It’s a very clear message. The president doesn’t want any inspector general issuing any report critical of the administration and any inspector general who does it has to understand that he or she is likely to be out of a job.”