The Wall Street Journal-20080114-The Informed Reader - Insights and Items of Interest From Other Sources
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The Informed Reader / Insights and Items of Interest From Other Sources
Intelligence:
Update of Spy Tech Must Watch for Misuse
The drive to update the U.S. intelligence community's data-gathering methods shouldn't lose sight of how tempting it is for spies to abuse surveillance powers, Lawrence Wright says in the New Yorker in a profile of Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence.
Mr. McConnell hopes to purge the technophobia of the so-called intelligence community -- the collective name for the various covert agencies in government, including the CIA. Some intelligence agencies have only recently started using BlackBerrys, and many offices don't have Internet connections at all.
Many of Mr. McConnell's wished-for technological reforms involve making it easier for the government to monitor people electronically. He believes that would more effectively protect the U.S. private sector against a massive cyber-attack. He also thinks closer monitoring of intelligence employees' activities would allow today's burdensome background checks to shorten.
Meanwhile, the Internet and wireless communications have blurred the old legal distinctions between foreign and domestic intelligence, as when email or telephone transmissions between two foreigners abroad happen to pass through U.S. computers. The resulting legal confusion can delay crucial surveillance operations and heighten interdepartmental wrangling.
But Mr. Wright says that while legislators should make surveillance laws clearer, they shouldn't leave it up to spies alone to decide when it is appropriate to monitor U.S. citizens' communications.
-- The New Yorker -- Jan. 21
Politics:
Is the Next Generation
Of Leaders Rising Too Fast?
The next political generation that will replace the baby boomers is rapidly entering the higher political echelons in Europe and the U.S. -- perhaps too rapidly, says Jeremy Kahn in Newsweek International.
They include Barack Obama in the U.S., the British opposition leader David Cameron, much of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's cabinet, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and Dmitry Medvedev, the hand-picked successor of Vladimir Putin.
Looked at as a whole, these politicians in their 30s and 40s "are more technocratic, more global in outlook, more comfortable with technology, more idealistic and yet less ideological," says Mr. Kahn. They have little use for the 1960s-inspired dogmas that define their parents. Their defining issues are climate change, immigration, and providing social-security programs without diminishing their economies' competitiveness.
On the other hand, the post-boomer stars who have emerged thus far tend to have little experience except in jobs related to public policy. Mr. Kahn says this means they are sometimes politically naive, making it easier for older opponents to block their reforms.
-- Newsweek International -- Jan. 21
Food:
Kosher Label Has Benefits,
But Doesn't Eliminate Risk
Is kosher food more healthy? Food marketers and consumers evidently believe so. Only 20% of people buying foods marked kosher are Jewish, and "kosher" has become the most popular claim on food products, according to a recent survey by Mintel, a Chicago-based market- research firm, beating out "organic," "no additives or preservatives," and "all natural."
The kosher certification process does bring consumers some health benefits, says Deborah Kotz. Ingredients' sources are closely tracked, allowing for a quicker recall if a problem is uncovered. Food is cleaned to make sure no bugs are on it. Kosher beef is also less likely to contain the proteins that cause mad cow disease, possibly because the animals are slaughtered young. But a lot of bacteria, including salmonella and E. coli, can survive the kosher process. So kosher bagged spinach wouldn't necessarily be less likely to cause food poisoning than a non-kosher variety.
-- U.S. News & World Report -- Jan. 11
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