Think Tanked

Former Cheney Aide David Addington Joining Heritage

Update below

Dick Cheney's former counsel and chief of staff, David Addington, has a new job and it's at the Heritage Foundation as the vice president for domestic and economic policy studies.

Heritage Director of Strategic Communication Rory Cooper told Think Tanked that Addington will begin mid-September.

From the Heritage release:

A veteran of Washington policy debates, Addington has served in senior management positions in both the public and private sectors. In the legislative branch, he served as chief counsel or counsel for four congressional committees -- one in the Senate and three in the House. In the executive branch, he worked in both the CIA and the Defense Department, where he received numerous awards for distinguished service. Most recently, Addington served in the Office of the Vice President, first as Dick Cheney’s counsel and later as his chief of staff.

“David is a brilliant policy expert and an outstanding administrator,” Dr. Feulner said. “He understands how Washington works at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue and knows exactly what it takes to turn policy ideas into law. While Stuart concentrates on developing the next big ideas, David will focus on running our regular domestic research operations, where analysts refine ideas and sweat the details.”

Addington, of course, has been an extremely controversial individual since 9/11 and has been characterized as the man who wielded much power with little accountability.

Update (9/1/10): Heritage Director of Strategic Communication Rory Cooper just informed me that Addington has begun as VP effective today and is awaiting board approval, expected in September.

CAP's Robin Chait on Obama's Policies This School Year

AM Briefing: 8/31/10

Has diversity become Glenn Beck's strong suit? (LA Times)

Our Iraq entanglement (National Journal)

What will Clinton's Middle East approach be? (NPR)

The time for Thomas Sowell to learn how to use a digital camera has come and it may be the government's fault (National Review)

What does the "Medical Debt Relief Act of 2009" do? (Cato)

Liberaltarianism elsewhere (Daily Dish)

Daybook: 8/31/10

There is No Alternative: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters (Heritage)  Great Britain in the 1970s appeared  to a nation be in terminal decline – ungovernable and rapidly headed for global economic irrelevance. Three decades later, it is one of the richest and most influential countries in Europe and Margaret Thatcher deserves all the credit. There Is No Alternative provides a valuable account of Margaret Thatcher’s visionary triumphs in the fight for free enterprise. As journalist and conservative pundit Claire Berlinski shows, Thatcher’s transformation of Britain was no simple task. Her jarring economic reforms often came at a high human cost as inefficient subsidies, welfare programs, and industries were abandoned entirely. While Thatcher’s legacy has been the subject of passionate debate, Berlinski argues that we should be on her side. Socialism is on the rise and only countries willing to abide by Thatcher’s philosophy will prevail. 

For more think tank events, see the calendar in the sidebar.

Are Twitter and Facebook Good for Think Tanks?

Alvin Rabushka, David and Joan Traitel Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, compares public policy dissemination between the time he got in the business in 1969 and now. It's easier; it's more vast--but is it better?

Rabushka's not sure. 

Citing the relatively large numbers of Twitter and Facebook followers he writes:

...numbers show that a handful of political personalities can overwhelm the think tanks in communicating with the policy-interested public. Should think tanks try to embed their research into these communication networks to reach a larger audience?. Not clear. There is a danger that the scholarly-based policy work emanating from think tanks embedded in the networks of prominent personalities would be instantly politicized and rejected out of hand by the broader public as biased or tainted.

What then becomes the business model of the research-based think tank? The pre-high tech model of transmitting a clear signal through static, itself difficult. has been replaced by pointing decision makers in the direction of finding diamonds in mountains of ore. Much harder. Moreover, in the next five to ten years, new technologies will be developed that further clog the arena of ideas. Much as the Internet helped elect Barack Obama as president, the fleet afoot will have a disproportionate influence on policy, while those clinging to the old approach will languish.

AM Briefing: 8/30/10

Has Obama forgotten politicking? (Washington Post)

Does Rauf have the wrong ideas? (National Review)

The results of a Palestine-Israel conciliation (Politico)

How to solve social security (National Review)

Is wireless the net neutrality exception? (AEI)

Free parking or minimum-parking requirements (Cato)

Bernanke preparing for inflation (Cato)

CFR's Richard Haass on This Week

Sunday Talk Shows: 8/29/10

Think tankers on the Sunday talk shows:

ABC's This Week: Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education; Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers; Michelle Rhee, Chancellor, D.C. Public Schools; Jaime Oliver, Celebrity Chef; Donna Brazile, Democratic Strategist; Susie Gharib, Nightly Business Report; Richard Haass, Council on Foreign Relations; George Will, ABC News.

CNN's GPS with Fareed Zakaria: Robert Kaplan, Center for a New American Security; author, "Monsoon"; Clay Shirky, Internet consultant, author, "Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age"; Richard Florida, author, "The Great Reset: How New Ways of Living and Working Drive Post-Crash Prosperity"

And the rest of the Sunday line-up:

NBC's Meet the Press: Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu; New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu; Brad Pitt, Make It Right Foundation; Wendell Pierce, HBO's "Treme"; Garland Robinette, "Think Tank" WWL-Radio New Orleans; Douglas Brinkley, Professor of History, Rice University

CBS' Face the Nation: Joe Miller, Candidate for U.S. Senate (R-Alaska); Rep. Kendrick Meek, Florida Democratic Senate Nominee; Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS); Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL)

CNN's State of the Union with Candy Crowley (guest anchored by Ed Henry): Shaun Donovan, Housing and Urban Development Secretary; Gov. Charlie Crist, (I) Florida; U.S. Senate Candidate; Rep. Kendrick Meek, (D-FL); U.S. Senate Candidate

CNN's Reliable Sources with Howard Kurtz: Jane Hall, American University; Bill Press, host, The Bill Press Show; Matt Lewis, PoliticsDaily.com; Ross Douthat, New York Times

Washington Week with Gwen Ifill and National Journal: Karen Tumulty, The Washington Post; Charles Babington, Associated; Eamon Javers, CNBC; Pete Williams of NBC News

NBC's The Chris Matthews Show: Joe Klein, TIME Magazine Columnist; Katty Kay, BBC Washington Correspondent; Kelly O'Donnell, NBC News Capitol Hill Correspondent; Reihan Salam, National Review

Fox News Sunday: Glenn Beck, Fox News

Bloomberg's Political Capital with Al Hunt: President Norman Francis of Xavier University and President Scott Cowen of Tulane University

C-SPAN's Newsmakers: Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) with guest reporters Matthew Lee, Associated Press State Department Correspondent, and Warren Strobel, McClatchy Newspapers Foreign Affairs Correspondent

Brookings' Indyk on Israeli-Palestinian Peace Negotiations: No Better Time Than Now

Martin Indyk, former U.S. ambassador to Israel and director of the foreign policy program at the Brookings Institution, argues in the New York Times that, contrary to the naysayers, this may be the best chance for peace between Israelis and Palestinians we've ever seen.

Citing a drop in violence, the reduction in settlement activity, the public support for a two-state solution on both sides, and the fact that many of issues have already been decided--all of this, according to Indyk, means the time is now. 

For some, Indyk may be a bit breezy on some of these very serious issues.

The question of Israeli settlements may be characterized a bit differently among Palestinians from they way Indyk portrays them.

As a result of Israel’s 10-month settlement moratorium, no new housing starts in the West Bank were reported by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics in the first quarter of this year. What’s more, there have been hardly any new housing projects in East Jerusalem since the brouhaha in March, when Vice President Joe Biden, during a visit to Israel, condemned the announcement of 1,600 additional residential units. The demolition of Palestinian houses there is also down compared with recent years.

In terms of violence, Indyk points out that the numbers of terrorist attacks are down--and so are the death tolls.

He's right.

Of course, Indyk only takes into consideration violence toward Israelis and completely ignores the Gaza war in December 2008 and January 2009, in which well over a thousand Gazans were killed--something still fresh in memories throughout Gaza. Or is it that only violence toward Israel is what matters at the negotiation table?

And then there are the actual final status issues...

...there isn’t a lot to negotiate. In the 17 years since the Oslo accords were signed, detailed final status negotiations have dealt exhaustively with all the critical issues. If an independent Palestinian state is to be established, the zone of agreement is clear and the necessary trade-offs are already known.

Security arrangements were all but settled in 2000 at Camp David before the talks collapsed. The increased threat of rocket attacks since then, among other developments, require the two sides to agree on stricter border controls and a robust third-party force in the Jordan Valley. But one year is ample time to resolve this. In fact, if the leaders are sincere in their intent to make a deal, dragging out the negotiations would only weaken them politically and give time for the opponents of peace to rally.

Has Jerusalem been settled? Or the right of return for Palestinian refugees?

Indyk's final analysis may be right. Perhaps it is the best time for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, but let's hope that those who are directly involved have weighted each of these factors with a little more care than Indyk provided--no doubt that would result in better negotiations and increase the chances of peace.

Daybook: 8/27/10

Economic Outlook: A Corporate Briefing (Asia Society)  The Asia Society Hong Kong Center will host a "Corporate Briefing" with David Wyss, Chief Economist at Standard & Poor’s. Based in New York, Dr. Wyss is responsible for S&P’s economic forecasts and publications, and co-authors the monthly Equity Insight and the weekly Financial Notes. Prior to S&P’s, Dr. Wyss was a Senior Staff Economist with the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, Senior Economist at the Federal Reserve Board, and Economic Advisor to the Bank of England. He graduated with a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University.

Homeland Security 2020: The Future of Defending the Homeland Day 5 – State and Local Efforts (Heritage) With the growing threat from homegrown terrorists, our state and local law enforcement entities will need to have the proper training, personnel, and tools to monitor, detect, and thwart potential attacks. Similarly, with the federalization of preparedness and disaster response over the last two decades, state and local governments face growing gaps in capabilities needed to handle events that occur within their jurisdictions. Join us as our panelists examine the reforms needed within counterterrorism, preparedness, and disaster response to ensure that states and localities are properly positioned for the future.

For more think tank events, see the calendar in the sidebar.