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2010 Ekaina 12

Gabriel Schoenfeld's Necessary Secrets: National Security, the Media and the Rule of Law is published today. I read Schoenfeld's book in galley proof. It is an important and (to borrow an adjective) necessary book. At our invitation, Schoenfeld has prepared a post for Power Line readers adapted from the book's preface. Schoenfeld writes:

I am a New Yorker who was in Manhattan on the morning of September 11, 2001. Like millions of others here, I saw the destruction wrought by al Qaeda firsthand, saw the dust-covered survivors trudging northward, breathed the smoke from the smoldering rubble and felt it sting my eyes. That afternoon, after the trek home to my family in Brooklyn, seven miles from ground zero, I found a layer of ash on my car. What was in the ash? Along with pulverized concrete, glass, and steel, did it contain the remains of firefighters and office workers turned to dust? That was just one of the many questions coursing through my brain on the evening of the day that war came to my city. I was again in Manhattan on March 11, 2004, the day that Islamic terrorists bombed the Madrid transit system, killing 191 people and maiming more than 1,700. And I was in Manhattan once again on July 7, 2005, when suicide bombers struck the London transit system, killing 52 and wounding hundreds. Like millions of others, I ride the New York City subways daily. So do two of my three daughters.

It was in light of this history and these circumstances, a personal history and personal circumstances in no way unique to me, that I was incensed by the publication in the New York Times of a series of stories in 2005 and 2006 compromising some of the secret counterterrorism programs that the U.S. government had initiated to avert a repetition of such terrible catastrophes. But along with outrage, I was intensely curious about the legal regime that permitted, or appeared to permit, this kind of tell-all-and-damn-the-consequences journalism. This book is an outgrowth of my impassioned curiosity.

The disclosure of wartime secrets and the role of the press in protecting or disclosing them is a subject both important and complex, pitting our most cherished values against one another and bringing key institutions of democratic governance into collision. In exploring this terrain I have been drawn into the broader task of constructing a counternarrative to the standard history of free expression in America, which, as I have discovered, has ossified into orthodoxy. Its adherents have fallen into the trap described by Herbert Butterfield in The Whig Interpretation of History, in which the historian stands on the summit of the present and peers down upon the past to affirm and reaffirm his own political convictions, a mode of mountaineering that obscures a proper view of history's slopes.

Although my attempt at historical correction leaves me sharply critical of the recent conduct of the New York Times and the First Amendment absolutism that underpins it, my book is not intended as a prosecutor's brief. The problem of governmental secrecy has become a burning issue in American political life and cries out for historically informed analysis. It is my hope that a fuller understanding of our past can help us skirt some self-imposed perils and return us to a proper balance between the exigencies of national defense and the blessings of our cherished liberty.

Here let me reiterate what I wrote last week about Schoenfeld's book. Schoenfeld's book does something that, to my knowledge, hasn't been done before. It provides an unexpurgated account of the media's disclosure of highly classified national security information, some of which — such as the James Risen/Eric Lichtblau New York Times story blowing the NSA al-Qaeda eavesdropping program, and the Risen/Lichtblau story blowing the SWIFT terrorist finance tracking program — has violated the espionage laws of the United States and done great damage to American national security. Unfortunately, such acts of espionage will land you a Pulitzer Prize rather than time in the clink.

Alarmed into reflection and research by Risen and Lichtblau, Schoenfeld investigates the conflict between free expression and national security in American history. The standard legal history presents an unfolding story of unfettered freedom; Schoenfeld finds the standard legal history wanting. Schoenfeld is a model of tact in formulating the problem with the standard legal history: “Major histories of First Amendment law prefer overwhelmingly to argue by omission, with the result that they conceal as much as they reveal.”

Schoenfeld cites Geoffrey Stone's Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime from the Sedition Act of 1798 to the War on Terrorism as a prime purveyor of the standard legal history that he now seeks to revise. Stone is the Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago Law School.

Schoenfeld notes that Stone's book has been hailed as “a masterpiece of constitutional history” by no less a figure than Elena Kagan. “Yet this 'comprehensive' tome,” Schoenfeld writes, “fails even to mention episodes that cut against its thesis, such as the so-called Black Chamber affair in the 1930s, the nearly catastrophic Chicago Tribune leaks during World War II, and an array of cases from Marchetti to Snepp in which the federal government has gone to court, successfully, to rein in the printing presses to protect national security secrecy in times of both war and peace.” Among other things, Schoenfeld's book thus fills in some large holes in the standard history.

Fresh off the heels of our story about Rand Paul’s new campaign manager and the Campaign for Liberty, come questions raised after additional research.

Just a few days ago Rand Paul criticized President Barack Obama for suggesting BP be held accountable for its actions in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Specifically, Paul said it was un-American to criticize the company.

So. Was Rand Paul speaking with the interests of the American people at heart? Or was he speaking for his own and familial interests?

Here’s why I ask:

Andy LeBlanc, Rand Paul’s brother-in-law, is the finance leader for the Wire & Cable division at Dow. He’s married to Rand’s sister, Dr. Joy Paul-LeBlanc. His bio on the Dow website caught my attention:

In Mr. Leblanc’s previous role, he provided business finance support for the VERSENEÒ chelating agents, Quaternaries, and DAXAD/Glycine value centers. In this role he participated in three separate strategy developments, a competitive mapping exercise and the divestiture of the DAXAD/Glycine business.

Chelating agents. What the heck are chelating agents?

According to Dow, they’re used in “several operations in the drilling, production, and recovery of oil. They can prevent plugging caused by iron precipitation during stimulation and fracturing.” They’re also used for scale removal and prevention on well casings and can prevent scaling in boilers used for enhanced oil recovery steam flooding.

Raises lots of questions… like whether or not those chelating agents could have been used in the well/rig/equipment involved in the Gulf disaster. Were they used? Are they used? Does Dow have a business relationship of any sort with BP or the company that owns the rig BP was leasing?

And for the record: there are direct ties to that particular oil rig and Dow. The Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer of the company that owns it – Transocean – is Michael Munro. Take a look at his bio:

Mr. Munro has extensive experience leading global compliance programs. Prior to joining Transocean as Chief Compliance Officer and Associate General Counsel in 2008, Mr. Munro served as Global Director of Ethics and Compliance at Baker Hughes, Director of Compliance and Associate General Counsel at the Bristow Group, and in various roles in his 17 years at Dow Chemical, including Deputy Director, Global Ethics and Compliance; Managing Counsel, International Trade and Logistics; Corporate Employment and Labor Counsel; Corporate M&A/Finance Counsel and Labor Relations Manager, North America.

17 years at Dow Chemical. Now you know why I’ve got questions.

Additionally, Rand Paul’s brother, Ronnie, works for Dow. Ronnie’s also a member of Rand Paul’s Alchemy, LLC (more on Alchemy here and here). Which begs the question of whether or not Rand himself is directly benefiting from his attack on Obama.

More – Is Alchemy, which receives “royalties,” receiving oil royalties? Could that also be a motivator? What about the Campaign For Liberty? Is that organization invested in oil? And beyond the income Rand received from Alchemy on his PFD, how much was paid to his brother and to his dad, who didn’t report the company on his PFD?

One needs to know the answers to these questions before we can truly discover whether or not Rand Paul was speaking honestly or for his family’s personal financial gain.

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about internet marketing

2010 Ekaina 10

I hesitate to even use the term "Internet marketing" because of how sullied it is by affiliate marketing, pyramid schemes, and keyword stuffers. This question from last week — specifically the comments by jeb, acoutu, and fremen — begins to touch on what I'm talking about. I don't want any of that junk.

I'm much more interested in learning how the fundamental principles of marketing that go WAY back apply to the web today. I'm interested in learning how to set up and read into analytics data, what legitimate techniques in SEO work, how to test your sites and optimize them for your readers/customers, etc, etc. I want to know how customers interact with content and with products. I want to know what it means to write well for the web.

What books, websites, and other resources should I be looking at? There is the obvious Godin, but I'm also interested in learning technologies as well as marketing philosophy. And again, I don't want any black-hat or even questionably legitimate stuff. I'm not doing this to make money, just to teach myself how to drive traffic and satisfy customers in 100% honest ways. (And yes, I know: "build good content first.")

Any advice you can throw my way would be appreciated.

If you’re seeking a job in social media, we’d like to help out. For starters, Mashable’sMashable Job Lists section gathers together all of our resource lists, how-tos and expert guides to help you get hired. In particular, you might want to see our articles on How to Leverage Social Media for Career Success and How to Find a Job on Twitter.

But we’d like to help in a more direct way, too. Mashable’s job boards are a place for socially-savvy companies to find people like you. This week and every week, Mashable features its coveted job board listings for a variety of positions in the web, social media space and beyond. Have a look at what’s good and new on our job boards: