author, 'We Meant Well'
24-year veteran of the US State Department and author of We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People, which made him the subject of a whistle-blower investigation
PROFILE
Peter Van Buren
Guest
FROM Peter Van Buren
To the Point
Does Government Secrecy Really Keep Americans Safer? The Obama Administration has cracked down on leakers of classified information, and on reporters who refuse to reveal their sources. Now an open-government group is fighting back by advertising for whistleblowers in Washington. The first of 11 planned billboards has gone up near the State Department. Edward Snowden and Chelsey Manning are accused of treason, but open-government advocates say whistleblowing should be part of American culture. Is secrecy used more to keep the public in the dark than to make Americans safer?
Recommended
To the Point
Terrorism and tweets, hate speech and murder Just days before an election, Britain is coping with a rash of deadly terrorism, and Prime Minister Theresa May is on the defensive. And again today, President Trump has tweeted criticism of the Mayor of London. Later, a double murder in Portland, Oregon has revealed the ugly past of a supposedly “progressive” city. One immediate question: is “hate speech” protected by the First Amendment?
To the Point
Trump's 'America First' goes missing abroad In the Middle East, President Trump is changing some policies of the Obama Administration—and reversing his own campaign attacks on Islam as a religion that "hates us." We hear about his visit to Saudi Arabia and what's at stake for the rest of his foreign excursion.
To the Point
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.
To the Point
Trump's new look at civil rights and global warming President Trump is reportedly ready to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. We look at the possible consequences. On the second half of the program, we hear about cuts in Obama-Era civil rights programs called for by the Trump Administration's first budget plan.