What should or could the CIA have known about the Egyptian uprising? Joseph Wippl, a professor of international relations at BU and a 30-year CIA operations officer gives the following view:
“Part of the intent in the creation of the CIA through the National Security Act of 1947 was to avoid surprise, the most noteworthy being the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The authority granted to CIA was to engage in human intelligence, better known as espionage, to avoid surprise and to better understand the cause of events and their implications for the future.
“The question now is did the CIA forewarn regarding the events occurring in Egypt and prior to that in Tunisia? And if not, why not? What kind of clandestine sources were needed then or are needed now?
According to School of Education Assistant Professor Scott Seider, parents shouldn't worry too much about how snow days affect their kid's learning. He told Patch.com:
“It’s more challenging for teachers when the learning process is disrupted by snow. But I think there are at least 50 factors that will impact a child’s quality of education before snow days.”
Seider can be reached at seider@bu.edu or (617) 353-3223.
The Super Bowl is less than two weeks away and aside from the actual game, one of the most popular reasons many people watch is to see the commercials. Christopher Cakebread, an Assistant Professor of Advertising at COM, breaks down what we can expect to see this year and offers insights into new trends in Super Bowl advertising.
Prof. Cakebread can be reached at 617-353-3476 or ccakebre@bu.edu.
January has seen 14 police officers killed in the line of duty across the U.S. Boston University criminology professor and former Boston police officer Thomas Nolan comments on this alarming trend.
"It's all about guns (in a society in which many are already predisposed toward violence). The ease of access to firearms for the unhinged, deranged, and mentally disordered in so many states across the country is increasingly making the law enforcement profession all the more hazardous, perilous, and fraught with danger. That we as a society refuse to engage in any meaningful dialogue or debate regarding our ubiquitous access to firearms and firearm possession (particularly in the aftermath of the shootings in Tuscon and the shooting deaths of 14 police officers in the last 24 days) is nothing short of scandalous.
"The question remains: How many more innocent people (and children), public servants, and police officers need to be shot and killed before we seriously consider outlawing private possession of handguns, assault rifles and other weapons whose only purpose in manufacture and design is to kill people?"
Contact Tom Nolan, 617-942-1311, tnolan@bu.edu, Twitter @Thomas_Nolan
The following Boston University professors are available to give expert commentary and analysis on President Obama's State of the Union address. All are regular contributors to PoliticoArena.
Tom Whalen, Associate professor, Social Sciences; Expert on Modern American politics and culture, American foreign policy, and the American presidency.
South Korea announced that they have agreed to hold military talks with North Korea. International Relations professors Michael Corgan and William Keylor offer their perspectives.
Will this change make the book more accessible to teachers and students in the classroom or is altering Twain's work censorship? Dr. Coleman thinks changing the book is "disturbing from the level of intellectual honesty" and that "sugar coating" the book does not allow for growth and change when it comes to issues of race and discrimination.
Rudolf Elmer, a former Swiss banker, is set to hand over files to WikiLeaks that show offshore bank accounts of high net worth individuals and corporations to evade tax payments. Law professor Cornelius Hurley, director of the Morin Center for Banking and Financial Law, offers the following comment:
"Rudolf Elmer has demonstrated that the 'shadow banking system' is not just about complex financial instruments that hide risk and the casino in which those instruments are traded. It is also about a dark corner of the banking system that hides personal and corporate wealth for a host of purposes, especially tax evasion.
As Elmer does his WikiLeaks dump in London, one issue for federal prosecutors to focus on is whether the banks and their officers filed suspicious activity reports, so-called 'SARS', as is required by the Bank Secrecy Act whenever an institution or its employees know or have reason to suspect illegal activity."
Tom Whalen
Cornelius Hurley
Stephen Davidson
Mark Williams