WASHINGTON TIMES 11/07/13 By Michael Shank WASHINGTON, November 7, 2013 — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry desperately needs a win on the Afghanistan war. Unfortunately, however, it appears increasingly unlikely he will get one. Despite repeated visits and discussions, Kerry has so far failed to secure a clean Bilateral […]
HUFFINGTON POST 10/21/13 By Michael Shank A damning report, released this week by Opportunity Nation, says that 6 million young people – or 15 percent of American youth — are neither in school nor working. This shocking statistic has particular importance for Washington, D.C. This coming fiscal year, which began […]
USA TODAY 9/23/13 By Michael Shank Focus on African security missing development needs. Last month, at the beginning of a trip to Somalia, my twitter feed started buzzing with breaking news about explosions in Mogadishu. A local rebel group, al-Shabab, claimed credit. Their tactic was fairly unsophisticated: break the Ramadan […]
ROLL CALL 08/30/13 By Michael Shank and John Fair Something happened on the Hill recently that was pretty unusual for a congressional fair. Fifteen congressional interns presented policy recommendations to a packed room in the Capitol Visitor Center. Even Sens. Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., and Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and Rep. […]
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 08/20/13 By Michael Shank As Doctors Without Borders announced last week that they’re quitting Somalia after 20-plus years in the country due to an increase in violent attacks, the need for new solutions to this crisis is key. The answer to the rebel group al-Shabaab’s […]
WASHINGTON POST 08/19/13 By Michael Shank When pundits and politicos in Washington think of Somalia, the first thing they likely think of is al-Shabaab, the violent rebel group that sprung from the military wing of the Islamic Courts Union that once ran the country. That’s especially true in light of […]
THE HILL 06/12/13 By Michael Shank and Sabina Dewan Last week, a high-level panel appointed by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon released its recommendations for a global development agenda when the Millennium Development Goals expire at the end of 2015 and when approximately one billion people will still […]
FOX NEWS 05/15/13 By Michael Shank, Elizabeth Kucinich That Washington is holding defense cuts responsible for slow economic growth is a specious argument at best. War spending is unproductive and inflationary. Modern defense costs are capital intensive, not labor intensive, making the industry inefficient as a job creator. The defense […]
WASHINGTON POST 04/29/13 By Michael Shank and Allyson Mitchell A new report, released last week, suggests that DC Public Schools’ much lauded reform efforts are still failing to produce positive results for DC’s students. Despite changes first championed by former Chancellor Michelle Rhee and now by Chancellor Kaya Henderson, the […]
WASHINGTON POST 03/27/13 By Michael Shank and Allyson Mitchell With DC Chancellor Kaya Henderson’s call this month for educational equity across the District’s divide, there is a great opportunity to address one driver of this inequity: the high school truancy and chronic absenteeism, especially for students who attend schools east […]