This is no tedious, treacly tome. Wiarda dishes hard, both on his friends and on enemies. Kirkpatrick, AEI's uber-thinker on foreign policy, mostly draws raves. Both men were part of what Wiarda says was a neocon takeover of AEI in the mid-1980s. It includes predigested facts, answers to tough questions and contact info for conservative experts.
Some chapters are already available on the tank's Web site.
NCOE hopes to spur research, education and policy recommendations that will promote successful entrepreneurship. Technology companies such as local colossus America Online jump to mind, but other entrepreneurial success stories include Starbucks and The Gap. If you scan the mainstream economic literature, you can't find much about entrepreneurship. Ex-Clinton chief of staff and former California congressman Leon E. Panetta is the new chairman of the board of directors at the Center for National Policy, replacing former Maryland congressman Michael Barnes, who has filled the post since 1993. Currently, Panetta and his wife run the Panetta Institute for Public Policy at California State University at Monterey Bay.