Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng escaped. Will the U.S. support him?

with their Chinese counterparts when they raise human rights issues. Their Chinese interlocutors are all too practiced at shape-shifting the discussion toward general issues and away from the specific immorality of imprisoning at home without charge people such as Chen Guangcheng or Liu Xia, wife of the 2010 Nobel Peace Laureate Liu Xiaobo, who himself remains in jail. The fourth round of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue is to begin next week in Beijing. Important things are achieved at these discussions. In the 2007 talks, then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson took up my case and pressed his Chinese counterparts to issue me a passport and allow me to return to the United States. After five years in prison and four months in a prison at large, I left China a “free man” without need of additional travel documentation. Next week’s talks could allow Chen Guangcheng to step out of hiding and fly off to freedom in the United States. But for that to happen, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and/or Secretary of State Hillary Clinton must raise Chen’s case and make that specific request. To those who claim that this is not the appropriate forum, I would say that the genesis of the talks lies not in the enormous trade imbalance or the resultant current accounts deficit. No, it’s the China-China human rights deficit that created the need for these talks. China’s export success is rooted in removing economic and political rights from the vast majority of Chinese citizens and sticking them with poor working conditions, ultra-low wages and the peonage that most Chinese workers experience. It vastly enriches an elite minority who control or are associated with state-sponsored entities. Simply put, it is the Chinese political system that creates the economic system and trade imbalances the dialogue seeks to redress. That is the source of the export colossus U.S. companies and workers now engage on unequal terms. Repair the rights deficit, and you begin to repair the trade deficit, the trust deficit, the moral deficit and the political deficit. The question is: Will U.S. leaders raise the issue at the table next week and stand up for people like Chen Guangcheng? Read more on this issue: Yang Jianli: Obama should speak up for human rights in China Yang Jianli: Liu Xiaobo’s seat in Oslo shouldn’t be empty The Post’s View: A pivotal moment for U.S. role in Chinese human rights


Ex-CIA counterterror chief says Pelosi ‘reinventing the truth’ about waterboarding

evidence to contradict Pelosi’s claims. So she got away with it — until today. In his new book, “Hard Measures,” Rodriguez reveals that he led a CIA briefing of Pelosi, where the techniques being used in the interrogation of senior al-Qaeda facilitator Abu Zubaida were described in detail. Her claim that she was not told about waterboarding at that briefing, he writes, “is untrue.” “We explained that as a result of the techniques, Abu Zubaydah was compliant and providing good intelligence. We made crystal clear that authorized techniques, including waterboarding, had by then been used on Zubaydah.” Rodriguez writes that he told Pelosi everything, adding, “We held back nothing.” How did she respond when presented with this information? Rodriguez writes that neither Pelosi nor anyone else in the briefing objected to the techniques being used. Indeed, he notes, when one member of his team described another technique that had been considered but not authorized or used, “Pelosi piped up immediately and said that in her view, use of that technique (which I will not describe) would have been ‘wrong.’ ” She raised no such concern about waterboarding, he writes. “Since she felt free to label one considered-and-rejected technique as wrong,” Rodriguez adds, “we went away with the clear impression that she harbored no such feelings about the ten tactics [including waterboarding] that we told her were in use.” So we’re left with a “he said-she said” standoff? Not at all. Rodriguez writes that there’s contemporaneous evidence to back his account of the briefing. Six days after the meeting took place, Rodriguez reveals, “a cable went out from headquarters to the black site informing them that the briefing for the House leadership had taken place.” He explains that “[t]he cable to the field made clear that Goss and Pelosi had been briefed on the state of AZ’s interrogation, specifically including the use of the waterboard and other enhanced interrogation techniques.” Rodriguez asks, “So Pelosi was another member of Congress reinventing the truth. What’s the big deal?” The big deal, he explains, is “the message they are sending to the men and women of the intelligence community who to this day are being asked to undertake dangerous and sometimes controversial actions on behalf of their government. They are told that the administration and Congress ‘have their back.’ You will forgive CIA officers if they are not filled with confidence.” Rodriguez compares Pelosi’s


Matchmaker waits in the wings as zoo resumes the panda mating game

proportion of the genes in the population come from him.” The stud book is peppered with “308s” under the heading “sire.” Pan Pan has fathered at least 32 cubs, including Tian Tian. He has sired multiple cubs a year — an amazing seven in 1997, including three sets of twins. This was great for Pan Pan but bad for the panda gene pool. Tian Tian, No. 458, has a less distinguished record. He has sired only the illustrious Tai Shan, who was born at the National Zoo in 2005 and lives at a panda reserve in China. Ballou said China thus far has not consulted National Zoo officials on genetic issues or replacement pandas. But it could in the future. “They have all the information,” he said. “We’ve been working with them now for 10, 11 years . . . so they have the tools and information they need to decide.” But if the Chinese want to consult, Ballou said he could crank out some good genetic matches in a few minutes. “Sure,” he said. “I could do that.” It is uncertain whether China, which has dozens of pandas in its reserves, would consent to replacements. Last year, Chinese and U.S. officials agreed to extend the pandas’ stay in Washington for five more years. The agreement replaced a 10-year lease that expired Dec. 6, 2010. The new agreement expires Dec. 6, 2015. According to zoo spokeswoman Pamela Baker-Masson, to open talks with China about new pandas the zoo would have to demonstrate all the work that has been done to try to produce cubs in Washington, and how it has come up short. The zoo would then make a recommendation “for one to go back, two to go back,” she said. Ballou said there are probably scores of female pandas that would be genetically suitable for Tian Tian. “Then you would narrow it down by age,” he said. “Then there would be a decision: ‘Well, do we want to have a female that’s a proven breeder or not?’ That would narrow it down.” More would depend on the institution where the panda is located. Ballou could probably narrow it down to four or five females. Read more from The Washington Post: D.C. Council set to vote on furlough makeup pay Glen Echo’s trash is one man’s treasure Occupyers plan May Day protests Silver Spring transit center price tag rises again


Astronaut joins effort to profit from harvesting raw materials in space

Planetary scientist and Northern Virginia resident Tom Jones — Brian Vastag To date, no one has figured out how to make money from space. How will Planetary Resources do so? It begins by finding the resource-rich destinations in near-Earth space. Those are the asteroids. The company’s initial steps will involve a small and affordable search telescope to identify nearby asteroids. The next step will then measure their reflected sunlight to figure out their composition. Isn’t a lot of this work already being done by NASA? Are there undiscovered asteroids? Oh, yeah. NASA is funding at about $6 million a year a search program for the largest asteroids, the ones that are global hazards. By accident, we’ve found about 8,500 total near-Earth objects. But we think there are about a million big enough to both be a hazard and a resource, because they do come close to the Earth. So there’s a huge job ahead of finding the undiscovered asteroids. And I think NASA’s funding is such that the pace is too slow. Partnering with the commercial sector is a great thing for the country to do. What valuable resources do asteroids contain? The most valuable thing will be water. There’s a class of asteroids that contains up to 20 percent water by weight. We know this from meteorites. If we can find those asteroid types, simply by concentrating sunlight on the dirt on their surface you can extract distilled water. That could make rocket fuel, breathing oxygen, drinking water. It goes hand in hand with lowering the cost of future space exploration. At the same time, we might find rare, strategic metals that could be returned to Earth. That’s a long way off. So the first step after identifying the right asteroids would be exploiting them in space. That’s right. By doing so you enable exploration and you lower the cost of doing anything in space, which helps everything from tourism to setting up industrial concerns in space. What hardware might the new company send into space? First, a small telescope. The next thing you do is build small, prospecting robots. I’m talking shoe-box-size spacecraft that piggyback on an existing booster for some other mission. You get a cheap launch, then use solar electric or ion engines to get out to an asteroid. There the robot will sniff and scratch — that’s prospecting. How did you get involved? My interest


I was in the Merchant Marine from 1944 to 1947. What Roberto Loiederman said about the Merchant Marine was true back then. But what has been known, down the ages, is that these truths are only a part of the greater story. There are men, and now women, who go to sea, accept its vicissitudes and do no evil acts. They remain anonymous. There are also men, and women, who go to sea, drink and consort improperly, and then go home to a pattern of domestic rectitude. Their divorces and scandals, when made public, do great damage to families and to the Merchant Marine. Now, we have discovered, the Secret Service is embroiled in a mess involving drinking and prostitutes. I have always been proud of my service, but I have found that bad novels and a scandal-seeking media speak no good of those who serve quietly. Bryant Hopkins, Arlington


An Earth friendly reading list

Environment-themed kids books include, from far left, “Life in the Ocean,” “The Lorax Pop Up!,” “How to Raise Monarch Butterflies,” “Marty McGuire Digs Worms!” and “Out of the Way! Out of the Way!”. (Deb Lindsey/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST) With spring in full swing, “Out of the Way! Out of the Way!” By Uma Krishnaswami and Uma Krishnaswamy (Groundwood Books, ages 4-6). This book uses charming illustrations and poetic language to tell the unlikely story of how a tree grows in a sprawling city in India. “Life in the Ocean: The Story of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle” By Claire A. Nivola (Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers/Frances Foster Books, ages 6-9) Sylvia Earle is one of the most important pioneers in the exploration of the deep sea. Her work has helped broaden our understanding of the oceans and the creatures that live in them. What makes this book exceptional is the way it uses Earle’s own words to describe the sea. Challenging the traditional image of whales as “big and fat and ponderous and lumpy,” Earle declares, “Whales are like swallows . . . like otters. . . . They move in all directions. . . . Rollicking, frolicking creatures, doing all this wonderful dancing in the sea.” “Marty McGuire Digs Worms!” By Kate Messner and Brian Floca (Scholastic Press, ages 6-9) It’s hard to think of cafeteria composting as the topic for a good chapter book, but Messner and Floca pull it off. It’s the characters who make this book entertaining, whether it’s Marty’s wildlife rehabilitator mom or her inventive Grandma Barb, who thinks both worm slime and duct tape have essential uses. “How to Raise Monarch Butterflies: A Step-by-Step Guide for Kids” Reading about insects is one thing; learning to raise them is another. Pasternak has written a clear, practical and family-friendly guide to raising butterflies, which includes plenty of compelling scientific information along the way and ends by explaining what we can do to save their habitat. “The Lorax Pop Up!” By Dr. Seuss, with pop-ups by David A. Carter (Robin Corey Books, All ages) Perhaps you saw the movie version of “The Lorax,” but we all know that the original book is better than the movie. This pop-up version can give kids of all ages a new appreciation of Dr. Seuss’s pro-environment message. — Juliet Eilperin


Chen Guangcheng must weigh loss of stature against protection of U.S. asylum

in 1989, is an investment manager and possible successor to Warren Buffett. Shen Tong, who also fled in 1989 and runs a successful software company, has devoted most of his time in recent months to plotting strategy for the Occupy Wall Street movement. “The U.S. was not only my home, but it stood for something admirable or even inspirational,” Shen said, recalling how he felt when he first arrived. “That hasn’t been true for a while.” The Occupy movement has given him a chance to participate, as did the Tiananmen demonstrations. “In some ways, this is what I came for,” he said. Wei Jingsheng, a Beijing zoo electrician who spent 18 years in prison for writing that China could not modernize economically without political modernization, makes speeches and has done talk shows on Voice of America. But he has struggled to rally support and has bickered with other exiles since arriving in 1997. He runs a foundation in Washington and lives on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. “I think I have been more effective in the United States than if I had stayed in a Chinese jail,” Wei said in an interview Monday. “That’s not true for most people sent to exile. Most are trapped by the need to make a living. They effectively are disappeared from this world.” At times, China’s exiles have floundered. In the early 1990s, the author Orville Schell wrote a profile of exiled Tiananmen student leader Wu’er Kaixi, who was then running a Ranch House restaurant off a freeway near San Francisco International Airport. The late Fang Lizhi made a poorly received, dogma-laden speech in broken English at the Council on Foreign Relations when he was allowed to leave the U.S. Embassy in Beijing for exile, and later went to teach at the University of Arizona. Xu, who was 59 when he arrived, said adjusting to the United States has been difficult in some ways. Learning English and finding work was hard. “Not being able to go back to China for so long has been a very negative experience, because China has been the home that nurtured me for so long,” he said. And he misses his relatives. “Even though my parents have passed away,” he said, “I can’t go tend to their graves.” But he said the growth of the Internet has made it easier for exiles to have an impact in China. He is still


U.S., China to launch high-stakes economic, security talks despite diplomatic tension

discouraging Iran and North Korea from developing nuclear weapons, and there have been signs the Chinese are listening. China signed on to a U.N. statement condemning a recent North Korean rocket launch, and it has cut back on oil purchases from Iran. But observers say it is hard to predict whether the momentum from earlier talks can be maintained in light of Chen’s escape from house arrest last week. The activist lawyer is believed to be receiving shelter and protection from U.S. diplomats in the Chinese capital, highlighting U.S. concern about China’s human rights record — concern that often puts China on the defensive. Frisbie cited worries that the sensitive diplomatic issue could preoccupy officials on both sides. “The Chen situation could overwhelm all of it,” he said. “This is a bit of a test of the relationship’s maturity, to see how they will handle this.” According to a confidant of Chen’s, U.S. diplomats are trying to work out a deal with Chinese officials under which Chen might be able to leave China for the United States. Officials remained silent on Chen’s situation as Clinton traveled to China overnight Monday and Tuesday. But in a White House appearance Monday, Obama urged China’s leaders to do better on human rights, saying, “China will be that much more prosperous and strong as you see improvements on human rights issues in that country.” Chen’s status “is going to be a complication, but we shouldn’t forget that the [U.S.-China] relationship is built around critical security and economic issues,” said Jeffrey Bader, the John C. Whitehead senior fellow in international diplomacy at the Brookings Institution. Even before Chen’s dramatic flight from his village, the political situation in China had been shaken in recent weeks by the scandal surrounding fallen party chieftain Bo Xilai, whose wife has been named a suspect in the murder of a British businessman. Clinton is unlikely to bring up Bo’s name in the talks, analysts said. But reports alleging corruption in Bo’s inner circle have already posed a challenge to Chinese officials, with the apparent details of Bo’s operation undermining the image the party likes to project of a political leadership that moves flawlessly in lockstep. More world news coverage: - Political asylum is a tough call for Chen - Scores dead in India ferry sinking - Images after Osama bin Laden’s death - Read more headlines from around the world


depicted Bo Xilai’s case as an isolated incident. They have said the party’s central disciplinary committee, in charge of enforcing rules on more than 80 million party members, is investigating Bo for “serious violations,” reportedly including corruption and abuse of power. Bo’s rule in Chongqing The investigation of Bo began when his former police chief and right-hand man, Wang Lijun, left the city of Chongqing and entered the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu, 200 miles away. Wang stayed at the consulate for more than 24 hours, revealing a tale of corruption, mistrust and alleged murder involving Bo, his wife, Gu Kailai, and his aides. Wang was then taken by central security agents to Beijing. But stories of Bo’s ruthless methods, particularly during his crackdown on organized crime, have been circulating for years. And Bo’s measures to revive “red culture,” including ordering Chongqing television to broadcast only “patriotic” programs during prime time and organizing mass singalongs of Mao Zedong-era revolutionary songs, were widely covered in China’s media, and even attracted some criticism. During his tenure in Chongqing, Bo became so toxic to party leaders that from the time he was appointed local party chief in November 2007 until his sacking in March, neither President Hu Jintao nor Premier Wen Jiabao visited Chongqing. Yet Bo was never publicly chastised or reined in by his bosses in Beijing. In a March 14 news conference, Wen wagged his finger while he rebuked Chongqing’s authorities over the Wang Lijun incident and told them to “seriously reflect.” Wen also warned against a return to the violence of the Cultural Revolution, which lasted from 1966 until Mao’s death in 1976. That was seen as a direct repudiation of Bo’s “red revival” campaign. But despite his stern tone, some analysts noted that Bo was earlier considered to be in line for a spot on the all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee during a leadership transition later this year. The central government was forced to act against Bo only because Wang’s unusual public flight to the consulate forced its hand. A question of power Wang Xiangwei, chief editor of Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, wrote in a column Monday that the two incidents together — Chen’s escape and Bo’s fall — show the need for the central government to exercise more control over local authorities. Wang said Chen had done the right thing by exposing how officials in Linyi City, where


Pentagon report cites limited gains in Afghanistan

be one of the most violent provinces in Afghanistan. In Kandahar province, attacks increased by 13 percent as U.S. and Afghan troops contested districts that have long been controlled by the Taliban. The picture was mixed in the east: Attacks there fell by 8 percent over the past six months, but the report attributes some of that drop, which occurred after the end of the fighting season, to one of the coldest winters in Afghanistan in the past 10 years. The biggest question facing U.S. commanders is whether the Afghan government will be able to hold onto gains made by U.S. troops over the past three years. A major area of concern has been the ineffectiveness of the Afghan government, which has been hampered by corruption as well as shortages of trained civil servants. “Setbacks in governance and development continue to slow the reinforcement of security gains,” the report said. As U.S. military personnel reduce their numbers and focus more on shifting responsibility to the Afghan army and police, the resources available to improve Afghan governance are expected to decline. The report seeks to make a positive out of a recent spate of negative news, including the accidental burning of Korans and the defiling of insurgent corpses by U.S. personnel. Noting that the relationship between coalition troops and the Afghan government has “endured significant shocks,” the report praises Afghan forces for containing the violence that erupted after the Koran burnings. Smaller-scale protests, however, continue to occur with some regularity throughout the country. Scores of Afghans launched an anti-American protest in Afghanistan on Tuesday over the killings of three children during a gun battle between U.S.-led forces and Taliban insurgents. The children were killed after the Taliban attacked a group of U.S. forces and Afghan police who were meeting with local residents in the Shah Joy district of the southeastern province of Zabul province Monday, provincial officials said. Afghan and U.S. officials concluded that the children were killed by insurgents’ bullets. But protesters nonetheless railed against foreign forces, whom they blamed for the casualties. Separately, two children were reported killed by a roadside bomb Monday in eastern Paktika province. Special correspondent Sayed Salahuddin in Kabul contributed to this report. More world news coverage: - China’s crises spotlight local abuses - Afghans blame U.S. for child deaths - Images after Osama bin Laden’s death - Read more headlines from around the world


Good to Go: Hawthorne Homemade Organic Juice Bar & Market

Institute for Food and Health, and a third investor. Inside their tiny storefront in Northwest are a three-stool bar where customers order; a refrigerated case holding a few vegetables and prepared foods; shelves stocked with pantry items; and a produce stand that Jo Anna Hawthorne says was custom-built from old wood she salvaged from the shuttered Hawk ’n’ Dove on Capitol Hill. That last item “really gives it a market feel,” says Hawthorne, a former real estate agent and spa manager. “It’s brought people into the store.” The shop’s produce offerings are local, sustainable and organic whenever possible, Hawthorne says. For example, free-range eggs, herbs, arugula and mixed greens come from the Farm at Our House in Brookeville, Md. The wheatgrass is grown by Hawthorne herself. She’s also the one who created the juice bar recipes; her sister put together the food menu. The staff is small, so it can take up to 20 minutes to order and get your food and juices. We liked the vibrant green Abundant Energy juice ($7 for 12 ounces; $8 for 16 ounces), served in biodegradable cups or take-away Mason jars (an extra $2). It gets its color from a mix of seasonal greens and romaine lettuce, but the prominent flavors are green apple, lemon and celery. At first, we mistook the Raw, Raw, Raw Turnip-Nut Green Wrap ($8.95) for a side salad. It’s a small portion of turnip-cashew crunch, almond spread, parsnips, carrots and other ingredients, wrapped in collards. Although deliciously punched up with a citrus-tarragon vinaigrette, this would be a very light lunch. Hungrier customers should try the panino of Turkey Hill smoked turkey breast, cheddar cheese, plum tomato and guacamole on multigrain bread ($9.95), served — as are all of the sandwiches — with a small side of Napa cabbage slaw. Yolanda’s mostly vegan soups have included a garlicky zucchini-potato-basil bisque ($4.50 for 12 ounces; $5.95 for 16 ounces; $8.95 a quart). Jo Anna also offers juice cleanses ($99 to $195). The shop seats eight inside and four outside. Hawthorne says she might add a picnic table out front when the weather improves. And with the approach of summer, other changes are in store: “I’m adding tomatoes . . . to the juice bar — people love that — and cucumbers,” she says. “I’ve been waiting for them to come in season.” — Rina Rapuano Hawthorne Homemade Organic Juice Bar Market


SpaceX launch of Dragon capsule to space station to put NASA strategy on display

interfere with the space station’s systems. In late April, the company pushed the launch back another week to run more computer simulations of the docking. Monday’s launchpad test was delayed by an hour by a computer glitch. Still, SpaceX is ahead of other private space companies. It has already successfully launched one Dragon capsule that orbited Earth and landed safely on target, in the Pacific Ocean, in December 2010. A NASA analysis published last year found that SpaceX developed its Falcon rocket for about a third of what NASA would have spent. Orbital Sciences Private contractors have built rockets for NASA in the past, of course, but the new companies have been given much freer rein to design and operate their vehicles under fixed-price contracts. The SpaceX venture is especially significant because its capsule — unlike any other cargo carriers under production or available from other nations — was designed to return to Earth rather than break up in the atmosphere. That would allow scientists to have their experiments returned, another capability the United States gave up when it retired the shuttle. (The Russian craft that now ferry astronauts to and from the space station return only crew members, not cargo.) A successful flight would also aid SpaceX in its race to become the first commercial company chosen by NASA to carry astronauts to and from the station. SpaceX is competing with space stalwart Boeing and two newer companies, Sierra Nevada and Blue Origin (founded by Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos), for NASA contracts to carry crew. Space experts are watching the launch carefully for indications of how far commercial space has come, but they do not necessarily expect the capsule to dock. “If Dragon fails at launch, that’s a bad thing that will get people concerned,” said John Logsdon, professor emeritus at the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University. “But if it gets close but can’t dock, I would say that’s a setback but not a tragedy,” he added. “If they’re able to get close or even dock, then it would do quite a bit for commercial space — a real validation for those in NASA who set this in motion.” While that view is common among officials involved in the effort, it is not necessarily the view of the SpaceX employees trying to make it work. Encountered at dinnertime at a restaurant near the SpaceX hangar at


Fallout from ruling that pit bulls are ‘inherently dangerous’

Erica Carter’s move from Pasadena, Calif., to Baltimore was difficult, she said, not because of the lack of housing options, but because many places would not allow her pit bull Bailey. Though Carter has settled into a rental near Patterson Park, she said the search was daunting. And she fears it will only get worse with her next move after last week’s Maryland Court of Appeals ruling that pit bulls are inherently dangerous animals. The court’s decision could have far-reaching implications for landlords and dog owners who rent. Landlords could opt to ban pit bulls or all dogs to avoid future liability, or they could see increased insurance costs, industry experts said. In turn, as pit bull owners have difficulty finding housing, animal advocates fear more dogs will be left at shelters. The ruling — in a civil case brought by the family of a child attacked by a pit bull in Towson in 2007 — means victims don’t need to prove a dog’s owner knew it had a history of being dangerous. They just need to show that the owner or landlord knew a dog is part pit bull to make a claim. “That’s absolutely ridiculous,” Carter, 20, said as she watched Bailey trot happily through the mud with a pack of other dogs at the Canton Dog Park. “Pit bulls get judged by their look and the actions of other people,” she said, referring to owners who train pit bulls to fight. A court ruling in Maryland found that pit bulls and dogs that are part pit bull are “inherently dangerous.” Howard Carolan, 28, who brought his pit-mix Annie to the park, was surprised by the ruling. He said he and his fiancee recently rescued Annie. “That’s got to be half the dogs in the city,” he said of pit mixes. “We just got this girl. She’s been sweet,” he said. He added, however, that the ruling “does concern me about keeping her.” Carter said she would never give up her dog. “I plan on adopting more,” she said. But many are concerned about the ruling’s impact on pit bull ownership. “We’re getting calls from people who are getting calls from their landlords telling them to move out,” said Jen Swanson, executive director at the Baltimore Humane Society in Reisterstown. She said the humane society has been advising callers that leases are legally binding contracts and landlords can’t


Montgomery County animal watch

These were among cases received by the Montgomery County Animal Services Division. For information on shelter hours and location, adoption and licensing procedures, rabies clinics and low-cost neutering, call 240-773-5960. Chickens at large Hop, skip and a thump Dog gets spooked, circles home: Shelter has adoptable cats Gaithersburg — Compiled by Lisa M. Bolton


In Maryland, a rare reversal of suspensions for two lacrosse players

Easton High School lacrosse players Casey Edsall, left, and Graham Dennis in May, after their suspensions. Last week, the Maryland State Board of Education expunged their disciplinary records. (Kim Hairston/BALTIMORE SUN) The search was a surprise. The high school lacrosse team in Easton, Md., had boarded its bus when the principal and other administrators arrived, announcing that gear bags would be checked. A tip had come in about athletes carrying alcohol. Near the front of the bus, Graham Dennis, then a 17-year-old junior, asked whether he should remove the pocketknife he always used to cut and tighten strings on his lacrosse stick. It was tucked inside his oversized duffel bag, along with cleats, pads, socks, duct tape and medical supplies. That question — to which he says he gave little thought — set off a year-long odyssey in school discipline that ended this month with a rare outcome: The state stepped in and reversed a local school board’s decision on student punishment. In a unanimous ruling, the Maryland State Board of Education expunged the disciplinary records of two lacrosse players suspended from school after the search in April 2011. The state board also raised questions about a decision to call the police on Dennis, who was led away in handcuffs for having two small knives. His teammate Casey Edsall, also a 17-year-old junior, was suspended for having a lighter, used to seal the frayed ends of strings. School officials deemed it an explosive device, his family said. “This case is about context and about the appropriate exercise of discretion,” the state board said in its ruling — stressing that knives and lighters do not belong on campus but that Talbot County school officials went beyond their own rules in punishing the students. It was a blow to the get-tough culture of zero tolerance that has taken hold in U.S. schools in the past 20 years. And for Maryland, it is another moment in the discipline spotlight. In February, the state board drew wide notice for proposals to reduce suspensions and require districts to remedy racial disparities. A vote is expected within the next few months. “What we’re seeing is that Maryland is stepping up in a leadership role and putting common sense back into discipline,” said Judith Browne Dianis, co-director of the Advancement Project, a civil rights group. On Maryland’s Eastern Shore, the decision culminated an often-frustrating quest for the


What’s new in gluten-free beers: Less twang

sticky sweetness and slightly earthy flavor. “It’s our slowest-moving beer,” Warwick confesses; he runs through about a half a barrel a week. “But it’s drawn in new regulars,” he adds, along with their friends who happily down Rock Bottom’s other beers. Although pleasant enough, most gluten-free beers don’t precisely replicate the flavor of a barley brew and might not find many adherents in the general population. That rankled Terry Michaelson, chief executive of the Craft Brew Alliance based in Portland, Ore. “Beer in our society is a connector, something for sitting down with friends and laughing and sharing.” Michaelson, whose celiac disease was diagnosed 12 years ago, set out with brew master Joe Casey (whose wife is similarly afflicted) to formulate a beer that would appeal to celiacs and non-celiacs alike. About a month ago, Widmer Brothers Brewing (one of the alliance’s member breweries) released Omission Gluten Free Lager and Pale Ale. These beers are made with barley that has most of the gluten removed through a proprietary brewing regimen. The golden lager is crisp and refreshing, with a lemony hop character. The amber-colored ale is full of resiny hops with lots of caramel malt for balance. Neither has a twang or funk that would peg it as gluten-free. Here’s the catch: They’re available only in Oregon. Michaelson wants to go nationwide, but there are regulatory hurdles. The federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau has authority over most alcoholic beverages. But beer made without barley isn’t covered by its definition of “malt beverage,” and oversight defaults to the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA allows breweries to label these beers “gluten-free” if they contain fewer than 20 parts per million of gluten. Omission labels claim the beer contains 6 ppm or fewer of gluten. But to ship a barley-based beer out of state, says Michaelson, the brewery needs label approval from the Tax and Trade Bureau. And the bureau does not currently allow any statement about gluten content on the labels of these beers, says specialist Tom Hogue, the agency’s director for congressional and public affairs. The bureau, Hogue added, is drawing up guidelines that will permit some statement about gluten content to let the buyer make an informed decision. Asked when those guidelines would be released, he answered, “We’re working to get them out as fast as we can.” Kitsock is editor of Mid Atlantic Brewing news.


In defense of Chen Guangcheng

THE DEAL UNDER which Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng left the U.S. Embassy in Beijing on Wednesday was bold, risky and potentially groundbreaking for human rights in China. It could also prove disastrous. By late Wednesday, Mr. Chen, who was then in a Beijing hospital, was telling Western news organizations that his decision had been forced by threats to his family and that he wished to exit China for the United States. That may or may not reopen a six-day crisis over his status. What’s clear is that the Obama administration now bears moral responsibility for Mr. Chen’s freedom and welfare. The blind, 40-year-old activist aspired to be — and could still become — a model for Chinese who seek to promote the rule of law and respect for human rights. Having studied the checkered history of dissidents who found asylum in the United States, Mr. Chen told U.S. officials and his supporters that he wished to remain in China. His aim was to force senior government officials to end the illegal persecution of his family by authorities in his village and province and to allow him to continue his work as a human rights lawyer. To their credit, U.S. diplomats in Beijing retrieved Mr. Chen after learning he had escaped from his village and brought him into the embassy — an act that infuriated the Chinese government. By early Wednesday, the diplomats believed they had brokered a bargain under which Mr. Chen would be reunited with his family and allowed to attend law school in another city. Were it to follow through on those promises, the regime would break with a pattern of relentlessly hounding dissidents and human rights activists, a number of whom have been illegally confined to their homes. The progress this would represent, and Mr. Chen’s professed desire to remain in China, made the deal a risk worth taking. But it also put the Obama administration under obligation. Having strongly encouraged Mr. Chen to accept the Chinese offer, the administration must ensure that he is treated fairly — or appear naive and feckless. Already Mr. Chen’s supporters and human rights groups are suggesting that the Americans pressured him into a bad deal because of their desire not to disrupt a U.S.-China strategic dialogue that began Wednesday evening. U.S. officials sound credible when they insist that Mr. Chen never asked for asylum and was never told that the


SpaceX launch is delayed again; company trying to send capsule to space station

Commercial space company SpaceX is delaying the launch of a new cargo capsule to the international space station because of software issues, officials said Wednesday. Already three months behind its initial schedule, the launch of the company’s Dragon spacecraft had been set for this coming Monday, but the company and NASA are continuing to test and verify the software, said SpaceX spokeswoman Kirstin Brost Grantham. “We’re working with NASA to complete the software verification process, and we hope to announce a new launch date soon,” she said. If SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket cannot launch from Cape Canaveral by May 10, the company will have to wait at least until late in the next week to try. A Russian Soyuz spacecraft is slated to lift off from Kazakhstan on May 15 with three new space station crew members, and it will need to be safely docked at the station before the Dragon can attempt to approach. The SpaceX launch is a critical moment for NASA’s new strategy of paying private companies to deliver cargo to the 16-nation orbiting outpost, which is slated to operate through at least 2020. SpaceX has a $1.6 billion NASA contract to fly 12 cargo missions to the station. Orbital Sciences of Dulles holds a similar contract and is developing a rocket for a test flight this summer from Wallops Islands, Va. While the SpaceX mission is explicitly a test, the Dragon capsule will carry 1,100 pounds of food, water and other supplies to the space station. Since NASA retired the space shuttle last year, the agency has relied on spacecraft from Russia, Europe and Japan to resupply the station. Interest in the mission is high. Grantham said 430 media representatives had signed up to watch the launch, a “very large number for an unmanned flight,” she said. More on this story: SpaceX, NASA prep milestone launch


One of two controversial ‘bird flu’ papers is published

of chickens, mostly in Asia. People are rarely infected, but when that happens they are likely to die. Since 2003 there have been 602 human cases and 355 deaths. In the lab, Kawaoka started with an H5N1 strain that had killed several people in Vietnam in 2004. He isolated the gene for “hemagglutinin,” which is most responsible for contagiousness. He put into it two mutations that allow the flu virus to attach more easily to cells in a person’s throat. He then combined that doctored gene with the “normal” genes from the strain of H1N1 flue that caused the human flu pandemic in 2009. Two more mutations in hemagglutinin appeared during lab experiments and after ferrets — which stand in for people in flu studies — were infected with the virus. Together, the four mutations made the engineered virus transmissible through the air, although it didn’t kill the ferrets who caught it, or even make them very sick. Whether “wild” bird flu virus containing them would be both contagious and deadly isn’t known. However, the experiment has given scientists an idea of what mutations to look out for — which was the purpose of the research from the beginning. One of the mutations is already widespread in H5N1 strains circulating in the Middle East. Some of those strains also carry a mutation in a different gene that makes growth in human cells easier. “These viruses may be several steps closer to those capable of efficient transmission in humans and are of concern,” Kawaoka and his colleagues wrote in their Nature article. A second paper, by Dutch scientist Ron A. M. Fouchier, that made a more contagious bird flu virus using other methods, is awaiting publication at the journal Science. The National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, a panel of independent experts that advises the federal government, in December asked the two journals to hold off publishing the papers while researchers and governments thought about how to handle this kind of research. In late March the board looked at the experiments more closely and said it no longer opposed publication. Read more from The Washington Post: - U.S.-China deal on legal activist seems to unravel - Police: Death of NFL great Junior Seau appears to be suicide - President Obama’s former girlfriends share stories, letters in new biography - Edvard Munch’s ‘The Scream’ sells for record $119.9M at New York auction


Chinese dissident’s fate in limbo as diplomatic deal appears to fray

as they talked — also were moved by his story, he said. “I probably was in 30 or 40 hours of conversation with him,” Campbell told CNN in an interview broadcast from China. “Every single discussion was about the possibility of how to go back and live a more normal life in China and what we could do to help in that effort. Never once did he talk about asylum or coming to the United States.” As the hours passed, Chen would ask about famous dissidents from recent history, including former South African president Nelson Mandela. Chen seemed particularly curious about the experiences of Aung San Suu Kyi, a Burmese pro-democracy activist who spent years under house arrest, Campbell said. “He asked me many questions about her,” he recalled. “He asked me, ‘Does she ever feel low? Did she ever question her choices?’ ” Worried about family By Tuesday, all sides appeared to have settled on an unusual deal that would allow Chen to relocate to a city near Beijing, where he could attend law school under Chinese guarantees of protection. Jerome A. Cohen, an American lawyer long acquainted with Chen, said that when the two spoke by phone, the activist was nervous but eager to move forward. Chen “was open to this idea of going out and studying law and trying to make a career again outside Shandong province,” said Cohen, a law professor at New York University and an expert on Chinese law. But he acknowledged that such a move would be “very, very dangerous,” given the chances of being detained again. “We went back and forth,” Cohen said. “He was worried about his family.” By Wednesday, U.S. officials began to put the plan into place. Campbell, in a statement, said Chen freely decided to leave the embassy after being assured that his wife and children were safe and waiting at a Beijing hospital. “After twice being asked by [U.S. Ambassador to China Gary] Locke if he was ready to go, he said, ‘Zou’ — let’s go,” Campbell said. “We were all there as witnesses to his decision, and he hugged and thanked us all. Locke phoned The Washington Post’s Beijing bureau at 3:20 p.m. local time to say he was in a van with Chen, stuck in traffic but en route to the hospital. The ambassador then handed the phone to Chen, who introduced himself: “This is


Montgomery County preparing to clean up Gude landfill

From their back yards, residents can see deer in Montgomery County’s old Gude landfill in Rockville, which they hope will soon be turned into a park. (Marvin Joseph/THE WASHINGTON POST) When Keith Ligon and scores of his neighbors moved to the Derwood section of Rockville, they didn’t mind that their new homes sat near a towering landfill. After all, county officials had pledged in the 1980s to convert the closed garbage dump into a giant park, with tennis and basketball courts, an archery range and other recreation facilities. Nearly a quarter-century later, they are still waiting for that park. But now there is a more pressing concern: The landfill off East Gude Drive is leaking toxins. In March, state and Montgomery County environmental officials finalized a study of the hazards associated with the trace amounts of harmful chemicals seeping into groundwater and the methane gas venting into the atmosphere. The leakage does not pose an imminent health threat, said Peter Karasik, a manager at the county’s Department of Environmental Protection. Because people and wildlife do not come in contact with the contaminated groundwater, he said, any perceived risk is “more of an emotional and psychological burden.” Still, neighbors are worried that the chemicals will harm the environment, and they have created a Web site that links to groundwater studies and gas-monitoring data from the site, just north of downtown Rockville. (The Washington Post) The county, which has sunk hundreds of thousands of dollars into the old landfill, is considering spending an additional $412,000 to figure out how to clean it up. The county is “going to put together a remediation plan, and we intend to stay involved and keep on top of their efforts,” said Nick Radonic, one of Ligon’s neighbors. The Gude [pronounced GOO-dee] landfill, the county’s oldest, opened in 1965. After accumulating enough garbage to fill more than 70 tractor-trailers, it shut down in 1982 and was covered with two feet of soil. Now it resembles a rolling, verdant pasture, populated with deer and the occasional enthusiast flying electric airplanes. The only hints that it is a dormant landfill are the rows of pipes that vent the methane and the signs that prohibit smoking and open flames. Shortly after the landfill closed, developers started to put up single-family houses nearby. Home buyers liked the neighborhood’s proximity to the Shady Grove Metro station, and the developers distributed county schematics


Defense procurement problems won’t go away

In June 1986, after a year-long investigation, then-President Ronald Reagan’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Defense Management — later known as the Packard Commission — filed a final report. It was established to investigate Pentagon procurement after an enormous increase in defense spending and the discovery of the infamous $435 hammer and $600 toilet seat. The panel was chaired by David Packard, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard Co., and deputy defense secretary in the Nixon administration. Its declaration: “The Department of Defense’s acquisition system continues to take longer, cost more and deliver fewer quantities and capabilities than originally planned.” Among causes listed were “stifling burdens of regulation, reporting and oversight.” Last month, a Defense Business Board task force, established a year ago by the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. James A. Winnefeld Jr., reported exactly the same “unacceptable” finding. The task force conclusion came after a study that included 221 interviews and review of 300 past studies and commission findings. Its declaration: The Defense Department “acquisition system continues to take longer, cost more, get less and oftentimes not what is needed.” What can be more boring than reading about yet another set of recommendations for fixing a system that over the past decade has seen the Defense Department flooded with funds. It’s been so flush that it could walk away from $50 billion worth of “weapons that either did not work or were overtaken by new requirements given the average 15-to-18 year development cycle,” according to the Punaro task force report. And — yawn — the overruns are hardly over. This is in spite of the need to reduce defense spending. More yawn-inducing reality: The Government Accountability Office recently reported current major weapons systems will show a cost growth of $135 billion before they are fully integrated into the system. Boring and frustrating. It was time to do something 26 years ago. The only major lasting memorial to the Packard Commission is its recommendation for an undersecretary of defense for acquisition. The Pentagon has had one since that time, but the problems remain. “Today there is no rational system whereby the Executive Branch and the Congress reach coherent and enduring agreement on national military strategy, the forces to carry it out, and the funding that should be provided — in light of the overall economy and competing claims on national resources.” This was the Packard Commission more than two


Activist Chen Guangcheng wants to leave China with Hillary Clinton

BEIJING — In a telephone interview early Friday, Chen said he does not blame American officials for his plight after leaving the U.S. Embassy under a deal they helped strike. But he accused Chinese officials of reneging on their promises to fully restore his freedom. A few hours later, he made a dramatic call into a congressional hearing, telling lawmakers in Washington through the cellphone of a human rights activist that he wanted to travel to the United States to rest and that he was most worried about “the safety of my mother and my brothers.” Chen said he wanted to travel to the United States, but only temporarily, perhaps to study. “It’s not a one-time-only decision,” Chen told the Washington Post from his hospital room. “It doesn’t mean I won’t come back. As a free person, I believe I am endowed with the right to leave China when I want to and come back anytime I want.” China’s foreign ministry said Friday that if the well-known activist wanted to leave the country to study, he had to apply through the Chinese government like other ordinary citizens. “Chen Guangcheng is currently being treated in hospital,” the spokesman, Liu Weimin, said in a statement. “If he wants to study abroad, he can apply through normal channels to the relevant departments, according to the law, just like any other Chinese citizen.” With the fate of Chen and his family uncertain, the Obama administration drew sharp criticism Thursday for its handling of the crisis. U.S. officials expressed concern and frustration at not being able to meet with Chen. But granting him any assistance — much less safe passage to the United States — has grown far more complex and difficult since his departure from the U.S. Embassy on Wednesday, six days after escaping de facto house arrest in his village. Once Chen left the sovereign soil of the embassy, the leverage of U.S. officials went with him. Now he is under the control of Chinese authorities, who on Thursday blocked all access to the activist. “We haven’t had either a diplomat or a doctor in to see him,” said one U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to be more candid. “There’s plenty of anxiety about what’s going on.” The official said that U.S. diplomats had extraordinary difficulties even trying to telephone Chen on Thursday and that their two calls with


Chen says China not honoring agreement, wants to meet U.S. diplomats

going to investigate,” Chen said. “I want to believe him. But at the same time, I need to observe what they do in the end.” He added, “I can’t judge yet.” The conversation lasted about 15 minutes, and Chen sounded relaxed, cheerful and full of energy — a sharp contrast to earlier interviews on Thursday when he was reported to have sounded frightened. He said he was being treated well at Chaoyang hospital and that he and his family received three meals, all on time. He said he, his wife and two children were together in one room and that no one was there watching over them. Chen said he is still recovering from a cracked bone he suffered from climbing over a wall during his dramatic escape from house arrest on April 22. He also said he received a colonoscopy and a biopsy Thursday and was awaiting the results. He said he hoped that his wife, Yuan Weijing, can also get a full medical exam because she received scars from brutal beatings at the hands of local thugs in their home village. Chen said he would like to travel to the United States, but only temporarily, to rest and perhaps study. But he said he did not want to remain in the United States permanently — and he chastised journalists who he said had misinterpreted his words. “Many reporters misquoted me, and even wrote things I never said,” Chen told The Post. “It’s not a one-time-only decision,” Chen said of his desire to leave China for the United States. “It doesn’t mean I won’t come back. As a free person, I believe I am endowed with the right to leave China when I want to and come back anytime I want.” “In the past seven years, I didn’t have a real weekend,” Chen said. “I was very stressed. I want to relax. I want to rest more. Maybe I will study something there because in the past seven years, I didn’t have chance to enrich my knowledge.” He said he also wanted to continue “to promote social progress and judiciary system improvement in China.” “The society must become more and more fair in the future,” Chen said. “It’s just a matter of time. It depends on how many people make efforts, and how big the efforts we make.” Washington Post researcher Zhang Jie in Beijing contributed to this report.


KSM trial will put military commissions to the test

Benjamin Wittes is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a member of the Hoover Institution’s Task Force on National Security and Law. He will be covering the KSM arraignment for the Lawfare Blog. When Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four others are arraigned Saturday in a military commission at Guantanamo Bay on charges of orchestrating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, it will be the public’s first glimpse in several years of the 9/11 mastermind. The event holds the promise of long-delayed justice and will renew debate over the interrogations of the operation’s key planners. But the arraignment represents more than the possibility that we might hear once again from the flamboyant and mesmerizingly evil KSM. It is also likely to serve as a make-or-break test for the military commissions system, a system in which the Obama administration has — despite its initial instincts and ongoing misgivings — invested considerable prestige and energy. I have sat through every minute of every recent commission hearing, and the system looks nothing like the kangaroo court of human rights groups’ caricatures. The media will no doubt have a field day if KSM makes things unruly Saturday — as he very well might — but any spectacle should not obscure a larger truth about the tribunals in which he and his co-defendants will face trial: Quietly and gradually, the commissions have become a real court. More than a decade ago, the Bush administration launched the military commission system on the theory that commissions would deliver swift, streamlined justice for major terrorist figures. But the commissions’ development was stunted by a combination of early structural and legal flaws, litigation, staffing and personnel problems, and, at times, inadequate political commitment and attention. Despite the commissions’ obvious underperformance, however, opponents never succeeded in killing off the system. Even as the commissions foundered, Congress repeatedly insisted on their availability, and sometimes primacy, for certain kinds of cases. (In one bill the House passed last year, for example, Congress sought to require the use of commissions in all terrorism cases involving foreign nationals.) The result has been a peculiar stalemate in which the commissions have been allowed to neither succeed nor fail. This weekend’s arraignment marks the beginning of the third major effort to bring the 9/11 conspirators to justice. The Obama administration dropped earlier military-commission charges against them when it decided in late 2009 to bring the 9/11


Chen Guangcheng case shows outsize expectations of U.S.-China diplomacy

John Pomfret, a former Beijing bureau chief for The Post, is writing a book on the history of interactions between Americans and Chinese. BEIJING The past two months in China have revealed something profound about the outsized expectations that China and the United States have for each other and the often-feeble returns on what many call the most important bilateral relationship in the world. Many Chinese place the United States on a pedestal that looms even higher from the capital of a nation facing a deep crisis in belief. The Chinese vest the United States with a moral authority that Americans are flattered by but are often loath to accept. For its part, the United States, in need of a hand around the globe, wants China to start acting like a superpower. But the Chinese — for tactical reasons or otherwise — reject the responsibilities inherent in big-power status even as they, too, are beguiled by the attention. Ever since aggressive young U.S. merchants first washed up on China’s shores and earned the sobriquet “the new people,” the two sides have expected great things from each other. But over the 229 years that Americans and Chinese have interacted, they have rarely been satisfied. And yet irrationally, almost magnetically, they keep coming back to each other for more. The current cycle began in February, when the first of two very different Chinese men sought shelter in a U.S. diplomatic outpost. The first one, Wang Lijun, is a policeman famed for his brutality but also known as someone who had run afoul of his political godfather — once one of the most powerful men in China, Bo Xilai. On Feb. 6, Wang left Chongqing, where he had overseen a reign of terror against Bo’s enemies, and drove 200 miles to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu. There, Wang requested protection because he feared for his life. He apparently had been investigating Bo’s wife in connection with the murder of a British businessman. The upshot of Wang’s day-long stay in the consulate sent shock waves through China’s political hierarchy. Bo was purged from the party. His wife, Gu Kailai, was arrested. And the Americans handed Wang back to the Chinese. Why did Wang seek U.S. help after laboring for years in the belly of a system that, according to its internal documents and even some public speeches, views the United States as an “enemy”?


China strikes deal that would allow Chen Guangcheng to study abroad, U.S. says

no indications that Chen would be leaving with her, as he at one point had said he would like to do. Chen’s own changing wishes and ability to broadcast them through the media have repeatedly flipped carefully scripted plans and scrambled the negotiations. For Chen and his relatives, the stakes of his decisions could not be higher, given the threat they face. While Chen’s immediate family — his wife and two children — may be allowed to leave under the new deal, Chen has repeatedly expressed worries for the safety of his mother and brother. “It would be pretty hard to have all these other people” leave with him, said New York University law professor Jerome A. Cohen, a friend of Chen’s who helped arrange a fellowship for him at NYU that became a crucial component of the deal. As someone traveling to the United States to study, Chen would be leaving ostensibly “for a few months of rest and study” and not to emigrate, he noted. Chen’s lack of a passport may also prove to be an obstacle. The Foreign Ministry, in its Friday statement, said that if Chen “wants to study abroad, he can apply through normal channels to the relevant departments, according to the law, just like any other Chinese citizen.” But in Chen’s case, that would mean having to return to his home province, Shandong, to obtain the necessary documents. Chen was beaten severely in Shandong and kept under unlawful house arrest for more than a year and a half. U.S. officials expressed hope for the new deal, but some also displayed caution. In a closed phone briefing with human rights groups, one high-level State Department official acknowledged that Washington was relying on “good-faith assurances” from the Chinese government, according to several who were on the call. “They were very careful not to describe it as a guarantee,” said one of those briefed, who requested anonymity in order to describe the conversation. “There seems to be a lot of caution given what happened the first time around.” But in Beijing, a senior administration officials told reporters: “We believe that this process will proceed accordingly, and we have high confidence in its course.” State Department officials said they were encouraged because diplomats had much better telephone access to Chen on Friday than the previous day. Chen spoke with Locke for 20 minutes, officials said, and met in


Japan’s last reactor to shut down, leaving country nuclear-free for first time since 1966

been restarted. Political and business leaders fear the economic toll of summer energy shortages, but critics of Japan’s nuclear policy say authorities in Tokyo have not done enough to improve nuclear safety standards and break up the traditionally cozy ties between government and industry. Japan’s cabinet said last year that the country needed a new nuclear safety agency that is “trusted domestically and internationally,” and Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda had hoped to have the new agency in place by April 1. But politicians are still squabbling about how the new agency will operate and the extent to which it will coordinate with the cabinet. Experts say it could be months before Japan creates the new watchdog. Meanwhile, Noda and industry minister Yukio Edano have been pushing to restart two reactors in sparsely populated Fukui prefecture, north of Osaka. The Nos. 3 and 4 units at the Ohi nuclear plant have already passed stress tests — computer simulations designed to test defenses against emergency scenarios. And government officials made several trips from Tokyo last month to meet with local governors and townspeople, arguing for a restart. The Ohi reactors are operated by the Kansai Electric Power Co., the Japanese utility most dependent on nuclear power. Without restarts, the utility company — providing power to Japan’s industrial heart — will be 16.3 percent short of peak demand this summer, according to government-released data. “If a reliable, stable supply of electricity is not certain, domestic manufacturers have to think about moving to other countries, which in turn would lead to a hollowing out of industry and a loss of domestic employment,” Takashi Imai, chairman of the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum, said at a conference last month. “The national economy would clearly suffer.” But a deep resistance toward nuclear power carries on in the wake of last year’s Fukushima crisis, which displaced roughly 100,000 people. Some 67 percent in Fukui prefecture, according to a recent Asahi newspaper poll, oppose the restart of nuclear reactors. Sixty-three percent say they do not trust the government’s safety standards. The mayor of Osaka, Toru Hashimoto, one of Japan’s highest-profile politicians, has also become a torchbearer for the anti-nuclear group. He recently knocked the central government, saying it was “absolutely unreasonable” that authorities have deemed it safe to reactivate the Ohi reactors. Hashimoto said Japan must create a new nuclear watchdog and improve safety standards before reconsidering atomic power.


Brig. Gen. Mark Martins, lead prosecutor in 9/11 case, in fight of his career

Commissions Act of 2009, prosecutors are barred from using any evidence derived from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and cases will be built on a host of other material. Critics in the human rights community “perform an invaluable role of accountability,” Martins said in a recent interview, adding that they are sometimes focused on “a vision of rights” that is not attainable. “I believe there is a narrow category of cases where military commissions are the appropriate choice and the best choice.” He said a hearing would be closed temporarily only to protect “sources and methods,” not to shield the government from any embarrassment stemming from the past actions of any agency. “I very much see the job in the tradition of the public prosecutor — dedicated to implementing the law, not winning at all costs,” Martins said. “There is definitely a vigorous debate [about commissions], but I’m seeing people who are listening. I’m hearing people say, ‘I didn’t know that.’ ” Last year, in the face of fierce congressional and local opposition, the Obama administration abandoned plans to move the trial of Mohammed and his alleged co-conspirators to Manhattan. Officials at the Pentagon immediately began to scout for what Goldsmith called a “game-changer” — a figure with the kind of national security and intellectual chops to engage with the civil liberties establishment. “Mark Martins is one of the finest and smartest officers in the U.S. military,” said Jeh Johnson, general counsel at the Defense Department. “I urged his appointment because Mark was involved in the reforms we developed in 2009, and I knew he would bring the right sense of military justice and care for the credibility of the system.” Martins, 51, grew up in the military, the son of an Army neurosurgeon who became the head of neurosurgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. After a year at the University of Maryland, Martins was admitted to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he graduated at the top of the Class of 1983. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and went to Oxford University, where he studied politics, philosophy and economics from 1983 to 1985. After a couple of years in the infantry and study at Harvard Law School, Martins rose through the ranks. He served as trial counsel at Fort Campbell, Ky., where he was assigned to a battalion of the 101st Airborne Division


Washington sorely lacking in riverfront eateries

May is a wonderful time to stroll or bike along Washington’s waterfronts and enjoy the riverscapes — shoreline parks replete with trees, shrubs and flowers, boats plying the Potomac, sunlight bouncing off the river’s shimmering surface. At riverside cafes, you can pause, relax and enjoy a bit of food and drink while admiring scenic vistas. Oh, wait a minute! What cafes? Except for Washington Harbour in Georgetown, the capital has no riverside cafes to speak of. How can a city as large as Washington have miles of shoreline and shoreline parks yet so few places, at or near the water’s edge, to sit and socialize while sipping a drink, snacking or dining? The recently completed, handsomely landscaped Georgetown waterfront park, situated between the Potomac River’s edge and the Whitehurst Freeway, is more than a quarter of a mile long. Stretching westward from Washington Harbour and ending close to Key Bridge, it offers ample, well-deployed riverside promenades and pathways. But often there are no more than a few dozen people in the park. Why doesn’t the park include an eatery or two in attractively designed pavilions with commodious decks or terraces overlooking the river? Such pavilions, appropriately sized, designed and located, also could be built along riverfronts in East and West Potomac Parks, and in parks along the Anacostia River. Pavilions not only could provide great views and assorted refreshments, but they also could offer additional amenities — most notably public restrooms — so lacking in Washington’s hundreds of acres of waterfront parkland. A constellation of periodically spaced riverside destinations within parks makes more sense today than ever before. Great numbers of people who work or live in downtown D.C. would appreciate and regularly patronize waterfront eateries, as would tourists visiting D.C. in the spring, summer and fall. Today thousands of Washingtonians and tourists willingly walk, bike or use transit, eliminating the need for on-site parking to serve eateries situated in waterfront parks. In fact, pavilions can be located within reasonable walking distance of nearby Metro stations, bus stops or vehicular drop-off points. Using state-of-the-art architectural strategies and technologies, pavilions in parks can be designed to be exceptionally green and have a near-zero carbon footprint. Pavilions can lightly touch the land, minimally disturbing their sites. Sunlight can be readily harvested to produce electric energy and solar heating. Generously glazed exteriors enhance views while illuminating interior spaces using daylight rather than electric


Activist Chen Guangcheng’s ordeal pushes U.S. and China down familiar path

diplomats once he left the U.S. Embassy. U.S. diplomats have been barred since Thursday from visiting Chen in the hospital, although an embassy doctor was able to see him Friday. Chinese security agents have thronged the ward where he is being treated for a broken foot suffered during his escape and a previous stomach ailment. Chen, who originally insisted he did not want to leave China, now says he wants to fly to the United States, preferably with Clinton, who was in Beijing for an annual round of high-level strategic and economic talks and was due to leave Saturday. China — the United States’ biggest creditor, with holdings of Treasury bonds worth about $1.2 trillion — also appears to feel let down. It angrily accused the United States of violating unspecified international laws and interfering in China’s internal affairs by granting Chen entry “via abnormal means” to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. It also demanded an apology, a demand that U.S. officials have rejected but which is part of what, over the years, has become a familiar ritual of Sino-U.S. crises. China also demanded — and didn’t get — an apology after one of its military jets collided with a U.S. Navy reconnaissance plane off the coast of southern China in 2001, an incident that badly dented, but didn’t upend, relations. As in the past, both sides seem eager to limit the scope of the current fracas, though each is crimped by domestic politics ahead of a U.S. presidential election in November and a once-in-a-decade leadership transition due around the same time in Beijing. Chinese leaders don’t have to worry about voters but do need to deflect accusations of being soft on foreigners, a frequent refrain among neo-Maoist nationalists, who have been particularly agitated since the ouster in March of one of their idols, Chongqing’s populist Communist Party boss Bo Xilai. Chinese microblogs and Web sites have frothed with debate in recent days over whether Chen is a tragic hero or a foolish traitor. Much of it is coded, because Chen’s name is banned for online searches, as is the phrase “left of his own volition,” the official description of Chen’s departure Wednesday from the U.S. Embassy. The Obama administration is also under pressure, with speakers at a congressional hearing on Chen’s ordeal Thursday demanding a wholesale rethinking of relations with China. “America missed an opportunity in Tiananmen. Will this


For start-ups, patents can be a gold rush

across continents. As patent battles heat up, many start-ups are also making the trip to the patent office. And an upcoming change in how the government awards patents could cause a stampede. Historically patents have been awarded to the first inventor of a technology. But starting in March, they will go to the first person who files a patent for a particular invention — a change that could front-load the costs for a young company. A well-prepared, comprehensive application can cost a company between $5,000 and $15,000. Under the first-to-file rule, the time element of a patent application becomes essential, which may cause the application costs to eat into start-ups’ cash flow at unpredictable times. But if they hope to be the next AOL, that might just be a cost start-ups have to swallow. “Companies are really going to have to keep an eye on it,” said Bao Tran, a San Francisco patent attorney. “They can’t afford to just relax or think, ‘a year from now, if this makes it to product, we’ll hire a law firm.’ ” A ‘currency’ for technology Stephanie Hay is a prototypical patent-savvy start-up exec. The entrepreneur co-founded the Arlington-based FastCustomer, which connects people with other companies’ customer service without waiting on hold. Hay’s team regularly checks in with the company’s patent lawyer, whom she describes as “almost like part of the team.” The company runs ideas past the lawyer whenever it has a tech development that may warrant an additional patent. “The most important thing is to make sure we protect ourselves on an ongoing basis,” she said. “It’s not ‘set it and forget it.’ ” Lawyers and investors say that many start-ups are wising up to the value that patents confer on start-ups. Patents are used both as a bargaining chip in negotiations with venture capitalists and as a way to woo potential buyers. In the venture world, they’re seen as value that can live on beyond the life of an actual company, as Eastman Kodak has discovered. “Patents are the currency that we’re using to identify assets that are really important to a business,” said John Calvert, an adviser at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. “It used to be that a business could say how many mills it has with which to produce bolts of cloth. These days, your patent portfolio is equally important.” Academic studies have shown that start-ups that


Elizabeth Warren says she’s Native American. So she is.

do with blood quantum. Members must meet requirements set by the tribe in consultation with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. (Elizabeth Warren is not enrolled in a tribe and doesn’t seem to have sought such status. She doesn’t claim an Indian identity, just Indian ancestry.) Indians who are not enrolled in a tribe aren’t eligible for the aforementioned programs and benefits, including casino profits, education assistance, hunting privileges and housing. Indians make up a spectrum — for some, not claiming an Indian identity would be positively strange; for others, the claim is hard to accept since there is so little blood and possibly no cultural connection behind it. Most Indians exist between these two poles. Claimed or not, to be Indian and to grow up in a tribal community often meant that what you inherited was a lack of adequate health care, education and opportunity. For decades, federal policies — including war, compulsory boarding schools and relocation programs that moved Indians from reservations to cities — waged a brutal campaign meant to eradicate tribes and acculturate Indians. If that effort had been successful, no one would want or be able to claim a connection to a tribe. Instead, some Indians remain proudly unassimilated — or with only blood to show. Regardless of why Warren claimed minority status (she said she did it in hopes of meeting people with similar heritage), to be a woman from Oklahoma of working-class upbringing — and to want not only to walk the halls of power but to help build them — you have to press whatever advantage you have. Doing so might seem distasteful to those who’ve never had to do it because they were born into privilege and power. But beyond the question of whether Warren “gamed the system,” isn’t the question of her identity and its deployment suggestive of something else? Doesn’t it show us that whatever its sins, America’s virtues have won — that we have become a plural society? If someone with Indian blood, no matter how little, is a Harvard professor and stands a chance of being elected to the Senate, might that suggest that the American experiment is working and that we live in a meritocracy? No, not yet. An Indian identity has become a commodity, though not one that is openly traded. It has real value in only a few places; the academy is one of them.


Medical marijuana meets hostility from Obama administration

Rob Kampia is executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project. During the 2008 campaign, Barack Obama raised hopes among those who support medical marijuana by pledging to respect state laws on the issue. But his administration has reversed course and massively escalated the federal government’s attacks on medical marijuana businesses, most of which are legal under their states’ laws. This is perplexing because medical marijuana is far more popular than Obama is. A Washington Post-ABC News poll from January 2010 found that 81 percent of Americans supported legalizing medical marijuana. A CBS News poll from October found that 77 percent of Americans support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana for serious medical conditions. By contrast, the president’s approval rating last October hovered around 42 percent — and is currently about 47 percent. The shift has been clear. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced in March 2009 that the Obama administration would end the Bush administration’s practice of raiding medical marijuana providers that violated federal statutes. A memo from the Justice Department later that year said the department would not prioritize prosecutions of individuals acting in compliance with state medical marijuana laws. Through 2010, that policy seemed to work. California, Colorado, Maine and New Mexico took steps to regulate the distribution of medical marijuana at the state and local levels. Other states had similar plans in the works. But last year the tide turned. Obama’s Justice Department authorized a series of letters from U.S. attorneys across the country threatening to “vigorously” prosecute individuals acting in compliance with state medical marijuana laws. In some cases the U.S. attorneys suggested that government employees who help regulate their states’ medical marijuana systems could be prosecuted for “facilitating” a crime. There was more. The IRS cracked down on medical marijuana dispensaries, refusing to allow them to deduct such standard business expenses as rent and payroll. Last September the National Institute on Drug Abuse refused to provide federally grown marijuana to a Food and Drug Administration-approved research protocol seeking to measure the extent to which marijuana helps combat veterans with their post-traumatic stress disorder. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives outlawed gun sales to medical marijuana patients. And federal prosecutors in California announced that they would crack down on dispensaries across the state, saying that they intend to seize the property of landlords who lease space to these businesses that are legal under state


The ‘fake pot’ threat

year to declare the five chemicals used to make these products — JWH-018, JWH-073, JWH-200, CP-47,497 and cannabicyclohexanol — illegal. Those chemicals, the agency said, represent “an imminent threat to public health and safety.” They have been designated Schedule 1 substances, a classification reserved for material with a high potential for abuse that has no currently accepted medical use in the United States. So does that mean the bags for sale at convenience stores around town are illegal? Not necessarily. The chemical ingredients are banned. But without testing the ingredients in the bags, it’s hard to say whether the products are outside the law. What’s more, the manufacturers of synthetic drugs are cagey. They can easily change a product’s name or switch ingredients to mask their intended purpose. So where does that leave us? The alarm sounded by District parents is being heard across the country. The DEA cites emergency-room physicians’ reports of individuals who have ingested K2 and other fake-pot drugs experiencing convulsions, vomiting, disorientation and anxiety attacks. Federal investigators are seeking manufacturers and suppliers of these drugs; their focus is not on retail outlets like those I visited. Some states have banned synthetic “fake pot” drugs. The District has not. K2 is not just a city or emergency-room problem. The Post reported last year on the use of synthetic marijuana at the Naval Academy, where at least eight midshipmen were expelled for using it. Navy investigators got a break when, as reported, a midshipman smoking synthetic marijuana began having seizures. What’s a parent to do? Make clear to your children that smokeable“fake pot” is a synthetic product arguably more dangerous than marijuana. Next, demand that local authorities crack down on the purveyors of that stuff. Clemson University chemist John Huffman told ABC News in 2010, “Anybody that tries [K2] is like playing Russian roulette. You don’t know what you’re getting. It’s just insane. Anybody who uses it is out of their tree.” Huffman should know. What began as research — an undergraduate developed K2 in Huffman’s lab — has led to several banned chemicals (including JWH-018, JWH-073 and JWH-200) bearing Huffman’s initials. That’s dangerous stuff that our nation’s capital can do without. kingc@washpost.com Read more from Opinions: George F. Will: Should the U.S. legalize hard drugs? Mary Speck: Latin America’s new strategy in the war on drugs Martin Austermuhle: Will the D.C. Council regulate medical marijuana to death?


Supermoon, meteors to put on a show over Washington area Saturday

An unusually big and bright moon, often described as a supermoon, will beam down over Washington on Saturday night from a sky through which shooting stars will streak. Astronomers say Washington area residents may be able to view both these spectacles, depending on the weather. Clouds are in the forecast, but it was not certain how much of the sky they would obscure or for how long. The term “supermoon” was coined to describe a moon that is both full and at its closest point to the Earth in its elliptical lunar orbit. The combination of being full and close will make the moon seem unusually large and luminous. At its closest approach, or perigee, the moon will be about 221,800 miles from Earth on this orbit. Perigee distances vary from month to month. The average Earth-moon distance is about 239,000 miles. In the Washington area, the moon will rise in the east about 7:55 p.m. About three hours and 40 minutes later, it will be perfectly full and at its closest point to Earth. Meanwhile, Earth will pass through debris from Halley’s Comet that might produce 40 to 60 meteors an hour. In addition to any clouds, the brightness of the moon might make meteor viewing difficult. Would-be viewers were urged to keep the moon at their backs.


Chen Guangcheng’s family and friends face tempest of retribution

to return home. “The autumn harvest is not finished yet, so the settling of accounts hasn’t really started,” said Bob Fu, an exiled Chinese activist who runs a group called ChinaAid. From his base in Texas, Fu helped engineer Chen’s flight from Shandong, a heavily rural and acutely conservative province in eastern China. Chen had been under house arrest there since 2010, an extra-legal detention ordered by local officials infuriated by his efforts to challenge their use of forced abortions and other measures through the courts. Chen’s escape, and his ability to evade authorities in Beijing as he moved between safe houses before taking refuge with U.S. diplomats, was a major embarrassment to China’s vast security apparatus, which, according to official budget figures, gets more funding each year than China’s military. American officials have come under withering criticism, particularly from political foes of President Obama, for their handling of the Chen saga. Under a tentative deal struck Friday during a visit to Beijing by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, U.S. diplomats say they believe Chinese authorities will allow the self-taught lawyer to study law in New York. Chen, however, has voiced growing alarm about the fate of his family and those who assisted him. “He is most worried about my safety, He Peirong’s safety and that of other friends who helped him escape from illegal detention in Shandong,” read a Twitter-like message posted by Guo Yushan, a friend who was involved in Chen’s flight and was seized by police late on April 27 for several days of questioning. He, too, is now free. Appeal for a nephew Chen, meanwhile, has pleaded for security forces to leave family members still in Shandong alone, including his mother and brothers. A nephew, Chen Kegui, is missing and thought to have been arrested. He reportedly attacked and injured security officers who rushed into his father’s house and started beating those inside on the night of April 26. A Shandong lawyer, Liu Weiguo, was threatened by local security agents after he offered to defend the nephew, according to Chen. “I want to appeal for my nephew,” said Chen in a telephone interview from Beijing’s Chaoyang hospital Sunday. “He injured those people because they raided his house without any permission. He acted in self-defense.” Chen said his mother, whose movements had been restricted, is “at home and can go out freely. But her heart is


foreign media about Chen’s case. “It is not a small incident. It is a big incident,” Jiang quoted a security officer as saying. He was eventually released and allowed to go home, but his apartment building is being closely monitored. “There is a car parked downstairs with five or six people in it,” Jiang said. ‘A big freeze’ Nicholas Bequelin, a Hong Kong-based researcher for Human Rights Watch, said those who have been targeted by security forces in connection with Chen’s flight to the U.S. Embassy are victims of “the default reaction when something big happens: a big freeze aimed above all at information control and preventing unexpected developments.” Any more serious “payback,” he added, “will come later, as part of a package of measures designed to prevent the repetition of a similar incident.” That is what happened after the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, when thousands were rounded up and sent to jail for their roles in a pro-democracy movement the party termed a “counterrevolutionary rebellion.” Fang Lizhi, an astrophysicist targeted in June 1989 for arrest and possible execution, escaped punishment by taking refuge in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. He remained there for more than a year before being allowed to leave China, first for Britain and later the United States, where he taught physics. He died at 76 last month at his home in Tucson. The current backlash, said Bequelin, is more akin to the party’s response to the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010 to Liu Xiaobo, a dissident literary critic serving an 11-year sentence for “subversion.” Liu’s wife, Liu Xia, who was placed under house arrest at the time of the award, is missing. “Everyone was ‘grounded,’ ” Bequelin said, “but ultimately, the party basically decided no one was to be punished” with formal prosecution for Liu’s Nobel Prize. Ongoing efforts by authorities to regain control of the flow of information have led to stepped up pressure on foreign journalists. The Foreign Correspondents Club in Beijing reported that about a dozen accredited foreign reporters who had made visits to the hospital where Chen is recuperating were summoned Friday to the visa department of the Public Security Bureau. They were told that they needed permission to report there, the correspondents club said, and were warned that their visas would be revoked if they “break this rule again.” Correspondent Keith Richburg and researcher Zhang Jie


Cove Point means business

Daiichi meltdown, which left the country scrambling to find fuel for backup power plants. Japanese companies are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in natural gas projects and have paid 10 times the American price for imports. The opportunity here is obvious: The United States should export some of its bountiful stocks of natural gas to Japan and other countries with fewer supplies and high demand. That is why Dominion Resources wants to retrofit its Cove Point facility to service exports as well as imports. It’s no surprise that Sumitomo Corp., a Japanese energy outfit, is already in contract talks to use the retrofitted terminal, pending regulatory approval of exports to Japan. But the Sierra Club has declared that it opposes the retrofit of Cove Point. The organization claims to have an unusual amount of leverage over Dominion, in the form of a 2005 agreement with the company on what it can do on the site. Dominion fires back that it can make the changes it needs on the terminal’s existing footprint. Even if the language ends up not favoring Dominion, logic still would. Though environmental groups worry about hydraulic fracturing, the process drillers use to extract unconventional gas, the right response is to push for proper oversight for all energy firms, not to punish one company for trying to provide a reasonable service that others will succeed in furnishing in coming years. In fact, with the Interior Department and the Environmental Protection Agency both out with sensible new rules over the past few weeks, approving projects such as Cove Point should be seen as a win for everyone, environmentalists included. Though it’s possible that allowing exports might raise natural gas prices somewhat in America, doing so would also improve the country’s trade deficit, produce returns on domestic energy projects, increase state and federal tax revenue, support construction and maintenance jobs, reduce the leverage of gas-rich international bullies such as Russia, provide nations such as Japan a lower-emissions alternative to burning lots more coal and oil, and, as Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda indicated at the White House last week, tighten trade ties with America’s leading Asian ally. On the other hand, those docks could also continue to sit, empty. More on this debate: The Post’s View: Can natural gas help stop global warming? Rep. Ed Markey: Export natural gas, export U.S. jobs The Post’s View: Sending natural gas abroad


Keeping veterans off the unemployment rolls

We also need to help our veterans address another roadblock to employment: access to treatment for the trauma of war. Some of those returning from combat zones suffer from depression, trauma and post-traumatic stress. These are treatable conditions, and we’ve learned a lot about how to help people cope with them. But many vets never get the treatment they need — and the families who suffer alongside them, and whose support is essential to successful treatment, are ineligible for care from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Without proper support, it is little wonder some vets have trouble finding or holding down jobs. When they are unable to find work, they can also lose their homes. Twenty percent of New Yorkers sleeping on the streets are veterans, according to the city’s Department of Homeless Services. Many of these men and women fought for us in the mountains of Afghanistan and the deserts of Iraq. It is unacceptable that they are now homeless. The struggles our veterans face are such that 18 of them commit suicide every day, according to recent reports. That is more than 6,500 suicides per year. As of last week, 6,414 U.S. service members have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. In other words, suicide kills as many of our troops in one year as our enemies have killed in the past decade. Addressing the challenges of our veterans must be a national priority. After our country was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001, these young men and women stepped forward to serve. They volunteered to put on the uniform knowing the dangers that come with military service. Because of their courage, we have gone nearly 11 years without another successful terrorist attack on our soil. Americans are grateful for their service — but our gratitude is not enough. The Robin Hood Foundation is convening a summit of military and business leaders, mayors, members of Congress, veterans and others on Monday to address veterans’ challenges in finding the work, homes and treatment they need. Every veteran deserves the chance to provide for his or her family. Every veteran deserves access to treatment for the trauma he or she experienced while defending us. And every veteran deserves the chance to live a life of dignity in the country whose freedom he or she helped secure. These young men and women fought for us. Now it’s our turn to fight for them.


Taking magnetic resonance imaging down to the nano scale

securely, and to advance the technology of computing. “Jake has made fundamental contributions in all three of these areas,” said Lukin, Taylor’s former professor and now a colleague. “He is one of the most creative young scientists I have ever seen. He thinks about problems in unusual ways and comes back with new and novel ideas.” (Curt Suplee/National Institute of Standards and Technology) William Phillips a NIST fellow and a Nobel Prize winner in physics, said Taylor’s ideas are at “the cutting-edge of theoretical physics.” But Phillips said Taylor does more than come up with novel theories. He said Taylor “thinks about reality and the practical application of his complex work,” and is engaged in a wide array of experiments that could have “great technological importance” for electronics and communications systems used by consumers and industry. One of Taylor’s major accomplishments has been the use for the first time of diamond-tipped sensors that can perform magnetic resonance tests on individual cells or on single molecules, a sort of MRI scanner at the microscopic or nano-scale. No one had previously thought diamond crystals could be used for this purpose and in the way devised by Taylor. The physicist now has patents pending on the unique process and is conducting experiments that have shown success in the laboratory. The work raises the possibility that physicians one day will be able to use the technology to detect diseases at a far earlier stage, and that drug companies may be able to devise more effective medications because of the precise information that will flow from the advanced imaging technology. Without Taylor’s “pioneering” contributions, said Lukin, “this field of experimentation would not exist.” Taylor also is experimenting with another magnetic imaging process that works with increased speed and sensitivity, and could allow patients with pacemakers or individuals with shrapnel embedded in their bodies to obtain scans that now might be too risky. Today, the technology poses dangers to individuals who have magnetic metals in certain sensitive locations in their bodies. Another Taylor innovation centers on the development of technology for the next generation of Internet routers that rely on light as opposed to electrons to communicate information. The information carried by the router would be immune to the environmental noise and defects encountered with currently available technology, representing an advance over today’s telecommunication applications by increasing bandwidth and reliability, and by reducing energy usage and


the microscopic or nano-scale. No one had previously thought diamond crystals could be used for this purpose and in the way devised by Taylor. The physicist now has patents pending on the unique process and is conducting experiments that have shown success in the laboratory. The work raises the possibility that physicians one day will be able to use the technology to detect diseases at a far earlier stage, and that drug companies may be able to devise more effective medications because of the precise information that will flow from the advanced imaging technology. Without Taylor’s “pioneering” contributions, said Lukin, “this field of experimentation would not exist.” Taylor also is experimenting with another magnetic imaging process that works with increased speed and sensitivity, and could allow patients with pacemakers or individuals with shrapnel embedded in their bodies to obtain scans that now might be too risky. Today, the technology poses dangers to individuals who have magnetic metals in certain sensitive locations in their bodies. Another Taylor innovation centers on the development of technology for the next generation of Internet routers that rely on light as opposed to electrons to communicate information. The information carried by the router would be immune to the environmental noise and defects encountered with currently available technology, representing an advance over today’s telecommunication applications by increasing bandwidth and reliability, and by reducing energy usage and costs. A patent is pending on this process and experiments are underway. In addition, Taylor and colleagues are testing new theories that could help make inroads into much faster computing than now possible, an area of great interest in the world of quantum physics. Taylor said that working at NIST provides him with the resources he needs, a stimulating environment and the freedom to take risks, think boldly and work on issues that can have a big impact for technology and the nation. “It is a thrill to do something that no one has dreamed up or done before,” said Taylor. “The long term implications of some of these projects could be huge. It’s what gets me up in the morning—the feeling I can really change the world, at least in small steps.” This article was jointly prepared by the Partnership for Public Service, a group seeking to enhance the performance of the federal government, and washingtonpost.com. Go to http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/fedpage/players/ to read about other federal workers who are making a difference.