Day 13 Reflection

Barry Lawrence

5-21-10

Day 13 Reflection

Today we heard from Kate Finnerty, Redlands alum class of ’99, and her co-worker Blair at Energetics Incorporated. After Kate graduated from Redlands, she knew she wanted to do something on the East Coast, so she went to grad school at George Washington University to get her Masters in International Affairs through the school’s night program. While attending nigh school she worked as a paid intern for the governor of Delaware at her Washington office. By making herself an asset to the functions of the office, Kate became the office director and got to work on many high profile issues that sometimes involved international travel. Despite her seemingly great job with the office of the governor, and being that no job in this city is by any means permanent, Kate eventually moved on to her current position at Energetics where she does planning and analysis for the Department of Homeland Security. Her duties include planning and writing strategic defense and crisis reactions for a number of companies that make up the eighteen subsections of our critical national infrastructure. Essentially, Kate could be referred to as a “ghost writer” for the Federal Government and DHS.

Blair had a slightly different approach to work in the government and how she got to Energetics. A native of New York, Blair went to work for the Internal Revenue Service office in New York. From there she went to work with the State Department through special security contracting as a consultant. After attempting several times, Blair now has a job with the DHS, finally reaching her goal of working for a Federal Agency, and will be starting in the next two weeks. She was able to get this job through a seemingly unlikely connection, further reinforcing the point both Kate and Blair made several times that we are to never burn bridges and keep as many and all options open in a field and town where connections are everything.

Day 12 Reflection

Barry Lawrence

5-20-10

Day 12 Reflection

Today alumni Chris Bohanon, class of ’86, and his associate Andrew VanderJack from VanNess Feldman spoke on the importance (and lack thereof) of having a law degree in the public policy game. Chris had a variety of jobs in Washington, including his current for a law firm, without a law degree. Andrew on the other hand, does have a law degree and was able to give us some insight into why one would and should choose to pursue a law degree when aiming towards a career in Washington.

Chris got his first working experience in politics as a campaign worker for senate hopeful from his home state. Even though his candidate did not win the election, his work on the campaign trail was enough to help him land a job as a staffer for his local congressman for the enormous salary of 18k a year. Albeit unusual for this town, Chris stayed with his congressman until he decided to retire in 1994. After trying to work for a congressman from another state, Chris found it difficult to stay focused and passionate about his job being so disconnected from his constituents, so from there Chris went to work for a rural electric co-op of sorts. Since joining VanNess, Chris works on what he calls “coalition building”, a form of lobbying that involves getting like-minded clients to join forces and work together to present their statements with more strength. Even though Chris does not have a law degree, he is still able to make a difference through a law firm lobbying for his clients, although he does admit a law degree would grant one more freedom to pursue different fields of study in Washington.

Andrew, on the other hand, does have a law degree, although he took a while deciding to obtain it. Born and raised in Alaska, Andrew has a particular affiliation with the underrepresented native peoples of Alaska. After a few years of “exploring” different career fields, Andrew decided to go for a law degree after all. He does admit that lawyers are often overpaid, under focused money-grabbers, but since he has a particular goal and direction for his law degree, to help the native peoples of Alaska, he is able to use his law degree to represent his clients in a congress that all too often overlooks them.

Day 11 Reflection

Barry Lawrence

5-19-10

Day 11 Reflection

Gavin Fulmer, University of Redlands Alumni, class of ’99, spoke today on his experience with the National Science Foundation. A government agency often overlooked, the NSF has a budget of nearly 7 billion dollars to promote scientific discovery and education in America. While most Americans do not even know it exists, the NSF plays an incredibly important role in ensuring America is and continues to be a competitive global player, be it in technology, medicine, fire power, and everything else; an argument can be made that all stems from the sciences and a focus on scientific methodology and thinking in everyday life. Despite frequent opposition to “big government” and government programs that exist for the sole purpose of handing out government money, especially without any contractual direct end product that the government can use, there is little, if any opposition to the NSF because of its overarching importance to our country’s economic and social superiority, even survival.

Founded in 1950 by a congressional vote, the NSF was established to “promote the progress of science” in America. The primary means by which the NSF achieves these goals is through the admission of grants and fellowships that directly support educational and research in hard and social sciences. Out of some 40k grant and fellowship proposals per year, the NSF approves around ten thousand. Even so, the foundation is responsible for dishing out somewhere around $261k per day. One interesting point that Dr. Thorson brought up during class regarded the public’s access to data and information obtained through research conducted under federal grants and fellowships. In other words, since the taxpayer is financing almost seven billion dollars worth of science related research, shouldn’t we as taxpayers have access to the information obtained through the testing and research WE funded? Interestingly enough, there did seem to be a reasonable amount of publications with data from federally funded programs, but it was by no means representative of what could be called transparent, and I believe a substantial effort should be put forth to gather non-personal data information and assemble it on a government website where every taxpayer can have access to it in order to promote a more transparent system.

Day 10 Reflection

Barry Lawrence

5-18-10

Day 10 Reflection

Today we met with Vonda Matthews, wife of Jason Matthews whom we had met with the first Friday of our stay. Mrs. Matthews is currently the Legislative Advisor for a program called COPS, which stands for Community Oriented Policing Services. COPS is a program run under the Department of Justice where they specialize on getting grants for and setting up additional training and equipment services for police forces around the United States. While the program had met its original directive to increase police on the ground and better educate them, the department was oddly enough not allowed to “sunset” as originally planned because of the overarching value the program was to improving the effectiveness of police forces. Despite the programs lack of congressional authorization, constant budget battles, and political indifference, the program today is as strong as ever, doing much more than ever intended to encourage better policing.

Outside of her own experience with the DOJ and COPS, Matthews spoke on how to get a job in Washington, and where to go from there. As far as Matthews was concerned, an internship on Capitol Hill would be the most favorable place to start for a young undergrad or recent graduate. Her reasoning behind this statement was founded in knowing that every agency in Washington interacts with Congress somehow, and needs people who know how its works and can contribute to Congressional relations. The second place Matthews advised us to look for work was the USAJobs.gov website, where the federal government lists internship and career openings. Thirdly was an internship with a particular agency that one would like to eventually work in as a direct form of getting involved and getting know in a future workplace.

Day 9 Reflection

Barry Lawrence

5-17-10

Day 9 Reflection

Today we heard from Robert Greenberg, CEO and Founder of G&H International Services, Inc. Contrary to how most of our speakers have presented until now, Greenberg had a prepared PowerPoint presentation on his involvement with a project he calls “Government 2.0” which can best be described as our government, in the future, integrated totally and seamlessly with social media to form a more efficient flow of data to and from the government.

While it took me a good amount of time to grasp these new and foreign concepts, I think I have a good handle on it now. We are at a crossroads where technology is used in our everyday lives, but it doesn’t fit together with other tech too easily, especially when dealing with the government bureaucracy and all of its agencies. This can be especially apparent and tragic when one looks great disasters such as the earthquake in Haiti or Hurricane Katrina, where many agencies were involved in relief and aid, but the communication between the government and all of the aid organizations what virtually nonexistent, especially when it comes to raw, useable data that our advanced technology could use to assist us. By creating a useable platform for companies and agencies to use their current data systems and still be in control of what data is shared, while getting the various existing platforms to communicate seamlessly in real-time, we can have a dramatically more efficient government machine that can actually be helpful in times of need.

The most interesting part of this proposal (to me anyways) was its possible uses in policy making. Using an example of an out of date police doctrine in New Zealand, where a policy was essentially put up on the internet and encouraged input from the people, everyone was able to give there input into what would be regarded by many as an example of a streamlined direct democracy. I could immediately see prospects for America to better streamline it’s democratic system using such social media technology, and I can’t wait to see what Greenberg and his team do with it.

Day 8 Reflection

Barry Lawrence

5-13-10

Day 8 Reflection

What a way to end part one of our trip. Today Kathryn Buechel spoke on the down to earth details of how to get a job and be successful in Washington. Buechel has had quite a successful career of her own in Washington, starting as a recipient of the Tinker Scholarship and interning with a congressman, where she cought the ever-present “Washington Bug”. After graduating in the fall (good move) of 2004, Buechel moved straight to Washington looking for work. After three weeks she found a position as a staff assistant for Congressman Nunez. While working for different members over the past few years, Buechel went to grad school part time at John Hopkins and received her masters degree. She stressed the importance of education and especially continuing one’s education after the bachelors level. In this day and age, especially in Washington, we all have to be on the cutting edge and do anything and everything to set yourself apart from the crowd. Currently, Buechel is working for the California State University system here in Washington as a lobbyist (basically, I do not remember her official title).

As far as pointing us in the right direction for a sustainable and enjoyable career in Washington, Buechel had many helpful tips and tricks. Primarily, especially if one is looking for a job on the hill, one has to know how the system works and is structured. This ranges from knowing how a senate office should be structured and how it is actually structured, as well as how the job market works in Washington. Much to my surprise, there is no “monster.com” for jobs on the hill; openings are reveled only to people who are already in the “in crowd” on the hill and positions are filled rather quickly through personal networks and contacts. Another surprising fact is the lack of regulation for discrimination and employment rights for Capitol Hill jobs. There is no oversight mechanism, jobs pay very poorly for the amount of work and are often relatively temporary compared to most career jobs. All things considered, there are still people lined up outside the building to get a chance to work hands on with policy and the policy makers.

Day 7 Reflection

Barry Lawrence

5-12-10

Reflection Day 7

Sam W. Brown Jr., a man best described as one who has done it all, spoke with us today about his life, his experiences in school, politics, and the private sector, and quite a few stories as well. Brown himself calls his career “less of a career and more of a series of lurches”, which I can comfortably sympathize with as I find myself often “lurching” in many different directions as time goes on (in fact, my being on this particular trip could be described as a lurch towards politics!). One of his seemingly most rewarding lurches was towards his involvement in real estate investment and development, although he did not delve much into that part of his life due to the topic of this class being concentrated elsewhere. I am attempting to meet with Mr. Brown to discuss this and other aspects of his philanthropic life at another time, but he is a very busy man despite his current stage of “retirement”.

Politically, it was very refreshing to see and hear from a man whose involvement in public policy stemmed from sheer interest and dedication to the greater good of mankind, rather than an attempt to achieve the mythical power, fame, and fortune that most seem to think is at the end of the political road. I am not, by any means, assuming any or all of the speakers we have heard from in this course are guilty of this offence, however I do know quite a few people that seem to think this is true. In any event, it seems that Mr. Brown, having a passion for public life rather than a financially dependent career, was free from the conventional binds and limitations many experience in public life. For example, his experience as the State Treasurer of Colorado would have been career damning for a person who really needed that or another public job to survive, but Mr. Brown stuck to his guns and could afford to do so. On many aspects of his life in terms of work abroad, I found myself guilty of ignorance when he was speaking about places I have never heard of and events I never knew took place, so most of my time listening was spent jotting down historical facts than political analysis and thought.

Day 6 Reflection

Barry Lawrence

5-11-10

Day 6 Reflection

Today Dr. Auton spoke with us briefly on our experiences thus far in Washington. In reflection, whether I do or do not decide to pursue a political job here in Washington, we are getting valuable networking experience (or at least I am from my frantic search for a job here) as well as the privilege of learning a very interesting topic from the people who live it everyday.

Next Dr. Auton gave us some topics to ponder on now having a greater understanding of policy making, how it is intended to function, and how it really functions. Principally, the fundamental differences between so-called “formal” and “informal” decision channels. In essence, formal channels would be what most of us would normally think of in terms of how the government functions; the “well oiled machine” that has a system of checks and balances that involve no less than two agencies and usually two branches of the government in any one decision. Informal decision channels seem to be the only real way to get anything done in this town, being that they tend to respectfully bypass some complexities of the bureaucratic systems in favor of more direct relationships, usually consisting of personal contacts and party affiliates. In other words, if an official at agency A wanted something from agency B, instead of sending requests that are processed through a complex Boolean based system, only to end up on a desk for sometimes months, the official may prefer to call his old buddy at agency B to process the request himself. This combined with the ever-present aspect of uncertainty can provide many problems for the inelegance community.

Finally, we had Gus Biggio, retired US Marine show us a brief presentation on his recent involvement in the war on terror in Afghanistan. This was a particularly interesting and helpful presentation for me, and I think everyone, because it offered a first-had glimpse into what really happens “over there”. All too often the media portrays our armed forces stationed overseas as drones that follow orders in a never-ending fight against an undefined enemy. While this may very well be the case in some instances, it seemed to me that Biggio’s experiences in Afghanistan were successful in aiding the Afghani people to stabilize themselves enough to have a functioning government free of terrorist control. I know have a greater appreciation for what our armed forces are fighting for overseas thanks to today’s presentation.

Day 5 Reflection

Barry Lawrence

5-10-10

Reflection Paper Day 5

Today we had two Redlands Alumni speak to us about their experiences in Washington DC and how they got to where they are today. Jackie Kanatzar, class of ’04 and Lindsey Madson, class of ’03, had completely different experiences as far as how they got to Washington DC in the first place. Jackie seemed to have a more direct route to her career in Washington. Starting with a brief temp position for a non-profit organization then going straight to a staffer position in a Congressman’s office. From there, taking classes at “war college” in DC, she was able to qualify for the job she wanted in another Congressman’s office, then ultimately a Senator’s office. It was interesting to me to see not only how quickly one can rise through the ranks, but also how luck can and does play a huge role in who makes it and who doesn’t in this town. It is also good to know someone who works for Senator Shelby, senior ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Comity, for political economics is where I am most interested in working.

Lindsey had a very different experience in terms of coming to Washington. As a French major with Peace Corps experience, I would never see her as the “Washington type”. This, however, is encouraging news for a music major who has aspirations for (potentially) a Washington career, but not necessarily a government/international relations major. Interestingly enough, Lindsey has a job that most people would overlook, or even not know about at all. It was interesting to examine how the United States chooses to use USAid for policy related issues, such as what countries have natural resources we want access to, rather than who really needs our aid. In any event, Lindsey has a job in a relatively non-political field, meaning that she works for a company that doesn’t usually have to worry about partisanship or party affiliation, just focusing on getting the job done right and getting the bid.

Tonight was a huge leap in the forward direction with our social event at Sam Brown’s home (which was amazing!) After talking for at least twenty minutes, I discovered that we had much in common, including a love for politics that did not include it as our first career choice, and a passion for contemporary classical music. In any event, Sam has certainly proved that he has the connections necessary to make my aspirations of staying in Washington over the summer a reality, now I play the waiting game.

Day 4 Reflection

Barry Lawrence

5-7-10

Day 4 Reflection

Jason Matthews, Redlands alumni class of 1992 and Director of Congressional Relations for the United States Chamber of Commerce spoke with us today on his life and the current global economic crisis. Jason is a prime example of how you can rise to enormous heights in a short time when you have the drive and determination. Even though he took a series of seemingly unconventional steps, such as working for a senator from a state he had never visited, he was able to get where he wanted because he knew how to put in the time and he knew how to say yes.

Regarding the current global economic crisis, Jason spoke on how the Greeks managed to jam themselves up against a rock and a hard place by acting in a fashion all to similar to our own, with regards to defecate spending. The global problem begins to surface when one realizes the level of entanglement the Greece has with the other euro-zone countries with the bond of a common currency. In other words, there is nothing the Greeks can do, nor anything any international mechanism can do to provide aid and assistance that wouldn’t dramatically affect the other members of the European Union (except Great Britain) because of the common use of the Euro. But when every country in the euro-zone has the same currency but different policies controlling the use and treatment of their capitol, problems are sure to ensue.

There does seem to be a logical way to ensure a crisis of this nature is not present in the future, with basic steps including: cut spending/spend more wisely, save more, borrow less, increase efficiency, etc. This, however, is a very unpopular thing to do politically. No matter what, when policy makers have term limits and a genuine interest in being reelected, there is going to be massive opposition if one was to bring up the need to dramatically decrease the standards of living, at least for a short while, in the “greatest country of all time”.

Reflection Day 3

Barry Lawrence

6-5-10

Reflection Paper Day 3

Wow. Today was amazing! Les Janka, Vice President, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia NCS Operations and expert on American Foreign policy, pretty much rocked my world in terms of my global view. It was quite obvious that Jenka was lobbing for us Redlands Alums to move to DC and help “fix” the problem. But it worked. I was inspired to be a more informed and participating member of my country and world.

Primarily, Janka brought up several good points about the lack of efficiency and, frankly, logical methodology to international relations policy making. This was a huge shock to me, mostly because I fell into the category of young American that is guilty of ignorance in the realm of international policy. In all sincerity, as a music major (I know that is not a good excuse) I was completely ignorant of any of our foreign policies with countries in the middle east, let alone the mistakes that were made to get us in such a stink. Furthermore, with regards to how foreign policy is made through congress, just like ever other bill. This leaves congress wide open for lobbyists and other people to influence the vote with trivial items that often have nothing to do with foreign policy. When a senator is concerned with being reelected, he is more likely to listen to the wills of people in his district than any FSO, consultant, or even logic. This came as a shock to me, for I didn’t even know this was how foreign policy was decided! This (coupled with our history) makes America an inherently weak global player. On top of all of this, we have emerging countries like BRICK playing well with the cards they are dealt, and we are falling behind.

On top of everything, we have economic problems that are beyond the scope of reason, spending money we may never have on things that help us in few if any ways; we are in trouble. This very inspiring presentation moved me closer to a decision to devote my life to public service.

Day 2 Reflection

Barry Lawrence

5-5-10

DC Trip, Day 2

Today we had Ross Cook, retired Foreign Service Officer, speak to us about his life in the Foreign Service. Not to my surprise, I had no idea what the FSO was or what a Foreign Service Officer really does. A Foreign Service Officer (and his or her staff) can be in charge of many things, including agriculture, building, commerce, and political agendas. However, it does seem that most, if not all, of the focus of the FSO is on the interests of the American people. I was under the impression that the FSO was more in the realm of foreign aid, on which Cook said nothing. He did however have some awesome stories and great advice regarding the application/interview/test process to qualify as an FSO, such as taking the test multiple times, speaking thoughtfully and clearly, and brushing up on some American policy history.

As far as my activities outside of the classroom, I feel I should mention our tours/activities from yesterday as well, seeing as I failed to mention them in yesterday’s reflection. Yesterday, I went with a small group to the Mall and visited most of the major monuments on the Mall, including the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, and the White House. Seeing all of these monuments to the greatest of the great in American history was very inspiring, knowing that my duty as an American is to live up to the standards of excellence that were set by our founding fathers. Today we toured Arlington National Cemetery, even paying a visit to Tyler’s grandfather. Seeing so many fallen American servicemen and women reminded me what the price of our freedom really is, and how important our national security is to our political addenda as Americans. I look forward to visiting more monuments and being further inspired to serve this great country in which we live.

Day 1 outside of class

I had a blast getting to know my colleagues and this city today! Everyone is really personable and seems to have a genuine interest in this course. I absolutely love this city, it has everything! It was kind-of a pain walking everywhere (for someone used to driving every time I need to go 2 blocks), and I will defiantly plan accordingly for tomorrow and the days to come. I do have to say that I am very interested in finding a way to stay this summer and getting a (paid) internship, but I truly have no idea how hard that is going to be. Not to mention what that would do to me musically. Oh yea, music, whats that?? If I can manage to get my butt out of bed by 6 again, I think I'll go to the Mall and write a bit!

Class Reflection D. 1

Barry M. Lawrence

5-4-10

DC Trip day 1 Reflection

Today our guest speaker was Retired Marine Colonel John Garrett. His main focus was on thinking and the thought process that goes into making informed decisions in government, both as a policy maker and as a participating citizen of a democracy. In most cases, one must think of the three to five vital focuses (economics, politics, education, security, etc.) of the state in question, judging if there is a genuine threat to one or more of these vitals, and finally judging if securing or re-securing that vital is worth the risk of one American life. IF one comes to the conclusion that the vital IS worth the risk of one American life, THEN can one begin the decision process regarding what, if any, action is to be taken regarding this issue.

Before one even begins to make an informed decision regarding a policy, one must make sure he is well informed about the vital areas in question. In other words, you cannot make a decision to protect the country on behalf of its economic agenda, if you do not have at least a diverse knowledge of its workings. While this may seem obvious on paper, many Americans fall into the trap of being very under-informed, or informed but only from one or two sources. So before any detailed analysis begins, one must be well informed on the topics in question. This is becoming increasingly difficult for the average American who watches their one news source before leaving the house in the morning, listening to half (at best) of one source’s bias opinion. It is almost ironic that in this day and age where we have virtually unlimited access to information, especially mainstream news media, that we stick to our favorite source and don’t seem to question it. When dealing with what is necessary to make an informed policy decision, this will simply not do. This particularly worries me when there is a several thousand-page bill in the works, that no one has seemed to have read in its entirety. This leads to unreliable news sources, uninformed citizens, and possibly misrepresentation in the vote turnout.

With regards to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, when one applies our above theory on policy decision-making, we find that there may have indeed been a genuine American interest in the invasion. However, we can be fairly certain, with the advantages related to hindsight, that the reasons presented to the American people (WMD’s), there was no tangible or sustainable evidence that any sane person would be able to base an argument on that would lead to the invasion. Another problem that we can learn from in the Iraqi invasion was the lack of end-game tactics, or going in with no clear objective regarding what to do AFTER the invasion took place. The ground was a complete disaster, and due to many other problems, such as contractor related waste and corruption, Iraq’s full democratic establishment was delayed, if not compromised altogether.

With these past examples in mind, hopefully the generations of the future will be able to make more informed decisions regarding international policy making.

Made it! I am officially excited. Now to see if I can find/get into our house!

Update in Houston!

Well made it inside the terminal alright.

Just left for the airport, hope I didn't forget anything!

Day -1

Hello all, tomorrow I leave for D.C. on my Public Policy May Term class. I have created this blog for myself to keep track of what I do and learn daily and so my friends and family back home can get a little taste of what I will be doing.

I am (as many of you know) a composer. You may be asking yourselves, "what the heck is a composer doing going to D.C. for?". My answer: we shall see. I love law and politics, but music is (obviously) what I do. I am very curious to see what is to come of this trip in my own personal and professional life, so here-goes!

Anyway, I still have a lot of packing to do, so I'm off for tonight! Update in the morning!