Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was in for a rude shock if he thought the same privacy conventions that shield the children of public figures in his home country would extend to the United States. Zapatero brought his wife and two daughters along on his trip to New York for the opening session of the United Nations General Assembly, and on Wednesday he and his family posed for a photograph with President Obama at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The photo caused a huge stir in Spain because the public had never before seen an image of its leader’s children, ages 13 and 16, who appeared in the photograph sporting slightly gothic attire. Read the rest of this entry »

The Postal Service is in big trouble. The quasi-governmental organization has lost money every year since 2005 and is on track to be $7 billion in the red this year. Healthcare and retirement costs are the main culprits, but the volume of mail is also plummeting. With more consumers using E-mail as their primary means of communication and paying bills electronically, the amount of mail crisscrossing the country isn’t expected to return to past levels. Personal letters are now estimated to compose only 6 percent of snail mail traffic. Postmaster General John Potter recently talked with U.S. News about how the service is adapting to this new reality. Excerpts: Read the rest of this entry »

Since 9/11, the CIA has increasingly relied on private contractors to help complete a variety of its assignments. From the interrogation of so-called high-value detainees and the operation of unmanned drones to a program to kill or capture al Qaeda’s top brass, contractors have an important and controversial role in the world of espionage. It’s a role that’s coming under growing scrutiny even as spy agencies like the CIA try to wean themselves off the private workforce. Read the rest of this entry »