| Jan 20, 2016 | Rights / DemocracyYou may have heard there’s a growing political movement against mass incarceration. Someone should clue in the judges. In the past 30 years, federal judges have turned to imprisonment — as opposed to probation — as the punishment of choice for even minor crimes,...
| Nov 18, 2015 | UncategorizedI sometimes say the government turned me into a dissident — after I spent 14 years at the CIA and two more at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. I only say it half-jokingly. While I’m proud of winning this year’s PEN Center’s First Amendment award, I never...
| Nov 17, 2015 | Peace / Security“Too many people are behind bars that don’t belong there,” declared a group demanding that America do away with its throw-’em-all-in-jail mass imprisonment policies. For nearly 50 years, politicians and prosecutors have pushed a no-mercy,...
| Oct 28, 2015 | Rights / DemocracyAs Thanksgiving approaches, I’ve got a suggestion for President Barack Obama. Instead of following the White House tradition and “pardoning“ a turkey destined for a holiday dinner table, Obama should extend that courtesy to some of the thousands of human beings caged...
| Sep 30, 2015 | Peace / SecurityDuring his historic U.S. visit, Pope Francis made headlines for speaking truth to power at the United Nations and the Capitol. But the “people’s pope” also addressed the powerless. Everywhere he went, he called on Americans to treat our undocumented immigrants better....
