A Late Dog Shirt
Plus, the puppy has a name
Good Morning:
Today’s dog shirt is late, barely in time for this morning’s show. No, I’m not apologizing. I wasn’t feeling well yesterday. And I was up late because I had people over for dinner. And guess what? I just didn’t feel like writing up the dog shirt. So I saved it until this morning. So there.
This amused me:
Yesterday on #DogShirtTV, I was sick and miserable and got kicked out of my own monologue. Luckily, the estimable Holly Berkley Fletcher and the estimable Alicia Wanless were there to salvage things with discussion of Trump’s cabinet as influencers and which puppets could give commencement addresses. Then the estimable Joel Woodward showed up to raise the important question of maple syrup smuggling in the tariff era, and a good time was had by all—except me. I was feeling sick:
Yesterday On Lawfare
Compiled by the estimable Caroline Cornett
Trump’s Attacks on Justice Department Independence, Then and Now
Quinta Jurecic discusses the speed, scale, and brazenness with which President Trump has attacked the Department of Justice in his second term compared to his first, attributing the change to Trump’s consolidation of power in the party and newfound presidential immunity. Jurecic illustrates the difference by comparing the cases of national security adviser Michael Flynn and New York Mayor Eric Adams, noting that while Trump’s actions in the Flynn case were once viewed as remarkable, his conduct in the Adams case is dangerously routine
This spread of activity within the Justice Department is, perhaps intentionally, dizzying. With some exceptions, news stories that might have spiraled into multi-month scandals even during the first Trump administration have vanished quickly in the cacophony of news. The new administration’s abuses of justice are in many cases close variations on tactics sampled by Trump the first time around. But now, they’re happening all at once. And the administration is barely bothering to hide its actions or justify them as anything other than an effort to turn the Justice Department into Trump’s personal gang of enforcers.
Beyond Big Tech: The Revolutionary Potential of State Data Commons
Kevin Frazier and Kevin Wei argue that state-managed data commons—in which individuals voluntarily share information to improve public services—can transform the ability of the public sector to harness artificial intelligence (AI) for social benefit. Frazier and Wei suggest ways to overcome challenges to establishing data commons, including negotiating value-sharing agreements with private companies and establishing security and privacy standards:
The primary challenge to realizing AI’s potential to improve governance and the delivery of public goods is not technical—AI capabilities appear to advance daily—but rather institutional and social. Success in deploying AI for public benefit hinges on three critical factors: public acceptance of AI in sensitive domains, such as public health emergencies; regulatory permission for such deployments; and, perhaps most crucially, access to the high-quality data needed to develop these tools. This last factor, while less discussed in public discourse, may prove the most decisive in determining whether AI serves all Americans rather than only a privileged few.
Podcasts
On Lawfare Daily, Shane Harris joins me to discuss the Atlantic’s decision to release the attack plans that Trump’s advisers shared in a Signal group chat that included the Atlantic’s editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg:
On Rational Security, Scott R. Anderson sits down with Roger Parloff and me to discuss the major national security news of the week, including Trump’s top advisers sharing attack plans on Signal; the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act—and more recently, its invocation of state secrets—to remove alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to a notorious prison in El Salvador; law firm Paul, Weiss’s acquiescence to the Trump administration; and more:
On Lawfare No Bull, Caroline Cornett shares audio from the Senate Intelligence Committee’s annual Worldwide Threats hearing on March 25:
She also shares audio from the House Intelligence Committee’s annual Worldwide Threats hearing on March 26:
Today’s #BeastOfTheDay is this whale shark stealing food from a fishing net:
In honor of today’s Beast, shoplift.
The puppy previously known as the as-yet-nameless puppy is no longer nameless: we’re calling her Klio, who is the Muse of History. She will be the dog on my shirt tomorrow at 8am Eastern Time, if you want to come congratulate her on being named.
In honor of Klio’s status as a named being, I (EJ Wittes) have collected my favorite suggestions for her name made by our dear followers.
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