So, as a writing major, I am very interested in the role media plays in both foreign and domestic policy. As you all probably know, things like twitter and facebook played a key role in the reporting of Syrian revolution, among other things. So, here is an article about how something like twitter could help locate nuclear warheads from NPR.
http://www.npr.org/2012/02/08/146589700/a-new-weapon-against-nukes-social-media
The next two articles deal mostly with National Security. The first, from NPR again, discusses the cuts to the military budget. The U.S. has one of the largest military's in the world, which is partnered with the largest military spending in the world. So now that the U.S. is out of Iraq and finishing up business in Afghanistan, do we need all of the military power? Terrorism hasn't been a problem since 2001; should we still worry about it? The second article is about the Tar sands and National Security. It's from Grist, which is an online publication that is sort of like Mother Jones; they may be a little sarcastic or loose with their writing, but they are pretty credible (in case you were worried about it being a silly liberal hoohah source, its not). So, what should be thought about while reading these two articles: Is the U.S. our own worst enemy, when it comes to energy and National Security? If we produce energy, do we sever ties and allies with the rest of the world? Are we just endangering ourselves or is our military power intimidating enough to keep competing countries off our back?
http://www.npr.org/2012/02/14/146892853/as-wars-wind-down-what-are-u-s-security-needs
http://grist.org/energy-policy/2011-08-29-everything-youve-heard-about-the-tar-sands-and-energy-security/
