The founder of Understanding Government, Charles Peters, started his Washington career by establishing the evaluation mechanism for the Peace Corps.  He concluded that reports from people in the field and short-term employees (like the volunteers themselves) were often more honest and critical than program evaluations done at the main office back home.  Today another former Peace Corps official writes in the New York Times that "the agency has no comprehensive system for self-evaluation" nor does it ask the in-country targets of Peace Corps expertise whether volunteers were in fact a help or a hindrance.  Read Robert Strauss’s recommendations for the Peace Corps here.

New York City antiterrorism officials are fighting for improved on-site sensors that can detect biological weapons, Spenser Hsu writes in the Washington Post.  With $400 million spent on the so-called BioWatch program to date, NY officials are looking to a new model of air sampler that can conduct near real-time analysis.  But officials at the Department of Homeland Security are examining other technologies, and some in Congress are questioning whether air sampling is the right way to detect potential pathogens.  Read Spenser Hsu here.

Embrace cynicism.  Face truth.  And understand that they don’t matter all that much.  I mean the presidential primaries.  Let’s step back a bit and realize that we have a year before the next president takes office.  There are more pressing issues than who is the latest "comeback kid." (more…)

Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post reports on a new survey of foreign service officers, 44% of whom gave Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice a "poor" or "very poor" overall job rating.  Many FSOs say they might leave the service for other employment rather than working through to retirement.  Some of the dissatisfaction results from the strain of America’s foreign wars, as diplomats object to hardship posting and unfair pay scales relative to military officers.  Read Karen DeYoung here.