The Foreign Service Journal, April 2013

the Foreign Service journal | April 2013 13 lives in the line of duty during 2012, a 43-percent increase from 2011. (On aver- age, over the past two decades a jour- nalist has been killed in the line of duty every eight days.) More tha n 35 reporters are currently missing. The report identifies 232 journalists who were placed behind bars because of their work last year, an increase of 53 from 2011. That is the highest total since the organization began conducting the survey in 1986. To spotlight growing threats, the 2013 edition of Attacks also features CPJ’s new “Risk List,” w hich identifies the 10 places experiencing the most significant down- ward trends during 2012. Those develop- ments included: •High murder rates and entrenched impunity in Pakistan, Somalia and Brazil; •The use of restrictive laws to silence dissent in Ecuador, Turkey and Russia; •Th e imprisonment o f large numbers of journalists, typically on anti-state charges, to thwart critical reporting in Ethiopia, Turkey, Vietnam, Iran and Syria; and •An exceedingly high fatality rate in Syria, w here journalists faced multiple risks from all sides in the conflict. A United Nations plan to strengthen international efforts to increase security for journalists—which is being imple- mented with CPJ support—aims to create safer conditions for reporters around the world. But the plan, along with a five- year-ol d U.N. resolution t hat calls for the protection of journalists in conflict zones, requires full implementation in order to guarantee a free and safe press. An expanded print edition w ith exclu- sive essays by leading journalists is pub- lished by Bloomberg Press, an imprint of Wiley, and is available for purchase. That book includes thematic essays on the anti-press offensive by non-state MR. NUNN: When the Secretary of Defense says three or four times that one of the biggest priorities he has is to see the State Department budget and diplomacy reinvigorated, you know something is pretty important there, and that’s the message he gave. So, I think we’ve got to think much broader than simply the budgetary issues. There are a lot of things at stake here. MS. FLOURNOY: I agree that we aren’t facing existential threats. Even though the nature of our power is changing and what it means to be a unique superpower is changing, we still have a unique role and unique responsibilities to protect our interests, many of which are vital beyond our shores. That requires U.S. engagement and assistance. So, I think we’re in a situation where we don’t want to be the world’s policemen. [And] I also agree with Sen. Nunn’s key point that we’re not going to have a very successful foreign policy if one instrument has historically been on steroids and everything else is on life support. —Former Senator SamNunn, D-Ga., and former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy, speaking during th e Brookings Institution’s Feb. 22 panel discussion,“ Real Specifics: 15Ways to Rethink the Federal Budget—Part I: Budgeting for a Modern Military. SITE OF THE MONTH : Freebook Sifter F reebook Sifter makes it easy to find free e-books for download to a Kindle device on Amazon.com. The site’s founders, Michael Powell and Jürgen Horn, who also operate Lastminute-Auction.com, update its database daily, removing books which are no longer free and adding any which have just come in. ( Freebook Sifter currently features more than 36,000 free e-books.) Users can sign up for e-mail alerts or subscribe to a New Books RSS Feed. Powell and Horn also operate Criticker.com, a film recommendation engine and community, and an entertainment blog , Random Good Stuff . —Steven Alan Honley, Editor