Col. Cedric Leighton (U.S. Air Force, ret.) discussed the implications of the visit on Capital Insider.

Fmr. Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.), now with Sidley Austin in Washington, discussed U.S. progress on Capital Insider.

The relationship between the U.S. and Israel is very complex. But a recent gaffe involving President Obama and French leader Nicolas Sarkozy has only strained that connection further. Sarkozy was overheard talking negatively about the Israeli prime minister and the President didn't rush to Netanyahu's defense. Matt RJ Brosky explains what this means for the special relationship between the two countries and also talks about the nuclear threats coming from Iran.

But whether people are paying for it or not, the company's response to the surprising amount of criticism of the Reader redesign has been remarkably...restrained. The Google Reader blog hasn't been updated since Oct. 31, when its new design got pushed to users, and the only acknowledgment of the criticism of that design was a Nov. 4 tweet that announced titles and links, which had been turned gray in the new design, would be colored blue again.

That's probably as close as newshounds are gonna get to the old Reader layout. I rely heavily on my RSS reader to write an aggregated morning arts email. I tried using a few competing products but didn't like them particularly better than Google's even with the godawful new design, so I'm sticking with Reader for now.

Grumpy resignation works for me, but the "sharebros" who used Reader as an intentionally small social network appear to simply be hosed (Adam Clark Estes reported some are working on a new product called HiveMined that may ease the pain). A couple weeks ago I reported on a protest outside Google's D.C. headquarters, where a few area enthusiasts held signs and tried to get the company to back off its gutting of Reader's social functions.

Toward the end of the protest, a Google employee appeared: Robert O. Boorstin, a director of public policy for Google who said he'd pass on their concerns to the company's product team. Leah Libresco, one of the protest's organizers, sent Boorstin a detailed and concise email detailing her objections that same day.

Libresco says she hasn't heard back. I asked Boorstin today whether Libresco's critique had gotten any reaction inside the company, and he hasn't replied to me, either. My request to Google's media department, which is usually quite responsive, has gone unanswered, too. Should anyone get back to me on this pressing matter, I'll update!

7:59

Address staffers at iStrategyLabs headquarters in Dupont. Express pleasure that everyone is healthy. (“This is amazing. Amazing timing.”) Distribute distressed American Apparel T-shirts. Sit at laptop and email potential venture capitalist.

Get up; organize stacks of stickers. Explain which stickers can be taken by public and which must be handed out. Return to laptop.

8:45

Hear call for help from other room. (“What’s this box called Lego/Play Doh/Angry Birds?”) Explain what the Legos, Play Doh, and Angry Birds are and where they need to go. Continue communicating with potential venture capitalist.

9:15

Issue last-minute requests to staffers. (“Joe, do you want to put snacks in my car? Sam Smith, can you help me? Sarah Sugarman, did you find a medium? DJ Saul, load these snacks in my car please.”)

Pick up case of Red Bull and box of Carr’s Water Crackers. They go in black BMW hatchback.

10:00

Action-packed hour commences. Pull up to Artisphere loading dock and unload car. Join DCWeek co-organizer Frank Gruber at the elevator. Comment on difference between elevators overseas and elevators in the U.S. (“I love when you’re in Europe and it’s, like, negative two.”)

Call a huddle with Gruber and the festival’s third organizer, Jen Consalvo, inside. Have terse conversation with Artisphere staff person about what can be set up today.

Adjourn huddle and check out space available for set up. Think aloud about how to arrange it. (“So what would be the best way to do it?”) Develop solution. (“So Jen, Frank, we’re going to section off from here to the speaker.”)

Call another huddle. Sit at table with Gruber and Consalvo and attempt to pull up document relevant to this huddle. Complain that the document cannot be found. Attempt multiple searches and comment on searches’ inefficiency. (“This is so inefficient!”)

Find document and commence discussion of how sponsors’ tables will be organized at the event. Listen to Consalvo’s concerns about AOL. (“Somehow we have to figure out a place for their candy bar.”) Make suggestion. (“I say we take one of these and make it an awesome candy heap.”) Never take eyes or fingertips off laptop.

Express displeasure that different Artisphere staff members had different information about the set-up process. (“You guys should learn how to collaborate.”)

Take phone call; relay the requisite information (“Ask her if she’s got a skirt for her table. If she needs a round table. Etc.”). Hang up.

Spy orange table across room next to Artisphere bar. Wonder aloud if it would suffice for AOL’s candy bar. Get up; approach bartender. (“Hi, is this orange thing yours? Can we use it?”)

Return to laptop and inbox. Learn from Consalvo that one of the festival’s scheduled speakers has broken his leg and is unable to make his flight. Express sympathy. (“With all compassion due, was that one we had to pay to fly here?”)

11:25

Respond to flood of emailed questions from festivalgoers. Explain that these easily answered questions are frustrating. (“I’m not saying people are dumb, but it’s like people can’t read or something.”)

11:35

Move tables and chairs around. Explain that arranging sponsors tables is a diplomatic process. (“Everyone wants the best spot, the biggest table.”)

Noon

Get on Twitter to monitor the #DCWEEK hashtag; find tweets have grown too numerous to follow. See tweet from guy surprised by all the creative talent showcased at DCWeek. Get giddy. (“That makes me happy!”)

Learn of issues going on with chairs and balloons in the ballroom. (“The balloons are encroaching on the chairs.”) Solve issue. (“Chairs take precedence over balloons.”)

12:30

Realize it’s lunchtime. (“How did that happen?”) Go buy lunch for staff down the block.

1:03

Corral staff for sandwiches and wraps in the ballroom. Get status report from staffers. Eat a sandwich. Issue warning to group about missing tomorrow’s 6 a.m. start time. (“If you’re late, you’re letting your team down and you’re putting more work on other people.”)

Adjourn. Get to Warner Theater.

2:30

Create makeshift office in theater dressing room and sit in front of laptop. Look at cell phone and note with irritation a voicemail. (“You want to know a surefire way for people to get me not to answer them? It’s if you call and leave a message.”)

Quiz employee on details regarding snacks for speakers. Note with pleasure that DCWeek attendees’ charity donations now total $906,000. (“Holy crap!”) Learn that theater will not be providing microphones or podiums.

3:05

Direct staff to loading dock to unpack U-Haul. Grab Carr’s Water Crackers and head back to laptop.

3:45

See that donations have reached $1 million. Respond to walkie talkie question about where the Appinion fliers are supposed to go. (“The Appinion fliers are to be put in the books and handed out to people when they register.”)

Learn that AT&T needs a table at the theater. (“That could be a problem.”) Discover that the projection screen that was delivered does not match the projection screen that was ordered.

4:00

Hear staffer say that seats reserved for speakers and patrons in the front row of the audience aren’t good. Sit in reserved seats and declare them to be fine. Realize you have forgotten about the paper airplanes. (“I got paper airplanes! Shit! Need to find the paper airplanes!”)

4:30
Go over program with staffer. Another arrives with green room snacks. Advise him to dispose of the six-pack. (“Beer is illegal in this venue, so chug it.”)

State aloud plan for next few minutes. (“I’m going to stop working in four minutes and change my shirt.”) Consult staffer for fashion advice. (“Should I go with the T-shirt or the button down?”) He advises. (“I think the T-shirt’s a little insulting to the speakers.”) Take advice and head out of theater with Frank Gruber.

Observe registration table on way out and see stickers are not in correct place. Rearrange and walk across street to Chef Geoff’s.

4:45

Inquire about the restaurant’s cocktail quality. (“I’d like an old-fashioned, but only if you make a really good old-fashioned.”) Check cell phone and see another voicemail. (“This is why sales calls are so stupid.”)

Welcome guests from Ford. Lead 30-minute conversation about OccupyDC, Twitter, and DCWeek. Use frequent hand gestures.

6:00

Adjourn cocktail hour and return to theater. Hunker down in makeshift office and avoid leaving. (“Because if I do, I’ll have to solve the problems.”) Receive text asking about handicap seating. (“Handicap seating? I don’t know!”)

7:10

Take stage with Consalvo and Gruber. Thank sponsors and introduce Mayor Vince Gray to podium. Accept mayor’s thanks. (“I especially want to thank Peter for everything he does to support the community. How about a big hand for Peter?”)

Applause, applause.

Facebook has changed the way the average joe connects to his or her friends and family. Now law enforcement has created its own social media tool to help officers communicate on a secure network. CopBook is used by some federal agencies and local jurisdictions around the country and its spreading. Capital Insider got a look at how cops are using it to catch criminals and communicate.

With so many people, events, and locations to juggle, things could get mighty tricky for folks who just want to catch a session on agile software development. But take heart. Peter Corbett, CEO of iStrategyLabs and one of DCWEEK’s founders, spoke to us about how people can manage the tech festival. Even people who would never attend a tech festival.

1. Dress appropriately

“The tech community has a sort of uniform,” Corbett explains. “Jeans and tee shirts are the norm.” Expect a lot of “geeky shirts that say funny things, like ‘nom nom nom,’ and it’s a cat eating a cheeseburger.”

Corbett himself plans to don jeans and Pumas.

2. Don’t be frightened by terminology

Words like “patent troll” and concepts like “open source vs. proprietary software” are foreign to the uninitiated. But simple meanings often lie behind these techy terms.

Take Sunday’s planned “Hackathon,” which conjures images of criminal activity, or a peculiar beating. In fact, the Hackathon is a gathering of 150 web and mobile developers all working on applications and competing for a $20,000 prize. “It’s just people coding furiously, eating pizza and drinking Red Bull,” Corbett explains. Not frightening at all!

3. Be sure to say hello to the Ford Twittering Cake

Do not miss the chance to communicate with a baked confection at the closing party. “We have built some technology and baked it into the cake, literally,” says Corbett. If you tweet with the cake’s hashtag, the Ford Twittering Cake will say your tweet. Or something.

4. Maintain your sense of geography

Corbett warns that the events will be very cool and very full of tech hipsters. “People will go, am I in Williamsburg? Is this San Francisco?” says Corbett. Try to remember you are in neither of those places.

5. Go to the Wednesday keynote

If you can only go to a few of the many events, Corbett advises making the Wednesday keynote event, which is free and features bigwigs from AT&T, Ford, and Intel, plus notables like the guy who created Post Secret. Need more reasons to go? Corbett has thousands: “You’ll be with 2,000 people in a room who are the most creative, interesting, and innovative people in the city.”

6. Try to adjust to the amazingness

Look, there’s a lot to do. Corbett likens the intense schedule to Austin’s famous South By Southwest music festival, except at the festival, people understand how it works—get a badge and go to parties and shows nonstop. “D.C.’s not really used to that sort of amazingness,” he says. But “people are learning.”

“We’re not going to reduce the number of stuff that happens,” says Corbett. “We’re going to try and improve the information structure.” (Concerns over concept of “information structure,” see no. 2.)

A computer virus has infected the military's drone arsenal and no one know where the corruption came from or how to get rid of it. Cedric Leighton explains how the bug could affect the drones' effectiveness and why it's so important for the Pentagon to use unmanned aircraft in dangerous war zones.

As Gizmodo reports, TeleGeography has been publishing an undersea cable map for a decade — on paper, for $250 — but starting today, they're providing it free on this miraculous Internet of ours. So although you'll never really understand how the Internet works, at least now you can see how it's distributed.

With only a few hundred of these cables around the world, security is the first obvious concern. That's why the map only allows you to zoom in to a certain point. We wouldn't want anything to interrupt our surfing the Internet for photos of "turbakinis."