Although I had long recognized that intelligence at the national level is remedial education for policy-makers and their staff who live in a “closed circle,” it was the juxtaposition of Derek Bok's review of education with my own on intelligence in the same issue that made me realize we need a Deputy Vice President for Education, Intelligence, and Research. I tried to get Colin Powell interested in the idea, to no avail. In my view, we will always need spies and secrets, but they must be cast in the context of a Smart Nation, and our secret intelligence budget is so large now that it can safely afford to become a modest bill-payer for advances in education and research that are part of the Smart Nation triad.
It is not for me to do anything other than champion the idea–others actually manage the money and it is they who decide how the taxpayer dollar is spent.