The Food and Drug Administration’s response to bioterrorism has done little to protect our food supply, prompting even the outgoing Secretary of Health and Human Services to show concern. In his resignation remarks last week, Tommy Thompson told press that he believed that it would be “easy” for terrorists to contaminate our food supply. “For the life of me, I cannot understand why the terrorists have not attacked our food supply because it is so easy to do,” he said, adding that he “worried every single night” about terrorist threats to the nation’s food supply.

A panel of Fish and Wildlife Service officials has recommended against granting Endangered Species Act protections to the greater sage grouse, based on source materials that included scientific assessments from federal biologists and a critique of that science from a political appointee with no background at all in biology.

The National Conference on Citizenship, held Dec. 3 in Washington, DC, examined the role of citizenship in the post-9/11 world. The conference provided a forum to discuss the important role nonprofits play in encouraging citizenship. Read more for a summary of points made at the conference. The conference theme was highlighted by John DiIulio, Jr., former director of the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, who moderated a panel discussion on nonprofits and citizenship in front of 500 educators and nonprofit leaders.