Atlantic Monthly Contributors's Blog, page 1114

IBM's Newest Invention Mimics the Human Brain on an Atomic Level

Here's a headline you've probably seen before: "IBM creates brain-like computer chip." Here's a more exciting one: "New IBM circuit works in three dimensions, flips switches with atoms." Heck, both are exciting. The latter's just, for lack of a more appropriate cliché, a bit more mind-boggling. 

IBM scientists described a new kind of circuit in a paper published in Science on Thursday. There is no chip involve, per se. It's being described accurately as a "post-silicon transistor" and potentially paves the way for the most powerful and efficient computers the world has ever seen. This is possible largely because it mimics the behavior of another hyper-efficient computational marvel: the human brain.

The new so-called nanofluidic circuit works a little bit like a network of streams. A charged fluid moves over the surface of the circuit changing its properties (e.g. flipping a switch "on" or "off") with the positively and negatively charged atoms in the fluid. Like the synapses of the brain, the ions operate in three dimensions, a game changer in terms of efficiency and uncharted territory in terms of computing. "We could form or disrupt connections just in the same way a synaptic connection in the brain could be remade, or the strength of that connection could be adjusted," Stuart Parkin, a physicist and IBM Fellow, told The New York Times. It's a little bit easier to visualize. Below, the green represents the ionic fluid and the orange is the surface. 

 

While there have been other efforts that attempt to build a brain-like computer — many of them from IBM — this nanofluidic circuit is a game changer. It pulls us out of the current evolutionary cycle of computers that commonly follows Moore's Law. (That's the one about computers becoming twice as powerful and half as big every two years or so.) "This is an alternative to a slowdown in Moore's Law," Parkin added. "Our inspiration is the brain and how it operates. It is full of liquids and ionic currents. We could build more brain-like devices."

More brain-like devices? Sounds intriguing. We can't wait until scientists start dropping installing them behind the eyes of automatons.

Claims of Chemical Attacks in Syria Approach Boy-Who-Cried-Wolf Territory

This week delivered a familiar narrative from Syria. Allegations of a chemical weapons attack bubbled up to the international stage, eliciting shock and awe across the board, only to be disproven a couple days later. Except this time, there was a little bit of confusion about exactly who pulled the trigger.

The Free Syrian Army reported on Tuesday that two Scud-like missiles screamed into a small town near Aleppo and released a nerve agent that contributed to the death of at least 16 people. Around the same time, Bashar Assad's government accused the rebels of launching the attack. The rebels denied the allegations. The United Nations launched an inquiry into the attack. Barack Obama rattled his sabre and reminded everyone that chemical weapons crossed the red line. Lindsey Graham freaked out about weapons of mass destruction. And finally, on Thursday evening, U.S. intelligence officials told multiple press outlets that there probably weren't even any chemical weapons involved in the attack at all. So are we supposed to believe that everybody's lying or that everybody simply confused?

It's tempting to make an exasperated statement here — like "Good grief!" — but it's hardly productive, though. The confusion over chemical weapons in Syria is almost as old as the conflict itself, and this is not the first scare. Reports of Assad using chemical weapons have been bouncing around since early January, and by the end of the month, leaked State Department cables suggested that there really might be real trouble. The use of chemical weapons, as we mentioned earlier, is Obama's trigger. He said on Wednesday that it was a "game changer" in the conflict and the point at which the "international community has to act."

But one can't help but wonder how intelligence officials are treating all these false alarms. Each time the general public must feel a little tricked each time it hears about another chemical weapons attack in Syria that turns out not to involve chemical weapons at all. Are we becoming desensitized to the possibility of Assad spraying sarin all over rebel-held areas of Aleppo or filling the suburbs of Damascus with mustard gas? Are the intelligence officials?

That seems unlikely. While it's natural to believe that some would start treating the rebels like the boy who cried wolf, many American officials actually seem to be doubling down on their calls for greater involvement in the conflict. On Thursday, ranking House Foreign Affairs committee member Rep. Elliot Engel, a New York Democrat and House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Mike Rodgers, a Michigan Republican, introduced a bill to arm the Syrian rebels, the first of its kind. President Assad's days are numbered as the situation in Syria goes from bad to worse," Engel told Foreign Policy. "No longer can we watch as the world's worst humanitarian disaster unfolds before our very eyes."

Engel's got a point. What's the point in waiting for this awful situation to become absolutely atrocious? It's clearly not resolving itself. After all, sometimes the boy who cries wolf really does need help, even if the wolf's not there.

FCC Chairman's Resignation Gives Obama One Last Chance to Diversify His Administration

Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Julius Genachowski will announce his resignation on Friday, according to The Wall Street Journal's unnamed sources, and the hunt for his replacement is well underway.

Don't worry, though. There's no big scandal just a chance for Obama to make a bold move in what's the beginning of the end of his presidential appointments. Genachowski, pictured to the right, took over the telecommunications industry regulator in June 2009 and oversaw some pretty big challenges, like AT&T's failed takeover of T-Mobile. It's unclear why he chose to step down early — his term is up in July — but it appears to be an amicable departure on all fronts.

Now for the fun part: figuring out who gets to take over one of the more powerful regulatory bodies in the United States government. The Washington Post anticipated Genachowski's departure last week and reported that the White House was holding meetings with a number of likely candidates, like venture capitalist Tom Wheeler and assistant Commerce secretary Larry Strickling. Oh great, you might be thinking, more old white men, just what what the Obama administration needs. 

Or, Obama and his advisors could decide to pick somebody like law professor Cathy Sandoval. Sandoval, the first Latina Rhodes scholar, was a high-ranking FCC official back during the Clinton years and has been teaching in California for nearly a decade and has served as the state's public utilities commissioner since 2011. Her name has also been in the running as a potential replacement for Genachowski since the election, at least.

At this point, though, it's a wait-and-see game. It'll be interesting to see if the vocal group that criticized Obama's list of appointees for its heavy representation of while males a couple of months ago will rise up and pressure the president towards a candidate who will bring some diversity to the administration. It'll be more interesting to see which Silicon Valley giant tries to hire Genachowski first.

Massive Volcanoes Caused Widespread Extinction 200 Million Years Ago

Discovered: Massive volcanoes caused widespread extinction 200 million years ago; men don't want to cheat with the wives of their friends; obese people share an altered gene; we remember things using social patterns.

Massive volcanoes caused widespread extinction 200 million years ago. We all know that the Earth's dinosaur population was wiped out about 65 million years ago, probably when an enormous asteroid struck the Earth's crust. But according to a pair of researchers at the Carnegie Institute and Columbia University, a series of "gigantic volcanic eruptions" led to the extinction of animal life about 145 million years before that, when dinosaurs weren't yet roaming around. By carbon-dating rocks, the researchers determined that volcanic activity had sent dense "sulfurous particles" into the atmosphere, blocking out the sun. "The eruptions may have caused climate changes so sudden that many creatures were unable to adapt," the researchers found, "possibly on a pace similar to that of human-influenced climate warming today." [Science]

Men don't want to cheat with the wives of their friends. We may no longer need Jonathan Franzen to dramatize the urgent confusion of marital infidelity. "After outgrowing teenage infatuations with the girl next door, adult males seem to be biologically designed to avoid amorous attractions to the wife next door," two professors at the University of Missouri discovered after measuring male subjects' levels of testosterone when exposed to "the marital partner of a close friend." (Richard Katz, the licentious but guilt-ridden anti-hero of Franzen's novel Freedom, would probably agree with the study.) The professors think the reaction is an evolutionary adaptation from an earlier era. "Men who were constantly betraying their friends' trust and endangering the stability of families may have caused a survival disadvantage for their entire communities." [Human Nature]

Obese people share an altered gene. It turns out that fighting obesity may require more than pure willpower. In a study of obese individuals, an epidemiologist at Georgia Regents University found that each individual's LY86 gene — which is associated with certain inflammatory disorders — was "methylated," or chemically transformed. Though it's unclear how exactly the LY86 gene is connected to an increased risk of obesity (for now, only correlation has been established), the epidemiologist is confident that further research will reveal how, exactly, that gene is altered — whether by genetic heritability, environmental factors, or even diet: "these types of details may help explain why some individuals grow obese with a bad diet and little physical activity while others don't." [American Heart Association]

We remember things using social patterns. Yes, that may seem obvious. But the way we aggregate disparate data in order to remember them is considerably nuanced, according to a Cornell sociologist who studied the way people form memories. "Humans keep track of social information not by rote memorization but with simplifying rules ... people recall social ties that both involve at least three people who know each other and kinship labels such as 'aunt' twice as well as they remember ties that do not, even though triad kinship networks are far more complex," said the sociologist, who tracked their memory retention of 300 subjects who were administered different versions of the same questionnaire. Those subjects recalled more when information mentioned social or familial ties, suggesting our social structures — family, friends, and so on — are a window into memory formation. [Scientific Reports]

The Kids Are Saving the Movie Industry

Today in show business news: Young people are going to the movies more these days which is a good sign for the industry, Seth Rogen will be directing another movie, and Meryl's daughter books another gig.

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has released its annual report on movie attendance, and it seems that 2012 was a good year for the business. Global box office was up 6.4 percent from 2011, for a whopping $34.7 billion. In Canada and the United States, the figures were up nearly 6 percent for a $10.8 billion haul. Better yet, admissions were up for the first time in two years. (Meaning that growth in revenue wasn't simply because tickets, especially 3D ones, got more expensive. More people went to the movies.) What's the reason for the growth? Young people. Per capita, kids ages 11 and under went to the movies 3.3 times last year, while 18-24-year-olds were at 7.8, up from 6.8 the year prior. Meanwhile attendance dropped for people over 50. So older adults with the fancy TVs and the memories of when movies cost five dollars are staying home unless their children beg them to sit through The Lorax, while the youngs keep scampering off and forking over the $16 to see Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter in 3D. But who cares what they're seeing, as long as they're seeing something. Young people are going to movies more frequently and that is nothing but good news for the industry. So don't worry about studio chiefs losing their jobs or anything. They're going to be just fine. Even better, they now see that raising ticket prices isn't a deterrent for their target audience. So thanks a lot, kids! [The Hollywood Reporter]

Mamie Gummer, daughter of La Streep, has been cast on the CBS drama pilot starring Rainn Wilson. Yes, Rainn Wilson is doing a drama. He's playing a police detective who is super awful and annoying but is trying to be better. So he's playing the Dwight Schrute backdoor pilot! Zingggg. Anyhoo, Gummer will be playing his character's partner, a lesbian still smarting from a breakup with her longtime girlfriend. The show is called Backstrom, which... Not such a great title! I know I would certainly spend a good deal of time calling it Backstorm by accident if it makes it to series. Hopefully they will change it, maybe to something a little flashier. Like Cranky Cop or Officer Jerk or Detective Dick and Sergeant Sappho. Y'know, something punchy and exciting. Because Backstrom just does not work. [Deadline]

Ian McShane has joined the cast of a The "Dwayne Johnson" Rock movie called Hercules. Joseph Fiennes, Rufus Sewell, and John Hurt are also in the cast. So should we be expecting some magical godly epic? No, actually. This is "a more grounded approach," and Hercules is not the son of Zeus or anything. He's just a guy who "leads a team of mercenaries on a job where all is ominously not what it appears." Aha. That sounds... thrilling. I guess it's supposed to be like 300? Except that was sort of magical wasn't it? I mean the Persians looked like monsters. I don't know. McShane is playing someone referred to as a "prophet," so that's at least a little mystical. But otherwise I guess it's just regular people. Which is odd! To take all the fun stuff out of a story so everything's just regular. Seems a bit misguided if you ask me. What's worse? This is being directed by Brett Ratner. Yes, the Brett Ratner. So probably don't mark your calendars or anything. [The Hollywood Reporter]

Here is a trailer for the upcoming AMC cop series Low Winter Sun, about crooked Detroit police officers. Mark Strong and Lennie James, both Brits, appear to be the leads on the show, which was adapted from a BBC movie. It looks good? It's hard to tell from this, as not a lot happens. It's mostly tough/foreboding voice over and stern facial expressions and that's kind of it. One potential problem is that it doesn't seem to have much of a hook, like all the successful AMC shows do. (Zombies! The '60s! Meth!) That's not necessarily a problem, but it might prove a tougher sell. Y'know, it being just another cop show. But I'll give AMC the benefit of the doubt on pretty much anything, so bring it on. Weird title though, huh? I feel like it should be set in Norway. Is Detroit the Norway of the US? (No, it is mayyybe the Bucharest.)

Fallon and Kimmel Are Already Fighting for Late-Night Crown, but It's Not a War

One of the reasons cited for NBC's now acrimonious transition from Jay Leno to Jimmy Fallon as host of The Tonight Show is the rise of Jimmy Kimmel on ABC. And in an interview on CNN today Kimmel essentially started to rub it in, making us wonder what the future holds in a Kimmel-Fallon landscape. 

 Kimmel—who notoriously hates Leno—kind of gloated in his Jake Tapper sitdown: 

JAKE TAPPER: But do you think it’s a direct - it has to be, a direct response to you coming and–

JIMMY KIMMEL: God, I hope so. I really - I don’t know. I mean, I have no idea. I mean, well, obviously, NBC is looking to move on, because they did it once already. This would be the second time that this has happened. So I mean, it makes perfect sense. And Jimmy Fallon is doing a great job. And he’s very popular. And so, I mean, hey, eventually, it’s going to happen one way or the other. I mean, one way or the other, it gets going to have to happen, right? Right?

(Kimmel also noted that his mother told him to stop badmouthing Leno so frequently.)

We know that NBC is—at least in part—making this move because of Kimmel. Bill Carter, who literally wrote books on both recent famous late night fights, broke the Leno transition wide open in the New York Times. And Carter reports that one of the key reasons that Tonight is moving to New York for Fallon has to do with another Jimmy: "Many TV executives speculated that NBC could not afford to wait too long to promote Mr. Fallon, or it might risk having Mr. Kimmel, 45, lock up the young-adult viewers who are the economic lifeblood of late-night television." The thing is, though, as far as ratings go, late night has still been an old man's game as of late. Or at least one old man's game: Jay Leno. 

Both Kimmel and Fallon are seen as keys to younger viewers and higher-profile advertising demographics. Kimmel doesn't like the whole "young" angle to this fracas, he told Tapper, since he imagines doing the job when he's older. (Also, it should be noted that it's not only young people who like Kimmel—this writer's nonagenarian grandmother is a big fan.) 

Both Kimmel and Fallon—who are mutually complimentary—have had success with viral videos. Jeanne Marie Laskas's new GQ profile on Fallon for the magazine's April issue, titled "The New King of Late Night TV," elaborated on this approach: "Fallon's brand of comedy included the audience in the experience, and that, it would turn out, was prescient." While Kimmel's videos tend to draw on a "gotcha" candid camera style of segment, Fallon's are milder parodies and can come off like SNL skits. Whereas the 45-year-old Kimmel has a some of the bite of his hero, David Letterman, the 38-year-old Fallon is like a trendy puppy dog—as inoffensive as Leno, but also more hip, and, well, funnier. Somehow it seems like they might maintain a Letterman-Leno balance in terms of tone—that is, if there's no major falling out—with a friendly brand of competition. (In the GQ interview, Fallon's reaction to Kimmel: "Love him! So fun to play with. I'm so happy he's moved to eleven thirty. It's a good move for him. Love him.") 

It's hard to know how they will compete ratings wise, as Kimmel is now up against much bigger fish. Another equal unknown is CBS: Will Letterman stay on past 2014? Or will that network also try for new blood? 

Still, NBC may not be getting rid of Leno that quickly, if a new report from TMZ is accurate. According to TMZ, Leno's going to stay out his contract: "Informed sources connected with the network tell TMZ ... when Jay renegotiated his contract during the Conan O'Brien mess, he demanded and got several penalty clauses that would make NBC take an ENORMOUS financial hit if they pull the plug early." That would keep Leno in his position until 2014.

And Leno is still doing well. Just last week, before all of this broke, Entertainment Weekly reported that during February sweeps Kimmel actually scored lower ratings than Nightline did the year previously, and though Kimmel's had some ratings success, Leno is still a roadblock for him. Lynette Rice of EW explains: "For now, though, beating Leno is the toughest task for the feisty Kimmel: After dominating during his premiere week of Jan. 7 (1.07 million 18-49 viewers versus Leno’s 1.04 million and Letterman’s 820,000), Kimmel has yet to do better than his NBC counterpart when he’s in originals." 

So while NBC may want rid of Leno and his groan-worthy jokes, it might be too risky a financial move right now, even if Kimmel's zeitgeist-y brand of late-night humor may be what eventually overtakes Leno in the ratings. And gives the late shift a new pair of friendly foes.

Shootout in Texas Leaves Suspect in Colorado Prison Boss Murder 'Dead'

Update, 6:07 p.m. Eastern: In a stunning development heating up and perhaps finishing the cold case of the point-blank shooting death of Colorado Department of Corrections chief Tom Clements — but not before a sex-slave letter and the Islamic faith get dragged into this — authorities in Texas's Wise County said late Thursday afternoon that investigators were trying to "establish a connection" between the murder in Colorado and a wild chase on a Texas highway. According to the Denver Post, a man armed with a handgun fired at Texas police while driving a black Cadillac (which could match the description of the car in question, per scant public clues below) got into a firefight before he was shot by deputies with the Wise County Sheriff's office and taken to a hospital, where the suspect was declared "brain dead."

The connection is under investigation by authorities in both states, but ABC news reported Thursday that Clements was a "target," according to Colorado police, adding that Clements had denied a request to Saudi Arabian prisoner Homaidan al-Turki, citing in a letter his refusal, based on conflicts with his Islamic faith, to seek sex-offender treatment. It seems al-Turki was charged with sexual assault of his housekeeper, whom he allegedly forced to sleep on a mattress in his basement as a kind of sex slave working for $2 per day. Many were upset that Gov. John Hickenlooper had supported moving al-Turki in light of religious preferences, but Clements had sent the letter denying the request on March 11. —Matt Sullivan

Original Post: According to police, a mysterious speed-walker who disappeared in the dark of night might help them figure out who killed Tom Clements, the 58-year-old chief of Colorado's Department of Corrections shot Tuesday night at his front door. Without many clues, police have even started looking into a Craigslist ad Clements posted on Tuesday, trying to sell his mountain bike. But the main vehicle connected to the murder of the state prison boss is still a "shiny" Lincoln-style car "with green dashboard lights," reports Denver's ABC affiliate, adding that information about the car  could come from a woman apparently seen speed-walking near Clements's home just before the time of the shooting. The Associated Press reports that "she may have seen the suspect" and that she "was wearing light pants, a dark windbreaker and possibly a hat."

So: One of the most high-profile law enforcement officials in Colorado has been killed at point-blank range after answer his doorbell, and law enforcement hopes currently rest on a windbreaker wearing speed-walker. But the investigation is ongoing, and the Clements case is a tough one: The 31-year veteran of the corrections department in Missouri had moved to Colorado just two years ago, had no "beef" to speak of, and no one saw the gunman in an incident where robbery has been ruled out by investigators and the victim's family members were left unharmed. According to statements made by Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper just before he signed key gun-control legislation into law on Wednesday, an "act of intimidation" has been made. 

Aside from the speed-walker, the ABC affiliate brings word of a Craigslist ad that Clements apparently placed online the day of his killing, trying to sell his $1,200 Kona Hei Hei bicycle. "The advertisement lists Tom as the contact person, and a phone number also posted tracks back to Clements," reports KMGH's Tak Landrock, adding that "sources close to the investigation" say Clements "might have had a pre-arranged meeting with the person who came to his door Tuesday night." (Though, if Clements's murder was about over a mountain-bike transaction gone bad, that wouldn't exactly add up with police reports that nothing was stolen.) Of course, the ABC affiliate and its sources may be starting to connect the dots that whoever wanted to kill Clements might have gotten his information by sifting through Craigslist. Landrock writes: 

CALL7 Investigators have called the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office and a spokesman said investigators are aware of the posting and are looking into it.

Lt. Jeff Kramer said, "I can't speak to the efforts behind this tip, or the level we are giving it."

Maybe George W. Bush Is the Dog in His Dog Paintings

A dozen more paintings by former President George W. Bush have been revealed, meaning we're getting closer to seeing his entire dog-painting oeuvre. Bush's art teacher says he's painted more than 50 dogs. After careful study of Bush's work, we are forced to consider the theory that Bush is the dogs.

Someone calling him- or herself Guccifer hacked into Bush's email, and, starting in February, has sent the stolen images to reporters in batches. Gawker's Max Read, in the week of the tenth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War, has published two more sets. None depict the Iraq war or his presidency. At least not explicitly.

Only two of Bush's paintings, so far, appear to be self-portraits. He's in the bath in both, and his face is hidden. But maybe we can see Bush in the dog's faces. Dogs -- thinking, feeling, social creatures -- are unable to talk. Bush struggled to express himself. After the 2008 election, Bush told CNN, "I regret saying some things I shouldn't have said." Like what? "Like 'dead or alive,' 'bring 'em on.' … My wife reminded me that, Hey you're president of the United States. You'd better be careful what you say. I mean I was trying to convey a message. I probably could have conveyed it more artfully."

Take, for example, what appears to be a young golden lab/ beagle mix at right. Look at his eyes. He's trying to tell us something. He's feeling something very deeply. He's looking into the distance -- maybe into history? Bush has long said he thinks history will be the judge of his presidency. 

There are other Bush paintings -- landscapes, still lifes. He seems to have really nailed purple grapes.

But it's the dog pictures that really speak to Bush's personality. (Note the political matroyshka dolls and a "JESUS" wood carving in the background.)

In no painting is is it more obvious that Bush is the dogs than in this one, in which a terrier contemplates the White House from outside the gates. Bush is now cut off from the job and the home that defined him. 

YouTube Is Now the Size of Facebook

YouTube made a big announcement on Wednesday night — ten digits big to be exact. The video-sharing startup that spent its early days operating out of an apartment above a pizzeria now boasts one billion users. That's billion with a "b", and yes, that is very cool. 

One billion users is also a lot of users. The only site that can really compete with that kind of volume is Facebook. To be specific, YouTube announced on its official blog that "now has more than a billion unique users every single month." It's unclear how "active" these users are, to use an industry term, but boy are they numerous. YouTube offered these arresting bullet points to illustrate its intimidating new size (there's also a fourth, but it's dumb):

Nearly one out of every two people on the Internet visits YouTube. Our monthly viewership is the equivalent of roughly ten Super Bowl audiences. If YouTube were a country, we'd be the third largest in the world after China and India.

Okay, we get it. YouTube is really big. We've all know for a very long time that Facebook is really big. We also know that Google+, the social network created by YouTube's parent company, is struggling. And so a very natural idea to arise from this scenario would suggest that YouTube could be a pretty badass social network, if it wanted to. If fact, Google's considered this idea, and its research arm even published a paper titled "The YouTube Social Network." 

YouTube, by any stretch of the imagination, will not be facing off against Facebook any time soon. They're really different websites! But it'll be interesting to see what Google does. The company's been on a consolidation spree, cutting services left and right — RIP Reader — and has always longed for a real Facebook competitor, a Google social network that people actually use and love. Meanwhile, YouTube appears to be the place where everybody comes together. Google's been flirting with the idea of integrating the YouTube community more with Google+, the company's latest Facebook competitor. And with a little imagination, you could probably see how that might be a heck of a move if done correctly.

Facebook has a billion users. YouTube has a billion users. Google owns YouTube. Why doesn't Google+ have a billion users? According to some, it's only a matter of time.

Just for fun, these are the 20 oldest videos on YouTube:

How Many Americans Are on the Kill List? Zero.

No Americans are currently marked for death on the U.S. government's terrorist strike list, according to the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

The White House has wrapped its kill list in secrecy and already the United States has killed four Americans in drone strikes. Only one of them, senior al-Qaida operative Anwar al-Awlaki, was the intended target, according to U.S. officials. The others—including Awlaki’s teenage son—were collateral damage, killed because they were too near a person being targeted.

But no more Americans are in line for such killings—at least not yet. “There is no list where Americans are on the list,” House Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers told National Journal. Still, he suggested, that could change.

MORE FROM NATIONAL JOURNAL Who Are the American Terrorists? In Israel, Obama Is Much More Than a Tourist Who's Rooting for War in Syria?

The Obama administration has asserted it has legal authority to kill U.S. citizens who join al-Qaida, so long as the individuals rise to a leadership position in the group and plan attacks against the nation. That rationale has driven many lawmakers to join civil-rights groups’ long call for the White House to open up about the strike list, the criteria, and its counterterrorism policy more broadly.

At its height, the demand by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., that the administration publicly state it does not have the right to ignore the Constitution’s guarantee of due process by killing an American on U.S. soil led to a 13-hour filibuster of CIA Director John Brennan’s nomination. It garnered so much attention and support that more than a dozen Republican senators joined Paul on the Senate floor and won a caveated concession from Attorney General Eric Holder that the U.S. would not use drones to take out Americans who were not actively engaged in combat.

The White House will not talk about the strike list. It would not comment on Rogers’s statement that no Americans are currently being targeted. But the lawmaker’s assertion fits with what’s known about the American terrorists who most worry the federal government.

Four U.S.-born men are listed on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list: Adam Gadahn, Omar Hammami, Jehad Serwan Mostafa, and Abdul Yasin. They also are highlighted in the National Counterterrorism Center’s macabre 2013 calendar, which provides descriptions of terrorist groups, wanted men, and terrorist threats in a daily-planner format.

But, according to what officials have released about the criteria the U.S. government uses, a potential target must be a senior, operational leader of al-Qaida or an affiliated group who presents an imminent threat of violent attack against the United States. These four men do not appear to fit the bill. While Gadahn, perhaps the best known of the group, rose quickly in al-Qaida’s ranks, he serves as a propagandist, not an operational planner.

“Some notion that every American would even rise to the list by just going over and even signing up is, candidly, just not the truth,” Rogers said.

Awlaki, Rogers said, was unique among homegrown terrorists—he publicly declared jihad against the United States, and he was involved in multiple terrorist-related plans, including the failed Christmas Day bombing and the Fort Hood shooting.

“What worries me is they are taking this isolated case and saying, ‘Oh well, there’s a list of Americans, and you could be on the list of Americans.’ That just simply is not how this works,” he said.

But Rogers, who said he reviews every strike after it is carried out and sends his staff to a monthly meeting with intelligence officials to ensure staffers have enough information on the strike program, cautioned that should another American citizen again attain the status Awlaki did, the U.S. government has the authority to kill him.

“If you ever got another American who rose to that same level in the ranks and leadership role in al-Qaida and they were operating in Yemen or Mali or southern Algeria or Libya, well, they’ve picked their team, and their team is al-Qaida. And the United States is in conflict with al-Qaida. In the rules of war, you’re allowed to defend yourself.”

The question of American citizens being on the kill list is just one of many concerns raised about U.S. counterterrorism strategy and drone strikes. Among them, civil-rights groups, security experts, and lawmakers question the administration’s legal authorization for the strikes, the lack of third-party review, the opacity of the policy, and the potential blowback the United States faces over collateral damage.

“If your focus is on the handful of Americans who have been killed, and only one of them was killed intentionally, you’re really missing the bigger story,” said Micah Zenko, national security expert at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Senate Intelligence Committee member Angus King, the Maine independent who has called for greater oversight of the drone program, said he thought the administration was taking calls for greater transparency seriously.

“There’s a possibility of reasonable people finding a solution here. And to me, the important thing is not necessarily the representations of the administration or all the things they’re putting in place,” King said. “The problem is, you can’t rely on that five, 10, or 15 years from now. You’ve got to have a structure in place that will protect us.”

For more on U.S. drone strikes and what happens when America’s competitors catch up, see this week’s National Journal magazine.

Ben Terris contributed