Holes in the Memory

At least the food supplies were offloaded by workers wearing USDA T-shirts -- maybe flown over directly from the Department of Agriculture?

No, those would be shirts of the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), a paramilitary group believed to have been involved in the attempted assassination a few years back of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Its members have reportedly been attacking people trying to distribute aid on their own.

A Far Cry From Bob Hope

This bulletin just in from the United Service Organizations, better known as the venerable USO.

Blackwater Worldwide has joined the USO as its newest Worldwide Strategic Partner. Blackwater, a global leader in advanced law enforcement and military peacekeeping training, has committed $2 million over four years to support USO programs and services for the troops, including homecoming celebrations and logistical support for USO entertainment tours.

"We welcome Blackwater Worldwide to the list of corporations who demonstrate their commitment to supporting American service members and their families by partnering with the USO," said Edward A. Powell, USO president and CEO. "This partnership will help the USO to continue its vital work Until Every One Comes Home." (That's the USO slogan.)

The Blackwater guys are known for their quick, violent reactions; no sudden clapping at the shows.

He's Not the Leader of the Band, Either

Some folks at the Pentagon may have done a double take reading this announcement Wednesday:

"Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates announced the following Department of Defense Senior Executive Service appointments:

" Robert P. McNamara, director for Financial Improvement and Audit Readiness reassigned to director, Accounting and Finance Policy, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), Washington, D.C."

No, no. The Vietnam-era defense secretary was Robert S.

Moving On

Veteran GOP spinmeister Ron Bonjean has gone private, opening the Bonjean Co., which will do lobbying, crisis communications and such.

Bonjean, the first person to hold the top spokesman job in both the House and the Senate, has been communications director for former speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), former Senate majority leader Trent Lott and former commerce secretary Don Evans. Most recently, he was chief of staff for Senate GOP Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.). His clients include the National Republican Senatorial Committee. That should keep him quite busy for the next few months.

Also, Robin Cleveland, a longtime top Senate aide and senior Bush White House official who recently was one of the inner circle at the World Bank of former president Paul Wolfowitz, popped up in the news the other day. The White House announced that she'd been named to the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism.

And former undersecretary of state for political affairs R. Nicholas Burns has been named a public policy scholar at the Wilson Center. Burns, a career Foreign Service officer, was ambassador to NATO and was on the National Security Council staff in the Clinton administration.