On February 17, the Wall Street Journal published Professor Donald Kochan’s op-ed titled “Reading Adam Smith in Arabic,” discussing issues of translations, foreign policy, soft power, and the Arabic Book Program. Professor Kochan’s op-ed is drawn from his previously published research in this area in the 2008 West Virginia Law Review titled “The Soft Power and Persuasion of Translations in the War on Terror: Words and Wisdom in the Transformation of Legal Systems.”

Senator Ron Johnson questioned Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about Professor Donald Kochan’s Wall Street Journal Op-Ed at a Senate Appropriations Committee Hearing on the State Department Budget. The relevant questioning and Secretary Clinton’s response is at minute 117.