Congratulations are in order to Washingtonian's own Shane Harris, who has been awarded the coveted Gerald R. Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on Defense. 

The award recognizes journalists "whose high standards for accuracy and substance help foster a better public understanding of National Defense," and comes with a handsome $5,000 prize. The Washingtonian staff looks forward to helping Harris spend some of that cash at the next staff happy hour.

In all seriousness, this is a big award and an even bigger deal for Harris, who says he's "humbled" to be in the same company as some of those who've been honored with the award in the past, including National Journal's James Kitfield and the Washington Post's Greg Jaffe. As Washingtonian editor Garrett M. Graff put it in a staff announcement this afternoon, the Ford Prize "is, for all intents and purposes, the Pulitzer of defense reporting."

Shane won for his body of work in 2010, four articles—two written for National Journal and two for Washingtonian: "Hacking the Bad Guys," about the US's early forays into the deployment of cyberweapons, and "Own the Sky," which traces the decade-long saga behind the US military's quest to develop a new refueling tanker.

The President’s blue-and-white Air Force One might be the world’s most recognizable airplane—the 747 is a symbol of America’s might—but not all leaders get to fly in such style.

When visiting heads of state touch down at Washington’s Andrews Air Force Base, they’re not always sitting, legs stretched out, in front of a plasma screen and a minibar. Sometimes they have to move their seat backs and tray tables into an upright position. Check out the rides that carry some of today’s most influential people to summits and other overseas destinations.

Most lawyers don’t have to endure the dissolution of one law firm, let alone two. But when 55-year-old DC-based Howrey went under in March, it was déjà vu for the 40-attorney group that joined the firm in 2008 from Thelen, when that firm collapsed.

Andrew Ness, former DC managing partner of Thelen and until recently a partner at Howrey, describes the reaction among his group as the lawyers realized that their second firm was tanking: “It was ‘Oh, God, no. We don’t want to go through this again.’ ”

The former Thelen lawyers, who focus on construction-industry clients, didn’t have to go to Howrey. When Thelen dissolved, the group made the decision to stick together, and three firms made offers to bring on all 40. The partners in the construction practice voted unanimously to take the offer from Howrey. It seemed like a smart move at the time, given that Howrey posted a 29-percent revenue increase in 2008.

Photo-illustration by John Ueland.

Jennifer Rubin, the Post’s first right-wing blogger, takes pains to point out that she doesn’t fight with Greg Sargent, who pens Plum Line, the Post’s liberal blog. “There is no competition or rivalry between Greg and I,” she says in an e-mail.

But all the Post writers seem to be fair game. Ezra Klein, who has fostered the “reported opinion” writing that Rubin says she practices, is part of what Rubin calls “the left punditocracy” and one of the “media surrogates” of the Democratic Party.

Rubin has whacked op-ed writers Richard Cohen and Eugene Robinson, and Sargent has come in for some harsh words as well.

“The Post, unlike a lot of journals, encourages dialogue that goes back and forth,” Rubin says. “It’s unique in the mainstream media.”

Says editorial-page editor Fred Hiatt, who hired Rubin and Sargent: “It’s what you want that space to be.”

A Zoo With Roy T-Shirt, available for purchase on Rick's blog.

Last year’s opening-day game for the Nats created talk when Phillies fans packed the stadium, seemingly outnumbering our hometown crowd. It’s likely to happen again when the Phillies arrive in mid-April. While most Phillies fans will drive here, one of the team’s most high-profile boosters is a Washingtonian.

“Rick,” who asked for anonymity, is a 33-year-old originally from South Philadelphia who moved to Fairfax six years ago for work. But like many transplanted baseball fans, his heart remains elsewhere. When the Phillies traded for pitcher Roy Halladay in 2009, Rick had a dream involving the Philadelphia Zoo and the new player: “It was one of those ‘right before you wake up’ dreams, so it stuck with me long enough to remember after the morning haze lifted,” he recalls.

The author outside of George Harrison's house in England.

At a yard sale not long ago, my husband found a video of the Beatles’ 1964 concert in DC. The sound wasn’t great, the picture worse, but we loved it. It was fun to see Ringo serving as his own roadie. The girls in the audience looked more than a little groovy. I so wished I had been one of them.

The Beatles first came to the United States in the winter of 1964 to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show. Later the same week, they performed two concerts. The first was at DC’s Washington Coliseum.

I was a 13-year-old in Chicago consumed with the idea of going to Washington. Still reeling from JFK’s death, I was the kind of teenager who learned all about the Civil Rights Act even as I was obsessed with John, Paul, George, and Ringo. But back then I couldn’t just go to the nation’s capital. That would happen later. And I’d stay.

Watching the Beatles video got me thinking about Elva—my teenage pen pal in London. I was a Girl Scout; she was a Girl Guide. We needed friendship badges, and the way to get them was to write to someone overseas.

We corresponded almost three years, bonding over the Fab Four. I told her about my first boyfriend, troubles with my parents. In her photos, she was a fresh-faced English schoolgirl; I wore a beehive hairdo and white lipstick. When I got pregnant at 16, I stopped writing. My days of Girl Scouts and crushes were over. 

Photograph courtesy of White & Case LLP.

It’s not unusual for international-arbitration lawyer Carolyn Lamm to visit two or three countries in a single week. As counsel to foreign governments involved in international disputes, the White & Case partner and immediate past president of the American Bar Association (ABA) is constantly on the go. Her practice, however, has led her to represent some eyebrow-raising clients, including the government of Libya.

In between business trips, Lamm found time to chat about her firm’s work for Libya, her time as ABA president, and the fund she’s creating with the United Nations to aid victims of sexual violence.

Did you always know you wanted to go into the law?
I knew I wanted to be a lawyer from a really young age. At that time, I had a cousin who was just a star. He was a lawyer, and I thought I should do that as well. My father said, “Well he’s a boy, you’re a girl, you can’t do that.” I said, “I think I can,” and overcame his predisposition against my pursuit of a legal career.