For decades, it was Cuba's first response to criticism. Poor economic performance? An obvious effect of a U.S. trade embargo that amounted to a blockade of the island nation by a bullying superpower.
Since 2001 the United States has tried virtually every strategy available to persuade Pakistan's army to take the threat of militancy more seriously, but 12 years and $28 billion in aid later, all the American approaches are widely viewed as having failed.
The U.S. Secret Service needs an outsider to overhaul the insular agency, beef up staffing and improve training - after building a higher fence around the White House, an independent review concluded on Thursday.