Until March 2008, the major public relations firm Burson-Marsteller [3] counted among its clients the Pakistan People's Party, as the Center for Media and Democracy previously reported [4]. Burson-Marsteller promised to influence U.S. policy and public opinion, via contacts with "100 American political journalists and business elites," by favorable "white papers" by academics and op/ed columns in newspapers. The firm also pledged to "promote credible 'third-party [5]' supporters of Pakistan [6]," including "former U.S. government officials," "think tank [7] experts" and influential Pakistani-Americans. The Pakistan lobbying contract, which also involved the polling firm Penn, Schoen & Berland [8], specifically mentioned New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman [9] and Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria [10] as outreach targets. Luckily for Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton [11] -- whose former campaign strategist, Mark Penn [12], heads Burson-Marsteller and Penn, Schoen -- the firms' work for Pakistan ended "well before [November's] terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India [13]." Otherwise the Penn-Pakistan connection could have been used by "opposition researchers dredging up tough questions" for Clinton's confirmation hearing.