national security

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US Still Lacks Translators in Vital Languages

Intelligence, military officials often unable to read texts, emails

(Newser) - Nearly eight years have passed since 9/11, but national security agencies remain disturbingly low on translators for crucial dialects, the Washington Times reports. In Afghanistan and Pakistan, al-Qaeda and Taliban operatives email and text-message each other freely in languages the CIA largely ignored before 2001. "I can't explain it,...

Obama Rarely Mentions War, Terrorism
Obama Rarely Mentions War, Terrorism
Analysis
Aug 13, 2009 10:23 AM CDT

Obama Rarely Mentions War, Terrorism

Words 'health' and 'economy' dominate president's vocabulary

(Newser) - To listen to Barack Obama speak, you might think he was a peacetime president, rather than one with more than 100,000 troops in the field, write Zachary Abrahamson and Eamon Javers for Politico. They pored over nearly every one of the half-million-plus words Obama has said publicly as president,...

White House Sought to Weaken Whistleblower Law
White House Sought to Weaken Whistleblower Law
investigation
Aug 7, 2009 1:08 PM CDT

White House Sought to Weaken Whistleblower Law

(Newser) - The Obama administration appears to have attempted to water down the whistleblower protection law the president himself championed on the campaign trail. In an e-mail obtained by the Washington Times, a lawyer in the White House counsel's office sent a new draft of the bill to the Senate. That draft...

Pentagon Weighs Ban on Facebook, Twitter

(Newser) - The US military is considering restrictions on access to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, citing privacy and security concerns, the Military Times reports. “Sometimes people, because of the nature of these sites, can have a tendency to get lax in what they put on there,” a...

House Will Probe Possible CIA Lies

Panel Republicans decry inquiry as partisan politics

(Newser) - The House Intelligence Committee will investigate whether the CIA lied to Congress and violated the National Security Act, the Hill reports. The probe stems from claims by new CIA chief Leon Panetta and Rep. Nancy Pelosi that the agency regularly misled Congress.

Wiretap Program Had 'Limited' Value: Fed Report

(Newser) - The Bush administration's warrantless wiretap program wasn't such a great anti-terror tool after all, says a new federal report. The wiretaps—on the international communication of Americans—"generally played a limited role" in counterterrorism efforts, despite the assertions of President Bush, Dick Cheney, and other top officials that they...

FBI to Expand Role Battling Terrorism

Marks effort toward investigation, criminal prosecution of accused terrorists

(Newser) - The FBI will take a bigger role in the fight against terrorism, the Los Angeles Times reports, moving into investigation and criminal prosecution of accused terrorists. The shift marks a change from the secretive CIA operations favored by the Bush administration, and ties in with President Obama’s assertion that...

National Security Adviser: Obama Makes US Safer

Jones rejects Cheney, notion that new policies increase vulnerability

(Newser) - President Obama's policies have made America a safer place, his national security adviser said yesterday in his first speech since taking the job. James Jones cited strategies like the renewal of ties with allies and rejected suggestions the president had made the US more vulnerable, AFP reports. "No administration...

Obama, Tell W You're Sorry for Mocking His Policies

Prez slammed W's national security policy; now he's following it

(Newser) - President Obama’s national security policy has been surprisingly close to his predecessor’s—a policy he hammered on the campaign trail. For that, he “owes George W. Bush an apology,” writes Clive Crook in the Financial Times. But his supporters also deserve an apology. His election rhetoric...

Politics? This Was Ali vs. Frazier

(Newser) - Today's "televised smackdown" between Obama and Cheney was the "political world's equivalent of Ali-Frazier," writes Dana Milbank in the Washington Post. After the president warned against "fear-mongering," Cheney came out swinging. He "used the word 'attack' 19 times, 'danger' and 'threat' six times apiece,...

Cheney 'Answers' Obama, Defends Bush Policy

Says he's 'firm proponent' of 'enhanced interrogation program'

(Newser) - Dick Cheney offered an “answer” to President Obama’s national-security speech today, standing up for the policies of the Bush administration and saying he remained “a strong proponent of our enhanced interrogation program,” CNN reports. “In the fight against terrorism,” Cheney said, “there is...

Cheney Didn't Even Torture for Right Reasons
Cheney Didn't Even Torture for Right Reasons
OPINION
May 15, 2009 11:40 AM CDT

Cheney Didn't Even Torture for Right Reasons

VP wanted to link Iraq and al-Qaeda, not stop next attack: Powell aide

(Newser) - The interrogation methods Dick Cheney so highly touts were put in place in 2002 not to prevent another terror attack, a former aide to Colin Powell writes in the Washington Note, but to dig up an Iraq-al-Qaeda connection to justify going to war. And it was Cheney himself, “frightened”...

Obama's Photo Flip-Flop Has Political Roots
Obama's Photo Flip-Flop Has Political Roots
ANALYSIS
May 14, 2009 6:26 AM CDT

Obama's Photo Flip-Flop Has Political Roots

White House wasn't prepared for scale of torture outrage

(Newser) - Barack Obama's about-face on the release of photographs of abused detainees has angered civil libertarian groups, who have denounced the president for turning back on campaign promises. But as Politico writes, the move demonstrated how carefully the administration is treading on an issue that has become explosive, subsuming George Bush's...

'Biohackers' Create New, DIY Organisms

Feds try to asses threat from part-time Frankensteins

(Newser) - Katherine Aull is creating new forms of life in her closet. Armed only with jury-rigged equipment and some DNA she bought online, the 23-year-old is creating custom E. coli bacteria she thinks could help cancer research. Aull is part of a growing movement of “biohackers,” amateur biologists crafting...

Ex-CIA Chief: Congress' Sudden 'Amnesia' a Joke
Ex-CIA Chief: Congress' Sudden 'Amnesia' a Joke
OPINION
Apr 25, 2009 2:46 PM CDT

Ex-CIA Chief: Congress' Sudden 'Amnesia' a Joke

(Newser) - The outrage on Capitol Hill against Bush-era interrogation policies is nothing more than a disingenuous “circus,” former CIA chief Porter Goss writes in the Washington Post. Goss, also a former congressman, says he and other senior lawmakers were briefed more than once about CIA tactics. “I do...

Poll: 72% Disagree With Cheney About Obama Policy

72% disagree with former VP that Obama increased security threat

(Newser) - Most Americans disagree with Dick Cheney’s scathing view of President Obama’s security policies: 72% of those polled by CNN say the Democrat’s softer global approach is not putting the nation at greater risk of attack. The survey also shows that 67% back the controversial Afghanistan troop surge,...

Critics Blast Obama's 'State Secrets' Court Fight

White House seeks to kill lawsuit by Islamic charity over FBI wiretaps

(Newser) - Civil liberties activists are accusing President Obama of going back on his word and behaving like George Bush when it comes to protecting administration secrets, reports the Washington Post. The harsh criticism comes in the wake of a lawsuit brought by an Oregon Islamic charity seeking damages for the alleged...

Intel Pick's Ouster a Victory for Lobbyists
Intel Pick's Ouster a Victory for Lobbyists
OPINION
Mar 12, 2009 9:26 AM CDT

Intel Pick's Ouster a Victory for Lobbyists

Loss of excellent public servant a loss for country: Broder

(Newser) - When Charles Freeman withdrew from consideration to chair the National Intelligence Council, the Obama administration “suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of the lobbyists the president vowed to keep in their place,” writes David Broder of the Washington Post. Freeman boasted “one of the most distinguished...

Obama Loses High-Level Intel Pick
Obama Loses High-Level
Intel Pick
Mar 10, 2009 7:26 PM CDT

Obama Loses High-Level Intel Pick

Freeman, criticized as anti-Israel, withdraws from NIC post

(Newser) - Relentless criticism has forced another of President Obama's high-level appointees to drop out, the Hill reports. Charles Freeman, in line to be head of the National Intelligence Council, drew strong opposition for perceived anti-Israel views and financial ties to Saudi and Chinese governments. Freeman dropped out just hours after his...

Spy Chief: Economic Crisis a Greater Threat than Terror

Security assessment warns that downturn could cause widespread instability

(Newser) - The new director of national intelligence warned Congress yesterday that the global economic crisis poses a graver and more immediate threat to the US than international terror, the New York Times reports. The crisis could undermine national governments and cause widespread civil unrest as it spreads and deepens, causing serious...

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