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NEWS ABOUT: John Brennan

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Gov't Seized AP Reporters' Phone Records

AP calls it an 'unprecedented intrusion'

(Newser) - The government secretly seized two months of phone records from the Associated Press, according to the AP itself. The Justice Department took records for 20 separate phone lines, including incoming and outgoing calls, the length of each call, and reporters' personal phone numbers. "These records potentially reveal communications with... More »

Brennan's Likely Pick for Top Spy Job Has Torture Ties

CIA's mystery woman highly qualified, tainted

(Newser) - A woman who helped run the CIA's detention and interrogation program after 9/11 and green-lighted the destruction of interrogation videos is in line to become the new chief of the CIA’s National Clandestine Service, the Washington Post reports. The woman, who is undercover and thus not named, is... More »

Obama to Irked Dems: Hey, I'm No Dick Cheney

Obama says he would have objected to the policy as a senator, too

(Newser) - If Barack Obama were still a senator, he too would have "probably objected" to the White House's reticence at sharing its legal justifications behind its drone policy, he admitted during a closed-door meeting with the Senate Democratic conference on Tuesday. But Obama sought to defend himself and the... More »

Rand Paul: 'This Debate Isn't Over'

Senator says his filibuster just the start of pressure over drone strategy

(Newser) - Rand Paul recounts his 13-hour filibuster in the Washington Post today, writing that while he didn't set out to speak that long ("I would've worn more comfortable shoes"), he's not going to shut up about US drone strategy now. "This debate isn’t over,... More »

Senate Confirms Brennan for CIA

Rand Paul's filibuster delayed it but didn't derail it

(AP) - John Brennan has won Senate confirmation to head the CIA after a late struggle that had more to do with presidential power to order drone strikes than with the nominee's credentials to lead the spy agency. The vote this afternoon was 63-34. Brennan will replace Mike Morrell, the acting... More »

Rand Paul Shows Senate How It's Done

Kentucky senator used filibuster for principle, not partisanship

(Newser) - Rand Paul's old-fashioned talking filibuster may not derail John Brennan's nomination, but pundits are almost universally praising the Kentucky senator's moxie. Here's what people are saying:
  • "It became clear as the Kentucky Republican talked (and talked) that he was creating a major moment for a
... More »

13 Hours Later, Rand Paul's Filibuster Ends

He ended it with a joke

(AP) - Rand Paul made it nearly 13 hours: The Republican senator/Tea Party favorite ended his old-style filibuster shortly after midnight today, but Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would continue to oppose confirmation of John Brennan's nomination to be CIA director. Paul's performance, which centered on questions about... More »

Rand Paul Staging Old-School Filibuster

Senator holds up vote on CIA nominee over drone strategy

(Newser) - It's possible the Senate will get a chance to confirm John Brennan as the next CIA chief tomorrow—unless Rand Paul's voice holds out. The Kentucky Republican began a genuine filibuster about 11:45am today, reports USA Today . That is, he's not taking advantage of the modern... More »

Dems, GOP Duke It Out Over Sequester

Everybody hates it, but no solid ideas how to avoid it

(Newser) - With five days to go before a little thing called the sequester kicks in, there are a lot of fingers being pointed at and from both sides of the aisle. A look around the Sunday talk show dial, as per Politico :
  • Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine : "We laid a plan
... More »

Graham: I'll Block Brennan, Hagel Over Benghazi

Wants White House to 'fess up on what happened

(Newser) - Lindsey Graham says he's ready to block the confirmations of both Chuck Hagel and John Brennan if President Obama isn't a little more forthcoming with what he knows about the Benghazi consulate attack. "No confirmation without information," he said today, adding that the confirmations shouldn't... More »

Cheney: Obama Cabinet Picks 'Second Rate'

That means you, Kerry, Brennan, Hagel

(Newser) - One guy not real thrilled with President Obama's second-term Cabinet picks? Dick Cheney. And the onetime veep isn't exactly being shy about it, telling a group of Wyoming Republicans last night that the president's choices for his national security team were "dismal," and that "... More »

CIA Drone Strikes Are Just Educated Guesses

Dexter Filkins: Information used to select targets 'nowhere near adequate'

(Newser) - The recent drone headlines , along with the testimony of CIA nominee John Brennan, prompt Dexter Filkins of the New Yorker to reiterate a key point about drone strikes he learned first-hand from reporting overseas: The CIA can never be positive about the targets it strikes. "Our ignorance is not... More »

Brennan: Always Better to Capture, Not Kill, Terrorists

Dianne Feinstein has to clear the room as CIA nominee testifies on drones

(Newser) - John Brennan, President Obama's nominee to run the CIA, went to Capitol Hill today and defended the US drone strategy he helped engineer as Obama's top counterterror adviser. The drone strikes are necessary, he testified, because the US remains "at war" with al-Qaeda and other terrorists bent... More »

Brennan's CIA Hearing: How Dramatic Will It Get?

Drones, torture hang over proceedings

(Newser) - John Brennan will head to Capitol Hill today for his CIA confirmation hearing, and everyone's wondering the same thing: How dramatic is this going to get? Questions are hanging in the air about the Obama administration's drone strikes, classified information, and torture, but there's a chance lawmakers... More »

Obama to Give Congress Classified Drone Info

White House to hand over rationale on when it's OK to target Americans

(AP) - President Obama has directed the Justice Department to give Congress' intelligence committees access to classified legal advice providing the government's rationale for drone strikes against American citizens working with al-Qaeda abroad, a senior administration official said today. A drumbeat of demands to see the document has swelled on Capitol... More »

Secret Saudi Drone Base No Longer Secret

Revelation comes just ahead of John Brennan's confirmation hearing

(Newser) - And the drone-strike revelations keep coming . A number of US media outlets last night broke their silence about the location of a secret drone base used by the CIA to attack al-Qaeda in Yemen: Saudi Arabia. And CIA director-nominee John Brennan's name is all over the reports, just ahead... More »

Feds Can Kill US Citizens: DOJ Memo

Leaked document has loose definition of requirements for drone strike

(Newser) - It is legal for the American government to order the killing of an American citizen if a "high-level" official decides that the person is a senior member of al-Qaeda or an associated group who poses "an imminent threat of violent attack" against the US, according to a Justice... More »

Obama Is Assembling a Lousy Cabinet

'Usual suspects' are uninspiring: David Rothkopf

(Newser) - John Kerry. Jack Lew. Chuck Hagel. John Brennan. All fine, capable men, writes David Rothkopf at the Washington Post . But taken together as the nucleus of President Obama's foreign policy team? Blah. What happened to the "team of rivals"? Instead, we're getting a Cabinet filled with... More »

Obama Taps Hagel, Brennan for Pentagon, CIA

He praises both men at White House event

(Newser) - President Obama officially announced his nominations of Chuck Hagel as secretary of Defense and John Brennan as CIA director today, praising both men for their records of service at a press event in the East Room of the White House. Hagel, Obama said, "knows that war is not an... More »

Obama Will Tap John Brennan for CIA Director

Will nominate Brennan, Chuck Hagel today

(Newser) - President Obama will make two potentially controversial nominations this afternoon: Chuck Hagel as defense secretary and John Brennan as CIA director, the AP reports. Brennan, Obama's top counterterrorism adviser, has a close relationship with the president and was very involved in planning the Osama bin Laden raid. He was... More »

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