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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: national security

national security stories: 67 news summaries

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WATCH IT

Cheney Group Raises Cash
to Save US From Obama

Liz project, Keep America Safe, will target 'radical' foreign policy

Oct 13, 09 9:27 AM CDT
(Newser) - Liz Cheney’s new nonprofit launched its first online video today, kicking off fundraising for its anti-Obama campaign. Keep America Safe is dedicated to opposing what Cheney describes as Obama’s “radical” foreign policy. “Whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, you want the nation to be... More »

MORE ABOUT:
national security • Barack Obama • nonprofit • foreign policy • attack ad • Liz Cheney

Jones Emerges as Strong Voice
for Obama

National security adviser sheds early uncertainty about role

Oct 7, 09 11:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - Jim Jones’ rocky start in the Obama administration as national security adviser now seems like a thing of the past. Where once Jones lamented publicly that he was unsure of his role, he has now settled in as a top administration voice, wielding his four-star clout in the Pentagon and... More »

MORE ABOUT:
national security • James Jones • Jim Jones • National Security Council • Obama administration • Stanley McChrystal

OPINION

 Mukasey: Now's No Time
to Weaken Patriot Act

Terror arrests show that national security needs trump privacy worries

Oct 2, 09 5:53 AM CDT
(Newser) - The arrests last week of Najibullah Zazi and other terror suspects should make lawmakers think twice about making intelligence-gathering more difficult for those trying to keep America safe from terrorist attacks, writes Michael Mukasey. Congressional Democrats are considering imposing new requirements on Patriot Act provisions when they come up for... More »

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national security • terror plots • surveillance • terrorist • wiretap • Patriot Act • Michael Mukasey • electronic surveillance laws • Najibullah Zazi

 Daughter Liz 
 Revives the 
 Cheney Brand  

She carries on dad's national security message, and her fan base is growing

Sep 28, 09 7:53 AM CDT
(Newser) - Move over, Sarah Palin and Megan McCain—the GOP’s newest rising star is Liz Cheney, “our favorite vice president’s daughter,” as she was touted at a recent conservative gathering. Cheney—an outspoken proponent of “enhanced interrogation” who has said “waterboarding isn’t torture”—... More »

MORE ABOUT:
national security • Dick Cheney • torture • GOP • conservative • waterboarding • right wingers • red state • Liz Cheney • conservative movement

OPINION

Bush Redux? Runaway Exec Power Traps Obama, Too

Every modern president succumbs to the National Security State, writes Wills

Sep 28, 09 7:34 AM CDT
(Newser) - George W. Bush expanded executive power to an extreme degree, but he wasn't an exception, writes historian Garry Wills. Since World War II, the presidency has accrued massive, unintended authority—controlling nuclear weapons, intelligence agencies, and a worldwide military network under "the cult of the commander in chief."... More »

MORE ABOUT:
national security • Barack Obama • military • presidency • president • executive power • George W. Bush • Obama administration

 CIA Refuses 
 to Hand Over 
 Interrogation 
 Records 

Agency says releasing Bush-era documents will undermine national security

Sep 2, 09 1:22 AM CDT
(Newser) - The CIA has refused to hand over any more documents relating to its Bush-era interrogation and detention programs, the New York Times reports. The agency told a federal judge that dozens of documents, including communications from secret prisons and agency assessments of the programs' legality, must remain secret in the... More »

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national security • CIA • ACLU • secret prisons • interrogations • Central Intelligence Agency

US Still Lacks Translators in Vital Languages

Intelligence, military officials often unable to read texts, emails

Aug 31, 09 2:03 PM CDT
(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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Iraq • Afghanistan • national security • War on Terror • CIA • Pakistan • Pashtun • translation • Arabic • Urdu • intelligence agencies • Dari • translator

Analysis

Obama Rarely Mentions War, Terrorism

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

Aug 13, 09 10:23 AM CDT
(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,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
national security • Barack Obama • domestic policy • speech • Paul Begala • political strategy • President Obama

investigation

White House Sought to Weaken Whistleblower Law


Aug 7, 09 1:08 PM CDT
(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... More »

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national security • FBI • Senate • House of Representatives • federal employees • Election 2008 • whistleblower • US Senate • Obama administration • President Obama • Homeland Security Committee • White House counsel

(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,”... More »

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national security • social networking • Internet • Pentagon • Facebook • US military • bandwidth • Twitter

 House Will Probe 
 Possible CIA Lies 

Panel Republicans decry inquiry as partisan politics

Jul 17, 09 5:08 PM CDT
(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. More »

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Nancy Pelosi • national security • Congress • CIA • Peter Hoekstra • House Intelligence Committee • Silvestre Reyes • Silvestre P. Reyes • Leon Panetta

(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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Bush administration • national security • FBI • surveillance • wiretap • warrantless wiretapping • John Yoo

 FBI to Expand 
 Role Battling 
 Terrorism 

Marks effort toward investigation, criminal prosecution of accused terrorists

May 28, 09 9:21 AM CDT
(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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
national security • CIA • FBI • Robert Mueller • counterterrorism • investigations • criminal prosecution

National Security Adviser: Obama Makes US Safer

Jones rejects Cheney, notion that new policies increase vulnerability

May 28, 09 7:33 AM CDT
(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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
national security • Dick Cheney • James Jones • Obama administration • President Obama • national security adviser

OPINION

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

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

May 25, 09 12:54 PM CDT
(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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Bush administration • national security • War on Terror • terrorism • homeland security • George W. Bush • Obama administration • President Obama

(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,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
national security • Dick Cheney • vice president • speech • harsh interrogation • Gitmo • President Obama

Cheney 'Answers' Obama, Defends Bush Policy

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

May 21, 09 11:38 AM CDT
(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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Bush administration • national security • Dick Cheney • torture • terrorism • homeland security • vice president • harsh interrogation • President Obama

OPINION

Cheney Didn't Even Torture for Right Reasons

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

May 15, 09 11:40 AM CDT
(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”... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Iraq • national security • Dick Cheney • torture • Abu Ghraib • Colin Powell • waterboarding • al-Qaeda • President Obama • Lawrence Wilkerson

ANALYSIS

Obama's Photo Flip-Flop Has Political Roots

White House wasn't prepared for scale
of torture outrage

May 14, 09 6:26 AM CDT
(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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
national security • Barack Obama • torture • abuse • detainee • photograph • harsh interrogation • Obama administration • torture photos

'Biohackers' Create New,
DIY Organisms

Feds try to asses
threat from part-time Frankensteins

May 12, 09 1:14 PM CDT
(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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
national security • FBI • bacteria • biology • weapons of mass destruction • biological weapons • biohackers

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