Spencer Ackerman reports that despite Republican histrionics in the wake of failed Flight 253 bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Obama administration is still steadfast in its goal of closing Guantanamo. According to a senior administration official:

We are, as I suggested, going through this with a fine-tooth...

As the Obama administration develops a comprehensive strategy and architecture to bring terrorists to justice, conservatives continue to politicize and fearmonger this critical national security issue. Whether its inane assertions that terrorists will kidnap Mayor Bloomberg's daughter, that Democrats may actually want another terrorist attack because they want to create...

For the first time in 8 years, America is actually going to bring the 9/11 terrorists to justice. Whether transferring them to NYC for trial, or sending them to Illinois for possible detention, the Obama administration will hold terrorists accountable for their heinous act. It will also make America...

Well once again Mitt Romney has waded into, what for him, are the foreign shores of foreign policy. While addressing a neoconservative conference this week in Washington, Romney, according to reports, discussed a whole host of national security issues he has little to no experience with. Remember, this is the...

Today, Mahmoud Ahmadinajad emerged after nearly a week of virtual silence with the following blustery and propagandist statement:

In a speech in the port town of Assaluyeh he said: "Do you want to speak [with Iran] with this tone? If that is your stance then what is left to...

Dave Weigel has a good round-up of the debate that just transpired on the House floor over Iran. No one should be surprised that while the language of the resolution is fairly innocuous, the GOP is going to use it as a wedge against the Administration, and utilize the...

Out of touch conservatives continue to fall off their rocker over the situation in Iran.

President Obama has made it explicitly clear that it would be counter-productive for the U.S. to intervene in the Iranian election and take sides in the political turmoil now roiling the nation. Indeed, even...

With the transfer to America soil of Guantanamo detainee Ahmed Ghailani, the Obama administration is doing something the Bush administration virtually failed to do for years: bring a dangerous terrorist to justice. For his role in the 1998 al Qaeda bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the evidence...

In an act of desperation, the GOP has settled on attacking President Obama and the Democrats for closing Guantanamo because none of their other political tactics have worked. It's clear that they want to be the party of national security, but both polls and electoral reality (2006 and...

In accordance with our over-medicalized, over-psychoanalyzed, overdiagnosed society, it's pretty clear that my generation (Gen Y, the millenials) has suffered from some pretty severe financial trauma. We've been savaged in rapid succession with the one-two punch of decadent irrational exuberance and systematic economic collapse. History can already boast that these...

Every four years, the American people reevaluate the direction of the country, on the policies and political leaders we want to lead the nation. This election came at a time when our country is fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and is struggling to eliminate Al Qaeda's safe haven in...

Sarah Palin's contradictory and nonsensical answer on what constitutes a terrorist is being thoroughly fisked online. Her claim that William Ayers is a terrorist but an abortion clinic bomber is not leaves a lot to be desired intellectually, which begs an important follow-up: what would her view of...

Sam Stein's examination of Barack Obama's and John McCain's transition plans is an intriguing window into both campaigns. It's critical to remember that this has nothing to do with presumptuousness about being elected president on November 4 and everything about the smooth transition between administrations. More importantly, having a...

While John McCain is an ardent advocate of expanding American exploration of space, and earlier this year released a point-by-point policy breakdown of what a McCain administration's space policy would look like, he wants to effectively kill NASA.

Arguably, his space policy outline was more comprehensive than anything...

The majority of post debate fodder is always about style, character, and general personal approach. And while it might seem trite for pundits to criticize Biden for being too Washingtonian and Senatorial and Palin for appearing too amateurish and careless, while lauding Biden for being specific and careful with his...

He's a maverick on a mule, riding in to fight the evil windmills of partisanship. Everywhere he looks are the sabotaging special interests, rogue enemies with Russian accents, political giants attacking the character and motives of a wooden war hero. At first you acknowledge his resilience, admire his persistence, laugh...

Sometimes, rhetorical posturing in times of crisis reaches the apex of absurdity, especially when it involves the Russians:

The Obama angle is getting wide play. It was aired on Wednesday by Sergei Markov, a senior political scientist who is close to Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister and power behind...

What strikes me as most appalling about John McCain's recent quotes on the surge is how he is trying to manipulate language. And not in any elegant manner. He is essentially attempting to muddy the waters, redefine what up till now has been a very clear set of events with...

The subtext of John McCain's response to the Iraqi government's strident assertions demanding clarity on the withdrawal of foreign forces in Iraq is this: For his own political gain, Maliki is just pandering to his political constituents who want to see American forces leave, but any eventual agreement will be...

One can claim that any faltering policy area, whether it be education, health care, or energy, can be fixed through expending unlimited resources, maintaining vigilant patience and demanding an open-ended time table. This might be an acceptable portion of any policy, but it is just that: merely a portion of...