National Security

Obama Faces First National Security Failure as Sotomayor and Health Care Hang in the Balance

Kimberly Krautter | Posted 08.13.2009 | Politics

Read More: Sonia Sotomayor Supreme Court, Gop, Senator Jeff Sessions, President Barack Obama, Cyber Security, Judge-Sonia-Sotomayor, Democrat, Jeff Sessions, Congress, Obama-Political-Capital, Obama Healthcare Reform, Obama National Security, Republican, Healthcare Reform, National Security, Sonia Sotomayor, Political Capital, Orrin Hatch, Obama-Congress, Surgeon General, Senator Orrin Hatch, Politics News
Kimberly Krautter

Last week's sustained cyber-attacks on some of our country's most sensitive government networks exposed how a country that lives by the technology can also perish by the technology.

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Obama's Weak Congress

Andrew Sargus Klein | Posted 08.13.2009 | Politics

Read More: House of Representatives, White House, Politics, Intelligence, Bush Administration, Senate, Congress, Central Intelligence Agency, National Security, President Obama, Bush Legacy, Leon Panetta, Legislation, Barack Obama, Dick Cheney, The New Republic, Walter Lippmann, Politics News
Andrew Sargus Klein

I fear a Congress that, while not so much parasitic, is so fearful of being attached to any of Obama's failures that it misses every opportunity to be a part of his successes.

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Former Insider Shatters Credibility of Military Commissions

Andy Worthington | Posted 08.11.2009 | Politics

Read More: Aclu, Preventive Detention, Mohamed Jawad, David Kris, Department of Defense, War on Terror, Harsh Interrogations, President Obama, Guantanamo, Obama Administration, John Hutson, World News, Dick Cheney, Habeas Corpus, Politics News, Sen. Carl Levin, Robert Gates, Jeh Johnson, National Security, Habeas Corpus Guantanamo, Guantanamo Bay, World, Terrorism, Guantanamo Detainees, Senate Armed Services Committee, Susan Crawford, David Addington, Justice Department, Barack Obama, Military Commissions, House Committee on the Judiciary, Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld, Capt. John Murphy, George Toscas, Federal Court, Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann, Torture, Politics News
Andy Worthington

Lt. Col. Vandeveld said, "I simply could not in good conscience continue to work for an ad-hoc, hastily created apparatus whose evident resort to expediency and ethical compromise were so contrary to my own."

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Military Commissions: Government Flounders, As Admiral Hutson Nails Problems

Andy Worthington | Posted 08.08.2009 | Politics

Read More: Geneva Conventions, Preventive Detention, Department of Defense, David Kris, World, War on Terror, Terrorism, Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, President Obama, Guantanamo Detainees, Guantanamo, Senate Armed Services Committee, US District Court, Justice Department, John Hutson, Barack Obama, World News, Military Commissions, Politics News, Enemy Combatants, Jeh Johnson, National Security, Col. Morris Davis, Guantanamo Bay, Federal Court, William J. Haynes II, Politics News
Andy Worthington

A legal quagmire that lacks legitimacy and maintains key policies of the Bush administration's "War on Terror" is almost too awful to contemplate.

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Mike McConnell: An American Spymaster on Cyberwar

Nathan Gardels | Posted 08.08.2009 | Politics

Read More: Mike McConnell, Cybersecurity, National Security, South Korea, Cybercrime, Cyberwar, Politics News
Nathan Gardels

One of America's top spymasters, Mike McConnell, spoke with me recently at his office outside Washington.

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North Korea: A Test for Progressives

Amitai Etzioni | Posted 08.01.2009 | World

Read More: North Korea Nuclear Weapons, Obama North Korea, Nuclear Proliferation, Nuclear Weapons, National Security, North Korea Missile, North Korea Nuclear Program, North Korea, World News
Amitai Etzioni

North Korea poses a special test for progressives because unlike the invasion of Iraq, this time the United State is meeting the criteria previously posed by progressives.

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Headed for Cross-Strait Reconciliation?

Eric C. Anderson | Posted 08.01.2009 | World

Read More: China Taiwan, National Security, Economic Crisis, World News
Eric C. Anderson

Pragmatists can also be progressive. Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou is a case-in-point.

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Planes, Guns and Terrorists

Dennis A. Henigan | Posted 07.31.2009 | Politics

Read More: Terrorist Watch List, National Rifle Association, National Security, Rahm Emanuel, Terrorism, Nancy Pelosi, Gun Control, Gao, Barack Obama, Eric Holder, Illegal Guns, Politics News
Dennis A. Henigan

Should suspected terrorists be blocked from buying guns before they commit a violent crime? The gun lobby apparently doesn't think so.

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The Iron Triangle

Robert Koehler | Posted 07.26.2009 | Politics

Read More: Mainstream Media, War Planning, Defense Spending, Department of Defense, National Security, Politics News
Robert Koehler

The problem was not simply gaps or "lack of balance" in the reportage, but the utter lack of a larger context: some hint that military planners are accountable to more than themselves.

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Despite Reform Pledges, Panetta Enables CIA's Bad Old Habits

Frank Naif | Posted 07.25.2009 | Politics

Read More: Obama Cabinet, Dni, Cia, National Security, Congressional Oversight, Obama National Security Team, Obama National Security, Leon Panetta, Leon Panetta CIA, Extraordinary Rendition, Politics News
Frank Naif

The Obama team portrayed Leon Panetta as a no-nonsense Beltway veteran who would 'fix' the CIA. Over the past few weeks, however, he has emerged as an obstacle to real reform and accountability at the CIA.

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Jason Linkins

Public Registers Stronger Support For White House Foreign Policy Than Domestic

HuffingtonPost.com | Jason Linkins | Posted 07.24.2009 | Media

Read More: Polls, Approval Ratings, Polling, National Security, Domestic Policy, Health Care, Barack Obama, Foreign Policy, Media News

Greg Sargent takes stock in another round of opinion polling and discovers that the public, in general, is more approving of the Obama administration'...

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Same Old Counterspy Failures Evident in Cuba Spy Case

Frank Naif | Posted 07.19.2009 | Politics

Read More: Intelligence, US-Cuba Relations, National Security, Fbi, Counterintelligence, Riggs Bank, Espionage, Cuba, State Department, Politics News
Frank Naif

Will US security officials ever fix their broken spy catching system?

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CIA Employees Left Behind Over Terrorist Renditions

Frank Naif | Posted 07.19.2009 | Politics

Read More: CIA Rendition, Cia, National Security, Abu Omar, Rendition, Extraordinary Rendition, Politics News
Frank Naif

Some old intelligence scandals and foul-ups seem to keep turning back up to take a toll on government employees here in Washington.

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Republicans: "We Abandon the Troops"

Scott Payne | Posted 07.19.2009 | Politics

Read More: Iraq War, Republican Hypocrisy, Tom Cole, John Boehner, National Security, Eric Cantor, War Supplemental, Politics News
Scott Payne

No one ever went broke betting on the hypocrisy of congressional Republicans.

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NSA Ill-Suited for Domestic Cybersecurity Role

Frank Naif | Posted 07.17.2009 | Politics

Read More: Nsa, Warrantless Wiretapping, Private Contractors, National Security, Domestic Surveillance, Defense Contractors, Cybersecurity, National Security Agency, Obama National Security, NSA Wiretapping, James Bamford, Domestic Spying, Cyber Czar, Politics News
Frank Naif

Does the federal government need to be involved in coordinating private sector cybersecurity? Perhaps, but only in a coordinating role.

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What Does an Extremist Look Like?

Geri Spieler | Posted 07.16.2009 | Politics

Read More: White House, New Technology, Mark Sullivan, Secret Service, President Obama, Racist, Right-Wing, Congressional Budget Office, White-Supremacists, Government, Gerald Ford, Sara Jane Moore, Geri Spieler, Nsa, National Security, Federal Government, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, San Francisco, Socialist, Right-Wing Extremism, FBI Surveillance, Politics News
Geri Spieler

Is an extremist tall, short, young, old, thin, fat? Would you know if the person standing next to you was about to pull out a gun and shoot? Scary ...

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Think Again: Sotomayor and SCOTUS: Captured on a Carousel of Time

Eric Alterman | Posted 07.12.2009 | Media

Read More: Abortion, John Paul Stevens, Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor Supreme Court, Pat Buchanan, National Review, Rush Limbaugh, National Security, Ricci, Sonia Sotomayor, Michael Steele, Maher Arar, Discrimination, Race, Gant, Justice, Barack Obama, Extraordinary Rendition, Media News
Eric Alterman

The debate over Sotomayor's "priorities" has shed next to no light on the nominee views or decisions, but has proven awfully revealing about the state of conservatives' collective neuroses.

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World Does Not End as Gitmo Detainee Finally Brought to Face Justice

Adam Blickstein | Posted 07.10.2009 | Politics

Read More: Guantanamo Bay, John Boehner, National Security, President Obama, Guantanamo Detainees, Politics News
Adam Blickstein

With the transfer to American soil of Ahmed Ghailani, the Obama administration is doing something the Bush administration virtually failed to do for years: bring a dangerous terrorist to justice.

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Progressive Security and Conserving Rights

Amitai Etzioni | Posted 07.06.2009 | Politics

Read More: Liberty, Security, War on Terror, National Security, Terrorism, Politics News
Amitai Etzioni

There is no reason for the Democrats to allow themselves to be painted again as the party that is weak on defense, an image that will haunt them when the next terrorist attack hits.

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Mitt Romney's First Campaign Speech Against Obama

Jacob Heilbrunn | Posted 07.02.2009 | Politics

Read More: Mitt Romney, Gop, Obama National Security, Mitt Romney Speech, Romney National Security, National Security, Politics News
Jacob Heilbrunn

Romney's cynical speech today showed the extent to which the GOP sees America as the righteous redeemer, one that only needs to increase defense spending in order to save the rest of the globe.

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U.S. Intelligence -- or the Lack Thereof -- on North Korea

Keith Thomson | Posted 06.29.2009 | World

Read More: Cia, Doubleday, Propaganda, Spy Satellite, Kim Jong Il, Drones, Novel, Al Qaeda, Nsa, Dia, North Korea Missile, South Korea, National Security, North Korea Nuclear Program, Navy Seals, Japan, Mississippi, China, North Korea, World News
Keith Thomson

How is it -- given a skyful of satellites and legions of human spies -- that we were surprised by North Korea's missile launch? Why is it that we know so little about this country?

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Obama and Cheney: Dueling in Different Universes

Jim Selman | Posted 06.25.2009 | Politics

Read More: Obama, Enhanced Interrogrations, National Security, American Values, Cheney, Bush Administration Torture, War on Terror, Cheney Torture, Politics News
Jim Selman

When people become polarized, there is no common ground from which to build a common future.

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Like Stephen Douglas, Cheney on the Wrong Side of History

Alexi Giannoulias | Posted 06.24.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Abraham Lincoln, Stephen Douglas, Morals, National Security, Barack Obama, Torture, Dick Cheney, Chicago News
Alexi Giannoulias

As an Illinoisan, I was struck by how the side-by-side speeches of Barack Obama and Dick Cheney this past Thursday paralleled those of the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates 150 years ago.

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Barack Obama is the LeBron James of the Democratic Party

Frankie Sturm | Posted 06.24.2009 | Politics

Read More: National Security, Obama Presidency, Barack Obama Polls, President Obama, Iran, Democracy Corps, Democrats, Obama President, Democratic Party, Barack Obama, LeBron James, Al Qaeda, Politics News
Frankie Sturm

Political gains that are heavily dependent on a single personality are easy to reverse. Bush was the most popular man for a year after 9/11. When his stock fell, so did that of the his Party.

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Former Senior Interrogator in Iraq Dissects Cheney's Lies and Distortions

Matthew Alexander | Posted 06.24.2009 | Politics

Read More: Iraq War, Interrogations, Abuse, Vice President Cheney, Torture, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, National Security, Abu Zubaydah, Cheney Speech, Enhanced Interrogation Techniques, Enhanced Interrogations, Waterboarding, Ksm, Dick Cheney Speech, Dick Cheney, Politics News
Matthew Alexander

Our greatest success in this conflict was achieved without torture or abuse. My interrogation team found Abu Musab Al Zarqawi using relationship-building approaches and non-coercive law enforcement techniques.

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