national security

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Oval Office Handover Opens Critical Security Gap

9/11 Commission members call for changes to smooth transition

(Newser) - January's transition in Oval Office occupants opens up a national security gap for America's enemies to exploit, Jamie Gorelick and Slade Gorton write in the New York Times. The handover from Clinton to Bush was deeply flawed, the 9/11 Commission members note, with "no effective dialog" between the two....

Bush Forced Ruling on Detainees
Bush Forced Ruling on Detainees
ANALYSIS
Jun 15, 2008 7:45 PM CDT

Bush Forced Ruling on Detainees

High court had to act after Bush flouted justice and liberty

(Newser) - President Bush forced the Supreme Court’s hand by overplaying his own over Guantanamo detainees, Stuart Taylor, Jr. writes in Newsweek. Courts usually defer to Washington on national security, but Bush so flouted ordinary "ideas of justice and liberty" that he "put the Supreme Court in an impossible...

Lawmaker Who Called Obama 'Boy' Apologizes

GOP congressman owns up to 'poor choice of words'

(Newser) - A Republican congressman apologized to Barack Obama today for calling him “that boy” at a fundraiser on Saturday. Geoff Davis of Kentucky spoke of sharing “highly classified national security situations" with Obama and said, “I'm going to tell you something: That boy’s finger does not need...

Insignia of Our Secret Armies
 Insignia of Our Secret Armies 
Apr 1, 2008 4:44 PM CDT

Insignia of Our Secret Armies

Classified military world comes to light in new book

(Newser) - The men and women who work in our country’s most classified weapons and intelligence R&D programs—the New York Times calls them "stealthy armies of high-tech warriors"—have developed their own culture, complete with inside humor. That's on display in a new a book by Trevor...

US Spies Surf Internet for Open Secrets

In Information Age, useful intelligence hides in plain sight

(Newser) - Where do America’s spies go to get their most useful information? The Internet, mostly. Intelligence reports are increasingly filled with “open-source intelligence,” or information that’s available to nearly anyone, USA Today reports. The much-publicized December report on Iran’s nuclear program, for example, relied heavily on...

3Com Sale Collapses on Security Concerns

Panel objects to Chinese tech company's role in deal

(Newser) - National security concerns have blocked the $2.2 billion sale of network-equipment maker 3Com Corp to US private equity firm Bain Capital Partners and a Chinese technology company, Reuters reports. Lawmakers had opposed the deal because Huawei, China's biggest network equipment maker, is purported to have ties to China’s...

New Iraq NIE Likely to Remain Secret

Officials keen to keep report classified after Iran estimate flap

(Newser) - Intelligence officials may keep the results of a new assessment on Iraq confidential when it's completed next month, the Washington Post reports. The new National Intelligence Estimate will be given to Congress, but intelligence officials are gunshy about making it public because of the brouhaha that erupted when they released...

3Com Buyout Doesn't Pass Security Review

US leery of giving Chinese telecom access to networks

(Newser) - National security concerns have scuttled the buyout deal for 3Com by private equity firm Bain Capital and a Chinese telecom, the Wall Street Journal reports. 3Com, which supplies networking services to the Defense Department, withdrew its application from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, having been unable to...

McCain Makes His Case to Conservatives

He says he's one of their own and calls for party to unite

(Newser) - John McCain sought to mend fractured ties with conservatives today, telling members of the Conservative Political Action Conference that he can't win without them, the Washington Post reports. McCain defended his own conservative credentials, calling himself a "foot soldier of the Reagan revolution." Speaking hours after Mitt Romney...

Dems May Block Record $3T Bush Budget 'Til Next Prez

Mammoth budget combines tax cuts with huge security spending hikes

(Newser) - President Bush today introduces a record $3 trillion budget into opposition from congressional Democrats so fierce that they could hold up the spending plan until the next president takes office, reports AP. Bush's plan envisions at least $400 billion in deficits this year and next, twice 2007's $163 billion debt....

In SC Primary, It's Values vs. Defense Voters

Huckabee, McCain divide GOP in state rich in churches, military

(Newser) - The pastor and the POW have exposed a deep divide in the South Carolina GOP, reports Politico, with the national security faithful on one side and diehard social conservatives on the other. Ahead of this weekend’s primary, Mike Huckabee is traveling to churches and John McCain is dispatching teams...

Terror Threat Douses Brussels Fireworks

Officials say large crowds still a risk

(Newser) - Brussels has canceled or cut short many of its traditional New Year's Eve events, saying the terror threat level is still too high to permit large gatherings. Last week, Belgian police arrested—and released on lack of evidence—14 people accused of plotting to break a convicted terrorist out of...

Hillary Was Adviser, Not Decider
Hillary Was Adviser, Not Decider
Dec 26, 2007 4:33 PM CST

Hillary Was Adviser, Not Decider

First Lady didn't handle intel but was a presidential sounding board

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton spent her 8 years in the White House informally advising her husband and jetting around the world mediating social crises, the New York Times says, but the first lady had little direct experience with war or terrorism. She didn’t do “the heavy lifting of foreign policy,...

Court Sides With Bush on Wiretapping

Judges cite national security in rejecting challenge to program

(Newser) - The Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program cleared a big legal hurdle today when a federal appeals court rejected a lawsuit challenging the program on the grounds of national security. The court, considered one of the most liberal in the country,  cited the "state secrets" privilege in its ruling...

Activists, Washington Cross Swords over Terror List

Raises new concerns over privacy

(Newser) - Activists are battling Washington over a list that tagged some 20,000 people as suspected terrorists last year, the Washington Post reports. Yet only a fraction of them were arrested, prompting critics to doubt the list’s value. Cases of a civil rights activist held for hours and a Cleveland...

Bush Names Surge Skeptic War Czar
Bush Names Surge Skeptic
War Czar
May 16, 2007 5:52 AM CDT

Bush Names Surge Skeptic War Czar

White House taps active-duty officer to coordinate war effort

(Newser) - After public rejection by at least five prominent former generals, the Bush administration named its war czar, three-star general Douglas Lute. The Washington Post describes Lute as a low-key soldier who expressed skepticism about sending more troops to Iraq. Durning internal discussions, Lute is said to have argued that a...

Defense Dept. Blocks Access to YouTube

Bandwidth, security issues lead to ban on MySpace, other networking sites

(Newser) - MySpace as a national security threat? Yes, says the Department of Defense, which is blocking service members' access to the site—as well as YouTube and 11 other popular destinations troops use to communicate with family and friends—on department computers as of today. The department calls the online traffic...

Pentagon Woos Tech Startups
Pentagon Woos Tech Startups
May 7, 2007 11:38 AM CDT

Pentagon Woos Tech Startups

Venture capital firms play matchmaker in Defense search for new technologies

(Newser) - Infant tech companies are fast becoming a tributary in the pipeline between the Pentagon and big contractors, the Times reports. And in a new, official initiative, Defense is tasking venture capitalists to harvest ideas and technologies from the fast-moving tech startups they monitor, and small companies are winning coveted contracts.

Tenet Earns Big Bucks off War Profiteers

Former CIA chief finds a pot of gold in the center of the storm

(Newser) - Former CIA boss George Tenet has made a killing off companies profiting in Iraq, Salon reports—one fact undisclosed in his recent tell-all screed. Besides a reported $4 mil advance for the book, Tenet used his spook cred to win spots on corporate boards in a national security industry he...

Innocent Customers Caught in Terrorist Dragnet

Companies refuse business to partial name matches on OFAC's list

(Newser) - Hassans, Muhammeds, and other men with Arabic-sounding names  are being turned away when they try to buy cars, homes, and even exercise equipment. Responding to post-9/11 requirements to screen customers against terrorist lists, companies are turning down buyers with even partial name matches rather than risk stiff fines and prison...

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