Everywhere I go she’s there, folded arms, smartly dressed in a blazer and white button-down, keeping an eye on me. Just a hint of a wry smile crosses her face as she lurks. She’s there representing the CIA, and the National Clandestine Service. Maybe I’m being paranoid, but she’s around when I’m taking a look…
Memoirs often offer former senior US government officials an outlet to comment on programs about which they largely were silent while in office. When it comes to the legality of the Obama administration’s armed-drone program, such candor is needed. But, in his new memoir, the CIA’s former top lawyer is mostly mum on the topic.
It’s easy to forget that it’s been less than a decade since the reorganization of the intelligence community as part of the post-9/11 handwringing that went on in Washington, but as the role the NSA and intelligence community gets another look following the Snowden disclosures, it’s worth considering how the current structure was cobbled together.…
A day after the Washington Post published selected parts of the—until now—secret National Intelligence Program budget summary from fiscal 2013, the Web site Cryptome.org did the paper on better, posting the entire 43 pages from Vol. 1 of the document, as opposed to the 17 pages the Post released. Aside from the $52 billion top…
[HTML1] Since last December, Congress has had Fiscal Cliff Week then Sequestration Week then CR Week and most recently Budget Week. The Senate even had Guns Week. And now comes Drone Week. Two congressional panels on Tuesday are holding hearings on the role of armed unmanned aircraft in future military operations — and the very…
[HTML1] Well, that didn’t take long. David Petraeus, the revered soldier-scholar who became CIA director before stepping down due to an extramarital affair, is embarking on a new path that is quintessentially American: The comeback tour. Speaking to what appears a friendly audience at an annual University of Southern California event honoring members of the military, Petraeus went all…
Could a little too much cooperation (allegedly) with filmmakers torpedo a senior Pentagon official’s nomination to become the first CIA chief in the post-David Petraeus era? The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee says he is “quite troubled” by the possibility of a federal probe into the possible disclosure of classified information by the…
The top U.S. general in Afghanistan is under investigation for a possible inappropriate relationship involving a woman who is not his wife. All U.S. generals are subject to an ethics review ordered by the secretary of defense. And the most-heralded American war commander in decades had to leave his CIA director over an extramarital affair. What’s more,…
Guessing whom a president will pick for top executive branch jobs is Washington’s favorite parlor game. It’s cliche, but true. And recently re-elected President Barack Obama soon will have to fill a slew of Cabinet and other high-level slots, including CIA director. For about a week the nation obsessed over the extramarital affair that brought down…
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., continues to pummel the White House over a deadly consulate attack in Libya, on Friday labeling comments by President Barack Obama “a lot of B.S.” Graham’s sharp criticism was followed soon on Friday (Oct. 26) after by him joining fellow GOP Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Kelly Ayotte of New…