Yet another IG bombshell.

The good news for the White House?  Thanks to the current scandals, this may not even get noticed.  Jake Tapper has the scoop from yet another IG bombshell: The U.S. Marshal Service has been “unable to locate” two former participants in the federal Witness Security Program “identified as known or suspected terrorists,” states the public summary [...]

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All in the family.

Not just any execs and not just any advisors, either. Watch as Ric Grenell floats a possible explanation for some of the Benghazi coverage, especially vis-a-vis rumors that CBS is unhappy with Sharyl Attkisson’s dogged reporting. Would the media reaction really be different without the sibling/spouse conflicts of interest, though? Half of me thinks the [...]

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There, we said it.

We were all very clearly already thinking it, but the U.S. Department of Defense has taken the administration’s stance to official-status with their annual report to Congress on Chinese military developments. Real talk, via the NYT: The Obama administration on Monday explicitly accused China’s military of mounting attacks on American government computer systems and defense [...]

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Brutal.

But, really. As the WSJ put it yesterday, the problem with just acting crazy as your diplomatic strategy is that it doesn’t rule out the possibility that you are crazy. The whole place is pretty much at the mercy of one man’s kicking and screaming, and Kim Jong-Un has definitely been ratcheting up the volume of [...]

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Creepy

One of the stable of writers at Huffpo is getting the Left all up in arms over the latest complaint from the ACLU. This week, the new topic of outrage is drones, but not the ones flying over Afghanistan. (At least not today.) They’re more concerned with the idea of domestic law enforcement using the [...]

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Gagging

Anyone who follows both politics and national security issues is probably already familiar the federal government’s practice of sometimes issuing National Security Letters to individuals or organizations during the course of sensitive, security related investigations. Strengthened considerably by the PATRIOT Act over a decade ago, they allow the government to send out a request for [...]

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Last laughs

Speaking of battles that you thought were ancient history… remember back when that woman – what was her name again? – was a sure fire lock to be the the next Secretary of State? And the Republicans were all up in arms about some television show she was on? And then she really didn’t want [...]

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Accolades.

On Tuesday, President Obama signed an executive order meant to enhance our country’s cyber-defenses by directing government officials to improve the channels of cybersecurity information-sharing between the federal entities and companies that manage the various aspects of our digital infrastructure. Reviews were mixed, via Reuters: U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday signed an executive order [...]

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Readiness.

Via the WFB, Panetta is really sounding the alarm on this recently; at a speech on Wednesday, he warned not only of the degrading effect of the pending spending cuts on military readiness, but also spoke about cyberspace as the new frontier on which the United States will increasingly need to do battle in the [...]

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Powers.

A confidential Justice Department memo concludes that the U.S. government can order the killing of American citizens if they are believed to be “senior operational leaders” of al-Qaida or “an associated force” — even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the U.S. The 16-page memo, a copy of which was obtained by [...]

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The usual suspects.

When outgoing Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta defended the Pentagon’s newly-approved plan to drastically expand their cyber security force, he was not messing around. “Unidentified” foreign entities certainly have been ramping up the scale of their cyber attacks of late, and I don’t just mean at the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. The [...]

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The best defense is a good offense?

Leon Panetta is wrapping up his tenure as secretary of Defense, but the Pentagon is moving forward with initiatives to beef up the United States’ cybersecurity forces and better prepare for what the government points to as the coming arms race of the evolving digital frontier. The NYT reports: The expansion would increase the Defense [...]

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"Historic."

As Ed previewed this morning, President Obama nominated Chuck Hagel to replace Leon Panetta at the Department of Defense, as well as John Brennan to take over at the CIA, at the White House on Monday afternoon. Here’s the full vid, for your viewing pleasure (and here’s the transcript):   Why President Obama seems so [...]

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Going nowhere?

I have to say, I am thoroughly pumped about seeing the OBL-takedown flick Zero Dark Thirty; judging from the trailers and early reviews, it sounds like it’s a fair representation of the military and the goals of the entire operation. It’s not like we don’t all know how it’s going to end, but anything that [...]

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Hmm.

That’s their story and they’re stickin’ to it, I suppose. During the White House briefing today, Press Secretary Jay Carney affirmed the president’s confidence in Gen. Allen and iterated that the White House’s first inkling of all this came as a complete surprise after the election. Carney also emphasized the president’s eagerness to focus on [...]

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Dereliction of duty?

On MSNBC this morning, Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee and member of the Intelligence Committee, discussed the sketchy timeline of the events leading up to David Petraeus’ resignation as head of the CIA and the questions that Congress is still looking to get answered. Joe Scarborough for one is skeptical [...]

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Oof.

While the Foreign Policy President & friends have assured us that Obama’s policies have indeed made the world a safer, more peaceful place than when he took office, not everybody is convinced. In the Middle East specifically, his timeline for troop withdrawal from the Middle East somehow still feels like it prioritizes merely ending the [...]

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Priorities.

Does anybody else find it kind of fazing that House Democrats really tried to blame Republican budget cuts for the inadequate security situation in Libya? Because, as Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) pointed out in the Washington Times yesterday, it doesn’t look like the State Department is exactly down to bare bones on their budget allocations [...]

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Sketch.

By now, you’ve probably heard that Hugo Chavez has secured his third six-year term as Venezuela’s president (but not before sending tanks out into the street on Sunday when it looked like things might be going badly), although notably, it looks like it was by his slimmest margin yet. With a turnout of 81 percent, [...]

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Misdirection.

Extremists from groups linked to al Qaida struck the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in a “deliberate and organized terrorist attack,” the top U.S. intelligence agency said Friday, as it took responsibility for the Obama administration’s initial claims that the deadly assault grew from a spontaneous protest against an anti-Islam video. The unusual statement from [...]

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"I serve quietly, not seeking recognition or accolades..."

As we enter into presidential debate season and start hearing more discussions about foreign policy, we’re bound to be regaled — ahem, yet again — with the oh-so-epic tale of how President Obama made the decision to take out Osama bin Laden (i.e., “ask Osama bin Laden if I engage in appeasement“). But the White [...]

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Well, he was good at keeping secrets...

Consider this a mystery solved.  What kind of work can a man do after having helped keep quiet the child molestations being perpetrated by an underling?  Why, beefing up national security, of course: Graham Spanier might have been ousted from his post at the helm of Penn State over the sex-abuse scandal that engulfed the [...]

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Er, really?

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney is sending out some mixed signals about the White House’s potential involvement in the national security leaks against which Sen. Feinstein railed so vociferously earlier this week (although it seems she later succumbed to pressure to somewhat modify her statements, heh). After vehemently insisting that he isn’t going to [...]

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