The BBC is reporting on a leaked NATO report claiming that elements of Pakistani intelligence are directly aiding the Taliban in Afghanistan even as the U.S.-led NATO forces are fighting them: The Taliban in Afghanistan are being directly assisted by Pakistani security services, according to a secret Nato report seen by the BBC. The leaked [...]

Once again, Ron Paul showed last night why he could never win the Republican nomination.

As part of the blowback from the accidental deaths of two dozen Pakistani soldiers in a NATO helicopter raid, the U.S. is leaving a base in Pakistan used in drone operations: In another sign of deteriorating relations with Pakistan, the United States is vacating an air base used to launch American drones in response to [...]

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 authorizes the President the authority to indefinitely detain persons, even American citizens arrested on American soil, without trial because they allegedly support the enemy.

The most disturbing part of Saturday’s debate came when most of the GOP candidates endorsed torture.

Karim Sadjapour writes about a wargaming scenario he recently participated in with a group of former U.S. officials and experts on Israel and Iran to try to play out how an Israeli strike on Iran might go. Sadjapour was on the Iranian team and, as he relates, it didn’t turn out well for anyone: Iran’s [...]

An attack against Iran’s nuclear weapons research facility won’t be an easy thing.

The CIA’s drone war in Pakistan has gotten so out of hand that the Pentagon and State Department are reigning it in.

The U.S. drone war in Yemen has taken out another victim: A wave of CIA drone strikes targeting al-Qaeda figures in Yemen is stoking widespread anger there that U.S. policy is cruel and misguided, prioritizing counterterrorism over a genuine solution to the country’s raging political crisis. Politics has never been a concern to Sam al-Homiganyi [...]

The TSA is deploying VIPR units to weigh stations and bus stations in TN.

Yesterday before the Republican debate, Herman Cain made a misstep that once again displayed out far out of his depth he is when it comes to foreign policy. It came in an interview with Wolf Blitzer in response to a question about the release of Israeli solider Galid Shalit in a prisoner exchange: BLITZER: Imagine [...]

What’s the logic behind Iran’s alleged plot to commit terrorist attacks inside the United States?

The Justice Department claims to have disrupted a major Iranian-backed terrorist attack in the United States.

We’re learning more about the Obama Administration’s decision to kill Anwar al-Awlaki

This exchange between White House Press Secretary Jay Carney and ABC’s Jake Tapper lays out pretty starkly the Administration’s position on the President’s authority to order assassinations of American citizens without due process of law: video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player There’s something fundamentally wrong here, I think. Even if you accept the idea that al-Awlaki [...]

Giving the President the unchecked power to kill American citizens raises some serious red flags.

When the FBI essentially creates a terrorist in order to arrest him, have we really accomplished anything?

My latest for The Atlantic, “The Thorniest Question: When Can a President Order an American Killed?” has been posted.

Anwar al-Awlaki, a major al Qaeda leader and American citizen, has been killed in Yemem–almost certainly by an American Predator drone. BBC (“Islamist cleric Anwar Awlaki ‘killed in Yemen’“): The US-born radical Islamist cleric and suspected al-Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki has been killed in Yemen, the country’s defence ministry reported. US administration officials confirmed the [...]

Rezwan Ferdaus, an American Muslim, has been charged with a major terrorist plot against his country.

Earlier this month I took note of a report of a number of Russian made surface-to-air missiles that were missing from a weapons cache in Libya. It now appears that the problem is much worse than that: U.S. officials had once thought there was little chance that terrorists could get their hands on many of [...]

The relationship between the United States and Pakistan seems destined to head into bad waters after yesterday’s accusation by outgoing Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen that the terrorist group that attacked the U.S. Embassy in Kabul was backed by elements of Pakistan’s intelligence service: WASHINGTON — The nation’s top military official said Thursday that [...]

Just last week I wrote about the investigative work that Danger Room’s Spencer Ackerman had done in discovering the FBI’s use of bizarre anti-Muslim propaganda in some of its advanced counter-terrorism training programs. Yesterday, the FBI issued this statement: The FBI is currently conducting a comprehensive review of all training and reference materials that relate [...]

Last month, we learned that the Central Intelligence Agency has spent the last ten years aiding the New York City Police Department in anti-terror efforts, with no small degree of controversy. Now, The New York Times reports that the CIA has launched an internal investigation of its involvement with the NYPD: WASHINGTON — The Central [...]

The FBI has been using some odd materials to train its counterterrorism agents.

Paul Krugman chose to mark the the 10th anniversary of September 11th with an odd blog post.

Not every 10th anniversary of a horrible surprise attack has been treated the same.

Was it wrong for the NFL to schedule its opening Sunday on the anniversary of the September 11th attacks?

The short-lived national unity spawned by the attacks of a decade ago was re-kindled for a few hours as former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush joined with Vice President Joe Biden to honor Flight 93.

Measuring our progress a decade after the 9/11 attacks

Measuring our progress a decade after the 9/11 attacks

Late breaking today is news that Federal officials are looking into possible threats of terror attacks tied to the tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks: A “specific, credible” threat has emerged surrounding the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, U.S. officials said Thursday. But they emphasized that there was a great deal [...]

Killing’s our business and business is good.

Are colleges teaching the right lessons about the 9/11 attacks?

The collapse of the Libyan government has led to the discovery of a treasure trove of documents, including evidence of close cooperation between the CIA and Libyan Intelligence in the rendition and torture of suspected al Qaeda members: Documents found at the abandoned office of Libya’s former spymaster appear to provide new details of the [...]

Understanding why your enemy hates you seems to be an important thing, but some people would rather believe in caricatures.

Ron Paul is again making the argument that American foreign policy has contributed to terrorism. He’s more right than wrong.

Any hope that a change in government in Tripoli would bring the people responsible for the bombing for Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland has gone out the window: TRIPOLI, Libya – The Libyan rebels’ interim government says it will not deport the man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. The rebel Justice Minister [...]

The U.S may be on the verge of committing the next decade to the future of Afghanistan.

Is the NYPD becoming too much like the CIA?

With rebel forces closing in around Tripoli, we’re once again getting word that the only man convicted in the bombing of Pam Am Flight 103, released by the British because he was supposedly dying of cancer, isn’t likely to die anytime soon: Scottish authorities have come under attack from around the world for the decision [...]

The New Yorker has a great piece out today by Nicholas Schmidle detailing the behind the scenes details of the mission that ended the life of Osama bin Laden: The Americans hurried toward the bedroom door. The first SEAL pushed it open. Two of bin Laden’s wives had placed themselves in front of him. Amal [...]

Some U.S. officials believe that the assassination of Osama bin Laden has put al Qaeda on the ropes: U.S. counterterrorism officials are increasingly convinced that the killing of Osama bin Laden and the toll of seven years of CIA drone strikes have pushed al­Qaeda to the brink of collapse. The assessment reflects a widespread view [...]

The death toll in Norway’s deadliest day of terrorism is up to 91. The man behind it, 32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik, is a frequent poster of anti-Muslim screeds on Christian fundamentalist websites.

As I noted yesterday the United States is withholding certain military aid to Pakistan over that countries actions in the wake of the killing of Osama bin Laden. Now, Pakistan is threatening to end its cooperation in the War On Terror if aid remains cut off: Pakistan could pull back troops fighting Islamist militants near [...]

Signs of tension between the United States and Pakistan are becoming more and more evident: WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is suspending and, in some cases, canceling hundreds of millions of dollars of aid to the Pakistani military, in a move to chasten Pakistan for expelling American military trainers and to press its army to [...]

A new warning from the Transportation Security Administration: The U.S. government has warned domestic and international airlines that some terrorists are considering surgically implanting explosives into humans to carry out attacks, The Associated Press has learned. There is no intelligence pointing to a specific plot, but the U.S. shared its concerns last week with executives [...]

Today’s Washington Post reports that  American drones have made strikes against “militants” in Somalia: A U.S. drone aircraft fired on two leaders of a militant Somali organization tied to al-Qaeda, apparently wounding them, a senior U.S. military official familiar with the operation said Wednesday. The strike last week against senior members of al-Shabab comes amid [...]

After reading through the details of this story, one can only wonder why the people involved were thinking: Lena Reppert, a native of Barry County, was flying from Florida to move home to the Hastings area, where she’s living with relatives who are caring for her, said her daughter, Jean Weber of Destin, Fla. Instead [...]

A Pew Research Center poll released this week provides a stark reminder of just how bad the reputation is in what is arguably one of our most important strategic allies: Currently, just 12% express a positive view of the U.S. and only 8% have confidence in President Barack Obama to do the right thing in [...]