NewsTrust - National Security - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Mainstream)

Richard Clarke: China's Cyberassault on America

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Wall Street Journal - By Richard Clarke - Jun. 15 (Opinion) - If we discovered Chinese explosives laid throughout our national electrical system, we'd consider it an act of war. China's digital bombs pose as grave a threat.

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The Patriot Act and bipartisanship

Mon, 23 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Associated Press - By Glenn Greenwald - May. 23 (Opinion) - Senate Democrats use classic Bush/Cheney fear-mongering to demand quick passage of the Patriot Act

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The President’s Credibility Gap

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Ross Douthat - Mar. 31 (Opinion) - Addressing the nation Monday evening, President Obama suggested that the United States was in the process of reducing its military footprint in Libya, even as he explicitly rejected the idea of pursuing regime change in Tripoli by force of arms. Both statements seemed calculated to make our intervention seem tightly limited rather than open-ended. (“I want to be clear,” Obama said. “The United States of America has done what we said we would do.”) But two days later, both look dubious in the extreme.

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At CIA, mistakes by officers are often overlooked

Wed, 09 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By Adam Goldman, Matt Apuzzo - Feb. 09 - At CIA, mistakes by officers are often overlooked

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WICKED LEAKS

Fri, 17 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

BBC News - By Adam Curtis - Dec. 17 (Opinion) - Bradley Manning, the intelligence analyst who is alleged to have leaked the thousands of state department cables, has often been compared to Daniel Ellsberg who leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971. But I have stumbled on a film in the archives that tells the story of another leaker in America who tried to do the same thing, but even earlier. He was a young State Department diplomat who stole and copied thousands of Top Secret cables. Like Daniel Ellsberg, his aim was to release them to stop America’s involvement in what he believed was a disastrous foreign war. He was called Tyler Kent. He was a diplomat at the US embassy in London in 1940 and he wanted to stop President Roosevelt bringing America into the war to help Britain.

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WikiLeaks prosecution and Manning

Thu, 16 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Associated Press - By Glenn Greenwald - Dec. 16 (Opinion) - In The New York Times this morning, Charlie Savage describes the latest thinking from the DOJ about how to criminally prosecute WikiLeaks and Julian Assange. Federal investigators are "are looking for evidence of any collusion" between WikiLeaks and Bradley Manning -- "trying to find out whether Mr. Assange encouraged or even helped" the Army Private leak the documents -- and then "charge him as a conspirator in the leak, not just as a passive recipient of the documents who then published them." To achieve this, it is particularly important to "persuade Private Manning to testify against Mr. Assange." I want to make two points about this. First, the Obama administration faces what it perceives to be a serious dilemma: it is -- as Savage writes -- "under intense pressure to make an example of [Assange] as a deterrent to further mass leaking," but nothing Assange or WikiLeaks has done actually violates the law. Moreover, as these Columbia Journalism School professors explain in opposing prosecutions, it is impossible to invent theories to indict them without simultaneously criminalizing much of investigative journalism. Thus, claiming that WikiLeaks does not merely receive and publish classified information, but rather actively seeks it and helps the leakers, is the DOJ's attempt to distinguish it from "traditional" journalism. As Savage writes, this theory would mean "the government would not have to confront awkward questions about why it is not also prosecuting traditional news organizations or investigative journalists who also disclose information the government says should be kept secret — including The New York Times."

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TSA Chief: 'We'll Never Eliminate Risk'

Wed, 08 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Atlantic Monthly - By James Fallows, Jeffrey Goldberg - Dec. 08 (Interview) - Ever since new airport security procedures went into effect in late October, the Transportation Security Administration has been at the center of controversy. The combination of enhanced image screening with invasive patdowns for those who opt out has rankled civil liberties advocates and some of the flying public...

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The Shameful Attacks on Julian Assange

Fri, 03 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Atlantic Monthly - By David Samuels - Dec. 03 (Opinion) - [The] fact that so many prominent old school journalists are attacking him with such unbridled force is a symptom of the failure of traditional reporting methods to penetrate a culture of official secrecy that has grown by leaps and bounds since 9/11, and threatens the functioning of a free press as a cornerstone of democracy.

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A Waste of Money and Time

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Bruce Schneier - Nov. 23 (Opinion) - Take all the money spent on new security measures and spend it on investigation and intelligence.

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GOP bloodlust endangers the economy, national security

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Seattle Times - By Paul Krugman - Nov. 22 (Opinion) - The GOP isn't interested in helping the economy as long as a Democrat is in the White House, writes columnist Paul Krugman. The same GOP obstructionism applies to a desperately needed strategic arms treaty. If sabotaging the president endangers the nation, so be it.

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The Real Airport Security Debate: Would You Rather Be Groped or Zapped?

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Politics Daily - By David Corn - Nov. 22 (Opinion) - It's a no-brainer: I'd rather accept a demeaning squeeze than a dose of radiation -- before being allowed to proceed to friendly skies. In either case, I'll be thinking: The terrorists won.

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Don't Touch My Junk

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By Charles Krauthammer - Nov. 19 (Opinion) - This time you have gone too far, Big Bro'. The sleeping giant awakes. Take my shoes, remove my belt, waste my time and try my patience. But don't touch my junk.

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Congress Should Defend My Junk

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Atlantic Monthly - By Joshua Green - Nov. 19 (Opinion) - As denizens of the Atlantosphere are all too well aware, TSA is on an insane crusade to touch everybody's junk (except when they're not, as Jim Fallows happily discovered). Here's an idea: if Republicans want to get off to a good start and improve their dismal popularity, they should use the House Oversight Committee to investigate what the hell TSA is thinking.

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Has Airport Security Gone Too Far?

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Wall Street Journal - By Noah Shachtman - Nov. 17 (Opinion) - Pilots and travelers are rebelling against scanners that douse them with X-rays and reveal their private parts. There must be a better way.

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Big Sister's police state

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Times - Nov. 17 (Editorial) - The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has crossed the line. As if subjecting millions of Americans to X-rated x-ray scans and public groping sessions weren't bad enough, the agency now threatens $11,000 in fines against anyone refusing to submit to humiliation at the airport.

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The Full-Body Scan Backlash

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By By NATE SILVER - Nov. 16 (Opinion) - As full-body scanners come into more widespread use in American airports, they are also coming under more frequent criticism.

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For the First Time, the TSA Meets Resistance

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Atlantic Monthly - By Jeffrey Goldberg - Oct. 29 (Opinion) - In part because of the back-scatter imager's invasiveness, the TSA is allowing passengers to choose instead a pat-down.

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Zakaria: Why America Overreacted to 9/11

Sat, 04 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Newsweek - By Fareed Zakaria - Sep. 04 (Editorial) - Nine years after 9/11, can anyone doubt that Al Qaeda is simply not that deadly a threat? Since that gruesome day in 2001, once governments everywhere began serious countermeasures, Osama bin Laden’s terror network has been unable to launch a single

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The Washington Post: Top Secret America: National Security Inc.

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - Jul. 20 () - New York Times (blog)National Security Inc.Washington PostThe growing role of contractors in counterterrorism and intelligence is raising concerns about conflicts of interest and the government's ability to control its most sensitive work. In June, a stone carver from ...US security network grows uncheckedThe Detroit NewsIntelligence chief defends US agenciesLos Angeles TimesThe Redundancy Inside "Top Secret America"CBS NewsThe Virginian-Pilot?-Wheeling Intelligencer?-Spreadit.orgall 644 news articles??

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Al-Qaeda in the New National Security Strategy

Fri, 28 May 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Foreign Policy - By Marc Lynch - May. 28 (Opinion) - The Obama administration's new National Security Strategy is about to be unveiled today. I got hold of an advance copy of it yesterday, and then joined about a dozen other people at the White House to talk about it with three senior administration officials (on background). It's an impressive document, and goes a long way towards providing a coherent framework for American foreign policy and national security which makes sense of what the administration has been doing and offers a roadmap to where it wants to go. From my perspective, the most interesting -- and strongest -- part of the NSS deals with the administration's new approach to al-Qaeda. The most problematic is the gap between its strong commitment to civil liberties and the rule of law and its practice thus far with regard to things like drone strikes.

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Rivals claim major coups in intel war

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0700

United Press International - Mar. 31 (Opinion) - BEIRUT, Lebanon, March 31 (UPI) -- The Americans are bumping off al-Qaida and Taliban chieftains like ninepins with their relentless airstrikes in Pakistan because of a sharp improvement in their intelligence, thanks in large part to Pakistan's

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Threats

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0800

New Yorker - By Steve Coll - Jan. 14 (Comment) - In office, Obama has begun to reframe counterterrorism strategy. He has crafted a posture of strategic patience, premised upon a forward defense and the durability of American constitutional values. When the White House reorganized the staffs of the National Security Council and the Homeland Security Council last year, it created a new “resilience policy” directorate.

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Don't panic. Fear is al-Qaeda's real goal.

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By Fareed Zakaria - Jan. 11 (Opinion) - In responding to the attempted bombing of an airliner on Christmas Day, Sen. Dianne Feinstein voiced the feelings of many when she said that to prevent such situations, "I'd rather overreact than underreact." This appears to be the consensus view in Washington, but it is quite wrong. The purpose of terrorism is to provoke an overreaction. Its real aim is not to kill the hundreds of people directly targeted but to sow fear in the rest of the population. Terrorism is an unusual military tactic in that it depends on the response of the onlookers. If we are not terrorized, then the attack didn't work. Alas, this one worked very well.

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Al Qaeda in Yemen

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Dawn - Jan. 05 (Editorial) - Yemen, it appears, is the new Fata, an Al Qaeda base where wicked plans to destroy western civilisation and overthrow governments are being hatched. Or at least that is the gist of some of the more hyperbolic commentary since the Christmas Day attempted plane bombing in the US was linked to an Al Qaeda offshoot in Yemen. Does Yemen have an Al Qaeda presence? It certainly appears so. Air strikes on Dec 17 and Dec 24, allegedly carried out by the US, targeted suspected Al Qaeda militants there.

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Aviation security mostly show?

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0800

CNN - By Bruce Schneier - Dec. 30 (Opinion) - The best defenses against terrorism are largely invisible: investigation, intelligence, and emergency response. But even these are less effective at keeping us safe than our social and political policies, both at home and abroad. However, our elected leaders don't think this way: They are far more likely to implement security theater against movie-plot threat

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