Senior Editor Kevin Whitelaw reports:
Mike McConnell, the new director of national intelligence, met the press for the first time today, presenting his 100-day strategic plan for the nation's 16 intelligence agencies. Asked about the terrorist threat, he described how the al Qaeda network is changing.
"Al Qaeda started and now there are many others who are al Qaeda lookalikes," he said. "There is some level of coordination, but there are also many cells that are self-initiated. That's a global issue."
He said that the biggest threat remains extremists trying to infiltrate the United States from abroad.
...continue reading.
Tools:
Share
|
|
In a speech at the Virginia Military Institute today, Sen. John McCain called the war in Iraq "necessary and just" and reiterated his criticisms of Democrats in Congress who advocate a withdrawal from the war-torn nation. As Chief White House Correspondent Kenneth T. Walsh reported yesterday, the address (transcript) cemented the McCain campaign's dependence on improvement in Iraq. McCain has been on an extended mission recently to prove that the situation on the ground in Iraq is improving faster than the media is portraying but was dealt a PR blow during the visit when it was revealed that he had heavy protection while walking through a Baghdad market recently. He acknowledged this in his speech. "I just returned from my fifth visit to Iraq. Unlike the veterans here today, I risked nothing more threatening than a hostile press corps," he said. | |
Tools:
Share
|
|
Reporter Silla Brush reports:
Senate Republicans hyped a stem cell measure this morning that will compete with a Democratic bid for more federal funding of this controversial technology.
Republican Sens. Johnny Isakson of Georgia and Norm Coleman of Minnesota have introduced the measure, acronymically branded the HOPE Act (Hope Offered Through Principled and Ethical Stem Cell Research Act"), and have received support from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Their bill, they say, seeks a "middle ground" piece of legislation that would increase federal funding for some forms of research on embryonic stem cells, such as those found in very early stage embryos, but not for research that would involve the destruction of human embryos. It would also finance research on embryos that have died naturally.
President Bush has already vowed to veto the stem cell bill pushed by Democrats that would lift the ban on federal dollars going to new embryonic research studies. The only veto of his presidency has been on such a stem cell bill.
One Republican aide said he believes Republicans are edging closer to 60 votes in support of their bill. Bush indicated today that he might sign such a compromise.
Etc.: Stem Cells May Help Treat Diabetes (Video), on USNews.com
Tools:
Share
|
|
Want to feel loved? Join the New Hampshire legislature.
Every four years, the cast of presidential candidates flood to New Hampshire to woo citizens in the state with the first primary in the country. At the top of their list: getting endorsements from state lawmakers.
"Whether they're the frontrunner or the ones in the back of the pack, they all come a-courtin'," nine-term Republican state Rep. Sherman Packard tells News Desk.
There are enough of them to go around. New Hampshire had the 10th-smallest population in 2005 but has a gargantuan House of Representatives of 400 members, giving it the lowest ration of citizens to lawmakers in the country at one representative for every 3,000 people. (See our calculations here.)
...continue reading.
Tools:
Share
|
|
Democrats:
- Chris Dodd delivers a foreign policy address in Des Moines sponsored by the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy.
- John Edwards is in New York City for a Service Employees International Union event called "Walk a Day in My Shoes," during which he'll accompany a nursing home staff member to work for the day.
- Bill Richardson is still in North Korea.
Republicans:
- Duncan Hunter is in Montgomery, Ala., to address the Alabama Federation of Republican Women.
- John McCain delivers a policy address on the war in Iraq at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va.
- Update: Rudy Giuliani is in Atlanta for a 1:15 p.m. news conference. He'll then attend a fundraiser held by Home Depot founder Bernie Marcus and meet privately with Gov. Sonny Perdue.
- Update: Ron Paul is Iowa City, where he'll speak at the University of Iowa. He'll then attend a fundraiser at the Ankeny Fairfield Inn.
- Update: Mitt Romney speaks at the Dallas County Reagan Day Dinner tonight.
Tools:
Share
|
|
This morning's top stories:
- Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is facing internal strife from Shiite cabinet ministers loyal to cleric cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. These key government officials are threatening to leave the government over al-Maliki's failure to express support for U.S. withdrawal.
- Meanwhile, the Red Cross reports that the situation on the ground in Iraq for civilians has not improved since the security crackdown.
- According to the Washington Post, at least three retired four-star generals have declined offers from the White House to take a job as a "war czar," a position that would oversee operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan and also be granted broad authority for decision making.
- Astronomers believe they have detected signs of water vapor--a vital component of life--in the atmosphere of a gaseous planet about 150 light-years from Earth, an important clue as to whether life exists elsewhere in the universe.
- A decision on whether prosecutors in the Duke lacrosse scandal will drop remaining charges of sexual assault could come today, the AP reports, an outcome some see as likely.
Tools:
Share
|
|
