National Security, Terrorism, and the Military
Two botched attacks since December 2009 have brought the threat of terrorism back into the spotlight. After a failed attempt to bomb a U.S. airliner heading for Detroit on Christmas day, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano acknowledged holes in the security system. Five months later, authorities seized a would-be car bomb in a car parked in New York City’s Times Square. Both incidents prompted the Obama administration to sharpen their focus on a defense strategy aimed at al Qaeda-radicalized Americans and to release a 52-page outline of their strategy in May 2010.
Almost nine years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks that hit lower Manhattan and the Pentagon, the Afghanistan War continues, its resolution uncertain. In December 2009, President Obama authorized an additional 30,000 troops for the Afghanistan effort. In June 2010, the commander in charge of the Afghanistan war, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, resigned after he and his staff were quoted in Rolling Stone making inappropriate remarks about Obama and administration officials. Gen. David Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command, known for his successful military policies in the Iraq war, took command in Afghanistan. A couple months later, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he was considering retirement in 2011. The Pentagon chief, carried over from the Bush administration, had called for a bigger defense budget but also took steps to reign in Pentagon spending. He was popular on Capitol Hill, where the Senate passed a $60 billion war funding bill to finance additional troops to Afghanistan. Sen. Russ Feingold has been opposed to funding more troops without a withdrawal time line. In August 2010, nearly seven years after the beginning of the Iraq war, the last U.S. combat troops left Iraq. Still, thousands of noncombat troops and military personnel remain in the country.
The latest news on National Security, Terrorism, and the Military
Ahead of new talks next month in Moscow, Obama's options on Iran are shrinking.
One week after Panetta restricted the F-22, questions linger about its sibling fighter jet.
As Baghdad talks roll on, experts still say a breakthrough is unlikely.
A high-profile treason case could be the latest setback in chilly U.S.-Pakistani relations.
As the Obama administration escalates U.S. activities in Yemen, questions abound about defeating Al Qaeda offshoot.
Tehran struck a deal on nuclear inspections, but a Baghdad breakthrough remains unlikely.
National security experts handed out a few high marks, and some low grades, after the Chicago summit.
Experts had said alliance members needed to commit specific amounts for Obama to call summit a success.
A senior Syrian opposition official says Syria's intelligence chief has been assassinated in poison plot.
Under a plan agreed to in Chicago, NATO will activate a Moscow-opposed missile shield in 2015.
