Georgetown Security Law Brief

Clinton asserts 'No basis' to detain Pakistani doctor

02/29/12:  The Casper Star-Tribune reports that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says Pakistan has "no basis" for detaining a Pakistani doctor who provided the US with key information before the successful Navy SEAL assault on Osama bin Laden's compound. Clinton says Shakil Afridi's work served Pakistani and American interests. She told a congressional committee Pakistan has no justification for holding his staff, either. Afridi ran a vaccination program for the CIA to collect DNA and verify bin Laden's presence in the compound.

Bashir accused of trying to scuttle Sudan peace deal

02/29/12: The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday accused Sudan's leader of trying to scuttle a historic peace deal that created the world's newest country last year. Clinton told a House panel that Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir's regime in Khartoum is actively trying to undermine the government of South Sudan and that the Obama administration will look at new ways to build pressure on them to stop. Her comments came in response to a lawmaker's question about reported bombing attacks on refugees fleeing violence in the south and firefights between southern and northern troops.

Pentagon rushes to learn number of 9/11 remains sent to landfill

02/29/12: Washington Post reports that the Pentagon scrambled Wednesday to try to determine how many remains of victims from the September 11, 2001, hijackings were incinerated and dumped in a landfill. Senior officials admitted they were caught flat-footed by the revelation and pledged to investigate. General Norton A. Schwartz, the Air Force chief of staff, said that contrary to a Pentagon report released Tuesday, it did not appear that unidentified remains of victims of the United Airlines Flight 93 crash in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, were disposed of in a landfill, “as best we can tell.”

Guilty plea from 'high value' Guantanamo prisoner

02/29/12: CBS News reports that a former Maryland resident pleaded guilty Wednesday to helping al-Qaida plot attacks from his native Pakistan, reaching a plea deal with the US government that limits his sentence but that his lawyers say could put him and his family in jeopardy. A lawyer entered the plea on behalf of Majid Khan at the US base in Cuba. Asked by the judge if he understood the plea, Khan answered in English, "Yes, sir."

Probe of Afghan Quran burning nearing completion

02/29/12: The Wisconsin Rapids Tribune reports that a joint investigation by NATO and Afghan officials into the burning of copies of the Quran that triggered riots and more than 30 deaths is nearly complete, and preliminary findings could be released within days, Western officials said Wednesday. A legal official with the US-led International Security Assistance Force said the joint investigation will provide a broad conclusion into the circumstances that led to last week's disposal of a number of Qurans and other Islamic texts in a burn pit at a US military base north of the capital.

Indian police arrest two suspected terrorists

02/29/12: ABC News reports that India's home minister says police have arrested two men connected to the terror group blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people. Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram told reporters Wednesday the men belonged to a cell sponsored by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba. He gave few other details. Press Trust of India quoted senior Delhi police official P.N. Agarwal as saying the men were carrying explosive material. The Indian capital has seen a spate of terror attacks in the last few years.

ICC judges to deliver first-ever verdicts

02/29/12: The Seattle Times reports that the International Criminal Court announced Wednesday that it will soon deliver its first verdicts since being created 10 years ago, in the case of a Congolese militia leader accused of using child soldiers. Thomas Lubanga pleaded not guilty to charges of recruiting child soldiers and sending them to kill and be killed in his country's brutal civil conflict. Verdicts will be delivered March 14.

North Korea agrees to suspend nuclear tests

02/29/12: The Financial Times reports that North Korea agreed on Wednesday to suspend nuclear tests, long-range missile launches and its activities at a key nuclear facility in an announcement that represents a surprise breakthrough for nuclear diplomacy. The US State Department said North Korea would allow for the return of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to the Yongbyon facility, where it has been enriching uranium.

Egypt arrests man said by US to be al-Qaida leader

02/29/12: The Denver Post reports that an Egyptian named by the United States as one of al-Qaida's top figures was arrested in Cairo on Wednesday, but he denied the link in comments to reporters and said it was a case of mistaken identity. Mohammed Ibrahim Makkawi was arrested on his arrival at Cairo airport from Pakistan via Dubai and was taken for questioning, security and airport officials said.  Makkawi told reporters he was not the senior al-Qaida leader known as Saif al-Adel and that he had nothing to do with the terror group since 1989.

Lawyer claims 10-year terror sentence punishes her free speech

02/29/12: Bloomberg reports that Lynne F. Stewart, the lawyer imprisoned for helping an incarcerated Egyptian cleric pass messages to his terrorist followers, claims her 10-year sentence is punishment for exercising her free speech rights. The attorney was found guilty by a jury in 2005 of helping her former client, the blind sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, smuggle messages out of a high-security prison after he was convicted in 1995 of plotting to blow up the United Nations, an FBI building, two tunnels and a bridge in New York.  After prosecutors complained that Stewart’s initial sentence of 28 months in prison was too lenient, she was re- sentenced to 10 years.

Attorney General reviewing NYPD spying complaints

02/29/12: Fox News reports that months after receiving complaints about the New York Police Department's surveillance of entire American Muslim neighborhoods, the Justice Department is just beginning a review to decide whether to investigate civil rights violations. Attorney General Eric Holder told Congress the status of the review Tuesday. The announcement bothered some Democrats, who said they were under the impression the Justice Department had been reviewing the matter since late last year.

Clinton asserts Syria’s Assad fits war criminal category

02/29/12: The Washington Times reports that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says Syria’s President BasharAssad fits the definition of a war criminal. Clinton was testifying Tuesday before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on the budget for the State Department and foreign operations. She was pressed by Senator Lindsey Graham about Syria, where the United Nations says more than 7,500 people have died through Assad‘s violence against his people. Asked if Assad is a war criminal, Clinton said he would fit into that category.

Obama orders waivers to new rules on detaining terrorism suspects

02/29/12: The Washington Post reports that President Obama issued an order Tuesday night laying out broad new waivers that allow US law enforcement agencies to retain custody of al-Qaeda terrorism suspects rather than turn them over to the military. The new waivers are Obama’s response to a law passed by Congress last year that requires that alleged al-Qaeda terrorists who are not US citizens be held in military custody rather than being processed through the civilian court system. Key GOP senators said Tuesday night that the president’s measures raised “significant concerns,” and they vowed to hold a hearing to scrutinize them.

Interpol says suspected Anonymous hackers arrested

02/29/12: The Boston Globe reports that Interpol said Tuesday that 25 suspected members of the loose-knit Anonymous hacker movement have been arrested in a sweep across Europe and South America. The international police agency said in a statement that the arrests in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Spain were carried out by national law enforcement officers working under the support of Interpol's Latin American Working Group of Experts on Information Technology Crime.

$744,000 buys cooperative Guantánamo captives a new soccer field

02/29/12: The Miami Herald reports that the military unveiled a new $744,000 soccer field on Tuesday, a dusty enclosure with two-toned gravel and fences topped by barbed wire — all designed as a quality of life improvement for cooperative captives.The goals were missing but the military had erected two guard towers, lights and surveillance cameras at the site outside a penitentiary-style building called Camp 6 where the Pentagon imprisons about 120 of the 171 captives here.

Supreme Court debates rights case aimed at corporations

02/29/12: The New York Times reports that the question before the Supreme Court on Tuesday was whether lawsuits against corporations for some kinds of human rights violations are categorically forbidden. Some of the justices were themselves in a categorical mood, announcing not only their answer to that question but also to a larger one not squarely before them. They did so by quoting approvingly or skeptically from the briefs in the case.

Iranian Foreign Minister calls for more talks on nuclear issue

02/28/12: The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Iran's foreign minister has called for other countries to choose engagement over confrontation in resolving their differences over his nation's nuclear program. Ali Akbar Salehi told the UN-hosted Conference on Disarmament that "nuclear energy is not equated with nuclear weapons" and Iran has no intention to develop weapons of mass destruction. Iran claims its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. But the International Atomic Energy Agency has raised alarms that its uranium enrichment program might be a precursor to building nuclear weapons.

Indictment near in New York City terror case

02/28/12: The Albany Times Union reports that a lawyer for a New York City man charged with building a homemade bomb to try to attack soldiers, police and other government targets, says she expects him to be indicted by a grand jury this week. Jose Pimentel, a former Schenectady resident, is being held without bail on charges of weapons possession and conspiracy as terror crimes. Defense lawyer Susan Walsh tells The New York Times no plea agreement had been reached in the state-level terror case.

Sri Lankans protest proposed UN rights resolution

02/28/12: The Modesto Bee reports that thousands of people joined government-backed protests across Sri Lanka on Monday against a proposed UN Human Rights Council resolution on alleged rights abuses during the country's civil war. The protests coincided with the beginning of the council's four-week session in Geneva. Cabinet ministers urged citizens to join the demonstrations, which were planned in 150 cities and towns, according the government's website. A UN panel report earlier concluded there were credible allegations that both the government and the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels committed serious abuses that could amount to war crimes, especially during the last months of the conflict, which ended in May 2009.

France tries three in absentia over 1988 ship attack

02/28/12: ABC News reports that three suspects in a gun and grenade attack on a Greek cruise ship nearly 24 years ago went on trial in absentia in Paris on Monday for their roles in the deaths of three French citizens who were among the nine people killed. Attorney Francis Szpiner, representing civil parties at the special French anti-terrorism court, deplored the "scandalous delay" in bringing the men to trial. French judicial officials concede they are uncertain whether any of the defendants in the July 11, 1988, attack on the "City of Poros" are still alive.

British arms-to-Iran suspect hearing scheduled

02/28/12: Stars and Stripes reports that authorities say a federal court hearing has been scheduled in El Paso for a retired British businessman accused of trying to sell missile batteries to Iran in 2006. Christopher Tappin's initial hearing before a federal judge was expected to happen Monday, but was postponed until today. Tappin turned himself in Friday after fighting extradition from the United Kingdom for two years. Two other men were sentenced in 2007 to 20 and 24 months in federal prison for their roles in the scheme.

Kenyan airstrikes drive al-Shabab terrorists from Somalia strongholds

02/28/12: The Washington Times reports that after months of delay often bogged down in muddy fields, Kenyan troops are finding their footing to become a valuable asset in the fight against al-Shabab terrorists in Somalia. About 1,500 Kenyan soldiers crossed Somalia’s eastern border in October without approval from African Union peacekeepers, who were there to support a shaky transitional government in a lawless nation gripped in turmoil for more than 20 years. The Kenyan troops crossed the border into Somalia after accusing the al Qaeda-linked Islamist group of abducting tourists and civil servants and launching grenade attacks inside Kenya.

Syria says voters back new constitution, while fresh violence results in more deaths

02/28/12: The Voice of America reports that ten people were killed by Syrian military forces as the government announced that Syrian voters overwhelmingly approved a new constitution that is being portrayed as a step toward democratization. Syria's Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar told a press conference in Damascus Monday that more than eight million of Syria's 14 million registered voters turned out for Sunday's referendum and that nearly 90 percent cast ballots in favor of the new constitution. Opposition factions boycotted the referendum, saying the only acceptable solution to Syria's crisis is for President Bashar al-Assad to step down.

Napolitano maintains Mexican drug war 'not a failure'

02/28/12: CNN reports that US Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said Monday that the war on drugs in Mexico "is not a failure." At a press conference in Mexico City after meeting Mexican Interior Minister Alejandro Poire, Napolitano called the drug policies of both Mexico and the United States "a continuing effort to keep our peoples from becoming addicted to dangerous drugs." Napolitano also said that among the things discussed at the meeting with Poire was how to have a more regional approach to a number of security issues threatening the United States, Mexico and Central America.

UN says piracy off Africa's west coast increasing

02/28/12: The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that pirate attacks off Africa's west coast in the Gulf of Guinea are increasing and becoming more violent, sophisticated and systematic, the UN political chief said Monday. Undersecretary-General B. Lynn Pascoe told the UN Security Council that the International Maritime Organization received 45 reports of piracy incidents involving seven west and central African nations in 2010 — and 64 reports of attacks involving nine countries last year. In the first two months of this year, he said, the IMO has already recorded 10 piracy incidents off the coasts of Benin, Congo, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria.

Nicaraguan to face US drug and terrorism charges

02/28/12: The Seattle Times reports that a Nicaraguan national has been extradited to the US to face charges of drug trafficking and attempting to provide support to a Colombian paramilitary group. Prosecutors in Miami said Monday that 53-year-old William McField-Bent tried to provide what he thought were members of Colombia's AUC paramilitary group with grenade launchers, grenades, rifles and other weapons. In fact, McField-Bent was dealing with undercover federal agents. The US considers the AUC a terrorist organization.

FBI turns off thousands of GPS devices after Supreme Court ruling

02/28/12: The Wall Street Journal reports that the Supreme Court’s recent ruling overturning the warrantless use of GPS tracking devices has caused a “sea change” inside the US Justice Department, according to FBI General Counsel Andrew Weissmann. Mr. Weissmann, speaking at a University of San Francisco conference called “Big Brother in the 21st Century” on Friday, said that the court ruling prompted the FBI to turn off about 3,000 GPS tracking devices that were in use.These devices were often stuck underneath cars to track the movements of the car owners. In US v. Jones, the Supreme Court ruled that using a device to track a car owner without a search warrant violated the law.

Guantánamo plea deal unveils new trial strategy

02/28/12: The Miami Herald reports that when a suburban Baltimore high school graduate steps out of the shadows of CIA detention this week to admit to serving the senior leadership of al Qaida, the Obama administration will be unveiling its latest strategy toward an endgame. Majid Khan has agreed to be a government witness at future military commissions, sources say, in exchange for Wednesday’s guilty plea and the possibility of return to his native Pakistan in four years. It’s part of an evolving effort to quell criticism that confessions were extracted through torture by offering live testimony from willing captive witnesses.

Attacking nuclear sites may only slow progress

02/28/12: The Washington Times reports that former high-ranking defense officials and regional experts say that neither the US nor Israel can stop Iran from producing a nuclear weapon. The assessments counter remarks by Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, who has said the US will not allow Iran to develop an atomic bomb, and come amid reports that Israeli leaders are considering a military strike on the Islamic republic’s nuclear sites. Destroying nuclear facilities in a military strike does not “uninvent” the technology, retired Marine Corps General James Cartwright said Monday in an interview. “The intellectual capital still exists.

Violence in Afghanistan causes ripples on campaign trail

02/28/12: The New York Times reports that the killing of two American servicemen and the eruption of deadly anti-American protests in Afghanistan confronts President Obama with a potential political weakness in a foreign policy that has so far offered few easy targets to Republican candidates eager for an opening. But the White House and the Obama campaign believe that, if anything, the bloodshed in Afghanistan will reinforce the sentiments of a large majority of Americans who want to get the troops out of there as soon as possible.

White House, NSA weigh cybersecurity, personal privacy

02/28/12: The Washington Post reports that the National Security Agency has pushed repeatedly over the past year to expand its role in protecting private-sector computer networks from cyberattacks but has been rebuffed by the White House, largely because of privacy concerns, according to administration officials and internal documents. The most contentious issue was a legislative proposal last year that would have required hundreds of companies that provide such critical services as electricity generation to allow their Internet traffic to be continuously scanned using computer threat data provided by the spy agency. The companies would have been expected to turn over evidence of potential cyberattacks to the government.

Supreme Court to weigh torture lawsuits against corporations

02/27/12: The Los Angeles Times reports that two years ago, the Supreme Court said corporations were like people and had the same free-speech rights to spend unlimited sums on campaigns ads. Now, in a major test of human rights law, the justices will decide whether corporations are like people when they are sued for aiding foreign regimes that kill or torture their own people. At issue is an obscure 18th century law unearthed by human rights lawyers in the 1980s and increasingly used against US corporations whose work overseas has entangled them with brutal regimes.

FBI asserts Iraqi in Kentucky terror case bragged about past

02/27/12: The Palm Beach Post reports that an Iraqi man who settled in Kentucky as a refugee boasted about having been an insurgent in Baghdad as he plotted with a confidential informant to ship weapons and money to Al-Qaida in his home country, the FBI said in a search warrant application obtained Monday. FBI Special Agent Chris Faber quoted 24-year-old Mohanad Shareef Hammadi as saying he didn't know how many explosives he had placed in Iraq because "By God I didn't count them."

UN Rights Council to demand end to Syrian violence

02/27/12: ABC News reports that diplomats say the UN's top human rights body will call Tuesday for Syria to end all attacks on civilians and to allow aid groups unhindered access. The draft UN Human Rights Council resolution obtained by The Associated Press blames Syrian authorities for worsening the humanitarian situation in the country with attacks on their own population. The resolution also condemns "widespread and systematic violations of human rights" by the Syrian authorities.

White House helps pay for NYPD Muslim surveillance

02/27/12: The Washington Times reports that Millions of dollars in White House money has helped pay for New York Police Department programs that put entire American Muslim neighborhoods under surveillance. The money is part of a little-known grant intended to help law enforcement fight drug crimes. Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Bush and Obama administrations have provided $135 million to the New York and New Jersey region through the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program, known as HIDTA.

NYPD head not sorry about New Jersey Muslim surveillance

02/27/12: The LaCross Tribune reports that New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has no plans to apologize for an intelligence program that has been keeping tabs on Muslims. He said Monday that the NYPD won't let up, despite criticism by some lawmakers in New Jersey who are upset that the department monitored communities in the Garden State. He says Governor Chris Christie, Senator Robert Menendez and Newark Mayor Cory Booker were wrong to question the NYPD.

EU imposes new sanctions on Syrian regime

02/27/12: The Associated Press reports that European foreign ministers increased the pressure Monday on Syria's regime to stop its crackdown on opponents, freezing the assets of several Syrian government officials and imposing sanctions on the country's central bank. They also banned the purchase of gold, precious metals and diamonds from the country, and banned Syrian cargo flights from the European Union. The EU had previously imposed several rounds of sanctions on Syria, freezing the assets of 100 people and 38 organizations, and trying to cut the country's supply of equipment for its oil and gas sectors.

Because US erred in 1990, Bronx resident becomes a man without a country

02/27/12: The New York Times reports that Abdo Hizam, born in 1980 in a small village in Yemen to a Yemeni-American father, received an American passport through a law that provides citizenship to the children of Americans. He moved to Dearborn, Michigan when he was 9 to live with his grandparents and gave up his Yemeni citizenship. But last year, the State Department told him that he had received his citizenship in error in 1990. Although the mistake had been no fault of his or his parents, the State Department said it could not fix the mistake. They revoked his passport and effectively stripped Mr. Hizam of his nationality.

Attempt to assassinate Vladimir Putin foiled with arrest of two Chechen men

02/27/12: The Washington Post reports that Russia’s main television channel reported Monday that authorities in Ukraine had foiled a plan to assassinate Vladimir V. Putin just after next Sunday’s presidential election. News footage showed two Chechen men, held in the Ukrainian city of Odessa, who reportedly confessed to the plot against Putin in early February after undergoing weeks of questioning. One of the men was shown kneeling on the floor, his face and hands bloodied. He is shown in another clip with one hand covered in bandages, his face blotchy with green antiseptic.

WikiLeaks begins disclosing intelligence firm's e-mails

02/27/12: CNN reports that the website WikiLeaks has begun releasing what it says are 5 million e-mails from the private intelligence company Stratfor, starting with a company "glossary" that features unflattering descriptions of US government agencies. In a statement released early Monday in Europe, the website promises a raft of juicy disclosures about Stratfor, a Texas-based firm that promotes itself to corporate and government clients as a source of intelligence on international affairs. The company has been targeted by hackers who have released private data about subscribers in recent months, prompting the company to offer its clients a year of paid identity-protection coverage.

NYPD monitoring of Muslims enters mayoral race

02/27/12: The Boston Globe reports that potential candidates for Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office are taking stands on the New York Police Department’s surveillance of Muslim students, ranging from cautious support to a warning about curtailing civil liberties. Bloomberg, who leaves office after the 2013 election, has said that he finds “worrisome’’ the idea that his successor might abandon NYPD policies that have kept New Yorkers safe. The NYPD used undercover officers and informants to infiltrate Muslim student groups at a dozen colleges in New York City, upstate New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Americans are no-shows at opening of NGO trial in Egypt

02/27/12: The Miami Herald Tribune reports that civil society workers for US and other nonprofit groups that are accused of illegally receiving foreign funds entered pleas of not guilty Sunday, the first day of a trial that threatens to unravel three decades of close Egyptian-American relations. None of the 16 American defendants showed up to court. Of the 43 defendants, only 14 Egyptian nongovernmental organization — NGO — workers were present inside the cage as prosecutors read charges that accused them of circumventing Egyptian law to receive more than $20 million in funding from Washington to set up offices and promote a US-friendly agenda.

Violent uproar in Afghanistan casts shadow on US pullout

02/27/12: The New York Times reports that American officials sought to reassure both Afghanistan’s government and a domestic audience on Sunday that the United States remained committed to the war after the weekend killing of two American military officers inside the Afghan Interior Ministry and days of deadly anti-American protests. But behind the public pronouncements, American officials described a growing concern, even at the highest levels of the Obama administration and Pentagon, about the challenges of pulling off a troop withdrawal in Afghanistan that hinges on the close mentoring and training of army and police forces.

US teaming with new Yemeni government to combat Al Qaeda

02/27/12: The San Antonio Express reports that the Obama administration is embarking on an ambitious and potentially risky plan to help the new government in Yemen overhaul its military to combat the al-Qaida franchise that has exploited the political turmoil there to seize control of large swaths of the country's south. The plan's two-pronged strategy calls for the United States and Yemen to work together to kill or capture about two dozen of al-Qaida's most dangerous operatives, who are focused on attacking America and its interests.

Japanese Americans urged to share internment story

02/26/12: The Miami Herald reports that seventy years after the US government uprooted more than 110,000 people and shipped them off to remote, military-style camps, the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles has started a three-year project aimed at recruiting survivors and their descendants to share their stories. To this day, it is difficult for Japanese Americans to reconcile how the only country they knew, and a democratic one, could incarcerate them because of their ancestry. Many say it is vital to remember the order that forced people from their homes to prevent others in America from ever suffering the same fate.

Opinion: Syria, Iran and the Obama Doctrine

02/26/12: The New York Times features an opinion piece by David Sanger discussing what he calls the Obama Doctrine. Sanger describes that Mr. Obama is willing to use unilateral force when America’s direct national interests are threatened — the bin Laden raid is the most vivid example. He says that when the threat is more diffuse, however, Mr. Obama's record shows that he insists on UN resolutions and the participation of many allies. Sanger suggests that this explains why the Israelis are straining so hard to make the case that in a few years Iran could have a missile capability that could reach the US — they want to fit Iran into that first category. And it explains Mr. Obama’s hesitance to enter a civil war in Syria, where the daily scenes are horrific but American interests are indirect, at best.

UN says 1.3 million still homeless from Iraq conflict

02/26/12: The Denver Post reports that officials say more than 1.3 million Iraqis remain homeless after being forced to flee six years ago during widespread sectarian violence that threatened their lives. United Nations diplomat Claire Bourgeois voiced concerns Sunday that Iraq has not taken enough steps to help the homeless "go back to a dignified life." She said squatters should be helped into permanent homes instead of evicted from empty buildings or public places where they are living. Bourgeois also said many of the homeless have lost identification and other documents that would entitle them to government assistance.

Syrian referendum called a ‘sham’ as 29 more killed in Homs

02/26/12: The Washington Post reports that Syria’s authoritarian regime held a referendum on a new constitution Sunday, a gesture by embattled President Bashar Assad to placate those seeking his ouster. But the opposition deemed it an empty gesture and the West immediately dismissed the vote as a “sham.” Even as some cast ballots for what the government has tried to portray as reform, the military kept up shelling of the opposition stronghold of Homs. According to reporters and activists, hundreds have been killed in Homs in the past few weeks, including two Western journalists.

Pressure builds for civilian drone flights at home

02/26/12: The Kansas City Star reports that pressure is building to give drones the same access as manned aircraft to the sky at home. "It's going to be the next big revolution in aviation. It's coming," says Dan Elwell, the Aerospace Industries Association's vice president for civil aviation. Some impetus comes from the military, which will bring home drones from Afghanistan and wants room to test and use them. In December, Congress gave the FAA six months to pick half a dozen sites around the country where the military and others can fly unmanned aircraft in the vicinity of regular air traffic, with the aim of demonstrating they're safe.

NATO pulls out of Afghan ministries after Kabul attack

02/26/12: BBC News reports that NATO has withdrawn all its personnel from Afghan ministries after two senior US officers were shot dead in the interior ministry building in Kabul. NATO said an "individual" had turned his gun on the officers, believed to be a colonel and major, and had not yet been identified or caught. NATO commander General John Allen condemned the attack as "cowardly." The shootings come amid five days of deadly protests over the burning of copies of the Koran by US soldiers.