Georgetown Security Law Brief

Poles break silence and begin talking about CIA prison

03/31/12: The Miami Herald reports that in a string of revelations and political statements, Polish leaders have come closer than ever to acknowledging that the US ran a secret interrogation facility for terror suspects in 2002 and 2003 in the Eastern European country. Some officials recall the fear that prevailed after the September 11, 2001, attacks, and defend the tough stance that former President George W. Bush took against terrorists. But the debate is sometimes tinged with a hint of disappointment, as if Poland's young democracy had been led astray - ethically and legally - by the superpower that it counts as a key ally.

Assad foes keep up pressure while Syria says revolt over

03/31/12: The Chicago Tribune reports that Syria says a year-long revolt to topple President Bashar al-Assad is now over, but it will keep its forces in cities to "maintain security" until it is safe to withdraw in line with a UN-backed peace deal. The agreement proposed by United Nations-Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan says the Syrian authorities must be first to withdraw troops, and stop violence immediately. The United States and its Gulf Arab allies urged Annan on Saturday to set a timeline for "next steps" if the bloodshed persists. Saudi Arabia repeated a call for rebels to be armed.

US says Canadian gave intelligence to Russia

03/31/12: The New York Times reports that a Canadian naval officer accused of a major security breach had access to secrets circulating in a five-nation intelligence alliance and was passing information to Russia, American officials confirmed this week. At his arrest in January, the officer, Sub-Lt. Jeffrey Paul Delisle, was working at a high-security naval intelligence and communications center in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and earlier served at the military’s main intelligence clearing house in Ottawa. Canadian officials have remained tightlipped on the case, whose scale and scope remain a mystery.

Afghanistan presses for answers on long-term US military bases

03/31/12: Reuters reports that Afghanistan wants the US to clearly spell out what sort of military presence it will leave behind once most of its combat troops leave by the end of 2014, a senior Afghan official said. It is also pressing Washington in talks over future cooperation to detail to be more forthcoming on what will be on offer for Afghan forces as they ready to take over responsibility security in the country that is still at war. "These are issues that concern us. We want to know how many bases will be there, how many soldiers and what will be their mission. And what will we get from the United States for our security forces."

Clinton says time running out for diplomacy with Iran

03/31/12: The Boston Globe reports that US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made clear Saturday that time is running out for diplomacy over Iran's nuclear program and said talks aimed at preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon would resume in mid-April. With speculation over a possible US or Israel military attack adding urgency to the next round of discussions in Istanbul set for April 13, Clinton said Iran's "window of opportunity" for a peaceful resolution "will not remain open forever." She also expressed doubt about whether Iran has any intention of negotiating a solution that satisfies the US, Israel and other countries.

Panel says US can maintain nuclear arms without tests

03/31/12: ABC News reports that a study by the National Academy of Sciences has found that the US can maintain its nuclear arsenal without resuming the testing program it suspended nearly 20 years ago, addressing a key issue in the debate over ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. The study also found that monitoring networks would likely detect even relatively small nuclear blasts in most parts of the world, apparently countering concerns that other nations could cheat on the agreement without getting caught. President Obama has repeatedly called for Senate ratification of the treaty.

Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi poised for public office

03/31/12: The Economic Times reports that Myanmar's former military rulers once despised Aung San Suu Kyi so much they would not speak her name. They vowed to "annihilate" her pro-democracy movement. They jailed and tortured her supporters. They locked the soft-spoken dissident in her own home for the better part of two decades, declaring her political career over. But after an era tenaciously spent trying to silence their most prominent critic, Myanmar's army-backed leaders are now on the verge of an extraordinary turnaround - welcoming her into parliament. 

Biosecurity advisory board reverses decision on engineered bird flu papers

03/31/12: The Washington Post reports that two scientific papers that describe experiments with a virulent and contagious bird flu virus should be published in uncensored form, a committee of scientists advising the federal government said Friday. That recommendation by the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity reverses one the committee made in January, when it asked two journals to hold off publishing studies about the lab-engineered strains of the H5N1 influenza virus. The about-face came after the heads of the research teams clarified their work and provided new information on its possible importance at a two-day meeting of the committee in Washington.

French police holding 17 suspected Muslim radicals

03/31/12: Fox News reports a Muslim convert convicted in 2007 on terror-related charges is among 17 people still being held a day after a police sweep of suspected radical Islamists around France. An official close to the investigation says that Willy Brigitte, who'd been arrested in Australia and extradited to France in 2003, was detained in Asnieres, north of Paris. The official said Saturday that two of 19 people detained early Friday were freed. The official asked for anonymity as he wasn't authorized to speak publicly. The sweep followed a spate of deadly attacks in southwest France by a gunman claiming links to al Qaeda. 

US hits Syrian defense officials with sanctions

03/30/12: The Miami Herald reports that the Obama administration on Friday expanded sanctions against top members of Syrian President Bashar Assad's military and security apparatus, targeting his defense minister and two other senior officials. The Treasury Department placed the Syrian defense minister Dawood Rajiha, army deputy chief of staff Munir Adanov and the head of Assad's presidential security unit Zuhayr Shalish on a blacklist that freezes any assets they may have in US jurisdictions. It also bars Americans from doing business with the three men.

Man arrested after Finland school shooting

03/30/12: CNN reports that Finnish authorities arrested a man Friday after he fired six shots through a school classroom door and shot an office worker in the hand in two separate incidents, police said. No one was injured in the school shooting, police said. The man first entered an office building in the Tampere area, in southern Finland, and shot a man in one hand with a hunting rifle, a police spokesman said. The injuries are not life-threatening. He then went into the school, where he fired through the door of a classroom.

Prosecutors turn to cell tower information lacking GPS data

03/30/12: The BLT reports that earlier this year the US Supreme Court said federal prosecutors in Washington will not be able to use global positioning system information in an upcoming drug conspiracy trial. The landmark ruling in US v. Jones said the authorities violated privacy rights by sticking a GPS device, without a warrant, on the vehicle of a main target in the investigation. The government used the data to link Antoine Jones to a stash house in Maryland in which the authorities said they found hundreds of thousands of dollars and nearly 100 kilograms of cocaine.

Afghan police officer kills 9 comrades as they sleep

03/30/12: The Washington Post reports that a police officer in eastern Afghanistan killed nine of his colleagues as they slept Friday morning and then fled in a government vehicle full of guns and ammunition, according to Afghan and American officials. The incident, which took place in Paktika province, marks one of the deadliest cases of fratricide in Afghanistan this year. The apparent surge in such incidents--when Afghan soldiers and policemen target their American and Afghan colleagues--has raised concerns about the state of the war effort during a critical time, just as the Taliban’s yearly “spring offensive” has begun.

Last 2 Hutaree go free as plea deals on weapons charge ends militia trial

03/30/12: The Detroit Free Press reports that in the end, the jurors agreed with the judge: After five weeks of trial, prosecutors couldn't seal the deal that the Hutaree was a dangerous band of backwoods revolutionaries set to strike at America. But US Attorney Barbara McQuade said the government had little choice but to go after the group when their talk turned to killing police officers with bombs and guns. The case ended Thursday with the last two defendants pleading guilty to weapons charges -- two days after US District Judge Victoria Roberts acquitted all seven defendants of the most serious charges.

Terror in Europe fuels immigration tensions

03/30/12: The Miami Herald reports that two atrocities in the space of the year, coming from opposite ends of the spectrum, are raising fears across Europe that a growing climate of ethnic and religious hostility is inspiring extremist violence - and creating the conditions for deadly clashes. The attacks in France and Norway represent the most horrific extremes of two trends of intolerance troubling Europe: strengthening far-right sentiment that has sometimes bled into the mainstream, and growing Islamic radicalization in Europe's disadvantaged, immigrant-heavy neighborhoods.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/30/2722505/terror-in-europe-fuels-immigration.html#storylink=cpy

Diplomat says US and Russia have homework on shield

03/30/12: The Kansas City Star reports that Russia and the United States need to do their "homework" on the technicalities of a proposed NATO missile defense shield in order to settle a dispute that has strained relations, the US State Department's top arms control official said Friday. The US insists the shield is needed to fend off an Iranian missile threat, but Moscow has rejected those assurances and voiced concern that it will eventually grow powerful enough to challenge Russia's nuclear deterrent. Acting Undersecretary of State Rose Gottemoeller said Russian and US technical experts should meet to discuss the shield's specifics.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/03/30/3523891/us-russia-to-work-on-missile-shield.html#storylink=cpy

Image shows activity at North Korea launch site

03/30/12: The Washington Times reports that Japan's defense minister said Friday he had issued an order to shoot down a North Korean rocket if it threatens the nation’s territory, a planned launch that has raised global alarm bells. Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka told reporters in Tokyo that Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's Cabinet gave the military the needed political approval on an escalating international crisis. “I issued a ‘destroy’ order,” Mr. Tanaka said. On Thursday, the Associated Press reported that new satellite imagery appears to show preparations for a long-range rocket launch in North Korea despite international objections.

Clashes erupt in Syria as leaders meet in Saudi Arabia for talks

03/30/12: CNN reports that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must order a cease-fire immediately under a peace plan Syria accepted and not wait for concessions from the opposition, a spokesman for special envoy Kofi Annan said Friday. "The government must stop first and then discuss a cessation of hostilities with the other side and with the mediator," said Ahmad Fawzi, Annan's spokesman. "We expect him to implement this plan immediately." Annan is making plans to travel to Iran to discuss the Syrian crisis. Meanwhile, Secretary Clinton arrived in Saudi Arabia for discussions with King Abdullah and leaders of other Gulf states.

HRW urges Afghanistan to release women and girls jailed for moral crimes

03/30/12: JURIST reports that Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the Afghan government to release women and girls imprisoned in Afghanistan for "moral crimes," many of which involve flight from unlawful forced marriage or domestic violence and "zina," which is sex outside of marriage due to rape or forced prostitution. In particular, HRW called for the release of about 400 women and girls jailed because of these crimes and also urged the US and other donor countries to pressure President Hamid Karzai to "end the wrongful imprisonment of women and girls who are crime victims rather than criminals."

Lost data may have exposed 800,000 people in California

03/30/12: CBS News reports that a disaster preparedness exercise to ensure California's child support system could be run remotely went smoothly, except for one casualty: the names, Social Security numbers and other private records of about 800,000 adults and children. Four computer storage devices for the California Department of Child Support Services went missing somewhere between Boulder, Colorado, and Sacramento earlier this month while they were in the possession of IBM and Iron Mountain, Inc, the department announced Thursday. 

Pakistan fires doctor who helped CIA to hunt bin Laden

03/29/12: CNN reports that Pakistan has fired a doctor who helped the CIA to hunt Osama bin Laden, a senior government official told CNN. Seventeen other employees who also worked at the health department in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province were also removed from their jobs, according to Ishfaq Khan, the top government official of the health department. Dr. Shakeel Afridi helped the CIA use a vaccination campaign to collect DNA samples from residents of bin Laden's compound to verify the terror leader's presence there.

France bars Muslim clerics from entering France

03/29/12: The San Francisco Chronicle reports that President Nicolas Sarkozy, seeking to combat the radicalization of French Muslim youth, says that he'll ban hard-line clerics from entering France as investigators deepened a probe into whether the Toulouse killer acted alone. Sarkozy announced the ban measure as investigators Monday reviewed the activities of the killer's brother, Abdelkader Merah, before the attacks that left seven people in the Toulouse area, including three Jewish children, dead.

Seychelles moves 17 jailed pirates to Somaliland

03/29/12: The Associated Press reports that the Seychelles government has transferred 17 convicted Somali pirates to prisons in Somaliland because of overcrowding in its prisons, official said Thursday. Seychelles Minister of Home Affairs and Transport Joel Morgan said this is the first time pirates have been moved to Somaliland to complete their prison time. Morgan said the tranfer of the 17 prisoners will lead to more pirate transfers in the future to the autonomous regions in Somalia of Somaliland and Puntland.

Israel sees new advantage in Iron Dome anti-missile system

03/29/12: The Brandenton Herald reports that Israel's newest weapon sits squarely along the border of this southern Israeli town. The Iron Dome, a rocket interception system built by Israel, guards many of the cities that lie within the range of rockets fired by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. The system, considered among the most advanced in the world, fires a missile to intercept incoming rockets after it gauges whether a rocket will fall in an area where it can cause damage. It is, according to Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, a "game changer."

Nigeria ex-militant linked to anti-piracy security firm bid

03/29/12: The Palm Beach Post reports that an ex-militant leader in Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta is purportedly linked to a private security company that recently signed a $103 million deal with the government to patrol the West African nation's waterways to stop piracy. The commander, who was granted amnesty in 2009, endorsed hiring Global West Vessel Specialist Agency Ltd. to protect the waterways, something Nigeria's navy and civil authorities appear unable to do. Before the amnesty, men allied with the ex-militant Government Ekpumopolo carried out attacks and killings in the southern Niger Delta.

Europe cracks down on cybercrime

03/29/12: The International Herald Tribune reports that the European Union is preparing new steps to crack down on bot-herders, identity thieves, web hijackers and other online fraudsters who are skimming millions of euros a day from a growing number of its half billion citizens. In separate initiatives this week, the European Commission, which implements EU policy, proposed a new cybercrime center, and an EU committee proposed mandatory jail time across all 27 member states for some online offenses.

French nuclear physicist faces terror trial

03/29/12: The Sheboygan Press reports that for Adlene Hicheur France's biggest terror attacks in years could not have come at a worse time. For 2-1/2 years, the former nuclear physicist at Europe's most prestigious particle accelerator has been in prison awaiting trial on charges of plotting terrorism with Al-Qaida's north African wing -- claims his lawyers and allies deny vigorously. Just a few weeks before the Thursday start of the trial, in an apparently unrelated case in southern France, another young man of Algerian descent, Mohamed Merah, was carrying out a spate of shooting attacks.

Australia blocks Huawei on national interest grounds

03/29/12: The Wall Street Journal reports that Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said national-interest concerns led the government to prevent Huawei Technologies Co.'s local unit from tendering for contracts linked to the country's 36 billion Australian dollar (US$37.3 billion) broadband network. Ms. Gillard said blocking Huawei didn't breach any trade obligations with China. "Let's be very clear about the decision we have made here," she told reporters in Sydney. "I stood up for Australia's national interests."

US to pay more for Afghan security guards, auditor says

03/29/12: The Washington Post reports that the cost of providing security for US development work in Afghanistan will increase sharply as program managers are forced to rely on an Afghan government-run security enterprise, according to the preliminary findings of a US government audit. The transition, which is off to a rough start, is a key test of the Afghan government’s ability to take on more responsibility for security as US-led NATO forces move ahead with their exit plan.

Al-Qaida and Iran exploit Yemen turmoil

03/29/12: ABC News reports that a top US diplomat in the Middle East says al-Qaida and Iran have used the turmoil and uncertainty in Yemen to increase their influence. Jeffery Feltman, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, said national dialogue and a smooth transition to elections in the next two years would help counter al-Qaida and Iran. Feltman said Iran, like al-Qaida, exploits instability in Yemen, pointing to increased Iranian influence in parts of Yemen.

Language deemed offensive is removed from FBI training materials

03/29/12: The New York Times reports that training material used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation said agents had the “ability to bend or suspend the law and impinge on freedoms of others”. However, that language has now been removed, according to a briefing the bureau recently provided to Congress. The language suggesting that agents could bend the law was contained in 876 pages of training materials about Muslims and Arab-Americans the FBI deemed to be offensive or inaccurate and removed after a review of about 160,000 pages of such material over the past six months, according to aides present at the briefing.

Salvadoran leader says he wasn’t involved in gang truce

03/29/12: NPR reports that the president of El Salvador denied Wednesday that his government had rewarded his country's two largest street gangs for striking a truce credited with a dramatic drop in the staggering national homicide rate. President Mauricio Funes said his administration had not negotiated with the gangsters. He did say, however, that the government responded to news of the truce by transferring 30 gang leaders to lower-security jails so they could order their underlings to stop attacking each other.

Launch by North Korean would violate US pact

03/29/12: The Washington Times reports that top US defense officials Wednesday expressed pessimism that North Korea would scrap its plans to launch a satellite next month using a long-range missile in violation of international restrictions. The planned April 15 launch would violate the conditions of a recently agreed-upon deal between North Korean diplomats and US officials for the secretive, totalitarian country to receive US food aid.

Islamist will chair panel that's writing Egypt's constitution

03/29/12: The Enquirer Herald reports that hundreds of protesters marched through Tahrir Square on Wednesday after the speaker of the Parliament's lower house, an Islamist, was named to chair the commission that's charged with drafting Egypt's new constitution. Mohamed Saad el-Katatni, the only candidate for the chairman's post, collected 71 out of 72 votes; the remaining members of the 100-person panel boycotted the vote. El-Katatni, a former member of the Muslim Brotherhood's ruling Guidance Council, made it clear that a threatened boycott of the panel by non-Islamist members wouldn't deter him.

Militia members acquitted of plotting to overthrow government

03/29/12: The Los Angeles Times reports that a federal judge has acquitted seven members of a Michigan militia of plotting to overthrow the US government with weapons of mass destruction — crimes that could have landed them in prison for life. The ruling is an embarrassment for the government, which secretly planted a paid informant and an FBI agent inside the Hutaree militia four years ago and contended that members were armed for war in rural southern Michigan. Nine members were arrested in 2010. One previously pleaded guilty, and one was found incompetent to stand trial.

NATO say Afghans to take lead in majority of country “very shortly”

03/28/12: The Associated Press reports that Afghan forces will soon start taking charge of security for three-quarters of the nation's 28 million people, NATO's top military commander said Wednesday. Admiral James Stavridis also said the training of the Afghan army and police was proceeding very well, despite a rising number of attacks in which Afghan forces have turned their weapons on their US and NATO partners. "Very shortly we will announce further transition that will encompass 75 percent of the population," Stavridis said in an interview.

FBI files detail Muslims' religious practices

03/28/12: CBS News reports that the American Civil Liberties Union has released records it obtained from the FBI that it said showed the bureau's San Francisco division used its Muslim outreach efforts to collect intelligence on religious activities protected by the Constitution. Under the US Privacy Act, the FBI is generally prohibited from maintaining records on how people practice their religion unless there is a clear law enforcement purpose. ACLU lawyers said the documents, which the organization obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, showed violations of that law.

Ex-Gitmo prisoner wants Albania to let him leave

03/28/12: The Boston Globe reports that an Egyptian who spent years in US custody at Guantanamo Bay before being resettled in Albania said Tuesday that he wants to return to live in his native country, but that the Albanians won't let him. Sherif El Meshad, 35, said authorities in his host country have not explained why he and his Albanian wife and child cannot leave Albania. He said the Egyptian embassy has assured Albania that he won't face prosecution or discrimination if he returns. Embassy officials were not available to confirm that.

Symantec dissolves a Chinese alliance

03/28/12: The New York Times reports that less than four years after Huawei Technologies and Symantec teamed up to develop computer network security products, the joint venture is being dismantled because Symantec feared the alliance with the Chinese company would prevent it from obtaining United States government classified information about cyberthreats. According to two people briefed on the deal, Symantec’s decision was a pre-emptive political maneuver timed to coincide with the United States government’s efforts to share more classified cyberthreat information with the private sector.

FBI claims Iraqi's IED drawings were workable

03/28/12: The Seattle Post Intelligencer reports that an Iraqi refugee who later pleaded guilty to 23 terrorism-related charges drew multiple diagrams of roadside bombs he used in Iraq between 2003 and 2006, and investigators concluded that explosives built to the specifications in the drawings would have worked, the FBI said in two search warrant applications. FBI Special Agent Richard Glenn said 30-year-old Waad Ramadan Alwan drew diagrams of four types of roadside explosives with the intent of passing them along to someone he thought was involved with Al-Qaida in his home country.

Secrecy likely to surround Guantánamo testimony of alleged USS Cole bomber

03/28/12: The Miami Herald reports that the most interesting and significant testimony at the war court so far — a Saudi captive’s account of how CIA agents interrogated him while shackled in secret custody — is likely to be unseen and unheard by the public when pre-trial hearings reconvene in the USS Cole case at Guantánamo next month. Defense lawyers write in a motion unsealed Monday that they’ll call Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, 47, as a witness to describe the trauma of his CIA interrogations in their bid to win a court order that he be unshackled during prison camp meetings with his attorneys.

Cyberattacks should require presidential authorization, official says

03/28/12: The Washington Post reports that cyberattacks on enemy computer systems should require presidential authority — and not be launched at the discretion of individual military commanders — the nation’s top cyberwarrior told Congress on Tuesday. The comment by General Keith Alexander, the head of US Cyber Command, offered a rare glimpse into a largely classified debate over standing rules of engagement for the military in cyberspace. Those rules govern what commanders can and cannot do on their own authority outside war zones.

Polish ex-official charged with aiding CIA

03/28/12: The New York Times reports that the former head of Poland’s intelligence service has been charged with aiding the Central Intelligence Agency in setting up a secret prison to detain suspected members of Al Qaeda, a leading newspaper here reported on Tuesday, the first high-profile case in which a former senior official of any government has been prosecuted in connection with the agency’s program. The daily newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza reported that the former intelligence chief, Zbigniew Siemiatkowski, told the paper that he faced charges of violating international law by “unlawfully depriving prisoners of their liberty,” in connection with the secret CIA prison where Qaeda suspects were subjected to brutal interrogation methods.

Terror victims barred from Al-Qaida member’s funds

03/28/12: ABC News reports that a federal judge has barred victims of the September 2001 terror attacks from claiming money an alleged al-Qaida member invested with a Chicago futures brokerage firm. US District Court Judge Matthew Kennelly on Tuesday granted a government motion to reject the victims' claims to nearly $7 million. The US Department of Justice claims Abu al Tayyeb, through an associate, deposited nearly $27 million into an account with RJ O'Brien & Associates in 2005. But poor investment decisions caused the money to dwindle.

US imposes broader sanctions on Iranian firms, officials

03/28/12: Bloomberg Business Week reports that the US has hit two Iranian companies with sanctions for helping Iranian special forces export arms. Tuesday's action also penalized a Nigerian shipping agent and three members of Iran's hardline Quds Force. Americans are banned from doing business with the men or companies. Any US assets they held are now frozen.

Peacekeepers on standby after Mali coup

03/28/12: Time reports that the body representing nations in western Africa has suspended Mali and has put a peacekeeping force on standby in the most direct threat yet to the junta that seized control of this nation in a coup last week. Alassane Ouattara, the president of Ivory Coast who is the rotating chair of the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, told reporters after an emergency meeting in the capital of Ivory Coast that Mali's democracy cannot be abandoned. A delegation of five African presidents will head to Mali within the next 48 hours to try to "restore constitutional order."

US and Pakistan take step to mend relations

03/28/12: The New York Times reports that President Obama took a symbolic step toward improving ties with Pakistan on Tuesday when he met with Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of a nuclear summit meeting in South Korea. But even as the two leaders made polite, if freighted, comments about improved cooperation, harsh debate in Pakistan’s Parliament on Tuesday made clear that there may be very little political upside for any Pakistani warming toward Washington.

Egypt Brotherhood conflicted over presidential run

03/28/12: The North County Times reports that Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has postponed an open confrontation with the country's military rulers and other political players Tuesday when it delayed a decision about whether to field a candidate for the first presidential elections since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak. An eight-hour meeting of the Brotherhood's highest leadership body failed to come up with a final decision on whether to reverse an earlier pledge not to contest the presidency.

Afghan soldiers arrested in suspected attack against government

03/27/12: The New York Times reports that the Afghan Defense Ministry went into a near-total lockdown on Tuesday after the discovery of 10 suicide vests and the arrest of more than a dozen Afghan soldiers suspected of plotting to attack the ministry and blow up buses carrying government employees to and from work, Afghan and Western officials said. The security breach took place in one of the most fortified parts of Kabul, less than a mile from the presidential palace and the headquarters of the American-led coalition.

CIA drone war in Pakistan in sharp decline

03/27/12: CNN reports that the past year has seen the number of CIA drone strikes in Pakistan plummet. In the first three months of 2012, there were 11, compared with 21 in the first three months of 2011 and a record 28 in the first quarter of 2010. On Monday, Pakistan's parliament started to debate whether the United States should be made to stop CIA drone strikes altogether in the Pakistani border regions with Afghanistan and also whether the US should apologize for NATO airstrikes that killed some two dozen Pakistani soldiers late last year.