Georgetown Security Law Brief

Amid immigration reform, calls to change asylums

05/22/13:  The Miami Herald reports as Congress debates legalizing about 11 million immigrants living in the US illegally, immigration advocates are pushing plans they say will open the asylum process for thousands of more people who flee persecution in their home countries. The Senate version of the immigration bill does away with a one-year application filing deadline that Congress enacted in the 1990s to reduce fraud and that advocates say has prevented many legitimate asylum seekers from applying to the program. But it's not clear what the House will do and the April revelation that the two brothers accused of carrying out the deadly Boston bombings arrived in the US through the asylum system has concerned some lawmakers in Congress. The Boston bombings did prompt some action that was approved by the Senate panel. On Monday, the panel voted to strip asylum or refugee status from individuals who return to the country they fled, unless they can show a good reason for doing so. The asylum system is designed for people who are persecuted or may be persecuted because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or are members of an oppressed social group. In 2001, more than 39,000 people were given asylum. In 2012, that number dropped to around 25,000. Security measures include checking an asylum seeker's identity with Homeland Security and other federal databases; running their fingerprints and names through FBI databases; vetting documents for their authenticity against a library of foreign travel and identity documents. Meissner said the system was the first to pioneer biometrics and other security methods in the 1990s - now the norm with federal agencies.

Debating the legal basis for the War on Terror

05/17/13:  The New York Times reports a top Pentagon official said Thursday that the evolving war against Al Qaeda was likely to continue “at least 10 to 20 years” and urged Congress not to modify the statute that provides its legal basis. “As of right now, it suits us very well,” Michael A. Sheehan, the assistant secretary of defense for special operations, said, referring to the “authorization to use military force,” often referred to as the AUMF, enacted by Congress in 2001. The statute authorized war against the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and those who harbored them — that is, Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Lawmakers are considering enacting a new authorization, because the original Qaeda network has been largely decimated, while the current threat is increasingly seen as arising from terrorist groups in places like Yemen that share Al Qaeda’s ideology but have no connection to the 2001 attacks. That possibility has elicited a decidedly mixed reaction. Human rights groups that want to see the 12-year-old military conflict wind down fear that a new authorization would create an open-ended “forever war.” Some supporters of continuing the wartime approach to terrorism indefinitely fear that the war’s legal basis is eroding and needs to be bolstered, while others worry that a new statute might contain limits that would reduce the power that the Obama administration claims it already wields under the 2001 version.

White House releases Benghazi emails, documents

05/16/13:  The Washington Times reports the White House released more than 100 pages of e-mails Wednesday in an effort to quiet criticism that President Obama and his aides downplayed the role of terrorism in the deadly attack on the US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya The documents detail discussions between top administration officials on developing “talking points” to describe the attack last Sept. 11 that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. The CIA originally drafted those talking points, and Republican lawmakers have said the administration scrubbed the memos to remove any references to a terrorist attack. In the early days and weeks following the attack, the administration portrayed it as a mob assault fueled by protests about an anti-Islam video. But in the CIA’s original set of talking points, the first bullet point included a reference that the Benghazi attack was “spontaneously inspired by the protests at the US Embassy in Cairo and evolved into a direct assault against the US consulate and subsequently its annex.” It said the agency’s assessments could change “as additional information is collected and analyzed.” The second bullet point said the Benghazi assailants were “a mix of individuals from across many sections of Libyan society.”

Commentary: Daskal and Vladeck working paper on "After the AUMF"

05/15/13: Lawfare has this post, which links to a working paper authored by our own fellow Jennifer Daskal and Professor Steve Vladeck.  The paper - which is available here - is a more comprehensive effort to explain the authors' view that proposals for an expanded, open-ended Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF), from whatever quarter and with whatever caveats, are unneccessary, counterproductive, and unwise. Instead, we offer out an alternative vision for the next generation of U.S. counterterrorism policy—one in which law enforcement and intelligence-gathering capabilities, with the backstop of self-defense authorities, are the baseline. We hope that this is an approach that Congress will take seriously if and when it decides to revisit the AUMF.  As this is an early draft of the paper, Profs. Daskal and Vladeck both (1) welcome comments of all shapes and sizes (whether online or via e-mail); and (2) beg readers’ indulgence for typos or other early-draft indiscretions.

Benghazi e-mails put White House on the defensive

05/11/13:  The New York Times reports a long-simmering dispute over the White House’s account of the deadly assault on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, flared up on Friday, with a disclosure of e-mails that show the White House was more deeply involved in revising talking points about the attack than officials have previously acknowledged. The e-mails, which the administration turned over to Congress, show the White House coordinating an intensive process with the State Department, the CIA, the FBI and other agencies to obtain the final version of the talking points, used by Susan E. Rice, the ambassador to the United Nations, in television appearances after the attack. The State Department, in particular, pushed to remove references to al Qaeda and Ansar al-Sharia, the Libyan militant group suspected of carrying out the attack as well as warnings about other potential terrorist threats from CIA, which drafted the initial talking points. Officials stuck to their contention that the only wording change the White House made was to change the description of the Benghazi annex from a consulate to a diplomatic post. Indeed, the e-mails do not reveal major new details about the attack or other discrepancies in the administration’s evolving account of it.

Biometric database of all adult Americans hidden in immigration reform

05/11/13:  Wired's Threat Level reports the immigration reform measure the Senate began debating yesterday would create a national biometric database of virtually every adult in the US, in what privacy groups fear could be the first step to a ubiquitous national identification system. Buried in the more than 800 pages of the bipartisan legislation is language mandating the creation of the innocuously-named “photo tool,” a massive federal database administered by the Department of Homeland Security and containing names, ages, Social Security numbers and photographs of everyone in the country with a driver’s license or other state-issued photo ID. Employers would be obliged to look up every new hire in the database to verify that they match their photo. This piece of the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act is aimed at curbing employment of undocumented immigrants. But privacy advocates fear the inevitable mission creep, ending with the proof of self being required at polling places, to rent a house, buy a gun, open a bank account, acquire credit, board a plane or even attend a sporting event or log on the internet.

Diplomat says questions over Benghazi led to demotion

05/09/13:  The New York Times reports a veteran diplomat gave a riveting minute-by-minute account on Wednesday of the lethal terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, last Sept. 11 and described its contentious aftermath at a charged Congressional hearing that reflected the weighty political stakes perceived by both parties. During a chaotic night at the American Embassy in Tripoli, hundreds of miles away, the diplomat, Gregory Hicks, got what he called “the saddest phone call I’ve ever had in my life” informing him that Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens was dead and that he was now the highest-ranking American in Libya. For his leadership that night when four Americans were killed, Mr. Hicks said in nearly six hours of testimony, he subsequently received calls from both Secretary of StateHillary Rodham ClintonandPresident Obama. But within days, Mr. Hicks said, after raising questions about the account of what had happened in Benghazi offered in television interviews by Susan E. Rice, the United Nations ambassador, he felt a distinct chill from State Department superiors. “The sense I got was that I needed to stop the line of questioning,” said Mr. Hicks, who has been a Foreign Service officer for 22 years. He was soon given a scathing review of his management style, he said, and was later “effectively demoted” to desk officer at headquarters, in what he believes was retaliation for speaking up. House Republican leaders made the hearing the day’s top priority, postponing floor votes so that the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform could continue without interruption. The Obama administration appeared focused on the testimony, with senior officials at the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon responding through the day to Republican accusations of incompetence and cover-up in campaign war room style.

Visitors from outer space, real or not, are focus of discussion in Washington

05/04/13:  The New York Times reports six former members of Congress gathered two blocks from the White House to consider what they see as the enforced government secrecy surrounding another kind of visitor: the kind who come from a lot farther away. Every day this week, the former legislators presided over panels made up of academics and — former, of course — government and military officials, who were there to discuss their research or their own eyewitness accounts of unidentified flying objects and the extraterrestrials who presumably would have occupied them. “Something is monitoring the planet, and they are monitoring it very cautiously, because we are a very warlike planet,” said Mike Gravel, a former Democratic senator from Alaska who ran in both the Democratic and Libertarian presidential primaries in 2008. Mr. Gravel and his fellow panelists were assembled by the Paradigm Research Group, which says it is committed to ending the government’s “truth embargo” on the existence of extraterrestrial life. The lawmakers were there in hopes that their presence and political credibility would be enough to persuade Congress to take the issue seriously. Called the Citizen Hearing on Disclosure, the event might have been mistaken as advocacy for government transparency, and some of the panelists had impressive résumés.

Drone strikes turn allies into enemies, Yemeni says

04/25/13:  The New York Times reports a Yemeni man who studied at an American high school told Congress on Tuesday that a drone strike on his village in Yemen last week terrified his neighbors, turning them against the United States in a way that terrorist propaganda had failed to do. The man, Farea al-Muslimi, said his friends and neighbors used to know of the United States primarily through “my stories of the wonderful experiences I had” here. “Now, however, when they think of America, they think of the fear they feel at the drones over their heads. What the violent militants had failed to achieve, one drone strike accomplished in an instant.” A man killed in the strike was well known locally, Mr. Muslimi also asserted, and could easily have been arrested by Yemeni forces.   His testimony, before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights, was part of a rare public hearing on the use of drones. The Obama administration did not send anyone to testify at the hearing, but witnesses included legal specialists, a retired Air Force colonel who formerly worked with drones, and retired Gen. James E. Cartwright, the former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The topics discussed included the number of civilians inadvertently killed in the strikes, whether there should be a secret court to approve who becomes a target, and legal issues raised by the killing of American citizens who are deemed to be terrorists. Several witnesses said the government should be more open and clear about the standards and procedures it uses in selecting who should be targeted. But some also stressed that legally, a drone strike is no different from other means of lethal force, like artillery, a commando raid or a cruise missile. 

Health Care and Military Spending bear the brunt of proposed cuts

04/11/13:  The New York Times reports President Obama’s effort to control federal spending would require the largest cuts from the government’s biggest programs — health care and the military — while preserving or increasing spending on favored initiatives like early education, manufacturing and research. The Defense Department’s proposed $526.6 billion base budget is a reduction of $3.9 billion, or 0.7 percent, from the enacted budget for 2012. It includes substantial reductions for the Army, which has carried the bulk of the combat operations over the past decade. The Army’s budget proposal is 4 percent lower in constant dollars, while the Air Force’s rose 3 percent and the Navy’s, which includes Marine Corps spending, was steady. The budget proposes spending $2.4 billion over five years to conduct another round of politically difficult base closings, which Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said would deliver “significant savings” over the long term. The inventory of remotely piloted vehicles, commonly called drones, would grow through 2017 and then level off, Pentagon officials said, and money would be preserved for the new way of war as fought by Special Operations forces and in cyberspace.

Amid criticism, Pentagon is seeking overhaul of the court-martial system

04/09/13:  The New York Times reports the Pentagon announced Monday that it would ask Congress to overhaul the court-martial system used to prosecute the nearly 5,000 service members annually accused of crimes, scaling back the power of senior commanders to overturn convictions and dismiss charges. The proposal comes amid sharp criticism from advocacy groups and Congress over how the military has handled a series of sexual assault cases, including a decision by an Air Force commander, Lt. Gen. Craig A. Franklin, to dismiss the conviction of Lt. Col. James Wilkerson, who was found guilty in November of aggravated sexual assault and sentenced to one year in military prison. “These changes, if enacted by Congress, would help ensure that our military justice system works fairly, ensures due process and is accountable,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a statement. “These changes would increase the confidence of service members and the public that the military justice system will do justice in every case.” Mr. Hagel said that the Pentagon would ask lawmakers to scale back the power of the convening authority — a commander who exercises significant control over courts-martial in a system that dates to the British Empire. The commanders decide whether to approve charges for trial, select the jury and negotiate plea deals, and they can overturn guilty verdicts or reduce recommended sentences. The proposal would eliminate commanders’ authority to overturn a guilty verdict by a court-martial in “serious” cases like sexual assault; minor offenses would be exempted from the change. Commanders who modify a sentence — or change the findings in minor offenses — would have to explain the decision in writing.

White House seeks to overhaul international food aid

04/05/13:  The New York Times reports an Obama administration plan to change the way the United States distributes its internationa food aid has touched off an intense lobbying campaign by a coalition of shipping companies, agribusiness and charitable groups who say the change will harm the nation’s economy and hamper efforts to fight global hunger. Proponents of the plan, however, say it would enable the United States to feed about 17 million more people each year, while helping to fight poverty by buying the crops of farmers in poor countries. According to people briefed on the soon-to-be released fiscal year 2014 budget, the administration is expected to propose ending the nearly 60-year practice of buying food from American farmers and then shipping it abroad. The administration is proposing that the government buy food in developing countries instead of shipping food from American farmers overseas, a process that typically takes months. The proposed change to the international food aid program is expected to save millions in shipping costs and get food more quickly to areas that need it. The administration is also reportedly considering ending the controversial practice of food aid “monetization,” a process by which Washington gives American-grown grains to international charities. The groups then sell the products on the market in poor countries and use the money to finance their antipoverty programs. Critics of the practice say it hurts local farmers by competing with sales of their crops. The United States spends about $1.4 billion a year on food aid and is the only major donor country that continues to send food to humanitarian crisis spots, rather than buying food produced locally.

Lawmakers close to immigration overhaul bill after business-labor deal, but details remain

04/01/13: The Miami Herald reports optimistic lawmakers on Sunday cautioned they had not finished work on an immigration overhaul that would provide a path to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants.  The AFL-CIO and the pro-business US Chamber of Commerce reached a deal late Friday that would allow tens of thousands of low-skilled workers into the country to fill jobs in construction, restaurants, and hotels, but lawmakers from both parties conceded negotiations are not finished.  The agreement hasn’t taken the form of a bill and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said the “Gang of Eight” Senators searching for a compromise haven’t met about the potential breakthrough.  “There are a few details yet.  But conceptually, we have an agreement between business and labor, between ourselves that has to be drafted,” Graham said.  Still, Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a favorite of the Republican right-wing who functions the group’s emissary to hardcore conservatives, warned he was not ready to lend his name and political clout to a deal.  Rubio called the agreement a starting point but pointed out ninety-two Senators from forty-three States haven’t yet been involved in the process.

Analysis: Hagel facing tough decisions at the Pentagon

04/01/13: The New York Times has a piece discussing the arduous task facing Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel in managing the US military budget.  As President Obama – who has placed some of the military’s long-favored weapons programs in his sights – continues to negotiate with Congress over a spending and revenue deal, the Pentagon is bracing for a protracted period in which they may have to manage even larger budget reductions than anticipated.  “There will be changes, some significant changes,” Secretary Hagel warned at a news conference last week, and he is expected to begin outlining those changes in a major speech this week.  Already, Hagel has directed General Martin E. Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter to conduct a sweeping “Strategic Choices and Management Review” due by the end of May.  Their challenge is to trim the Pentagon while also assuring that the military continues to attract high-quality personnel and can maintain American and allied security around the world.

Air Force General Breedlove nominated for top Nato post

03/29/13:  The BBC reports President Barack Obama has announced he will nominate US Air Force General Philip Breedlove as Nato's Supreme Allied Commander Europe. Gen Breedlove, whose nomination was endorsed by ambassadors from the 28 Nato allies, is expected to succeed Admiral James Stavridis. He is currently the commander of US Air Force units in Europe and Africa. US Marine General John Allen, who led Nato forces in Afghanistan, was originally nominated for the job. But his nomination was put on hold as he was embroiled in a scandal that led to the resignation of CIA director and former general David Petraeus. A Pentagon investigation cleared Gen Allen. Last month, he said he was retiring, forgoing the nomination to the top US military post in Europe because of his wife's health. The post requires US Senate confirmation, but Gen Breedlove is expected to take over the post this spring.

Senate votes 53-46 to stop US from joining UN Arms Trade Treaty

03/23/13:  The Hill reports in the last batch of amendment votes to the budget, the Senate voted on several foreign policy proposals. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) introduced an amendment that would prevent the United States from entering into the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty in order to uphold the Second Amendment. His amendment passed on a 53-46 vote. Republicans have been critical of President Obama’s decision to consider the treaty, although Obama has said he would not vote for anything that would violate the Second Amendment. The UN Arms Trade Treaty would regulate international arms sales. Negotiations end on March 28. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) offered an alternative amendment that clarified that under current US law, treaties don’t trump the Constitution and that the United States should not agree to any arms treaty that violates the Second Amendment rights. His amendment passed by voice vote.

DHS officials still seek ways to assess border security

03/22/13:  The New York Times reports more than two years after Homeland Security officials told Congress that they would produce new, more accurate standards to assess security at the nation’s borders, senior officials from the department acknowledged this week that they had not completed the new measurements and were not likely to in coming months, as the debate proceeds about overhauling the immigration system. Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers were taken aback at a hearing on Wednesday in the House of Representatives when Mark Borkowski, a senior Homeland Security official, said he had no progress to report on a broad measure of border conditions the department had been working on since 2010. The lawmakers warned that failure by the Obama administration to devise a reliable method of border evaluation could imperil passage of immigration legislation. Amid contentious discussions in Congress over immigration, one point of wide agreement is that an evaluation of border security will be a central piece of any comprehensive bill. A bipartisan group in the Senate is working to write legislation that includes a “trigger,” which would make the path to citizenship for more than 11 million illegal immigrants in the country contingent on measurable advances in security at the borders. Lawmakers have been pressing Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to devise a measure they can use to judge if the Obama administration’s claims of significant progress in border enforcement are justified. Republican senators in the bipartisan group have said a border standard is pivotal to their efforts.

 

General tells Congress that Guantánamo needs $170 million for repairs

03/21/13:  The Miami Herald reports as much as $170 million is needed to improve facilities for the troops stationed at the Guantánamo Bay detention center that President Barack Obama has marked for extinction, the top commander of U.S. Southern Command said Wednesday. Gen. John Kelly told the House Armed Services Committee that upgrades to buildings including barracks and the dining hall for the American personnel assigned to the joint task force at the U.S. base in Cuba are badly needed. He described the living conditions at Guantánamo as not quite squalor but “pretty questionable.” “We need to take care of our troops,” Kelly said. Kelly also said, though, that the detainees are living in humane conditions. He attributed a hunger strike that has grown to 25 detainees to frustration among prisoners over the failure to close Guantánamo. The hunger strike has become the largest and most sustained protest there in several years. Obama had pledged to shutter the prison soon after taking office, but Congress opposed, passing a law that prohibits the government from transferring Guantánamo prisoners to U.S. soil and requiring security guarantees before they can be sent elsewhere in the world.

Better asteroid detection is needed, experts say

03/21/13:  The New York Times reports making a case for the need to detect asteroids before they hit Earth, a former astronaut said Wednesday that the number of casualties would have been enormous had the space rock that exploded in Russia last month blown apart directly over New York City instead. About 1,500 people were injured when the roughly 60-foot-diameter meteor exploded high in the atmosphere near the Russian city of Chelyabinsk on Feb. 15. Most of the injuries were caused by flying glass from shattered windows when a shock wave from the explosion — estimated to have been about 30 times more powerful than the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima — hit the city a minute and a half later. The Chelyabinsk meteor was not detected by any of the ground-based telescopes, operated by NASA and others, that are surveying the sky for space rocks that are in orbits that could intersect with Earth’s. Those search programs are focused on larger asteroids, James Green, director of the planetary science division of NASA, told the Senate panel, the Science and Space Subcommittee. So far about 10,000 have been detected, including about 95 percent of the estimated 1,100 that are a kilometer (about 1,000 yards) or more in diameter and have the potential to end civilization. So far, Dr. Green said, no asteroid has been found that poses a threat to the planet.

 

Intelligence Official cites threat of cyberattacks on US

03/12/13:  The New York Times reports the nation’s top intelligence official warned Congress on Tuesday that a cyberattack could cripple America’s infrastructure and economy and suggested that such attacks pose the most dangerous immediate threat to the United States, more pressing than an attack by global terrorist networks.  James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence, said in prepared testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee that American spy agencies saw only a “remote chance” in the next two years of a major cyberattack — what he defined as an operation that “would result in long-term, wide-scale disruption of services, such as a regional power outage.” Still, it was the first time that Mr. Clapper has listed cyberattacks first in his annual presentation to Congress about the various threats facing the United States, and the rare occasion since 2001 that intelligence officials have not listed international terrorism first in the catalog of dangers facing the United States. In 2009, the director of national intelligence, Dennis C. Blair, called the global financial crisis the “primary near-term security concern of the United States.”

Congress blocked larger aid package to Egypt

03/10/13: The Hill reports House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Cal.) said Saturday that Secretary of State John Kerry had hoped to offer considerably more aid to Egypt than the $250 million he announced during his trip to Cairo but was blocked by Congress.  “This is not the aid package that the administration wanted to announce,” Royce said.  The Administration wanted to release a “larger sum,” but bowed to the wishes of Royce’s committee as well as congressional appropriators.  Royce wouldn’t say how much Kerry had hoped to announce, but the State Department has been pressing Congress to greenlight $450 million in direct aid since last fall.  Kerry announced the new aid package last Sunday during a stop in Cairo as part of his first trip overseas.

Brennan confirmed to lead the CIA

03/08/13:  The New York Times reports the Senate on Thursday afternoon approved John O. Brennan’s nomination to lead the Central Intelligence Agency by a vote of 63 to 34. The vote followed a filibuster by Senator Rand Paul, who spent nearly 13 hours on the Senate floor in pursuit of more information about the administration’s domestic drone policy. After receiving a brief letter from Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. assuring him that the president does not have the “authority to use a drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on American soil,” Mr. Paul declared his effort a success, and ultimately voted to end debate (though against the nomination), bringing the total votes in favor of cloture to 81 over 16 against. The final confirmation vote, however, revealed some unusual coalitions.

Holder does not rule out drone strike scenario in US

03/07/13:  CNN reports Attorney General Eric Holder is not entirely ruling out a scenario under which a drone strike would be ordered against Americans on U.S. soil, but says it has never been done previously and he could only see it being considered in an extraordinary circumstance. But he also said the government has no intention of carrying out drone strikes inside the United States. Echoing what he said in a letter to U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, he called the possibility of domestic drone strikes "entirely hypothetical." That letter, released Tuesday, was prompted by questions raised over the nomination of John Brennan to head the CIA. Specifically, members of the Senate Intelligence Committee sought the Obama administration's legal rationale for its use of drones to kill terror suspects overseas.

 

Senator Rand Paul's drone filibuster delays CIA nomination

03/07/13:  The BBC reports a Republican US senator has delayed the nomination of a new CIA chief over questions about the possible use of drones against Americans. Senator Rand Paul spoke without a pause for nearly 13 hours, in a tactic known as a filibuster, before yielding the floor before 01:00 (06:00 GMT). The move has delayed a Senate vote on John Brennan until Thursday. Mr Brennan currently serves as a top counter-terrorism adviser at the White House, and was nominated in January. As part of the Obama administration's national security team, he helped oversee the drone programme.

Hagel scolds Pentagon sequestration cuts

03/03/13: The blog Space War reports new Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel said Friday that new budget cuts will endanger the US military’s ability to conduct its missions.  His comments came hours before President Obama authorized automatic “sequestered” cuts in domestic and defense spending, following the failure of efforts to clinch a deal with Republicans on cutting the deficit.  Hagel, whose budget at the Pentagon is set to be slashed by roughly $46 billion, said, “Let me make it clear that this uncertainty puts at risk our ability to effectively fulfill all of our missions.”  In contrast with his predecessor Leon Panetta, who branded the cuts a “doomsday mechanism” and “fiscal castration,” Hagel was more measured, but he made his thoughts on the military consequences of the sequestration clear nevertheless.

Pressure builds on Senate group to introduce immigration bill

03/03/13: The Hill reports the bipartisan Senate group working on immigration reform plans to set a timeline for unveiling legislation, as it feels subtle pressure from the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee to act.  Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), a lead negotiator of the ad hoc group on immigration reform, says the clock is ticking, and the group hopes to soon have a timeline for unveiling legislation.  “We know time is of the essence.  Sometime in the next few weeks we will have a definite timeline.  We got a couple of very big issues to resolve,” McCain said.  Senator Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), McCain’s negotiating partner, said he expected to have a bipartisan bill sometime in March.  There are only three weeks left until Congress leaves for a two-week Easter recess on March 22.

Spending cuts imposed; US starts to trim its budget

03/02/13:  The New York Times reports seventeen months after President Obama signed doomsday budget legislation that was never intended to become law, the sweeping spending reductions in the measure have been imposed. Late Friday night, Mr. Obama formally triggered spending cuts that will reach across the breadth of the federal government after he failed to persuade Congressional Republicans to replace them with a mix of cuts and tax increases.  In a 70-page report to Congress accompanying the order and detailing the reductions — agency by agency and program by program — Jeffrey D. Zients, Mr. Obama's budget director, called them “deeply destructive to national security, domestic investments and core government functions.” But even as the cuts become official, some of the immediate impact is difficult to see. The process of trimming government budgets is slow and cumbersome, involving lengthy notifications to unions about temporary furloughs, reductions in overtime pay and cuts in grant financing to state and local programs. Less federal money will, over time, mean fewer government contracts with private companies. Reduced overtime for airport security checkpoint officers will make lines longer, eventually.

Lawmakers introduce bipartisan measure to toughen Iran sanctions

02/28/13:  The New York Times reports as Iranian negotiators spoke in positive tones about their resumed nuclear negotiations with the big powers, Congressional lawmakers in Washington introduced legislation on Wednesday that would greatly expand the sanctions on Iran, amounting to what both supporters and critics said would be like a commercial trade embargo if fully carried out. The bipartisan measure, which was expected to pass both the House and the Senate, would build on existing laws that restrict business dealings with Iran, widen the list of blacklisted Iranian companies and individuals and potentially block Iran’s access to its foreign bank assets held in euros. That access has been one of the country’s few remaining avenues for repatriating profits that are not held in dollars, which have been greatly constricted by other sanctions. The legislation, named the Nuclear Iran Prevention Act, also would penalize foreign companies and individuals that violate the American sanctions by threatening them with restrictions on doing business with the United States, a coercive tactic integrated into earlier, narrower sanctions.

Chuck Hagel set for US defence secretary vote

02/26/13:  The BBC reports the US Senate is set to proceed with votes to confirm former Senator Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense. The move on Tuesday comes 12 days after Republicans delayed a vote, questioning his past positions on Israel and Iran and his qualifications. But some critics have since agreed to allow the confirmation to proceed, while pledging to vote against him. Outgoing Defence Secretary Leon Panetta is to remain in his post until Mr Hagel is confirmed. On Tuesday, the US Senate will hold a procedural vote to end debate on the confirmation of Mr Hagel, a former Republican senator from Nebraska nominated by President Barack Obama to lead the Pentagon. Sixty votes are needed on that question; a vote earlier this month garnered only 59. If, as expected, the chamber ends debate, it will move to a simple majority vote for confirmation. Mr Obama's Democratic Party holds a 55-45 edge.

Air Force chief: 70 percent of combat aircraft unsuitable by July

02/22/13: The Washington Times reports the Air Force's chief of staff says that 70 percent of all combat aircraft will be unsuitable for combat by July if sequestration occurs. Gen. Mark Welsh made the comments during the Air Force Association;sannual winter conference on Thursday. His assessment is that a service-wide cutback in flying hours would begin May 1, though he pointed out that the service would protect all “named operations,” according to the website AOL Defense. AOL Defense previously reported Lt. Gen. James Kowalski, commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, saying that sequestration would force flying hours for B-52s to be curtailed by 10 percent. While the Air Force has the ability to shuffle resources to meet immediate wartime needs, Gen. Welsh's comments echo those of other high-ranking military officials that sharp budget cuts will have drastic effects on national security sooner rather than later.

Pentagon warns of widespread civilian furloughs

02/21/13:  The New York Times reports most of the Pentagon’s civilian employees will face a furlough in the coming months if the planned across-the-board budget cuts come to pass on March 1, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta warned Congress on Wednesday. About 750,000 civilians would experience pay cuts of about 20 percent between late April and September, Pentagon officials warned, if the department is required to cut $46 billion over the remainder of the 2013 fiscal year. The furloughs could come in the form of a four-day workweek. In addition to the potential effect of the automatic, across-the-board cuts, known as “sequestration,” Pentagon officials are also concerned about cuts that would be required if Congress fails to replace a stopgap spending measure, called the continuing resolution, with a bill that offers more long-term certainty. In describing the potential consequences of both outcomes, Pentagon officials appeared to be walking a line between scaring lawmakers into action and hurting military morale.

Senate Intelligence Committee to vote Thursday on Brennan nomination

02/13/13: The Hill reports the Senate Select Intelligence Committee will decide on Thursday whether to approve White House nominee John Brennan to become the nation’s chief intelligence officer.  Brennan is expected to clear the Committee and be confirmed by the Senate despite the controversy over the Obama Administration’s drone strikes on American terrorist suspects overseas.  Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Cal.) said moves by the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary Committees to explore new court authorities to oversee the drone program will be on hold until her panel weighs in on Brennan.  “We really haven’t put anything together [yet],” Feinstein said Tuesday when asked about the possible creation of a new federal court to oversee armed drone strikes.  “We will look into it, [but] we are trying to get the Brennan nomination done first.”

Divided Senate panel approves Hagel nomination after bitter debate

02/13/13: The New York Times reports the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday approved the nomination of former Senator Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense on a sharply partisan vote after a combative two-hour debate that tested the bounds of Senate collegiality.  The 14-11 vote to send the nomination to the Senate floor with a favorable recommendation was the latest step in a process that has deepened festering hostilities between congressional Republicans and the White House and has exposed stark disagreements over wartime foreign policy.  At times, the meeting slipped into an unusually accusatory and bitter back-and-forth, with Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) suggesting that Hagel had accepted money from North Korea and Senator Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) saying he was “cozy” with Iran.  These remarks were condemned by Democratic Senators such as Bill Nelson (Fla.) and Claire McCaskill (Mo.), as well as Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) a Republican Vietnam veteran like Hagel who opposes his nomination.  The full Senate is likely to vote on the nomination before the end of the week.

Obama to issue executive order on cybersecurity

02/12/13:  The Washington Times reports President Obama is set to issue on Wednesday an executive order to fight off electronic attacks and hackers, according to various media.  The order — which has undergone several revisions over the past few months — sets the Department of Homeland Security as overseer of an information-sharing network that distributes intelligence information about cybersecurity risks, Fox News reports. The information would help U.S. business owners block hackers and attacks on their compute systems, Fox News says.  Some Republicans decry the executive order as yet another presidential bypass of congressional authority, according to Fox News. The executive order comes after Congress failed to pass similar legislation last summer, Fox News reports.

Defense industry, domestic interest groups ally against sequester

02/11/13: The Hill reports the defense industry is joining forces with health, education, and other domestic sectors for a last-minute push to stop scheduled across-the-board sequestration cuts from taking effect. The new approach from the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) and domestic spending advocates is an attempt to convince lawmakers who care about defense that they should align with lawmakers worried about cuts to domestic programs. AIA and three groups representing health, education, and other domestic programs are holding a joint press conference Monday to present a united front on the danger of sequestration, which would reduce the 2013 discretionary budget by $85 billion. “We’re stronger united than divided,” said Emily Holubowich, executive director of the Coalition for Health Funding and co-chair of NDD United, a group formed to fight the non-defense side of the sequester.

Obama to renew drive for nuclear arms reductions in State of the Union

02/11/13: The New York Times reports President Obama will use his State of the Union Address on Tuesday to reinvigorate one of his signature national security objectives, drastically reducing nuclear arsenals around the world, after securing agreement in recent months with the military that the American nuclear force can be cut in size by roughly a third.  Obama is unlikely to discuss specific numbers in the address, but White House officials are looking at a cut that would take the arsenal of deployed weapons to just above 1,000.  Currently there are about 1,700, and the recently ratified arms reduction treaty with Russia calls for a limit of roughly 1,550 by 2018.  The big question is how to accomplish further reductions, given that Republicans oppose even the modest cuts in the treaty.

Congress to renew cybersecurity push

02/11/13: The Hill reports a cybersecurity bill that received pushback from privacy advocates and the White House last year will be re-introduced on Wednesday, setting up a potential battle between Congress and the Administration over cybersecurity legislation.  House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and Ranking Member Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.) will reintroduce the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) and hold a public hearing analyzing the current state of cyber threat information-sharing between the US Government and industry next week.   The bill aims to thwart cyberattacks by making it easier for private companies to share information about threats and malicious source code with the intelligence community and the Department of Homeland Security.  The privacy and civil liberties groups that fought CISPA last year plan to revive their efforts to oppose the bill.

GOP Senator to block CIA, Pentagon nominations over Benghazi

02/11/13: The Washington Times reports Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Sunday that he intends block two key Obama Administration appointments until he gets answers about last year’s attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Graham plans to place a hold on the nominations of John Brennan, tapped to be director of the CIA, and Chuck Hagel, the President’s pick to lead the Defense Department. Democrats wasted no time in blasting Graham’s plan, with Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.) calling it “unprecedented [and] unwarranted.” He added, “The men and women of the Department of Defense need a Secretary.” Senator Graham, who may face a primary challenge next year, demanded to know whether President Obama called Libyan authorities while the attacks were taking place.

Analysis: Debating a court to vet drone strikes

02/10/13: The New York Times reports a proposal is gaining steam that would require court approval before targeting American citizens overseas for lethal force.  The idea is to apply the model exemplified by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court – created by Congress so that surveillance had to be justified to a federal judge – to the targeted killing of suspected terrorists, or at least of American suspects.  A drone court would face constitutional, political and practical obstacles, and might well prove unworkable, according to several legal scholars and terrorism experts.  But with the war in Afghanistan winding down, al-Qaeda fragmenting into hard-to-read offshoots, and the 2001 terrorist attacks receding into the past, they said, it is time to consider how to forge a new, trustworthy and transparent system to govern lethal counterterrorism operations.

Analysis: Debating a court to vet drone strike

02/09/13:  The New York Times reports since 1978, a secret court in Washington has approved national security eavesdropping on American soil — operations that for decades had been conducted based on presidential authority alone.  Now, in response to broad dissatisfaction with the hidden bureaucracy directing lethal drone strikes, there is an interest in applying the model of the Forieign Intelligence Surveillance Act court to the targeted killing of suspected terrorists, or at least of American suspects.  A drone court would face constitutional, political and practical obstacles, and might well prove unworkable, according to several legal scholars and terrorism experts. But with the war in Afghanistan winding down, Al Qaeda fragmenting into hard-to-read offshoots and the 2001 terrorist attacks receding into the past, they said, it is time to consider how to forge a new, trustworthy and transparent system to govern lethal counterterrorism operations.

Five things we learned from John Brennan's confirmation hearing

02/08/13:  CNN reports John Brennan came well-prepared Thursday and held his own during questioning at his Senate confirmation hearing to become the 21st director of the Central Intelligence Agency. It was in stark contrast to what was considered by many as an ill-prepared, lethargic performance by defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel at his confirmation hearing last week.  Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee mostly grilled Brennan about his knowledge of the CIA's controversial interrogation and detention program and the lethal targeting of suspected terrorists. Republicans tended to focus on leaks of secret information about counterterrorism activities.  While on one hand Brennan was forceful with his answers, on the other he seemed very careful with his choice of words.

Congress to see memo backing drone attacks on Americans

02/07/13:  The New York Times reports the White House on Wednesday directed the Justice Department to release to the two Congressional Intelligence Committees classified documents discussing the legal justification for killing, by drone strikes and other means, American citizens abroad who are considered terrorists.  The White House announcement appears to refer to a long, detailed 2010 memo from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel justifying the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born cleric who had joined Al Qaeda in Yemen. He was killed in a CIA drone strike in September 2011. Members of Congress have long demanded access to the legal memorandum.  The decision to release the legal memo to the Intelligence Committees came under pressure, two days after a bipartisan group of 11 senators joined a growing chorus asking for more information about the legal justification for targeted killings, especially of Americans.  The announcement also came on the eve of the confirmation hearing scheduled for Thursday afternoon for John O. Brennan, President Obama’s choice to be director of the CIA, who has been the chief architect of the drone program as Mr. Obama’s counterterrorism adviser.

Panetta again warns of dire consequences to military from budget cuts

02/07/13:  The New York Times reports in the wake of President Obama’s appeal to Congress to stave off across-the-board military and domestic spending cuts, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta warned Wednesday that reductions from the automatic cuts would curtail American naval operations in the western Pacific by as much as a third and force one-month furloughs for as many as 800,000 Defense Department civilian employees starting this spring. “This is not a game, this is reality,” Mr. Panetta said emphatically in a speech at Georgetown University, one of his last as defense secretary, in which he blasted Congress for what he said was its failure to live up to its responsibilities. “These steps would seriously damage the fragile American economy, and they would degrade our ability to respond to crisis precisely at a time of rising instability across the globe.”

Analysis: Report on targeted killing spurs desire for less secrecy

02/06/13: The New York Times has this piece discussing yesterday’s big news revealing the “white paper” describing the Obama Administration’s legal justifications for the use of lethal force against American citizens suspected of being unlawful combatants abroad (the paper is here courtesy of NBC News).  This piece discusses the Administration’s having kept its arguments secret, and the fact that its disclosure is fueling greater demand for information.

Reid: Immigration bill will pass Senate

02/04/13: The Hill reports Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Sunday said that immigration reform was “certainly going to pass” the upper chamber.  “It has to get done.  We have to work hard to get it done,” Reid said.  “It’s really easy to write principles.  To write legislation is much harder.  And once we write the legislation, then you have to get it passed.  But I think things are looking really good.”  Last week a bipartisan group of senators introduced a framework for reform, which includes a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants and calls for tighter border security.  But the plan faces obstacles from GOP lawmakers who are opposed to measures granting illegal immigrants citizenship and want border-security issues addressed first.

Outgoing Pentagon chief Panetta says sequester is biggest concern

02/04/13: CNN reports outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Sunday his “biggest concern” is the uncertainty over budget issues on Capitol Hill.  “If the sequester is allowed to go into effect, I think it could seriously impact … the readiness [of] the United States,” he said.  The US military could face the start of $500 billion in budget cuts in about a month if Congress fails to come up with a budget plan that avoids the so-called sequester, a series of automatic, spending cuts spread out over the next decade.  Panetta in January ordered the military to begin implementing cost-cutting measures aimed at mitigating the effects of significant budget cuts that would occur if Congress fails to reach a deal in coming months to avert or soften them.

What the $97 million drug war in Central America actually bought

02/02/13:  Wired's Danger Room reports the US isn’t just shoveling cash to stem the tide of narcotics in Mexico and Colombia. Quietly, it’s built up its drug war in Central America, too — spending nearly $100 million over four years on advanced gear for local forces. Not that Washington has any idea what it’s gotten for its money.  A new report from the Government Accountability Office provides a rare glimpse into the Central American war on drugs. Between 2008 and 2011, the report finds, the government spent $97 million for gear and training for its Central American partners. On the plus side, it’s laughably low compared to the more than $640 billion (and rising) the US has spent on the war in Afghanistan.  Most of the drug war money is spent on equipment such as vehicles — like aircraft and patrol boats — night-vision goggles, body armor, radios and weapons, and X-ray equipment for scanning cargo containers.

Kerry easily confirmed as Secretary of State

01/30/13: The LA Times reports the Senate voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to confirm Senator John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) as Secretary of State, filling a crucial national security spot in President Obama’s second-term Cabinet.  Kerry, the Democratic nominee for President in 2004, will replace Hillary Clinton, who will step down Friday.  After the 94-3 vote, Kerry submitted a letter of resignation, effective Friday, to give up the Senate seat he has held since 1985.  He will take the oath of office in a private ceremony.  President Obama praised Kerry as “a champion of American global leadership” in a statement.  “John has earned the respect of leaders around the world and the confidence of Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, and I am confident he will make an extraordinary secretary of State,” Obama said.

Details of the Senate immigration proposal

01/29/13:  The Miami Herald reports here are some details of the bipartisan Senate framework on immigration reform announced Monday. President Barack Obama is expected to endorse a similar set of proposals Tuesday during an appearance in Las Vegas.  Create a path to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants already in the country: Increase border security efforts including adding unmanned drones, surveillance equipment and more border agents; Require completion of an entry-exit system to track whether people in the U.S. on temporary visas have left as required; While security measures are under way illegal immigrants can register with the government, pass background checks and pay fines and back taxes in order to earn "probationary legal status." Once security measures are in place, immigrants on "probationary legal status" could apply for permanent legal status behind other immigrants already in the system. People brought to the U.S. as children, and farmworkers, would have a quicker path to citizenship.

Senators reach agreement on immigration overhaul

01/28/13: NPR reports a bipartisan group of leading senators has reached agreement on the principles of sweeping legislation to retool the nation’s immigration laws.  The deal covers border security, guest workers and employer verification, as well as a path to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants already in this country.  Although thorny details remain to be negotiated and success is far from certain, the development heralds the start of what could be the most significant effort in years toward overhauling the nation's inefficient patchwork of immigration laws.  The eight senators expected to endorse the new principles Monday are Democrats Charles Schumer (N.Y.), Dick Durbin (Ill.), Robert Menendez (N.J.) and Michael Bennet (Colo.); and Republicans John McCain (Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Jeff Flake (Ariz.)  Several of these lawmakers have worked for years on the issue.  McCain collaborated with the late Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) on comprehensive immigration legislation pushed by then-President George W. Bush in 2007, only to see it collapse in the Senate when it couldn’t get enough GOP support.  Comprehensive immigration reform has not been seriously attempted since.