By Amanda Erickson

A House subcommittee Wednesday began examining whether gay men and women should be allowed to serve openly in the armed forces for the first time in15 years.

Congress had not reconsidered the controversial 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy since it was approved by former President Bill Clinton in 1993. Currently, recruitment officials are not allowed to ask enlistees about their sexual orientation and service personnel may not engage in homosexual conduct or aggressively display homosexuality.

At the 2½-hour hearing, lawmakers focused on two key questions: What effect a change in the policy would have on troop unity and whether the current policy is hurting recruitment and retention of service members who are gay.

Occasionally, the debate got heated, such as when Elaine Donnelly of the Center for Military Readiness, which opposes gays in the military, suggested that allowing gays to openly serve in the military would increase the number of HIV-positive cases among service members. Rep. Vic Snyder (D-Ark.) called that contention "inappropriate" and said under that logic "you ought to recruit only lesbians to the military because they have the lowest incidence of HIV."

But the hearing mostly drew on the personal experience of openly gay former service members, retired sergeants and the head of a group that opposes allowing gays and lesbians to serve.

Capt. Joan Darrah, who served in the Navy for 30 years and won several commendations, spoke of the stress the policy caused her. Darrah had been at a meeting in the Pentagon just minutes before it was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. Seven of her colleagues were killed.

"The reality is that if I had been killed, my partner then of 11 years, would have been the last to know," she said. "I had not dared to list her in any of my paperwork."

by Andrew Zajac

The cavernous National Building Museum was filled with G-men and G-women today as the Federal Bureau of Investigation marked its 100th anniversary with speeches and ceremony headlined by Director Robert Mueller and Attorney General Michael Mukasey.

Other guests included former directors William Webster, William Sessions and Louis Freeh.

Master of ceremonies John Pistole, the bureau's deputy director, also singled out Walter Walsh, a 101 year-old retired special agent, who brought a direct connection to the bureau's salad days in the 1930s, having worked on the Ma Barker and Baby Face Nelson cases.

Mueller spoke on a dais in front of a blue and gold backdrop with the message "A Century of Fidelity, Bravery and Integrity" -- the latter three words comprising the bureau's motto and the theme of his speech.
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by Mark Silva

This makes the demolition of a Las Vegas hotel look like firecrackers.

As promised, North Korea demolished the visible symbol of its nuclear weapons program today, part of a commitment to disclose its program and cease enrichment of uranium that is winning a lifting of some restrictions by the United States.

President Bush is taking North Korea off the list of state sponsors of terrorism in 45 days, if Pyongyang follows through on its commitments.

But Pyongyang hasn't done much as promised -- so the White House remains wary of the regime's intentions and maintains that full verficiation will be required to ensure that North Korea is not building any more bombs.

The Yongbyong reactor -- its tower at an already idled facility taken down for a live television audience -- is where North Korea has enriched uranium. Now the government is providing the United States and other partners in the six-party talks with North Korea an accounting of how much plutonium it has made -- which leads in turn to how many bombs it has built.

All of this is "the first step'' in a nuclear-weapons free Korean peninsula, the White House hopes. But, as Bush put it this week, his administraiton harbors "no illusions" about North Korea.

They did, at least, get some great TV out of the deal.

by Bay Fang

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's three-country, five-day Asia tour, which starts this week, appears to be a last-ditch attempts to salvage the legacy of the Bush administration.

She will be going first to Japan for the G8 foreign ministers' meeting Thursday before heading to South Korea and visiting quake-ravaged China, but the biggest focus of the trip will be on scoring a breakthrough on the North Korea nuclear disarmament talks, which involve China, Russia and Japan, as well as South and North Korea.

But even while raising expectations of a coming declaration by Pyongyang on its full nuclear capability, which has been the sticking point in the process, Rice revealed that new intelligence could stymie the effort. Apparently, this intelligence comes from traces of uranium found on the pages of documents that were handed over by North Korea last month, which were supposed to help US officials verify the declaration that is still awaited.

by Frank James

The long, hard-fought Democratic primary campaign produced plenty of fodder for Republicans to use against the all-but-official Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. Barack Obama, in the form of criticism by other Democrats of Obama's relatively short national-security resume.

On the morning after Obama claimed enough delegates to capture the Democratic nomination, the Republican National Committee launched a new web ad called "Democrats vs. Obama" which uses Democrats' own words expressing doubts about Obama's readiness to be commander-in-chief.

The ad features Sen. Hillary and former President Bill Clinton , Sen. Joe Biden, and John Edwards raising questions about his experience.

Such ads will likely be a major part of the Republican strategy against Obama.

And why not? Voters expect the opposition to criticize a party's putative nominee so they're more likely to discount Republican charges against a Democrat.

But criticisms from respected members of the same party could have more resonance, especially in a general-election context. At least, that's what Republicans are hoping for.

by Andrew Zajac

The Washington-based Secrecy News, a careful observer of government behavior in the capital, has posted this item about the appointment of a pair of federal judges, including James Zagel, of the Northern District of Illinois, to the secret court overseeing government applications for domestic eavesdropping under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

INTEL SURVEILLANCE COURT GETS TWO NEW JUDGES

Two new judges were named to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court this week, Secrecy News has learned, one a Clinton appointee and one a Reagan appointee.

Judge Mary A. McLaughlin of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and Judge James B. Zagel of the Northern District of Illinois were appointed to seven year terms on the secret court by the Chief Justice to replace Judge James G. Carr and Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, whose terms expired on May 18.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court is responsible for reviewing and approving government applications under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act for domestic electronic surveillance and physical search of suspected foreign intelligence agents or terrorists.

But it does more than that. The Court also reinterprets the terms of the Act in an undisclosed fashion, producing in effect a body of "secret law," a matter discussed at an April 30 hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"The FISC has in fact issued... legally significant decisions that remain classified and have not been released to the public," observed Judge John D. Bates, a member of the FIS Court, when he denied an ACLU motion for disclosure of portions of those decisions last December.

The appointment of new judges to the FIS Court assumes particular importance today because of a proposal pending in Congress that would refer existing lawsuits alleging illegal warrantless surveillance to the secret FIS Court in what would likely be a severely constrained adjudicative process. The proposal is being considered as an alternative to granting outright immunity to telephone companies that allegedly cooperated with the President's surveillance program.

Judge Mary A. McLaughlin was appointed to the bench in 2000 by President Clinton. She was formerly an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia, and a special counsel to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on terrorism during the Ruby Ridge hearings in 1995.

Judge James B. Zagel was appointed in 1987 by President Reagan. Judge Zagel is "an intelligent, tough-minded jurist," said the Chicago Council of Lawyers, a public interest association, in a 1991 evaluation. However, "some lawyers are concerned that he will bring a political agenda to bear in certain classes of cases."

The new appointments were confirmed for Secrecy News today by Sheldon L. Snook of the administrative office at the D.C. District Court.

A new appointment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, an appeals court, has not yet been formally announced, he said.
But the Providence Journal (RI) reported on April 14 that Judge Morris Sheppard Arnold of the 8th District had been named to the Review Court.

An updated roster of the membership of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court is here.

"During calendar year 2007, the Government made 2,371 applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for authority to conduct electronic surveillance and physical search for foreign intelligence purposes," the Justice Department told Congress in the latest annual report on FISA activity.

by Bay Fang

Although mystery still swirls around Saturday's sudden release of Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan after over three months in captivity, the Pakistani government insists it did not free any militants in exchange.

"There was no exchange of any militants or terrorists for the release of the ambassador," said Nadeem Kiani, spokesman for the embassy of Pakistan in Washington, DC.

Even if there were no explicit tit-for-tat, the release of Azizuddin could have been used as a pawn in the ongoing negotiations between tribal militants in the region bordering Afghanistan and the young coalition government led by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

A prisoner exchange took place last week as a direct result of the negotiations, with the release of dozens of suspected militants for army officers in Waziristan, a tribal area considered a stronghold of Taliban and al-Qaida militants.

by Mark Silva

President Bush, who has refrained from a role in his party's presidential campaign until now, plans to welcome Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the party's putative 2008 nominee, to the White House tomorrow.

Bush's backing is a double-edged sword for McCain, who fought Bush in the 2000 Republican primaries and who critized the Bush administration for its early conduct of the war in Iraq and its treatment of suspected terrorists in captivity. McCain has aligned with Bush on the latest war strategy and has insisted that torture is illegal under any circumstances.

The president's endorsement represents a consolidation of the Republican Party for a candidate who greatly needs to convince the conservative base that he is conservative enough.

Yet the public embrace of a president whose public approval has hovered at an average of 33 perccent for the past year in the Gallup Poll will readily be taken by his Democratic opponent as a symbol that a vote for McCain is a vote for a continuation of the Bush White House.

At the White House on Wednesday, Bush plans a noon welcome for McCain at the North Portico -- a grand formal entrance at the front door of the mansion. Bush will host a lunch for McCain in the private dining room.

Bush then plans a public statement with John McCain in the Rose Garden.

by Frank James

As has been widely reported, the Air Force stunned almost everyone yesterday by deciding to award its huge, $35 billion contract for new airborne refueling tankers to a partnership formed by Northrop Grumman, the Los Angeles-based company, and EADS Inc., the European maker of Airbus airliners.

Boeing, headquartered in Chicago but with a large workforce in Washington State, was the big loser. Boeing had said that if it got the contract to build the new tanker based on its 767 airliner, it would provide enough work to keep 40,000 U.S. workers busy.

But Boeing lost. So the aircraft will be built in Europe, with the conversion work being done in Mobile, Ala. According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Mobile operations would employ far fewer people than Boeing says it would have, apparently 1,200 to do the modification work.

Aerospace workers protest in Everett, Wash. after the Air Force announced it chose Northrop Grumman Corp. and Airbus parent EADS over Boeing to supply air-refueling tankers, on Friday, Feb. 29, 2008. (AP Photo/Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Dan DeLong)

This is obviously not making people in Washington State happy. The Seattle P-I puts it this way:

Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., a senior member of the House panel that oversees military spending, predicted "a firestorm of criticism about this decision." He said many lawmakers "don't want Airbus building this plane."

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., told reporters she was "frustrated, angry and in shock at this announcement."

The state's senior senator said she couldn't understand the choice of giving a massive contract to a foreign-based business, considering that the U.S. is teetering on a recession.

"You can put an American sticker on a plane and call it American, but you can't call it American made. They are clearly going to be made overseas, and that is a factor we all have to be thinking about, whether we want American planes built overseas."

Murray said Boeing will be debriefed by the Air Force later this month on why it lost out, and the company could then appeal the decision. The Government Accountability Office then has 100 days to examine the appeal, Murray said. She said it was premature to speculate on a congressional inquiry, but added, "We clearly want to be supportive of Boeing and find out the facts."

by James Oliphant

Sen. Russ Feingold is standing on the floor of the Senate right now and he isn't happy.

The Democrat from Wisconsin has had a rough day. The effort of Feingold and his allies to amend the Protect America Act has largely failed on a grand scale.

An amendment from Sen. Chris Dodd that would deny telecom companies retroactive immunity for helping the government eavesdrop on phone calls without a warrant after 9/11 was voted down. As was an amendment from Sen. Arlen Specter that would have substituted the government for the telecom companies in pending legislation over the warrantless wiretapping program. An amendment offered by Sen. Dianne Feinstein that would have made the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act the sole authority for a warrantless wiretapping program also failed.

The White House said today that the Senate bill is one that the president can support. That's a victory for President Bush and Senate Republicans, who are seeking to make expanded wiretapping powers under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act permanent.

Feingold calls the current bill a "dangerous piece of legislation."

"This bill is a tragic retreat," Feingold said. "It is abdication of this body's duty to stand up for the rule of law."

The Senate is expected to have a final vote on the bill this afternoon. Then it goes to the House, which is battling the clock. That chamber will adjourn on Thursday and Friday for the funeral of Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.)

The Protect America Act, which enhanced the government's wiretapping program under FISA, expires on Friday. The current legislation would replace it. The White House has said it would not support another exension.

by Mark Silva

"The young men we remember today did not live to be called veterans,'' President Bush said today at a memorial for "fallen soldiers'' at American Legion Post 121 in Waco, Texas.

"They died in a distant land fighting terror, spreading freedom, and protecting their fellow citizens from danger,'' Bush said. "The valor and selfless devotion of these men fills their families with immeasurable pride.

"Yet this pride cannot fill the hole in their loved ones' aching hearts, or relieve the burden of grief that will remain for a lifetime,'' he said. " In their sorrow, these families need to know, and families all across the nation of the fallen need to know that your loved ones served a cause that is good, and just, and noble.

"And as their Commander-in-Chief,'' the president said, with an oft-repeated promise about his commitment to the war, "I make you this promise: their sacrifice will not be in vain.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy before a joint session of Congress, November 7, 2007, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Robert Byrd looking on approvingly. (ERIC FEFERBERG/AFP/Getty Images)

by Matthew Hay Brown

Thirty-seven hundred words, and not one of them the four-letter one that has divided France and the United States.

In his address to Congress this morning, French President Nicolas Sarkozy led lawmakers on a tour of the Greater Middle East that spanned from Afghanistan through Iran and Lebanon to Israel. But the unabashedly pro-American conservative tiptoed right past Iraq, where French officials and citizens alike have opposed the U.S. invasion and occupation.

“We may have differences, we may disagree on things, we may even have arguments, as in any family, but in times of difficulty, in times of hardship, one stands true to one’s friends, one stands shoulder to shoulder with them, one supports them, and one helps them,” Sarkozy told the joint session, as rendered in the official translation.

Thus dispensing with any allusion to the war – which Sarkozy also has opposed, although not as vocally as his predecessor, Jacques Chirac – he focused his remarks on the historical friendship between the two nations, and areas for future cooperation.

Among these, he named Afghanistan, where he said France would “remain engaged … for as long as it takes;” Iran, whose development of nuclear arms he called “unacceptable;” and the Holy Land, where he said France “wants security for Israel” and “demands that there be a state for the Palestinians.”

Andrew Zajac

We don't get one of these very often: A press release from the Yemeni Embassy.

This one, marked 'urgent', advised that contrary to earlier reports Jamal al-Badawi, one of the purported masterminds of the bombing of the USS Cole that killed 17 sailors in 2000, was not free and is, in fact, in Yemeni custody.

Andrew Zajac

Bill Leonard isn't a household name, but among open records advocates in Washington he commands respect for his willingness to challenge the Bush Administration on what some regard as an improperly expansive notion of information that should be kept secret.

Leonard, the director of the Information Security Oversight Office since 2002, will resign effective January 2008, according to an announcement Friday by ISOO's parent, the National Archives and Records Administration.

by Gabrielle Russon

While the nation is safer domestically since Sept. 11--- because of better trained airport screeners and heightened intelligence capabilities--- the United States is failing on the international front, the two former leaders of the commission that investigated the terrorist attacks said today.

“We’ve made some progress but still have a very long way to go,” Thomas Kean, the commission’s former chairman, said at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars here.

To gain the upper-hand in winning the war on terror, U.S. foreign policy needs to beckon to Muslims, said Lee Hamilton, the commission’s former vice chairman and a former Indiana congressman.

“American foreign policy has to convey to Islam that we want to help Muslims achieve a better life,” Hamilton said.

He called terrorism a “generational problem” that goes deeper than just eliminating al Qaeda's leaders.

“The long-term---the durable threat---is the radical Islamic young people,” Hamilton said. “If you’re going to win the war on terror, you’re going to have to deal with these hundreds of millions of Muslims from across the world."

by Mike Dorning

Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin promised today that he would no longer vote to fund the war in Iraq unless the money is tied to a withdrawal strategy.

Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, has been a consistent critic of the war in Iraq but is a pragmatic party leader attuned to political reality. The Illinois senator voted against authorization for the war in 2002 but has since voted for the emergency funding packages that have financed the war.

Durbin’s commitment--and a forceful speech he delivered against new funding for Bush’s war strategy--positions an influential Senate leader in favor of a hard line at a moment when some Democrats are signaling a willingness to compromise on war funding.

Congress is preparing for a struggle over continuation of the troop build-up in Iraq following a report on progress to be delivered next week by Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. military commander in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker. The White House has indicated it will request a supplemental funding package of approximately $40 billion to pay for continuing the Bush Administration’s “surge” strategy.

by Mike Dorning

The Barack Obama presidential campaign sent out a memo to reporters a few minutes ago to make the case that the recent controversies he has stirred on foreign policy matters are an indication he would change international relations for the better.

The Democratic candidate has stirred controversy and criticism from rivals first for a comment he made at a debate that he would be willing to meet with foreign dictators whom the United States has previously shunned. He stirred further controversy this week by first threatening to take unilateral military action against Al Qaeda havens in remote border regions of Pakistan and then for telling an Associated Press reporter that he would not use nuclear weapons on terrorist targets in Pakistan or Afghanistan.

The memo, from Samantha Power, one of the candidate's top foreign policy advisers, follows:

August 3, 2007

Barack Obama was right; the conventional wisdom was wrong. And today, we see the consequences. Iraq is in chaos. According to the National Intelligence Estimate, the threat to our homeland from terrorist groups is “persistent and evolving.” Al-Qaeda has a safe-haven in Pakistan. Iran has only grown stronger and bolder. The American people are less safe because of a rash war. (continued below)

Samantha Power, Obama adviser and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Problem from Hell, a history of the American response to genocide, receiving an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at Brown University's commencement in May. AP Photo/Stew Milne.

Obama spelled out his strategy for going after terrorists in Pakistan in an address at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars yesterday. Today, he told the Associated Press, he draws the line at the use of nuclear weapons. AP photo by Charles Dharapak.

by Mike Dorning

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama told the Associated Press today that as president he would forswear use of nuclear weapons of any type against terrorist targets in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Obama made his comments a day after issuing a public threat to attack Al Qaeda operatives hiding in a remote region of Pakistan near the Afghanistan border if Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf did not act against the terrorists.

As of yet, there has not been any serious discussion of a nuclear strike in Afghanistan or Pakistan. But the U.S. government historically has maintained ambiguity about the circumstances under which it would use nuclear weapons.

There has been a spirited debate within military and foreign policy circles about the option of using tactical nuclear weapons in Iran to destroy suspected underground nuclear production facilities. Even tactical nuclear weapons can produce radioactive fallout that affect civilian health over a wide area, particularly if they are detonated close to the ground, as they would need to be for maximum effectiveness against hardened targets.

In his comments, Obama specifically cited a reluctance to use nuclear armaments in a strike "involving civilians"--a criteria for use of nuclear weapons that potentially could have far-reaching consequences for military policy. Still, the comments reported by the Associated Press were based on a brief exchange as Obama was leaving an event and did not include much elaboration from the senator.

The Associated Press report follows:

by Mike Dorning

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said last night that fears of widespread sectarian and ethnic conflict in Iraq following a U.S. troop drawdown are not sufficient reason to justify the continued deployment of a large U.S. millitary force there.

The Illinois senator argued that logic, used by some supporters of the war in Iraq, was inconsistent with the U.S. military posture toward countries in the midst of genodical conflict, such as Congo and Sudan.

"Well, look, if that’s the criteria by which we are making decisions on the deployment of U.S. forces, then by that argument you would have 300,000 troops in the Congo right now — where millions have been slaughtered as a consequence of ethnic strife — which we haven’t done,” Obama said in an interview with The Associated Press.

“We would be deploying unilaterally and occupying the Sudan, which we haven’t done. Those of us who care about Darfur don’t think it would be a good idea,” he said.

by Mark Silva and Siobhan Gorman

After months of consultation among federal authorities and wrangling with Congress, President Bush today signed an executive order spelling out legal standards for the detention and interrogation of suspected terrorists held by the CIA.

The order follows a ruling by the Supreme Court last year that “enemy combatants’’ whom the United States detains in its battle against terrorism must be treated according to Common Article Three of the Geneva Conventions. And the president’s order applies specifically to alien detainees held by the CIA – with the Army Field Manual setting another standard, which the administration calls “the gold standard’’ for traditional prisoners of war.

At the same time, a senior administration official discussing the president’s new order today declined to say, specifically, which interrogation practices might be prohibited by the order’s strictures – such as prohibiting the denial of any basic necessities of life, food and water, or subjecting detainees to extreme heat or cold. The order prohibits cruel and inhuman treatment, including humiliation or denigration of religious beliefs.

Might waterboarding be prohibited? They don’t want to tell the terrorists.

by William Neikirk

Last Sept. 28 in Birmingham, Ala., in the middle of the campaign for control of Congress, President Bush said this about the Democratic Party: "The party of FDR and the party of Harry Truman has become the party of cut and run."

He added that Republicans "understand the nature of the enemy. We know the enemy wants to attack again." He said Democrats "offer nothing but criticism and obstruction and endless second-guessing" about the situation in Iraq.

On Thursday, a day after Independence Day, Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) joined a number of other Republicans in calling for a new strategy in Iraq. Domenici is about as solid a Republican as you can find on Capitol Hill, but here he was, supporting a plan "that will move our troops out of combat operations and on the path to coming home," though not an immediate withdrawal. Maybe that's not cut and run, but it's certainly cut and walk.

David Wood

Stunned by the continuing loss of its captains -- the critical, mid-career officers who command companies, the basic combat organizations -- the Army has asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates for permission to begin offering $20,000 cash to captains willing to stick it out another three years. If that doesn't appeal, the Army would give them free graduate school -- or find them a slot at the ever-popular Ranger or Jump schools.

by William Neikirk

Among my friends at the swimming pool, there's a real debate raging. Who should serve the longer sentence: Scooter Libby or Paris Hilton?

Party-girl Hilton got out of jail today for medical reasons, but was confined to her home with an electronic ankle bracelet for the next 40 days. She reportedly has a rash on her body.

Libby, meantime, is still free while he awaits a decision by President Bush over whether to pardon him. He has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in federal prison for lying and obstructing the CIA leak investigation involving Valerie Plame.

Posted by Aamer Madhani at 10:39 a.m.

In dramatic testimony before a House committee this morning, the brother of former NFL player Pat Tillman accused the military of lying about the facts surrounding the fratricide death of the football player.

After Tillman’s death in the mountains of Afghanistan, the Army portrayed the specialist’s killing as the result of a heroic firefight with enemy fighters.

The Army soon awarded Tillman a Silver Star and lauded his death as that of an American hero who gave up a football contract to save his country.

Posted by Mike Dorning at 10:45 am CST

Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) delivered a speech on the Senate floor a few minutes ago calling a plan backed by Senate Democrats to withdraw U.S. combat troops from Iraq by next March "our last, best hope to end this war."

Senate Democrat's proposal faces formidable opposition from Republicans and would need substantial GOP support to obtain the necessary 60 votes to overcome a probable filibuster. However, Democrats also are considering attaching the measure a spending package that must pass in order to continue funding the war.

Obama said that President Bush "is now dismissing and ignoring the will of an American people that is tired of years of watching the human and financial tolls mount."

"Let this be the day when we finally send a message that is so clear, so emphatic that it cannot be ignored," Obama added.

Posted by William Neikirk at 12:10 p.m. CST and updated at 1:30 pm

Did he really say that?

That was the reaction around town today about Sen. John McCain's statement on the David Letterman show that the lives of American soldiers are being wasted in Iraq.

It was bad enough that Sen. Barack Obama said essentially the same thing when he announced for the presidency last month. Obama quickly apologized and retracted his statement. As an opponent of the war and a relative newcomer to politics, that mistake might have been understood, though it hurt him.

McCain today came forward with regrets of his own for his choice of words.

Posted by David Lightman at 1:55 p.m. CST

Despite all the talk about just what kind of troop levels the U.S. should maintain, it's not clear anyone knows the size of the Iraqi force, Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) said today in his report to the White House and Pentagon on findings from his trip to Iraq.

Shays, chairman of the House national security subcommittee, earlier this month made his 15th trip to Iraq since the war began in March 2003, and wrote a five-page letter detailing his findings.

He noted that American military commanders say there are 112 Iraqi Army battalions of 757 soldiers each, or a total of 84,784 soldiers on duty in combat units. But on any given day, he said, absences--authorized and unauthorized--can reduce this number by about 20 percent.

That would leave about 67,000 Iraqi soldiers on duty in combat situations--or about half the size of the often-quoted number of 137,500 trained and equipped Iraqis.

Posted by William Neikirk at 6:20 p.m. CST

There's this guy who took some highly classified documents from the National Archives three years ago. He stuffed them into his suit when he thought no one was looking.

His pockets bulging, he walked outside to Ninth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in the nation's capital. He leaned down and hid them under a construction trailer--in the dirt.

He retrieved them later and took them to his office, using scissors to cut up three copies. He put them in the trash. These documents were government reports. They dealt with the threat of terrorist attacks during the Clinton administration. It was a controversial issue, especially after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

No, this man is not a spy. It's clear he's not James Bond. He's Samuel (Sandy) Berger. He was Clinton's National SECURITY adviser.

(CNN obtained the National Archives and Records Agency inspector general's report.

Posted by Frank James at 2:01 pm CST

Rep. Silvestre Reyes, the Texas Democrat who has been named to chair the House Intelligence Committee, has taken a drubbing lately after a reporter wrote that Reyes, in an interview, didn't know that al Qaeda is a Sunni Muslim organization and drew a blank on Hezbollah.

The interview was done by Jeff Stein of CQ Homeland Security. What's odd about Reyes lack of knowledge is that Stein had asked other federal officials similar questions earlier and publicized the results.

Posted by Pete Souza at 4:42 pm CST

Robert Gates, the president's nominee for secretary of defense, offers an all-smiles review of how his confirmation might be going. Chicago Tribune photo by Pete Souza.

Posted by William Neikirk at 12:05 p.m. CST

And where are the necons now? Donald Rumsfeld is out as defense secretary and President Bush is hinting at some sort of accommodation in Iraq. The administration is willing to concede that mistakes have been made. And so it seems that the influence of the neoconservative movement on the president's foreign policy could be waning.

Such a conclusion may be a bit premature. The president is not talking about disengaging from Iraq anytime soon and has not backed away from his goal of making the country secure and self-sustaining. And some neocons said they have also learned from their mistakes. And there are new challenges. One neocon in particular, Joshua Muravchik of the American Enterprise Institute, says that Bush will "need" to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities before he leaves office.

Posted by Frank James at 12:26 pm CST

Just last week President Bush said Defense Sec. Donald Rumsfeld would stay till the end of his administration. So what does it mean that Rumsfeld has resigned the day after the election?

It may mean that the president really thought Republicans would hold onto the House and was shocked by the magnitude of the Republican losses last night into finally seeing how large a political liability Rumsfeld was.

"Actually, I thought I was going to be fine in this election. Shows you what I know," Bush just said in the press conference happening now.

In the press conference, Bush tried to play down the connection between yesterday's results and the election, at least any causal relationship.

He said he told reporters who met with him last week that Rumsfeld was staying because he didn't want to change the dynamics of the mid-term elections.

To that end, he said he held a series of discussions with Rumsfeld about installing a new defense secretary before the election but didn't answer reporters as directly last week when the question of Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney's tenure came up, again because he didn't want to inject the fact that he was considering a change into to the election.

Posted by Frank James at 4:38 pm CDT

Expect to hear a lot from now to Election Day of the Republicans new line of attack against Democrats on the minority party’s national-security credentials.

It’s about the leak of the National Intelligence Estimate or NIE a few weeks ago that said that Iraq had become a “cause celebre” for violent jihadis.

Posted by Frank James at 1:40 pm CDT

The Osama bin Laden card is being played in a big way by the Republican National Committee in a new web ad released today called “The Stakes.”

The ad has appropriately menacing images of bin Laden, his number two, Ayman al Zawahiri, and other nihilistic jihadis. The only sounds--a ticking that sounds like the time on a bomb, then a heartbeat. Superimposed over the photos and video are quotes from the al Qaeda terrorists like “What is yet to come will be even greater,” which bin Laden said in the weeks following the 9/11 attacks.

Posted by Frank James at 5:09 pm CDT

All day students of politics have been asking the question what does White House advisor Karl Rove know that we don't?

The man credited, after President Bush, with the 2000 and 2004 White House wins and the 2002 success of congressional Republicans told the Washington Times yesterday that he is confident Republicans will hold not just the Senate but the House too.

Posted by William Neikirk at 3:55 p.m. CDT

North Korea, one of three rogue states identified by President Bush as an "axis of evil," is also a political provocateur. By staging an apparently successful nuclear test, President Kim Jong-il also triggered some political blasts here in the U.S. They weren't all aimed at Pyongyang.

House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) condemned the test as a "desperate and dangerous provocation," then went on to say in a statement that the "reckless" North Korean move highlighted the importance of a U.S. missile shield that still is in the process of development.

Posted by William Neikirk at 12:15 p.m. CDT

Peace is at hand. Henry Kissinger is back.

According to Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward, he of Watergate fame, Kissinger is now advising both President Bush and Vice President Cheney on Iraq.

(Henry Kissinger, 2nd from left, and Gov. George W. Bush at a May 2000 event. Former Secretary of State George Shultz (far left) and retired Gen. Colin Powell are also in the photo. Tribune photo by Pete Souza.)

According to a new book by Woodward, the former secretary of state under Richard Nixon has been telling our two current leaders that in Iraq, "Victory is the only meaningful exit strategy."

Henry Kissinger is a good man with a quote. Anyone who utters "power is the ultimate aphrodisiac," as he did when he was Nixon's national security adviser, knows how to turn a phrase.

Posted by Andrew Zajac at 3:30 p.m. CST

Call it practical internationalism.

The Princeton Project on National Security Wednesday unveiled
a report that outlines a long-term foreign policy strategy that re-focuses the U.S. on a multi-lateral approach to global problem-solving.

The report, a bi-partisan effort shepherded by Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, calls for a combination of reform of old alliances and institutions like the UN and NATO, and the creation of new ones, including a "Concert of Democracies" to coordinate security issues among the world's liberal democracies.

Although it points to George Kennan's post-World War II anti-communist vision of containment of the Soviet Union as a model for the kind strategic thinking that's needed, the report emphasizes that the variegated 21st century foreign policy landscape requires strategy that is "multidimensional, operating like a Swiss army knife."

Posted by Frank James at 8:30 am CDT

Muslims by the millions want to kill Americans, James Dobson, the conservative religious leader, told the audience at the Family Research Council's Washington Briefing here in the nation's capital on Friday.

"We have more than 100 members of the press here," said Dobson, founder of the Focus on the Family organization and radio show. "I want to make it very, very clear that we are not saying, at least I'm not saying that all Muslims are violent, that all Muslims are violent, that all of them want to kill us, that all of them are terrorists."

Posted by Frank James at 9:13 am CDT

National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" aired an interview with former President Bill Clinton this morning in which he said the Bush Administration shouldn't redefine the Geneva Conventions protections against torture.

I don't yet have a transcript of the interview but Clinton basically said that the Bush Administration should leave the Geneva Conventions alone since they provide important protections to U.S. troops in times of war. The Bush Administration has said it wants to "clarify" the conventions Common Article 3 so U.S. interrogators would know how far they could go inflicting distress on terrorist suspects.

Posted by Frank James AT 10:41 am CDT

A Gallup/USA Today poll out today should give encouragement to House Republicans.

It indicates that when a sample of likely voters were asked their preferences on what’s called a generic congressional ballot, 48 percent said they planned on voting for Republicans with an equal percentage preferring Democrats.

Posted by Frank James at 4:05 pm CDT

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has gotten some high-powered support for his opposition to the Bush administration’s proposals on how to conduct military tribunals of detainees captured as part of the Global War on Terror.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, a retired four-star Army general and another retired four-star Army general, Gen. John W. Vessey, have sent McCain letters which the senator has kindly made public. Their sentiments echo a protest over the administration's approach to the Geneva Convention that a couple of dozen other retired senior officers such as Gen. John Shalikashvilli and Adm. Stanfield Turner have voiced in a letter this week to senators.

Download powellvessey_letters.pdf

Download generals_letter.pdf

Posted by Frank James at 6:04 pm CDT

Today has been a time to remember the dead and the injured of 9/11, and their families and friends, and all the lost possibilities.

(Former 9/11 Commission Vice chairman Lee Hamilton, right, and Thomas Kean, chairman, speak at the National Press Club in Washington on the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

But in Washington, it was also a time to consider the nation’s response to the still mind-blowing tragedy. And that reaction, according to the two retired politicians who led the national self-examination into 9/11 remains significantly lacking.

Posted by Mark Silva at 9:25 am CDT

President Bush, who invoked the name of al Qaeada leader Osama bin Laden 29 times during three separate speeches this week, voiced the name of the still elusive sponsor of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks twice again today during his weekly radio address, in which he warned that: "America still faces determined enemies.''

As the fifth anniversary of 9/11 nears, and Bush prepares to lay a wreath at "Ground Zero'' on Sunday and then take part in commemorative services in New York, in Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon on Monday -- and then deliver a prime-time televised address from the Oval Office Monday night -- the president is attempting to rally support for a war on terror in which he maintains Iraq has become the central front. As the anniversary nears, Democrats are attempting to remind voters that the hunt for bin Laden is not all that remains unfulfilled five years later. "The truth is – five years after the 9/11 attacks – America is not nearly as safe as we can be and we must be,'' said Rep. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat running for Senate, in his party's reply to Bush's address.

Posted by Frank James at 7:15 am CDT

David Lerman of the Daily Press newspaper, a Tribune Co. newspaper which serves the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, has a story in his paper today on Mark Warner, the former Virginia governor, and Democratic presidential wannabe who on Tuesday made what his aides called his first major policy address since leaving the governorship earlier this year.

Warner, like many governors who want to be president, has been viewed by many observers as not having a foreign-policy, national-security gap in his resume which Tuesday's speech was an effort to plug.

By David Lerman

``This administration likes to talk about the war on terror, but honestly we are not mobilized to fight that war,” Warner said in a speech sponsored by a research arm of George Mason University.
Five years after the 2001 attack, Warner said, most air cargo remains unscreened, subway and rail stations lack surveillance cameras, chemical plants lack uniform safety standards, and new FBI agents receive only an hour of training on Arab culture and the history of Islam.

Posted by Mark Silva at 10:20 am CDT

As the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks approaches, analysts are attempting to measure the progress that has been made in a war against terrorism and also to identify the "continuing challenges.''

A simple scorecard of what has been achieved during these five years since 9/11 and what has not has been compiled in a "pocket brochure'' by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. Among its findings: The newly created Department of Homeland Security is little more than "a holding company.'' The guide, which could come in handy for those Labor Day weekend barbecue debates or perhaps online forums such as this, notes that an international coalition succeeded in evicting Al Qaeda from Afghanistan, yet Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden remains at large. It notes that Libya has surrendered weapons of mass destruction, but that the "risk of WMD acquisition by terrorists remains unacceptably high.''

Posted by Mark Silva at 12:16 pm CDT and updated at 2:18 pm

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – If that sounds like a drum-beat you're hearing – with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's tough talk for war critics and Vice President Dick Cheney pressing the administration's case at the Veterans of Foreign Wars this week – you're right.

And President Bush is getting ready to pick up the beat, with a planned address to the American Legion in Salt Lake City tomorrow which will serve as the first in a series of speeches on "the global war on terror'' that the president plans in conjunction with the imminent fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Bush plans to complete this series with his annual address to the United Nations in New York, on Sept. 19. While critics view this as a political play as midterm elections near, Bush said today: "I sincerely hope people wouldn't politicize these issues that I'm going to talk about.''

Posted by Frank James at 3:00 pm CDT

It took a while but the White House finally issued a statement this afternoon after a federal judge in Detroit ruled as unconstitutional this morning the Bush Administration’s warrantless monitoring of domestic phone calls, a program President Bush has touted as essential to the nation’s counterterrorism efforts.

As could be expected, the administration and its supporters leaned heavily on last week’s arrests in Britain of the alleged would-be airplane bombers to make the case for the necessity of what the administration calls its Terrorist Surveillance Program.

Posted by William Neikirk at 2:22 CDT

President Bush and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) both used the phrase "stark reminder" to comment on today's foiled terrorist attack in London. But they were thinking of different things for us to be starkly reminded about.

Posted by William Neikirk at 12:47 p.m. CDT

After hearing the news from London about the terrorist plot to blow up American airplanes, the thought crossed my mind: "Oops, there goes my 401(k) again." Admittedly, I am more conservative about investments than I was before Sept. 11, 2001, but still this incident had a definite bearish tone to it.

I braced for the market opening, and indeed the Dow-Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 fell in the beginning. Then when it dawned on people that British authorities had arrested the main plotters, the market rallied.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Wednesday, August 2, as collected by the Associated Press.

President Bush is in Ohio campaigning for Kenneth Blackwell, the Republican gubernatorial candidate.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is holding a hearing on
"Iraq Reconstruction: Lessons Learned in Contracting and Procurement," with testimony from Stuart Bowen, special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction.
Location: Room 342, Dirksen, at 9 a.m.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Thursday, July 27, as compiled by the Associated Press.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is holding a confirmation hearing at 8:30 a.m. on the nomination of John Bolton to be UN Ambassador, a position he already holds by presidential appointment

President Bush is signing a 25-year extension of the Voting Rights Act.

The Senate Aging Committee is meeting to release results of its investigation into laboratories and companies involved in selling at-home DNA tests to consumers. Location: Room 106 Dirksen at 9 a.m.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Tuesday, July 25, as collected by the Associated Press.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice continues her journey through the Mideast seeking an end to the Israeli warfare with Hezbollah.

President Bush is meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Monday, July 24, as collected by the Associated Press.

Vice President Cheney is campaigning for Republican gubernatorial candidate Asa Hutchinson in Arkansas and in Alabama for Gov. Robert Riley.

6 p.m. TOMB OF THE UNKNOWNS — Arlington National Cemetery holds a public meeting to discuss proposed repairs and/or replacement to the Tomb of the Unknowns.
Location: Visitors Center, Arlington National Cemetery.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Friday, July 21, as collected by the Associated Press.

Bolivian Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera speaks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 7:30 a.m.

The Senate Foreign Relations holds a hearing on the pending extradition treaty with Great Britain and Northern Ireland. 9 a.m.

President Bush is campaigning for a congressional candidate in Colorado and then headed to his ranch in Texas.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Thursday, July 20, as gathered by the Associated Press.

President Bush is addressing the annual NAACP convention at 9:30 a.m., the first time as president he has appeared before the group.

The Institute of Medicine holds a news conference to release a report assessing the frequency and toll of drug-related mishaps. 10 a.m.

7 a.m. TIGERS — News conference to release ``the most comprehensive scientific study of tiger habitat ever done,’’ sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund, Wildlife Conservation Society and Save the Tiger Fund.
Location: Lion/Tiger Hill, National Zoo.

Posted by Mike Dorning at 2:50 pm CDT.

Central Illinois Republican Congressman Ray LaHood, a Lebanese-American whose Peoria constituency includes a considerable community with Lebanese roots, joined a small group of members of Congress in pressing the State Department to urge Israel to exercise more restraint in its bombing of Lebanon.

In a conference call with reporters afterwards, LaHood said he used the opportunity to express his “grave concern” over the number of Lebanese civilians who have been killed in the bombing raids.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Friday, July 14, as gathered by the Associated Press.

President Bush is departing Germany and headed to St. Petersburg, Russia for the G-8 meeting.

July 12 - 15. WORLD CONFERENCE ON TOBACCO OR HEALTH — Three-day convention on building a tobacco-free world. Workshops and session on tobacco control and regulation, the human cost of tobacco, smoking prevention, and the tobacco industry.
10:15 a.m. The Smoke Free Movies Action Network announces a parents’ guide to focus attention on the depiction of smoking in films and the impact on youth. Room 141. Event contact: Jenni Brewer, 703-741-7047.
Location: Washington Convention Center, Mt. Vernon Square.

Posted by Frank James at 5:15 pm CDT

Amb. Joseph Wilson had hoped to see Karl Rove, President Bush's political advisor, "frog marched" out of the White House for leaking the name of a U.S. intelligence officer to journalists. Wilson's hope died when U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald told Rove he was no longer a target of the investigation.

But Wilson and his wife, the former clandestine Central Intelligence Agency employee in question, are not letting Rove go quietly, suing him as well as Vice President Cheney, I. Lewis Libby, the vice president's former chief of staff, and others.

Here's the lawsuit.

Posted by Jill Zuckman at 1:26 pm CDT

As the Senate turns this week to the question of what to do about military tribunals for enemy combatants, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) arrived today at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base for a fact-finding mission.

Durbin, who is traveling with Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), will tour the detention facilities, eat lunch with Illinois and Virginia soldiers and receive a briefing from the base commanders.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Friday, July 7, as compiled by the Associated Press.

President Bush is in Chicago, where he's breakfasting with business leaders, holding a press conference at 9 a.m. and later campaigning for Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate Judy Baar Topinka and visiting the Cabot Microelectronic Corp. in Aurora.

The Labor Department is releasing the unemployment report for June.

July 7 - 11. FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL — Second session of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, focusing on life in the Canadian province of Alberta, evening concerts celebrating African American music from New Orleans, Latino music of Chicago, basketweavers from a wide variety of geographical regions and other events.
Location: On the Mall between 7th and 14th Streets NW.

Posted by Frank James at 11:23 am CDT

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) wants the Central Intelligence Agency to reopen its Osama bin Laden unit. It's a response to recent news reports that the CIA closed the unit in an effort to broaden its efforts in the Global War on Terror.

Here's the press release from Kerry's office.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 6, 2006

Today Senator John Kerry sent a letter to Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte, outlining his concerns about reports that the CIA’s unit responsible for hunting down Osama bin Laden has been closed, and calling for the agency to open the unit immediately.

Below is the text of Kerry’s letter.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Thursday, July 6, as compiled by the Associated Press.

President Bush is meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

1 p.m. - 2 p.m. GEORGIA-SAAKASHVILI — President Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia delivers remarks on Georgia’s efforts to join NATO, energy security, the deployment of troops to Iraq, Russian relations and U.S. relations.
Location: Wohlstetter Conference Center, 12th floor, American Enterprise Institute, 1150 17th St. NW.

Posted by Frank James at 1:55 pm CDT

Anthony Cordesman, a leading national security analyst here in nation’s capital and one of the most saturnine sources a Washington reporter can talk to, has an assessment out today of the North Korea missile launches that is well worth reading.

Cordesman says the North Koreans have once again yanked the chains of the U.S. and its allies who lack an effective response that could actually bring the rogue state into line.

Posted by Frank James at 12:00 pm CDT

In an item I posted yesterday on the Supreme Court’s Hamdan v. Rumsfeld decision, I said the decision would be, for congressional Republicans, an unintended gift that would keep on giving through the November election.

I said that because the decision would allow House Republicans to employ their strategy for re-election and holding onto power which is to portray themselves as far tougher and thus more effective in the war on terror than their Democratic collegues.

Posted by Frank James at 2:27 pm CDT

In its decision handed down today in the case of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, in which the Supreme Court majority essentially said President Bush didn’t have the authority to use military tribunals to try accused terrorist detainees, it added that to abide by the law, Bush needed to go back to Congress to get that power.

After digesting the high court’s decision, Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), the Senate’s majority leader, indicated this afternoon that, if he has anything to do with it, Congress will speedily give the president that authority.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Thursday, June 29, as compiled by the Associated Press.

President Bush meets with Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi and later hosts an official White House dinner for him.

The Supreme Court is handing down more decisions.

The Commerce Department is releasing its revised first quarter report on the Gross Domestic Product at 8:30 a.m.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Monday, June 26, as compiled by the Associated Press.

Vice President Cheney is campaigning in Nebraska for congressional candidate Adrian Smith and later in the day for Minnesota congressional candidate Michele Bachmann.

The Supreme Court may hand down more decisions.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Friday, June 23, as compiled by the Associated Press.

President Bush is attending a kids' Tee-ball game on the White House lawn.

Vice President Cheney is in Chicago, speaking on the economy this morning at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and later campaigning for congressional candidate Dave McSweeney.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Thursday, June 22, as compiled by the Associated Press.

President Bush is meeting with Hungarian officials before flying home to Washington.

The Supreme Court is meeting and likely to hand down more decisions as it heads toward the conclusion of its yearly term at the end of the month.

10 a.m. TEEN DRIVERS — The AAA Foundation holds a news conference to release new research showing safety measures that significantly lower death and injury crash rates for teen drivers.
Location: National Press Club.

The Senate Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights Subcommittee holds a hearing on the AT&T-Bell South merger. 3 p.m.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Tuesday, June 20, as compiled by the Associated Press.

The National Transportation Safety Board is opening a two-day public hearing into the Dec. 2005 runway overrun by a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 at Chicago Midway Airport.
Location: NTSB offices, 429 L’Enfant Plaza

President Bush is departing for his European trip and meetings with the European Community.

Energy Information Administration chief Guy Caruso is releasing the International Energy Outlook 2006 with forecasts of world energy supply and demand through 2030.

The House Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee holds a hearing on consumer privacy in the commercial sector with Meg Whitman, President and CEO of eBay Inc.

Good Morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Friday, June 16, as compiled by the Associated Press.

The House continues its debate on the war in Iraq.

President Bush is attending political events in Washington state and New Mexico.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Wednesday, June 14, as collected by the Associated Press.

President Bush is scheduled to meet with the President Alvaro Uribe Velez of Colombia in the morning and in the evening is hosting the annual congressional picnic on the South Lawn of the White House.

The House Energy Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee is holding a hearing on NIH research policies regarding human tissue samples at 10 a.m.

Posted by William Neikirk at 12:35 CDT

President Bush certainly has a flair for the dramatic, making a surprise trip to Iraq to show his support for the new Iraqi government.

Even the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, didn't know that the president was going to show up until five minutes before Bush arrived. It would be hard to imagine that a foreign head of state would try to make such an unannounced visit to the White House on such short notice. Things like that just aren't done here.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Tuesday, June 13, as compiled by the Associated Press.

President Bush and his top security and military advisers wrap up their two-day conclave at Camp David on future Iraq operations.

10 a.m. OCEANS INITIATIVE — A National Ocean Policy Action Plan for Congress, ``From Sea to Shining Sea: Priorities for Ocean Policy Reform, developed at the request of a bipartisan group of 10 senators, will be released by Leon E. Panetta and William D. Ruckelshaus of the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative.
Location: Room 138, Dirksen.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Monday, June 12, as collected by the Associated Press.

President Bush is meeting at Camp David with key American and Iraqi governmental and military leaders today and Tuesday about future operations in Iraq.

10 a.m. The Supreme Court is meeting and may hand down more decisions as its yearly term nears the end.

Posted by Frank James at 10:40 am CDT

Like a lot of people I wondered, on seeing the death image of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, how his face was left so relatively unscathed after two 500-pound bombs dropped on the not-so-safe house he was in. Those are some pretty smart “smart bombs,” I thought, to be able to kill a terrorist but leave him very identifiable.

Today came official confirmation that not only was Zarqawi’s face recognizably intact, but that he actually survived the twin blasts, at least briefly.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Friday, June 9, as compiled by the Associated Press.

President Bush is meeting with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen at Camp David.

4 p.m. AYALON — Israeli Amb. Daniel Ayalon holds an Afternoon Newsmaker conference on Mideast developments.
Location: National Press Club.

Posted by Frank James at 3:20 pm CDT

The killing of Abu Musab a- Zarqawi is being roundly greeted here in Washington as, finally, some very positive news out of Iraq.

It wasn’t enough to knock the Haditha atrocity allegedly committed by Marines completely out of the news. CNN is running a Haditha story as I write this.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Thursday, June 8, as collected by the Associated Press.

President Bush is speaking at the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast and then meeting with governors on the line item veto.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is holding a hearing on national emergency management with DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen and others. 10 a.m.

The House Government Reform Committee is holding a hearing on data security breaches at federal agencies, with Deputy OMB Director Clay Johnson III, Comptroller General David Walker, VA Secretary Jim Nicholson and others. 10 a.m.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Tuesday, June 6, as compiled by the Associated Press.

President Bush is touring the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Artesia, N.M. and speaking on immigration reform there, as well as later visiting the Laredo, Texas Border Patrol Sector heaquarters.

The Senate is debating the merits of a constitutional amendment declaring that marriage is between a man and a woman.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Wednesday, May 31, as gathered by the Associated Press.

President Bush swears in the new CIA director, Michael Hayden, actually a ceremonial ritual since Hayden was officially sworn in Tuesday.

President Paul Kagame of Rwanda meets with President Bush and then holds a news conference.

The National Spelling Bee holds its first rounds.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Thursday, May 25, as compiled by the Associated Press.

President Bush meets with Prime Minister Blair and holds a news conference at 6:30 p.m. CDT.

Commerce Department releases the first quarter report on the Gross Domestic Product. 7:30 a.m. CDT

The Senate may pass immigration legislation that could tighten the U.S. border with Mexico and lead to citizenship for 12 million illegal immigrants already in the U.S.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Monday, May 22, as compiled by the Associated Press.

10 a.m. U.S. SUPREME COURT — Meets to hand down decisions and release orders.

10 a.m. NATURALIZATION CEREMONY — U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Servoices Director Emilio T. Gonzalez swears-in 100 new citizens from 42 nations.
Location: George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens, Fairfax County, Va.

8:30 a.m. - 10 a.m. IMMIGRATION — The Hudson Institute hosts a panel on What Makes an American? Historical Perspectives on Immigration. With Amy Kauffman, Hudson Institute; Mathew Spalding, Director of the B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies at The Heritage Foundation; Peter Skerry, Brookings Institute and professor of political science, Boston College; Tamar Jacoby, senior fellow, Manhattan Institute; and John Fonte, director of the Center for American Common Culture at Hudson Institute.
Location: Hudson Institute, Betsey and Walter Stern Conference Center, sixth floor, 1015 15th Street, NW.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Friday, May 19, as gathered by the Associated Press.

Linton Brooks, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, discusses nuclear terrorism. 8 a.m.

Vice President Samuel Lewis Navarro of Panama speaks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on expansion of the Panama Canal. 9 a.m.

Presidsent Bush campaigns for congressional candidates in Virginia and Kentucky and speaks on U.S. competitiveness at Northern Kentucky University.

11 a.m. PENTAGON TOWN HALL — Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Peter Pace hold a Pentagon town hall meeting.
Location: Pentagon Auditorium.

Posted by Frank James at 11:52 am CDT

Senators in Gen. Michael Hayden's confirmation hearing are engaging in the expected testy exchanges with Hayden, President Bush's nominee to head the CIA, but the mild-mannered Hayden has remained unruffled and given little ground. If the hearings proceed as they currently are, there is little reason to believe Hayden's nomination will face serious trouble, despite the controversy surrounding two programs run by the National Security Agency while Hayden headed the agency.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) pressed Hayden on whether he had helped design one of those programs, the monitoring of phone calls between the U.S. and overseas, without a court order, if one party has a suspected tie to al Qaeda. After a little back-and-forth, Hayden acknowledged that he had helped design it: "I think that's fair, senator, yeah."

Posted by Naftali Bendavid at 10:08 am CDT

It's easy so far to see why Gen. Michael Hayden is viewed on Capitol Hill as a top-notch intelligence briefer, and why the White House is counting on Hayden to sell himself, impress senators and overcome the controversies surrounding the administration's intelligence activities.

Hayden opened his testimony in his confirmation hearing by outlining his "vision" for the agency, deftly touching on many of the criticisms lawmakers have had about the CIA since its failure to disrupt the Sept. 11 attacks and its fundamental miscalculation of Saddam Hussein's arsenal.