Topic: CIA

Obama's Forever War Doesn't End Today

Reuters

President Obama will say he sees a day when the War on Terror comes to an end in a much anticipated speech Thursday afternoon. But when-ish will the War on Terror really end? It's going to be a while — maybe long after Obama has left office.

By Elspeth Reeve

May 22, 2013

How Petraeus Turned the CIA into the Good Guys in Benghazi

How did the CIA become the hero in the Benghazi talking point controversy? And if the CIA is part of Team Obama, why hasn't it enjoyed as much scrutiny as everyone else involved? One reason is the political skills of David Petraeus, as behind-the-scenes emails continue to reveal.

Comments | 4,567 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

May 16, 2013

Report: The CIA Has Been Using the Same Terrible Wigs for Decades

If you weren't already convinced that the Russian evidence against accused American spy Ryan Fogle is rock solid, this newest revelation has to seal the deal.

Comments | 2,072 Views

By Philip Bump

May 16, 2013

The Benghazi Conspiracy Isn't Surviving D.C.'s Scandal Week

To be clear: There are not three scandals plaguing the Obama White House. By embracing the leaked talking points, Obama's opponents may have taken Benghazi off the table completely.

Comments | 6,007 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

May 14, 2013

Russia Has Arrested a U.S. Diplomat It Swears Is a CIA Spy, Disguises and All

Russian security forces have detained an employee at the American embassy in Moscow, accusing him of recruiting spies for the CIA. Whether the charges stick or not, this bizarre incident won't help relations one bit. Here's why Ryan Fogle might not really be a spy anyway.

Comments | 6,578 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

May 10, 2013

Every Version of the Infamous Benghazi Talking Points, Revealed

ABC News has obtained every version of the government talking points that were distributed after the attack on the Benghazi consulate in Libya, along with evidence that the White House and State Department were more involved in the editing they want to admit.

Comments | 2,031 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

May 5, 2013

Turns Out British Spies Were Giving Bags of Cash to Karzai, Too

A week after we learned that the CIA delivered bags full of cash to Afghan President Hamid Karzai in exchange for his cooperation, the United Kingdom's MI6 admitted to doing the same thing this weekend.

Comments | 2,208 Views

By Connor Simpson

May 4, 2013

Hamid Karzai Would Prefer If That Sweet CIA Money Kept Coming, Thanks

Afghan president Hamid Karzai isn't ready to give up his financially beneficial relationship with the CIA just yet. No, he wants those backpacks full from cash to keep coming.

Comments | 2,203 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 29, 2013

Three Things the CIA Is Doing to Undermine American Values

No one is getting off the island during the Guantanamo hunger strike, where there aren't review boards. And did we mention the latest on drones and financing Afghan warlords? Here are a few core democratic principles the CIA is glossing over these days.

Comments | 1,179 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

Apr 28, 2013

The CIA Gave Karzai Bags Full of Cash for Over a Decade

Afghan president Hamid Karzai has a sugar daddy, and its name is the Central Intelligence Agency. Or at least it had a sugar daddy.

Comments | 3,929 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

Apr 24, 2013

CIA Added Tamerlan Tsarnaev to a Terrorist Watchlist 18 Months Ago

It's not like it's a suprise, but the U.S. intelligence committee is already contradicting itself as the investigation into the Boston bombing unfolds. Turns out the CIA knew about one of the Tsarnaev brothers after all.

Comments | 3,706 Views

By Connor Simpson

Apr 6, 2013

What We Didn't Know About the Start of America's Drone War Killed Thousands

The details of the bloody back-room deal between Pakistani and American officials that led to the U.S. regularly carrying out unmanned strikes in Pakistan have been shrouded in secrecy, until now, and the reports of the first strike are strange to read now, in retrospect. But what does retrospect mean in America's drone war, anyway?

Comments | 9,699 Views

By Cora Currier, ProPublica

Apr 5, 2013

What Does the U.S. Pay for Accidentally Killing a Civilian in a Drone Strike?

The U.S. drone war remains cloaked in secrecy, and as a result, questions swirl around it. Who exactly can be targeted? When can a U.S. citizen be killed? Another, perhaps less frequently asked question: What happens when innocent civilians are killed in drone strikes?

Comments | 357 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

Mar 27, 2013

The CIA Has an Undercover Female Boss

A day after Julia Pierson became the first woman director of the Secret Service, it was learned that the head of the CIA's most secretive division has its first female chief as well.

Comments | 3,851 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

Mar 20, 2013

Is the CIA Getting Out of the Drone Business?

Daniel Klaidman of The Daily Beast reports that the White House will soon take the power to launch lethal drone strikes away from the CIA and make the program the exclusive domain of the Defense Department.

Comments | 863 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Mar 8, 2013

John Brennan Sworn in on Constitution Without a Bill of Rights

It is a symbolic thing, but the White House got the symbolism wrong. Especially after the whole Rand Paul thing.

Comments | 8,759 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

Mar 7, 2013

Iran Stashed Bin Laden's Son-in-Law in Jail, Possibly to Use as a Bargaining Chip

On Thursday morning, we learned that that the United States had successfully captured Osama bin Laden's son-in-law, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, who's also al Qaeda's spokesman. You'll never guess where he's been hiding the past ten years.

Comments | 4,956 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Mar 7, 2013

How to Make a Filibuster Cameo Cool — and Work for You in 2016!

While Rand Paul used a filibuster to draw attention to Obama's drone program, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz saw an opportunity to draw attention to their 2016 brands. This is most obvious in their choice of strange pop-culture references.

Comments | 690 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

Mar 7, 2013

U.S. Captures Bin Laden's Son-In-Law and Will Put Him on Trial

U.S. officials have announced that a former spokesperson for al Qaeda — who also happens to be a son-in-law of Osama bin Laden &mdash has been captured overseas and is being brought to America to stand trial.

Comments | 2,242 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

Feb 26, 2013

Those Missing Drone Memos Are Now John Brennan's Worst Enemy

Now that Chuck Hagel's confirmation has gone off without a hitch (for the most part), it's John Brennan's turn to take the spotlight, and it look like those drone memos will be a real roadblock.

Comments | 2,069 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

Feb 21, 2013

The White House's New Game: Trade Benghazi Secrets to Hush Up Drones

As the Obama Administration maneuvers to secure John Brennan's appointment to CIA director, they are reportedly offering to give Republicans new information about the attack on Benghazi, in the hopes that Senators will back off on demanding more information about its drone program.  

Comments | 1,207 Views

By Cora Currier, ProPublica

Feb 14, 2013

At Least 20 Prisoners Still Missing from CIA 'Black-Site' Prisons

The CIA says it is "out of the detention business," as John Brennan, Obama's pick to head the agency, recently put it. But the CIA's prisons left some unfinished business.

Comments | 345 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 7, 2013

Brennan Hearing Barely Touches Drones

In the week before John Brennan's confirmation hearing, the conversation about the nominee to be CIA director was almost entirely about drones. The hearing itself mostly wasn't.

Comments

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 7, 2013

Brennan Walks the Line

Early into the John Brennan's confirmation hearing to be CIA director, his most difficult to believe statement is his claim, "I never believed it's better to kill a terrorist than to detain them." The Obama administration's drone program has, since 2008, incinerated not-even-high-ranking Al Qaeda members in thousands of drone strikes.

Comments | 674 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

Feb 7, 2013

Watch Live: John Brennan's CIA Confirmation Hearing

President Obama's top counterterrorism advisor faced the Senate Intelligence Committee today.

Comments | 1,035 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

Feb 7, 2013

Is John Brennan's CIA Post-Torture?

Drones will no doubt be the central issue of contention at John Brennan's confirmation hearing on Thursday to become Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, but whatever happened to torture?

Comments | 172 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Feb 6, 2013

The Scope of America's World War Drone

The CIA drone program sure feels like a war, and if you look at the reach of the targeted killing — now that everyone seems to be looking at the reach of the targeted killing — well, it's nearly worldwide. Here's a map to catch you up before Brennan's hearing.

Comments | 3,104 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

Feb 6, 2013

The Drone Secrets Inside John Brennan

In a week that has already seen the Obama administration's targeted killing program rise from clandestine legalise to coffee-table conversation, many unanswered question still remain: How much else does Brennan know? How much does the Senate? And how much will his confirmation hearing divulge by week's end?

Comments | 2,780 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Feb 5, 2013

The 54 Countries That Helped the CIA Kidnap and Torture Terror Suspects

Yes, little old Iceland made the list. So did the Hague's neighbors in Belgium, and Sweden and Finland. Why?

Comments | 5,201 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

Feb 4, 2013

How Obama Decides to Kill American Citizens in the War on Terror

Human-rights advocates were floored on Monday night when NBC News published the details of a Justice Department memo detailing the protocol for sending drones after United States citizens.

Comments | 23,912 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

Jan 22, 2013

Cleared of Wrongdoing, General Allen Wants to Get Back to His Old Life

Over two months after allegations surfaced that he'd carried on an inappropriate relationship with Jill Kelley, the Tampa socialite at the center of the Petraeus scandal, General John Allen is off the hook.

Comments | 517 Views

By David Wagner

Jan 9, 2013

Today's Best

Five Best Wednesday Columns

Tim Weiner on John Brennan, Jonathan Chait on elusive centrist debt solutions, J. Michael Cole on Japan-China hostilities, David Hirst on a possible Kurdish state, and Leonid Bershidsky on Gerard Depardieu taking Russia. 

Comments | 1,603 Views

By Esther Zuckerman

Jan 9, 2013

Trimming the Times

Iranian Bank Hackers, the Fate of the Dreamliner, and a Poetic Inauguration

A summary of the best reads found behind the paywall of The New York Times.

Comments | 1,379 Views

By J.K. Trotter

Jan 7, 2013

You Won't Believe How John Brennan Got His Start at the CIA

A 25-year veteran of the agency, the New Jersey native began his career at Langley in a manner you don't often hear about all that often: answering an ad in the newspaper.

Comments | 2,242 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

Jan 7, 2013

What Happens to John Brennan's Drone War Now?

As President Obama nominates John Brennan to lead the CIA, the future of the controversial program they've worked so closely on swings into uncertainty: What happens now, and what details might we learn about America's secret war?

Comments | 1,552 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

Jan 7, 2013

Obama to Nominate John Brennan to Run the CIA

President Obama will reportedly nominate John Brennan, the nation's current head of counterterrorism operations, to replace David Petraeus as the new director of the Central Intelligence Agency

Comments | 3,966 Views

By Connor Simpson

Jan 3, 2013

Senators Have Some 'Zero Dark' Questions for the CIA Director Now

The number of strongly-worded letters inspired by the scenes depicting torture in Zero Dark Thirty grows by the day. Today, a group of Senators directed their ire towards acting-CIA director Michael Morell about comments he made about torture in his own strongly worded letter. 

Comments | 3,534 Views

By J.K. Trotter

Dec 31, 2012

This Secret CIA Mission Would Make for a Really Bad Movie

A cache of recently declassified spy documents of a long forgotten deep-sea adventure reveals a tale that resembles the plot of Ice Station Zebra, a 1968 film that Roger Ebert called "an embarrassment."

Comments | 4,033 Views

By J.K. Trotter

Dec 28, 2012

Fact-Checking the CIA's Fact-Check on 'Zero Dark Thirty'

Should you believe the CIA's latest attempt to continue debunking Hollywood? We break down each agency claim with actual details from Zero Dark Thirty and beyond.

Comments | 9,183 Views

By Connor Simpson

Dec 22, 2012

The CIA Is Not Too Happy with 'Zero Dark Thirty'

Acting CIA director Michael Morell is not happy -- not one bit happy -- with how the CIA was ultimately portrayed in Zero Dark Thirty, that new movie getting all the buzz about the hunt for Osama bin Laden. 

Comments | 8,870 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

Dec 10, 2012

The CIA Agent Who Found Bin Laden Is Having Trouble at Work

If you're not already aware of the bull-headed CIA agent whose persistent pressure to track Al Qaeda couriers helped lead the way to Osama bin Laden's compound, you're about to be.

Comments | 104,247 Views

By David Wagner

Nov 19, 2012

The Weird Coalition Sounding the Alarm on Global Warming

Who would've thought that a Big Four accounting firm, the CIA, and now The World Bank would be some of the loudest voices calling for action on global warming? 

Comments | 7,314 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Nov 16, 2012

The Wonderful World of Jill and Scott Kelley

Jill Kelley's seemingly endless charms got her into the White House three times this fall.

Comments | 40,719 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Nov 15, 2012

Now the CIA Is Investigating Petraeus

The sprawling Love Pentagon investigation into the private emails of ex-CIA director David Petraeus, his mistress-biographer Paula Broadwell, and Gen. John Allen has caused multiple reporters to note the irony that our massive surveillance state has started eating itself. It is not yet sated.

Comments | 4,251 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Nov 15, 2012

Here's the Shirtless FBI Agent Photo — And It's a Joke

Defenders of the FBI agent who emailed a shirtless photo of himself to Jill Kelley said the image was a joke. Now that it's been leaked to The Seattle Times's Mike Carter, we understand why.

Comments | 17,961 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Nov 15, 2012

Paula Broadwell Wanted to Give Petraeus Lance Armstrong for His Birthday

When Paula Broadwell wrote on Facebook, "Can anyone introduce me to Lance Armstrong?" it was not social-climbing, but birthday shopping.

Comments | 5,067 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

Nov 13, 2012

Jill Kelley Ran a Bogus Cancer Charity, Wants 'Diplomatic Protection'

Jill Kelley does not appreciate the flood of attention she's been receiving since the investigation into David Petraeus's affair -- the one that she started -- captivated the nation.

Comments | 22,769 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Nov 13, 2012

Why Is Love Pentagon an FBI Case?

While David Petraeus's sexy email scandal has given us many things—a clearer picture of Petraeus's public relations machine, insight into the military-industrial-housewife complex, the understanding that 60-year-olds are no more responsible about sexy Internet use than are tweens—we still don't understand where it came from.

Comments | 8,122 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Nov 13, 2012

Maybe There Weren't 30,000 Pages of Emails

How could Gen. John Allen be such great pen pals with Jill Kelley that they exchanged 20,000 to 30,000 pages of emails? An Allen defender says they were not involved ("Allen has never been alone with Jill Kelley") and that number has been wildly overstated.

Comments | 11,670 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Nov 13, 2012

There's Something About Jill Kelley

Defenders of both ex-CIA director David Petraeus and Gen. John Allen deny they were romantically involved with Jill Kelley, and even if that's true, the lady sure knew how to pull strings.

Comments | 92,377 Views

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