New York Times
David Sanger is chief Washington correspondent for the New York Times. He is the author of The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power and Confront and Conceal: Obama’s Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power.
Why North Korea fired a missile over northern Japan A North Korean missile flew over the island of Hokkaido, Japan on Tuesday. Bullet trains stopped, and some TV stations interrupted programming to warn people to take shelter. It’s only the third time North Korea has fired a rocket over Japan. The Japanese Prime Minister called it an “unprecedented, serious and grave threat.”
Will President Trump's first foreign policy test be in Asia? Barack Obama warned Donald Trump about trouble from North Korea, and his prediction is coming true. With North Korea's missile tests and America's missile defenses, China says they're like trains accelerating toward one another. China itself feels threatened, and South Korea, where the defenses are being installed, has just kicked its president out of office. Meantime, North Korea's Kim Jung Un appears to have orchestrated the public assassination of his half-brother. Is all this building up to a regional crisis?
Were US forces grounded in Yemen after botched raid? Last month, President Trump authorized his first commando raid, an attack in Yemen which killed children and other civilians and a member of the Navy’s highly regarded SEAL Team 6. Yesterday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer called the raid an, "an intelligence gathering raid" that was "highly successful. It achieved the purpose it was going to get -- save the loss of life that we suffered and the injuries that occurred." Senator McCain has described the raid as a failure, and the New York Times is reporting that officials in Yemen do not regard the mission as a "success." David Sanger, national security correspondent for the New York Times , offers an assessment of the raid and it's implications for future military action in the region.
America's transition of power and US relations with Europe On his last visit to Germany as President, Barack Obama reassured Chancellor Angela Merkel: Donald Trump is committed to the NATO Alliance. But the two leaders also issued a statement on climate change, free trade, international "norms" and Vladimir Putin's Russia. It's being construed as a "joint rebuttal" of some controversial positions Trump's taken during his campaign and since the election. With the rise of right-wing populism and a new generation of strongmen, will Merkel become the leading defender of European Unity and democratic values?
The US and Iran: Does Diplomacy Have a Future? Iran has reduced its nuclear program and is back in the global economy, thanks to the lifting of sanctions imposed under the leadership of the United States. The Presidents of both countries have made those and other concessions, but they also face stern opposition from domestic hardliners. High-profile prisoner swaps can't disguise 35 years of hostilities over Middle East politics and international terrorism. With elections pending in both countries, what are the prospects for a troubled relationship?
Nuclear Weapons: The Pride of Pakistan Two nuclear-armed nations make South Asia one of the world's most dangerous places, with Pakistan rapidly increasing its arsenal to outpace India. Now Pakistan has developed small, short-range "tactical nukes" that could be misused by rogue commanders or seized by terrorists. That's causing alarm in India, and in Washington, where Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is due for a visit this week. The Obama White House has broken a long silence and said that nuclear safety will be on the agenda.
Are Russian Airstrikes in Syria a Challenge to the United States? Russia reportedly gave the US less than an hour's notice of airstrikes today near the city of Homs in Western Syria. They appear designed to shore up the government of Bashar al-Assad. Secretary of State John Kerry told the UN Security Council that US will continue its bombing to the Islamic State. Will Russian airstrikes pose a challenge to the US?
A Massive Data Breach Was Just Waiting to Happen It took three months for the Office of Personnel Management to discover that key records of at least four million federal employees were being hacked . Defenses were so weak, one cyber security expert says, "The mystery is not how they got cleaned out… but what took the Chinese so long." The Obama Administration has not officially said the attack came from China, and it’s unclear if the objective was financial crime or intelligence gathering. Whatever the motives, will hackers always be ahead of the game?
Neglected Nuclear Arms Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says billions of dollars are needed for emergency fixes to nuclear weapons in silos, submarines and storage facilities. At a Pentagon briefing today, Hagel acknowledged, “The reviews found evidence of systematic problems, if not addressed could undermine the safety, security and effectiveness of the elements of the forces in the future. These problems include manning, infrastructure and skill deficiencies. Today’s New York Times calls the Pentagon review a “searing indictment” of how America’s nuclear arsenal has been allowed to decay since the end of the Cold War. David Sanger co-authored the story. Thanks to Sasa Woodruff for production assistance.
Will a Historic Agreement Be a Historic Mistake? For the first time since the Islamic revolution 34 years ago, the US and Iran have signed an agreement. Six other nations have also agreed that economic sanctions will be suspended for six months in exchange for a temporary freeze on Iran's nuclear program. Congress and America's allies are sharply divided. Although both President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry lauded the deal, there's trouble with both political parties in the US Senate, from South Carolina Republican Lindsay Graham, who wants to get tougher, to New York Democrat Charles Schumer, one of Israel's most vigorous supporters on Capitol Hill. We hear the arguments from Washington and the Middle East.
Is Taking Charge of Syria's Chemical Weapons Mission Impossible? President Obama has postponed his "decision" for taking limited military action to punish Syria's alleged use of chemical weapons. Secretary of State John Kerry has gone to Geneva, where he and foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov will discuss Russia's proposed alternative : placing Bashar al-Assad's arsenal under international supervision with plans to destroy it -- a dangerous job that could take a decade or more. Despite warnings that it can't be done during a civil war, we hear from a former weapons inspector who says the difficulties might be overcome. Where did Syria's chemical stockpile come from? Did the West, including the US, stand by and watch it build up? How much do we really know? Should more intelligence findings be revealed to overcome public skepticism that is deeply ingrained?
Obama Talks Iran Nuclear Capability, Prepares for Mid-East Trip Less than a week before his first visit to Israel as President of the US, Barack Obama told an Israeli TV station yesterday that Iran is not all that close to building a nuclear weapon. David Sanger is chief Washington correspondent for the New York Times .
North Korea Tests a Nuclear Device North Korea performed its third test of a nuclear device today, after threatening to do so for months. South Korean officials estimated the size of the explosion yield as six to seven kilotons – half the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. David Sanger is chief Washington correspondent for the New York Times .
The Fiscal Cliff, Susan Rice and Political Gamesmanship As promised, President Obama had lunch with Mitt Romney today — no press coverage, no details of their discussion. But just weeks after the election, partisanship is still the word in Washington. After days of optimism about avoiding the fiscal cliffs, hard lines are now being drawn. The President and House Speaker John Boehner spoke by telephone last night, and it appears the President is still insisting that priority number one is the bill to maintain tax breaks for the Middle Class while raising rates on the wealthy. At a news conference this morning, Boehner threw cold water on the President's much advertised return to the campaign trail to win public support.
Cyberwarfare in the Era of Stuxnet and Flame President Obama picked up the unmanned drone program where George W. Bush left off. He has also vastly expanded the use of cyber-weapons by ordering the Stuxnet attacks that partly disabled Iran's nuclear program. That's according to New York Times Chief Washington correspondent David Sanger, in his new book, Confront and Conceal : Obama's Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power, just published today.
The New World of Cyber Warfare and Espionage Barack Obama picked up the unmanned drone program where George W. Bush left off. The Stuxnet computer virus that disabled part of Iran's nuclear program was science fiction made real by President Obama's executive order. He proved that computer codes can do what used to require military action. Does that mean they're subject to the rules of warfare? Can other nations strike back? The so-called “Flame” virus doesn't do physical damage, but it can learn the most closely guarded secrets of nation states and corporations. If the US uses these technologies, is it vulnerable to counter-attack? Is it prepared or in a state of denial?
The Trump agenda: where's the beef? President Trump says big things are happening. After celebrating a House bill on health care, he doesn’t yet have Senate agreement. With James Comey’s public testimony scheduled tomorrow, the President today tweeted his selection of a new FBI Director. Is the Chief Executive all style and no substance? Later, terror attacks in Iran and conflicting claims about who’s behind them.
Terrorism and tweets, hate speech and murder Just days before an election, Britain is coping with a rash of deadly terrorism, and Prime Minister Theresa May is on the defensive. And again today, President Trump has tweeted criticism of the Mayor of London. Later, a double murder in Portland, Oregon has revealed the ugly past of a supposedly “progressive” city. One immediate question: is “hate speech” protected by the First Amendment?
What happens when America retreats from the world? Is President Trump taking his "America First" agenda to extremes, withdrawing the country from the international stage on trade and climate change, distancing America from its traditional allies across the Atlantic and even threatening to physically isolate the country through the building of a wall along its southern border? León Krauze guest hosts.
Venezuela spirals into economic and political chaos Venezuela, a country whose potential for prosperity is unmatched, finds itself on the verge of civil war. What sustains the repressive government? With time running out, guest host León Krauze looks at what the international community can do to pull the country from the edge of collapse.