New York Times
Mark Mazzetti is Washington investigations editor for the New York Times and author of The Way of the Knife: The CIA, a Secret Army, and a War at the Ends of the Earth. He was part of the Times team that won a 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting.
Trump transition knew Flynn was under investigation Even before he appointed Michael Flynn as his first National Security Advisor, his transition team knew Flynn was being investigated for possibly breaking the law as a paid lobbyist for Turkey. Flynn told them. That's according to Mark Mazzetti, who co-wrote the story for the New York Times .
CIA Director Brennan Testifies on the ISIS Threat President Obama has insisted that ISIS — or ISIL, as the administration calls it, is losing territory and power, but John Brennan told Congress today that’s only part of the story. At a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing , the director of the CIA reminded that our resources to fight terrorism are "very modest," and added that ISIL is urging the group’s followers "to conduct attacks in their home countries if they were unable to travel to Syria and Iraq." Mark Mazzetti, national security correspondent for the New York Times , has more on the story.
CIA Drone Strike Accidentally Kills American, Italian Hostages In a stunning announcement today President Obama revealed that CIA drone strike in January accidentally killed an American and an Italian being held hostage by al Qaeda in Pakistan. It's the first public acknowledgement of its kind, raising new questions about the drone program and US intelligence.
America's Longest War Is Going to Continue With NATO troops pulling out of Afghanistan, attacks by the Taliban are increasing, and American soldiers will stay until the end of next year. The White House was divided, but President Obama approved an expanded mission, which will also include jets, bombers and drones. Newly elected President Ashraf Ghani wants the American presence, but he’s been unable to form a government. Yesterday he fired the entire cabinet. The Taliban is taking advantage of political instability. Today, police officers and others were killed in several incidents across the country.
Syrian Terror Group, Not ISIS, Biggest Threat to US The Islamic State—ISIS or ISIL—has been called a threat to the US homeland, but that’s now said to be a distortion of what’s happening in the Middle East. Intelligence officials have identified other groups emerging from the Syrian civil war that may be targeting the West more directly. Not much is known about Khorasan, but that’s the name of a terrorist group identified by the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, Jrs. He says, “in terms of threat to the homeland, Khorasan may pose as much a of threat as the Islamic State.” That’s according to the New York Times in a story co-authored by Mark Mazzetti
The Politics (and Legality) of Extrajudicial Killings The Obama Administration is debating whether to authorize a drone strike against an American citizen living in Pakistan. Last May, President Obama said "for the record" that could not happen in the United States without due process, and that drone strikes would never be used in this country. What's the evidence that he's a threat to America? What about legal protection under the constitution? Mark Mazzetti is National Security Correspondent for the New York Times , and author of The Way of the Knife : The CIA, a Secret Army and a War at the Ends of the Earth.
Is NSA Monitoring You through Your Favorite Video Games? Classified documents leaked by fugitive Edward Snowden reveal that American and British intelligence agencies have created make-believe characters to take part in the computer games World of Warcraft and Second Life. Google, Microsoft and six other technology companies are calling for limits to government spying on their customers. Unrelated to today's revelations, eight high-tech companies printed an open letter to the President and Congress. AOL, Apple, Facebook Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter and Yahoo say its time to "reform government surveillance practices worldwide."
First Drone Strike after Obama's Policy Shift Roils Pakistan An American drone strike has killed the deputy leader of Pakistan's Taliban, a group with close links to al Qaeda. It's the first such attack since President Obama called for a new drone policy and two weeks since Pakistan's presidential election. Mark Mazzetti is national security correspondent for the New York Times and author of The Way of the Knife : The CIA, a Secret Army and a War at the Ends of the Earth.
'The Way of the Knife' Describes the CIA's Secret War Is the CIA an intelligence gathering agency staffed by spies or a secret army of professional killers? Since its creation during World War II, the pendulum has swung both ways, depending on the policies of successive presidents. In the 1970's, After the CIA tried to kill Cuba's Fidel Castro, Gerald Ford ordered an end to the assassination of foreign leaders. But New York Times reporter Mark Mazzetti, reports that the pendulum has swung back again in his new book, The Way of the Knife : The CIA, a Secret Army, and a War at the Ends of the Earth.
The Keys to Middle East Peace Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has scheduled an Israeli-Palestinian peace conference for sometime next month, but not all the players have agreed to show up. Rice, who says the time has come for a Palestinian state to be founded, is shuttling around the Middle East , but Israel won't promise to address the tough issues, and the Arab states are playing hard to get. Meantime, Israel's still-mysterious midnight bombing raid on Syria last month has created problems for the Secretary of State. Syria will be crucial to regional peace, but hard liners within the Bush Administration want to get tough. Was Syria trying to build a nuclear weapon? How will last month's raid impact plans for next month's peace conference?
Is Iraq Helping or Hurting the War on Terror? President Bush has declassified about 3 pages of a 30-page National Intelligence Estimate saying the Iraq war is a “cause celebre” that has has helped produce a new generation of Islamic radicals and increased the threat of terrorism. It also says that if the jihadists appear to have lost in Iraq, fewer will be inspired to keep fighting. The President says selected portions of the NIE were leaked to reporters for political reasons. We hear how Democrats and Republicans are interpreting the report less than six weeks before the November elections. Different parties drew different conclusions about how to proceed in Iraq. Is President Bush right that the US is winning?” Is it time to pull out? Are there any good options left?
Trump's 'America First' goes missing abroad In the Middle East, President Trump is changing some policies of the Obama Administration—and reversing his own campaign attacks on Islam as a religion that "hates us." We hear about his visit to Saudi Arabia and what's at stake for the rest of his foreign excursion.
The longest US war: Will Trump send more troops to Afghanistan? The Trump White House is divided over the Pentagon's request for more troops in Afghanistan—where the US has been fighting for the past 16 years. Is there a formula -- either for "victory" or a political settlement? Is there an end in sight for America's longest war?
What is Trump's plan for Middle East peace? On his first foreign tour, President Trump has promised "peace" between Israel and the Palestinians. Are there any details for re-starting talks that have been stalled for the past three years?
Ex-FBI Director Comey tells his side of the story Today, former FBI Director James Comey came close to calling the President who fired him a liar. The White House denied the claim and called it insulting, but Republican Senators did not challenge Comey’s truthfulness. Many questions remain: did the President try to obstruct a federal investigation? Later, we’ll go behind the “velvet rope” for a look at 5-Star health care for the richest Americans.