former Deputy Director, CIA's Counterterrorism Center
Senior global advisor at Oxford Analytica, a private consulting firm and senior research fellow at the New America Foundation; former Deputy Director of the CIA's Counterterrorism Center (1992) and, later, second-in-charge of national security at the FBI (2005-2010)
Policing Domestic Muslim Radicalism Since September 11 — most recently in Baltimore, Portland and Washington, DC -- suspects have been arrested before the terrorist acts they were planning ever occurred. Young Muslim Americans have been tricked into thinking that undercover FBI informants were their accomplices. Some critics claim that, in those and other cases, agents engaged in entrapment.
Are Muslim-Americans Living Dangerously? While Muslim-American groups give the Obama Administration high marks for combating bigotry, they are divided over "sting" operations by the FBI. Since September 11 — most recently in Baltimore, Portland and Washington, DC -- suspects have been arrested before the terrorist acts they were planning ever occurred. Young bombing suspects have been arrested before they could do any harm, but after FBI agents acted as false accomplices. Anti-terrorist agents routinely appear uninvited at mosques, workplaces and homes. Are the Feds just "getting to know the community" or spying? Do agents inadvertently help to radicalize young men? Are they stepping on American rights to privacy, freedom of speech and religion?
September 11, Nine Years Later The 9-11 Commission led by Lee Hamilton and Tom Kean established the National Security Preparedness Group to follow its work with periodic assessments of terrorist threats to the United States. Its latest report , released today, says terrorism is more complex than it was nine years ago and that some US citizens are more dangerous than al Qaeda. In the meantime, the US has built dozens of new intelligence bureaucracies, with thousands of employees, costing more than $75 billion a year. Even some intelligence experts say over-reaction is leading to massive waste and duplication of effort. Is it worth the cost to make America safer? Is it counterproductive? Does it exaggerate dangers, create unnecessary fears and perpetuate an overly powerful national security state?
Will the Senate write a healthcare bill in secret? While Democrats and Republicans argue White House relations with Russia, another question is being decided behind closed doors: who gets help buying health insurance and who doesn't? We hear how the pros and cons are being shrouded in secrecy.
Is the threat from Russia missing from the Russia meddling probe? There's much being made about the Trump administration's possible ties with Russia. But the bottom line is Russia's effort to influence American democracy. Do the President and his aides care enough to take action before voters go back to the polls?
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.
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?