former Director for Counterterrorism, National Security Council
President of Good Harbor Consulting, an Arlington, Virginia-based firm offering advice about security risk management, and senior fellow at New York University's Center for Law and Security; former Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council (1999-2001)
WikiLeaks Rips the Lid off US Diplomacy Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today denounced the release by WikiLeaks of a quarter-million documents she said "purport" to be confidential State Department communications.
WikiLeaks Rips the Lid off US Diplomacy Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the release of more than a quarter-million confidential documents endangers lives and threatens national security . Veterans say it betrays the trust that is the essence of diplomacy. We hear some of the myriad details and ask what it means for the future of international relations.
Is Homegrown Terrorism Blowback From The Predator Drones? Why would a naturalized American citizen try to set off a bomb in Times Square? One theory is that Faizal Shahzad was radicalized by CIA-drone strikes in his native Pakistan--strikes that have killed not just the militants actually targeted but innocent civilians as well. Robert Baer was a Middle East field officer for the CIA. His latest book is, “The Devil We Know: Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower…”
A Real Case of Murder Unfolds Like a Hollywood Thriller On January 19, a military official from the Palestinian group Hamas was killed in his luxury hotel room in the Arab Emirate of Dubai. The Dubai police call the death of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh an assassination by agents of Israel, who allegedly entered Dubai using the identities of other, real people and whose pictures were recorded on surveillance cameras at the airport and at the hotel itself. The Israeli government has said nothing, but the incident has lit political firestorms in Israel itself and around the world. Were the killers agents of Israel? Why did they falsely adopt the identities of real Israelis and allow themselves to be videotaped? Was it a targeted assassination justified in the interests of national defense? Is that like the US practice of using Predator drones to take out the leaders of the Taliban and al Qaeda?
Predator Drones: Fighting the Covert War in Pakistan Emblematic of modern warfare, predator drones have become the weapon of choice in America's war in Afghanistan. Initially used for reconnaissance, for years the airborne robots have been armed with Hellfire missiles. Reportedly very effective in the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban, the Obama Administration is debating a plan that would extend drone strikes into the Pakistani city of Quetta. But could urban use of this weapon end up costing innocent lives, driving a wedge between Washington and Islamabad? Will their use be expanded to the US border for surveillance purposes?
Predator Drones: Fighting the Covert War in Pakistan Emblematic of modern warfare, predator drones have become the weapon of choice in America's war in Afghanistan. Initially used for reconnaissance, for years the airborne robots have been armed with Hellfire missiles. Reportedly very effective in the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban, the Obama Administration is debating a plan that would extend drone strikes into the Pakistani city of Quetta. But could urban use of this weapon end up costing innocent lives, driving a wedge between Washington and Islamabad? Will their use be expanded to the US border for surveillance purposes?
White House budget proposal slashes and burns President Trump's first budget request is considered dead on arrival in Congress — a familiar development in Capitol Hill. We hear what it reveals about the priorities of the new administration. What's likely to die… and what might survive?
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.
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?
Trump plays scolder-in-chief with NATO allies At the opening of NATO’s dramatic new headquarters in Brussels today, President Trump acknowledged that Article 5 — promising that “an attack on one nation is an attack on all” -- has only been invoked one time: in the aftermath of September 11. But the President failed to provide what 27 other Alliance members have been waiting for: a re-commitment by America’s new leader to Article 5. Instead, they got a scolding.