By
Brina Monterroza
WASHINGTON—After the Boston Marathon bombings, legislators and the public have questioned how officials handled the attacks and whether or not it could have been prevented. “My fear is that the Boston bombers may have succeeded because our system failed,” said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Homeland Security committee at the first public Congressional hearing on the terrorist attack. “We learned over a decade ago, the danger in failing to connect the dots. … (Continue reading . . .)
By
Lauren Cook
The launch of President Barack Obama’s Open Government Initiative on his very first day in office was ostensibly in response to the supposedly opaque operations of the Bush administration. As his time in office goes on, however, it becomes increasingly apparent that this drive for transparency does not extend to the president’s counterterrorism programs, and, more specifically, his use of drone strikes. Although drone strikes are a more recent phenomenon in the public eye, their … (Continue reading . . .)
By
Mariam Khan
WASHINGTON – For the first time in its history, Pakistan will hold general elections Saturday in which the country’s first popularly elected government will hand over power to another democratically elected government, despite a series of deadly attacks by the Taliban aimed at disrupting the elections. The Obama administration wanted to “see credible, free and fair elections on a timely basis,” said U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Richard Olson, but is playing no favorites among candidates … (Continue reading . . .)
By
Megan Hickey
In the decade since the US-led invasion of Iraq, think tanks and scholars have discussed the profound, distorting effect that media coverage appears to have had on public understanding of the decision to go to war in 2003. The question: is today’s news media coverage of Iran’s nuclear capability falling into the same trap? Two experts at the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland delved into the issue with a … (Continue reading . . .)
By
Nadya Faulx
WASHINGTON—As the pieces of the Boston Marathon attacks started coming together and a clearer picture began to emerge of the two men suspected of carrying out the bombings on April 15, the question turned from “Why did this happen?” to “How did this happen?” Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, and his brother Dzhokhar, 19, are ethnic Chechen Muslims who came to the U.S. a decade ago, according to reports. That two immigrants are allegedly responsible for the … (Continue reading . . .)
By
LinyiZhang
WASHINGTON – As the United States is moving towards energy independence, its important ally Pakistan is mired in energy politics, complicating the bilateral relationship between the two countries. Pakistan suffers from an “acute energy crisis” that requires greater regional cooperation. It currently has an electricity shortfall approximating 5,000 megawatts per day. Around 30 percent of the population does not have access to grid electricity, leaving about one third using noncommercial sources, according to a report … (Continue reading . . .)
By
LiliTan
Weaning Americans off oil will make the U.S. a safer nation, says retired Lieutenant General Richard C. Zilmer. Now, as a Military Advisory Board member of research group CNA, Zilmer talks to young conservatives about how exploring alternative fuel sources can make the military leaner and more lethal. Click for video.
By
LiliTan
Diagram courtesy of Accipiter, whose hi-tech radar system includes the integration of a “Target Information System,” which stores every movement of every target. Incessant blips on a screen fade into the past as U.S.-Canadian cooperation to protect the border grows stronger, thanks to the use of ‘smart’ radar technology. Accipiter Security Radar Systems unveiled a new surveillance technology that combines radar with information technology earlier this month at SecureTech, a two-day public safety tradeshow in … (Continue reading . . .)
By
BenjaminBowman
Is Iran One Step Closer to WMD? click for video.
By
BenjaminBowman
WASHINGTON– Jake Tapper, a senior White House correspondent for ABC News, stopped at the National Press Club to speak about his latest book, “The Outpost.” click for video Tapper told a small audience about how U.S. soldiers at Combat Outpost Keating faced eminent death in a desert, 14 miles from the Pakistani border. Tapper said that landing a helicopter was impossible, calling its positioning “poorly chosen.” The Army’s goal at Combat Outpost Keating was to … (Continue reading . . .)
