Georgetown Security Law Brief

FBI Director says investigation into Clinton's e-mails will not be tied to election deadlines

Politico reports FBI Director James Comey said Wednesday he feels "pressure" to complete the federal investigation into Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's private e-mail server competently and quickly. However, Comey said the pressure is similar to other high-profile cases the bureau handles such as terrorism investigations. Comey indicated he's not taking into account political events, including the upcoming conventions or the fall election. "I don't tether to any external deadline," the FBI chief said.

 

Vice President Joe Biden visits Iraq

The Associated Press reports Vice President Joe Biden, visiting Iraq on Thursday, described progress toward defeating the Islamic State group as "serious" and "committed" despite a crippling political crisis that threatens those gains. Biden met separately with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Parliament Speaker Salim al-Jabouri. He told reporters that he and the speaker would discuss progress against Daesh, an Arabic acronym for IS. "It's real. It's serious. And it's committed," Biden said before his private talks with al-Jabouri Biden is on his first trip to Iraq since 2011. His first stop was to meet with al-Abadi at the late Iraqi leader. The White House didn't disclose the rest of Biden's itinerary, but said he would meet with other Iraqi leaders to stress national unity and discuss the campaign against IS extremists. Biden also met with U.S. personnel in Iraq.

 

New Justice Department rules give prosecutors more oversight on national security cases

The New York Times reports the Justice Department has issued new rules that give prosecutors in Washington greater oversight and control over national security cases after the collapse of several high-profile prosecutions led to allegations that Chinese-Americans were being singled out as spies. The new rules are intended to prevent such missteps, but without undermining a counterespionage mission that is a top priority for the Obama administration. In December 2014, the Justice Department dropped charges against two former Eli Lilly scientists, Guoqing Cao and Shuyu Li, who had been accused of leaking proprietary information to a Chinese drugmaker.

President Obama says not plans to deploy ground troops to Libya

Reuters reports U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday there were no plans to deploy ground troops in Libya, but that the United States would not wait to see if Islamic State starts to gain a foothold there. Speaking in London, Obama said it would be a challenge to support Libya's nascent government. Libya's new U.N.-backed government has begun trying to bring a chaotic country under its control after years of fighting among rival units of former rebels who vied for power after the 2011 fall of Muammar Gaddafi.

 

Obama joins Arab Gulf states for summit on security

The New York Times reports President Obama joined the leaders of six Persian Gulf nations on Thursday for a summit meeting intended to reassure allies in the region that the United States is committed to their security. In a series of closed-door sessions, Mr. Obama and his counterparts were expected to discuss ways to promote regional security, efforts to defeat terrorist groups like the Islamic State and Al Qaeda, and how best to deal with Iran. Before the trip, American officials said they hoped the summit meeting would build on discussions with top Persian Gulf officials that took place when Mr. Obama hosted a similar group at Camp David a year ago.

U.S. Attorney's office in New York launches probe into Panama Papers

The Washington Post reports a federal prosecutor in New York has opened a criminal investigation involving the Panama Papers — a trove of materials from a Panamanian law firm that show a massive, secretive world of offshore industry. In a letter to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara wrote that his office had “opened a criminal investigation regarding matters to which the Panama Papers are relevant,” and he asked to speak with someone who had worked on the project. The Guardian newspaper, which was among those to analyze the materials, posted a copy of the letter on its website.

President obama meets with King Salman of Saudi Arabia

The Associated Press reports reassuring an anxious ally, President Barack Obama sat down Wednesday for a meeting with King Salman as he opened a trip to Saudi Arabia shadowed by the kingdom's deep opposition to his Iran nuclear deal and skepticism about his approach to Syria. Obama, during a roughly 24-hour stay in the Saudi capital, planned to attend a Persian Gulf summit focused on regional stability, Iran and counterterrorism - including the fight against the Islamic State group and al-Qaida.

 

Senators considering bill that would allow Saudi Arabia to face lawsuits regarding 9/11

The New York Times reports a bill opposed by the Obama administration that would expose Saudi Arabia to legal jeopardy for any role in the Sept. 11 attacks appeared to gain momentum on Tuesday when the senator holding it up said he would be open to supporting it. Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said in an interview on Tuesday that he would drop his opposition to the bill — predicting it could pass the Senate next week — if the sponsors of the legislation agreed to changes that he believed were important to protect American interests abroad. He did not specify what changes he was requesting.

President Obama to visit Saudi Arabia as alliance faces new pressures

The New York Times reports over the last seven decades, photographs of American presidents side by side with the kings of Saudi Arabia have provided visual evidence of an enduring, strategic alliance between the United States and the oil-rich kingdom in the Middle East. On Wednesday, President Obama will add one more photo to the scrapbook when he arrives in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, for a private meeting with King Salman, Saudi Arabia’s 80-year-old monarch. But the expected image of the two leaders will fail to convey the depth of the strain on the relationship between Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Supreme Court hears oral arguments on President Obama's immigration executive action

The Associated Press reports the Supreme Court is taking up an important dispute over immigration that could affect millions of people who are living in the country illegally. The Obama administration is asking the justices in arguments Monday to allow it to put in place two programs that could shield roughly 4 million people from deportation and make them eligible to work in the United States. Texas is leading 26 states dominated by Republicans in challenging the programs President Barack Obama announced in 2014 and that have been put on hold by lower courts.

 

Secretary Kerry urges Iraq not to let political crisis impede fight against Islamic State

Reuters reports U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, visiting Baghdad on Friday, urged Iraq not to let its political crisis interfere with the fight against Islamic State and voiced unequivocal support for Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. Abadi last week unsettled Iraq's political elite with a proposed cabinet reshuffle that aims to curb corruption by replacing long-time politicians with technocrats and academics. His aim is to free Iraqi ministries from the grip of a political class that has used the system of ethnic and sectarian quotas instituted after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 to amass wealth and influence. U.S. officials fear the political unrest may harm Iraq's efforts to retake territory it has lost to Islamic State militants, notably its second city of Mosul, seized when parts of the Iraqi army collapsed in 2014.

Suspected Paris attacker designated global terrorist

The Washington Post reports the State Department on Tuesday designated Salah Abdeslam, a suspect in the November attacks in Paris, a global terrorist, imposing sanctions on him and prohibiting Americans from dealing with him. Abdeslam was called an operative for the Islamic State. The French citizen, who was born in Belgium, has been charged with terrorist murder for his role in the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris that killed 130 people, among them an American college student, and injured more than 350 others. Abdeslam was captured in mid-March in Brussels and is awaiting extradition from Belgium to France.

State Department official says nuclear deal will not allow Iran access to U.S. financial system

Reuters reports a senior U.S. State Department official on Tuesday reassured worried lawmakers that the Obama administration is not planning to allow Iran access to the U.S. financial system or use of the U.S. dollar for transactions. "The rumors and news that have appeared in the press ... are not true," Thomas Shannon, the U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. During the hearing, some lawmakers said they remained concerned, despite Shannon's strong denial of such reports, because of comments they see as ambiguous, such as his statement that the administration was open to discussing renewal of the Iran Sanctions Act if it does not conflict with the international nuclear agreement announced in July.

U.S. counterterrorism officials met with Belgians a month before attacks to try and address security gaps in Belgium

The New York Times reports a “foreign fighter surge team” of experts from the F.B.I., State Department and Department of Homeland Security met with their Belgian counterparts a month before the Brussels terrorist attacks to try to correct gaps in Belgium’s widely criticized ability to track terrorist plots, American officials said. The half-dozen experts focused on long-term structural fixes to the Belgians’ failure to share intelligence effectively and to tighten porous borders, but not on providing information about suspected Islamic State operatives. The recommendations, even if accepted, would not have prevented the deadly attacks at the Brussels Airport and in the city’s subway last month, the officials said.

Obama and NATO chief to discuss Islamic State in Libya

Reuters reports U.S. President Barack Obama and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday that NATO could help Libya counter Islamic State militants as well as train and assist troops in Iraq, Jordan and elsewhere to fight the insurgent group. "We are continuing to cooperate on an ongoing basis about operations potentially in areas like Libya where you have the beginnings of a government," Obama told reporters after meeting Stoltenberg in the Oval Office. Western governments have been concerned that Islamic State is expanding in Libya as the U.S.-led coalition squeezes the militants' territory in Syria and Iraq.

 

President Obama hosts nuclear security summit amid rising tensions over South China Seas

The New York Times reports President Obama gathered more than 50 world leaders here on Thursday to discuss one of his favorite topics: locking down nuclear weapons. But it was Obama’s meeting with one of the less friendly of those leaders, President Xi Jinping of China, that captured most of the attention. The leaders announced that the United States and China would sign a climate change accord later in April, a show of unity on an issue that has become a bright spot in the tangled relationship between the two countries. But they quickly moved on to more contentious issues, with  Obama pressing Mr. Xi on China’s construction of military facilities in the South China Sea, actions that a White House official said belied a pledge the Chinese president had made last fall not to militarize those waters.

Defense Inspector General accuses military officers of inappropriate travel

The Washington Post reports the Pentagon’s top watchdog has substantiated allegations involving inappropriate travel against three senior U.S. military officers, according to investigative findings released by the Defense Department Inspector General’s office. Marine Lt. Gen. John Wissler, retired Marine Lt. Gen. Kenneth Glueck and Army Lt. Gen. Anthony Crutchfield were cited by the Defense Department Inspector General in two separate investigations whose findings were released within the past week. The investigation of Wissler and Glueck focused on their use of government vehicles while serving consecutively as the commanders of III Marine Expeditionary Force in Okinawa, Japan. The investigation of Crutchfield examined a trip he took from Hawaii to Fort Rucker in Alabama in which he was promoted to his current rank. The Marine generals said in response to the initial findings in their cases that they did not knowingly break any rules, while Crutchfield said he sought legal advice before his trip and was told it was allowed. In both cases, investigations were opened after complaints were filed with the inspector general.

President Obama to meet with Asian leaders as conflict persists in South China Seas

The Associated Press reports President Barack Obama will be meeting with Asian leaders in Washington this week as fears grow that long-smoldering tensions on the Korean Peninsula and in the South China Sea risk flaring into conflict. World leaders, including those from China, Japan and South Korea, will be in town for a summit hosted by Obama on nuclear security - the final round in the U.S. president's drive for international action to stop materials that could be used for an atomic weapon or dirty bomb from getting into terrorist hands.

 

Former deputy director of DIA accused of abusing vehicle privileges

The Washington Post reports instead of driving from his home in Vienna to Bolling — a roughly 25-mile trip — former DIA deputy director David R. Shedd on many days would park his car at a closer intelligence facility in Tysons Corner, briefly go into an office there, and then get into a Pentagon-provided vehicle for the rest of the trip. Shedd’s way of getting to work “could be characterized as a personal limousine service based solely on reasons of rank, position, prestige or personal convenience,” the inspector general concluded in a report that was completed in July and obtained by The Post under the Freedom of Information Act.

U.S. Treasury Department sanctions companies, businessmen over Iranian missile program

Reuters reports the U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted two Iranian companies on Thursday for supporting Iran's ballistic missile program and also sanctioned two British businessmen it said were helping an airline used by the country's Revolutionary Guards. The United States blacklisted Shahid Nuri Industries and Shahid Movahed Industries, cutting them off from international finance. It said they were working for Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group (SHIG), which the United States says is responsible for Iran's ballistic missile program. A nuclear deal signed in July by Iran, the United States and other world powers left a number of differences unresolved. The Obama administration on Thursday announced the indictment of seven Iranians for a coordinated campaign of cyber attacks on dozens of U.S. banks and a New York dam between 2011 and 2013.

 

U.S. indicts Iranian hackers for cybercrimes that include disrupting bank websites, and dam operations

The Washington Post reports the Justice Department on Thursday announced it has indicted seven hackers associated with the Iranian government and charged them with cybercrimes. The crimes include disrupting U.S. banks’ public websites from late 2011 through May 2013 and with breaking into a small dam in Rye, N.Y., in an apparent attempt to stop its operation. The indictment marks the first time the government is charging people linked to a national government with disrupting or attempting to disrupt critical U.S. infrastructure or computer systems of key industries such as finance and water.

Secretary Kerry calls for greater cooperation on Syria with Russia

Reuters reports Secretary of State John Kerry, ahead of a meeting with Vladimir Putin, said the United States and Russia must work together to end the war in Syria despite their differences, and called for a further reduction in violence and more aid deliveries. Russia and the United States have emerged as the two outside powers with a decisive say in what happens next in Syria's five year-old civil conflict. Ahead of talks with the Russian leader in Moscow, Kerry said a fragile partial truce had cut levels of violence, but he wanted to see a further reduction plus greater flows of aid.

 

 

U.S. labels Indonesian backer of Islamic State a Specially Designated Global Terrorist

Reuters reports the United States on Tuesday slapped a special terrorist designation on Indonesia's most high-profile backer of Islamic State, blocking any U.S. assets he might have, banning dealings with him by Americans and opening the way for U.S. law-enforcement action against him. The State Department said Santoso, a militant in Poso in central Sulawesi who has been on the run for more than three years, had been added to its list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT). Santoso, like many in Indonesia, goes by one name. "As a result of this designation, all property subject to U.S. jurisdiction in which Santoso has any interest is blocked and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with Santoso," the department said in a statement.

 

Obama tells Castro Cuba has nothing to fear from America

The New York Times reports President Obama on Tuesday made a full-throated call for change and greater openness in Cuba’s autocratic government, making a direct plea to President Raúl Castro to loosen his grip on the economy and political expression or risk squandering the fruits of a historic thaw. Addressing Castro, who listened raptly from a balcony in Havana’s Grand Theater, Obama said that Cuba had nothing to fear from the United States, even as he made a passionate argument for democracy and free-market principles. “I want you to know I believe my visit here demonstrates you do not need to fear a threat from the United States,” Obama said to Castro. “I am also confident that you need not fear the different voices of the Cuban people.”

Hillary Clinton unlikely to be indicted over email scandal

The Associated Press reports asked earlier this month whether she'd be indicted over her use of a private email server as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton responded: "It's not going to happen." Though Republicans characterized her response as hubris, several legal experts interviewed by the Associated Press agreed with the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination. The relatively few laws that govern the handling of classified materials were generally written to cover spies, leakers and those who illegally retain such information, such as at home. Though the view is not unanimous, several lawyers who specialize in this area said it's a stretch to apply existing statutes to a former cabinet secretary whose communication of sensitive materials was with aides - not a national enemy.

 

FBI says may not need Apple to crack iPhone of San Bernardino shooter

Wired reports just as the FBI’s standoff with Apple seemed to be coming to a head, the government has abruptly changed course. And it may be backing down altogether from the most public battle in the growing war between law enforcement and tech firms over encryption. On Monday afternoon, the Justice Department filed a motion for a continuance on a hearing set to happen tomorrow in Riverside, California, where it would have argued its case that Apple must help it to crack the iPhone 5C of dead San Bernardino killer Syed Rizwan Farook. The FBI hasn’t given up on accessing the data in Farook’s phone. But it now says it may not need Apple’s assistance to crack the device after all, which it had previously told a judge it could legally compel using the 1789 law known as the All Writs Act.

President Obama meets with Cuban President Castro

The New York Times reports President Obama and President Raúl Castro of Cuba appeared together on Monday morning, walking side by side at a welcoming ceremony to start the first official talks between their two governments after decades of Cold War animosity. The leaders are expected to discuss a path toward normalizing relations, and the profound differences that still divide them economically and politically, including the United States trade embargo on Cuba and human rights issues. During the welcoming ceremony at the Palace of the Revolution, the two leaders shook hands warmly before inspecting a military honor guard.

Former State Department employee to be sentenced for nude photo scandal

The Associated Press reports sitting at a desk in the American embassy in London, a former U.S. State Department employee used his government-issued computer to prey on vulnerable young women and manipulate them into sharing nude photos, amassing thousands of images to make himself feel powerful, prosecutors said. Michael C. Ford, 36, faces years in prison when a federal judge sentences him Monday for sending "phishing" emails to young women, specifically targeting members of sororities and aspiring models, and claiming to be a member of Google's account deletion team, which doesn't exist, to get them to hand over their passwords.

 

State Department says Islamic State committing genocide against Christians, Shias

The Associated Press reports Secretary of State John Kerry determined Thursday that the Islamic State group is committing genocide against Christians and other minorities in Iraq and Syria, meeting a congressional deadline for a decision. The declaration, while long sought by Congress and human rights groups, changes little. It does not obligate the United States to take additional action against IS militants and does not prejudge any prosecution against its members. A day after the State Department said Kerry would miss the deadline because he needed to gather evidence and act deliberatively, Kerry said he had completed his review and determined that Christians, Yazidis and Shiite groups are victims of genocide and crimes against humanity by IS militants.

 

Saudi Arabia responds to Obama's interview in The Atlantic

The Washington Post reports a senior member of the Saudi royal family has criticized comments made by President Obama in a recent magazine article, suggesting that Obama's harsh remarks about the kingdom were a "curveball" in America's relationship with one of its main Arab allies. Prince Turki al-Faisal denounced Obama's comments in an open letter, "Mr. Obama, we are not 'free riders,'" published Monday in the Arab News newspaper. Prince Turki, a former Saudi ambassador to Washington, appears to be the first senior member of the Saudi royal family to publicly criticize Obama's comments. In the lengthy Atlantic Magazine feature published last week, Obama told correspondent Jeffrey Goldberg that “free riders" aggravated him. The comment appeared to be largely aimed at America's European and Arab allies who the president felt did not contribute their fair share on the international stage.

Obama administration relaxes travel restrictions to Cuba

The New York Times reports the Obama administration announced on Tuesday it would allow individuals to travel to Cuba for “people to people” educational trips and lift limits on the use of American dollars in transactions with Cuba, moving to wipe away stiff restrictions as President Obama prepares to make a historic trip to Havana next week to showcase a new era of engagement. The actions represent some of the most significant regulatory changes the Departments of Treasury and Commerce have made to carry out the move toward normalization that Mr. Obama and President Raúl Castro of Cuba announced in December 2014.

State Department removes sensitive emails from archives

The Washington Post reports the State Department has removed from its unclassified electronic archives a dozen sensitive emails sent to the personal accounts of former secretary of state Colin L. Powell and the staff of his successor, Condoleezza Rice, according to a memo released Friday by the agency’s watchdog. Two emails sent to Powell and 10 emails sent to aides who worked for Rice have been placed in secure storage, Patrick F. Kennedy, the undersecretary for management, wrote in a memo to State Department Inspector General Steve Linick. The action was taken in response to a recommendation by Linick last month as part of his review of records preservation by five secretaries and their staffs since email became a common means of communication.

Navy Seal recieves medal of honor

The Associated Press reports President Barack Obama awarded the nation's highest military honor Monday to a Navy SEAL who participated in a daring 2012 raid that rescued an American hostage in Afghanistan. Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator Edward Byers Jr. is the first living, active duty member of the Navy to receive the award in four decades. Obama said during a ceremony at the White House that Byers is the "consummate, quiet professional" who would rather be elsewhere, perhaps holding his breath under dark, frigid water.

 

Lt. Gen. Raymond Thomas to lead Special Operations Command

The Washington Post reports Lt. Gen. Raymond “Tony” Thomas has been officially appointed to lead Special Operations Command, Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter announced Monday. “General Thomas has big boots to fill, but he has proven himself — as a soldier, special operator and leader, time and time again over the course of his illustrative career,” Carter said during a news briefing alongside Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Thomas’s new command is all but guaranteed pending confirmation by Congress. Army Gen. Joseph Votel, current commander of Special Operations Command, if confirmed, will replace Army Gen. Lloyd Austin at Central Command.

Obama asks Congress to remove road blocks to closing Guantanamo

The Washington Post reports President Obama urged lawmakers on Tuesday to help him close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as he made the case for a White House roadmap for shuttering a detention facility he said symbolized the excesses that followed the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. “This is about closing a chapter in our history ,” said Obama, flanked by Vice President Biden and Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter, in remarks at the White House. “It reflects the lessons that we’ve learned since 9/11, lessons that need to guide our nation going forward.”

Department of Homeland Security adds countries to visa waiver restrictions

The New York Times reports the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday added three countries to a growing list that would prohibit people who have visited those nations in the past five years from entering the United States without a visa.The new countries are Libya, Somalia and Yemen. The department indicated that other nations could be added. The Obama administration previously announced changes to the visa-waiver program that would make it harder for travelers to enter the United States from Europe if they had dual citizenship from Iran, Iraq, Sudan or Syria, or had visited one of those countries in the last five years. The restrictions announced on Thursday would not apply to those with dual citizenship in Libya, Somalia or Yemen, the agency said

 

Obama to visit Cuba

The New York Times reports President Obama will travel to Cuba in March, the White House announced on Thursday, making a historic visit as part of an effort to end more than a half-century of estrangement and forge normalized relations with a Cold War adversary. The administration announced that Obama and the first lady will make the two-day trip on March 21 — the first by a sitting president in 88 years, when Calvin Coolidge visited — as top Commerce, Treasury and State Department officials were meeting privately with their Cuban counterparts in Washington for talks aimed at expanding business ties between the two nations.

Despite promises, Obama failed to end use of Pentagon "slush fund"

The Washington Post reports seven years ago, President Obama took over the White House with a promise to end what he called the “abuse of supplemental budgets” that were used to to not only fund U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, but a variety of other efforts that had little to do with them. But as the president moves into his last year in office, a new reality has set in: those controversial funds still exist, and likely will remain under whoever replaces Obama in the White House next year. The Pentagon’s proposed budget for fiscal 2017 includes both a $523.9 billion base budget and $58.8 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funding. The use of OCO funding has been derided by critics, including the Project for the Oversight of Government, as a “slush fund” for the Pentagon, but in 2017 it again includes billions of dollars for new equipment.

Proposed defense budget provides greatest increase for Air Force

The Washington Post reports the U.S. government released its proposed $4 trillion budget for fiscal 2017 on Tuesday, and the Pentagon’s slice of the pie is about $582.7 billion. That represents about a 1 percent increase over the $580.3 billion budget for fiscal 2016 at a time when the U.S. military is balancing operations in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, aggressive actions by Russia and China and the modernization of a force that has been at war since 2001. According to official documents, the Pentagon’s proposal calls for the Air Force to get the largest funding boost from last year, from $161.8 billion to $166.9 billion.

National security advisors pressing Obama to use greater military force to stop Islamic State in Libya

The New York Times reports President Obama is being pressed by some of his top national security aides to approve the use of American military power in Libya to open up another front against the Islamic State. But Obama, wary of embarking on an intervention in another strife-torn country, has told his aides to redouble their efforts to help form a unity government in Libya at the same time the Pentagon refines its options, which include airstrikes, commando raids or advising vetted Libyan militias on the ground, as Special Operations forces are doing now in eastern Syria. The use of large numbers of American ground troops is not being considered.

NSA to merge offensive and defensive organizations

The Washington Post reports the National Security Agency, the largest electronic spy agency in the world, is undertaking a major reorganization, merging its offensive and defensive organizations in the hope of making them more adept at facing the digital threats of the 21st century, according to current and former officials. In place of the Signals Intelligence and Information Assurance directorates, the organizations that historically have spied on foreign targets and defended classified networks against spying, the NSA is creating a Directorate of Operations that combines the operational elements of each.

 

Kerry urges China to do more to curb North Korea's nuclear capability

The New York Times reports Secretary of State John Kerry warned on Wednesday that if China failed to do more to curb North Korea’s enhanced nuclear capacity, Washington would take steps that China has strongly opposed, including deploying defense systems to protect American allies in Asia. “This is a threat the United States must take extremely seriously,” Kerry said of North Korea’s growing nuclear arsenal at a news conference with the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi. “The United States will take all necessary steps to protect our people and allies. We don’t want to heighten security tensions. But we won’t walk away from any options.”

U.S. eases restrictions on travel and trade with Cuba

The Washington Post reports the United States took another step Tuesday to roll back restrictions on Cuba, opening financial channels for greater trade and clearing some obstacles to air travel. The measures are the latest toward easing Cold War-era sanctions after the two former foes restored diplomatic ties last year. It also seeks to reopen commercial and transport routes as U.S. companies study options for investment on the island. The new codes, announced by the Treasury and Commerce departments, will remove blocks on payments and financing rules aimed at opening greater direct trade in areas such as telecommunications and civil aviation.

Obama grants new authority to military to fight Islamic State in Afghanistan

The Washington Post reports the Obama administration has granted the military new authorities to strike the Islamic State in Afghanistan, signaling a more sustained fight against the extremist group outside of its base in Iraq and Syria, officials said on Wednesday. A defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal decisions, said new rules of engagement approved last week permitted commanders in Afghanistan to launch air strikes against Islamic State militants because of their affiliation with the group, in the same way it targets fighters linked to al-Qaeda. The new arrangement “enables the United States to more actively target ISIL in Afghanistan,” the official said, using an acronym for the group that controls much of Iraq and Syria and has established outposts from North Africa to central Asia.

Supreme Court will rule on Obama's immigration executive action

BBC News reports the Supreme Court has said it will consider a challenge to one of President Barack Obama's key immigration reform plans. The plan would lift the threat of deportation from five million migrants living illegally in the US. A coalition of 26 mostly conservative states, led by Texas, has been successful in lower court challenges. A decision from the highest court is expected in the early summer, just as the election gets into full swing. "We are confident that the policies will be upheld as lawful," said White House spokeswoman Brandi Hoffine. President Obama announced the plan, known as Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA), in November 2014. 

Kerry says Iran will distable Arak nuclear reaction within hours

Reuters reports Iran has removed the calandria, or central vessel, of its nuclear reactor at Arak, and it will be filled with concrete within hours, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday. "Just yesterday, the foreign minister (of Iran) reported to me that the calandria of the plutonium nuclear reactor is now out and in the next hours it will be filled with concrete and destroyed," Kerry said. The removal of the calandria is a key part of last year's Iran nuclear deal.

 

Modernizing of nuclear arsenal sparks debate

The New York Times reports while the North Koreans have been thinking big — claiming to have built a hydrogen bomb, a boast that experts dismiss as wildly exaggerated — the Energy Department and the Pentagon have been readying a line of weapons that head in the opposite direction. The build-it-smaller approach has set off a philosophical clash among those in Washington who think about the unthinkable. Obama has long advocated a “nuclear-free world.” His lieutenants argue that modernizing existing weapons can produce a smaller and more reliable arsenal while making their use less likely because of the threat they can pose.

Saudi prisoner at Guantanamo repatriated

The Washington Post reports the United States has repatriated a Saudi prisoner held for nearly 14 years at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Pentagon said Monday, the latest signal of an intensifying effort to shutter the military prison before President Obama steps down. In a statement, the Pentagon said that Muhammad Abd al-Rahman Awn al-Shamrani, whom U.S. officials describe as an al-Qaeda recruiter and fighter, had arrived in Saudi Arabia, making him the fourth prisoner to be released from Guantanamo this year. According to military documents made public by WikiLeaks, Shamrani fought with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan in 2001 before being captured in Pakistan and taken to Guantanamo in January 2002.

House oversight committee says FOIA system is broken

The Wall Street Journal reports in some ways it’s never been easier for citizens to seek federal agency records through the Freedom of Information Act, the public’s main tool to get information from the government. Public records portals like Muckrock.com and FOIA Machine have helped automate and simplify the FOIA process, making it easier for people to craft records requests and share disclosed documents with other online users. According to a new report by the Republican-led House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the FOIA system has gotten more dysfunctional and opaque

Marine Corps must fully integrate boot camp

The Washington Post reports as the only branch to air its opposition to the Pentagon’s plan to allow women into even combat jobs such as infantry, the Marines have seemingly found themselves in a new chapter of the gender integration struggle: boot camp. The Marine Corps, like the Army, Navy and Air Force, was required to submit to the Pentagon a detailed plan outlining how they would fully integrate the genders, with the goal of executing those plans no later than April 1. But the Marines, the only service that segregates men and women in basic training, turned in a plan that left out any changes relating to boot camp, likely because there was no explicit directive for them to do so.