CIA director John Brennan has appointed someone to fill the position of National Clandestine Service (NCS) director. The individual, however, is apparently going to keep his undercover status. First, a key aspect of this news is the fact that the person appointed is not the woman, who had been serving as the acting director of [...]

In June 15, 2010, The Nation‘s Jeremy Scahill reported that “sources close to Blackwater and its secretive owner Erik Prince” had claimed that the embattled head of the world’s most infamous mercenary firm” was “planning to move to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).” Scahill noted, “The Nation learned of Prince’s alleged plans to move to the [...]

The United States Senate confirmed John Brennan, who served as President Barack Obama’s counterterrorism adviser and was a key architect of the Obama administration’s secret drone policy, to the position of CIA director today. The confirmation came a day after Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) mounted a more-than-twelve-hour filibuster on the Senate floor. Paul held up [...]

“The world is a battlefield,” is the tagline for Dirty Wars, a documentary that premiered days ago at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. The film produced by Nation national security correspondent Jeremy Scahill and Big Noise Films director Rick Rowley attempts to bring the US global war on terrorism out of the shadows by spotlighting [...]

A “rule book” for drones that the administration of President Barack Obama has been developing is reportedly near completion, according to the Washington Post. Unnamed US officials told the newspaper the CIA is set to benefit from a “major exemption” that would allow them to continue conducting CIA drone operations without having to follow the rules. But [...]

France and eight other countries, including the United States, are escalating an intervention in the African country of Mali. The offensive, according to French authorities, is being mounted to target Islamic extremists or al Qaeda-linked rebels who have “grabbed more territory in Mali, inching closer to the capital.” CBS News reported the ”United States is providing communications and [...]

(update below) The Washington Post has published a story that spotlights how the administration of President Barack Obama has embraced the practice of extraordinary rendition, highlighting the rendition of two Swedish men and one British-Somali man who had his British citizenship revoked. It details what is known about the men who had been missing and [...]

Eighty-eight journalists and forty-seven citizen journalists were killed in 2012, according to a report by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The press freedom group noted this was the deadliest year since it began keeping track of journalist deaths in 1995. By the numbers, the rate of journalist deaths went up 33%. Eight hundred and seventy-nine journalists [...]

This past week, the Justice Department announced that HSBC Bank had agreed to forfeit $1.256 billion and “enter a deferred prosecution agreement” for engaging in money laundering that involved the financing of drug cartels and groups with ties to terrorism. The agreement indicated there would be no criminal prosecution. Not one bank executive or lower-level [...]

The Washington Post has published a third story in its series on the Obama administration’s institutionalization of its targeted killing program. This story highlights Camp Lemmonier, the United States military base in Djibouti where drones land or take off around sixteen times a day, and is reportedly the first time the US military has confirmed [...]