Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Jim Inhofe (R-OK) issued blunt warnings to the White House on Sunday: Give us real answers on Benghazi, or the nominations for Secretary of Defense and director of the Central Intelligence Agency will be on hold. Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) has nonetheless scheduled the …
Today’s hearing in the Senate Armed Services Committee about the September 11 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, was bizarrely divided. One line of questions drew a devastating picture of an Administration shamefully unprepared to defend its beleaguered personnel in Libya. The bemused facial expressions of Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta …
Today at 10 a.m., Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will be grilled by Senators on the Benghazi terrorist attack. The Senate Armed Services Committee has to do a better job and dig deeper than the Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) …
Two new reports have delivered a one-two punch to the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). One of the reports, by the State Department’s Inspector General (IG), focused narrowly on the functioning of the BBG itself, which it concluded is failing in its mandated duties, including implementation of key aspects of …
The Senate Armed Services Committee is holding hearings today on the nomination of former Senator Chuck Hagel (R–NE) to head the Department of Defense (DOD). The issues before the committee are both numerous and critically serious, such as the consequences for the defense budget of sequestration, nuclear zero, missile defense …
The Senate today confirmed John Kerry to be the next Secretary of State by a vote of 94-3. As expected, the former Senator and Foreign Relations Committee chairman had no trouble sailing through his confirmation process. The only three dissenters were Republicans Jim Inhofe (OK), John Cornyn (TX), and Ted …
The regime in Tehran has started tightened censorship beyond its customary draconian rule in anticipation of potential unrest caused by Iran’s upcoming elections in June. On Sunday, a mass arrest of at least 14 reporters for independent news media took place, the largest media crackdown since the presidential election of …
There is no other way to say it: “60 Minutes” blew it. Steve Kroft’s interview with President Obama and outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, broadcast Sunday night, was mushy, sentimental, and oh so easy-going. As for news… it elicited practically no information about Hillary Clinton’s record as Secretary of …
The good news for the Obama Administration is that its next Secretary of State, Senator John Kerry (D–MA), had the smoothest of sailing during yesterday’s Senate confirmation hearing. Indeed, the nominees for Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, and Director of the CIA, John Brennan, should be so lucky. The only …
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Senate and House hearings on the terrorist attack on Benghazi, Libya, yesterday did not throw much more light on the affair or its aftermath. There was plenty of heat, though. Clinton’s totally inappropriate sarcasm and theatrics in response to a line of questioning by Senator …
