The Washington Independent

Posts Tagged dennis blair

All-Hands Afghanstan/Pakistan Meeting at the White House Today

By | 02.17.10 | 11:05 am

Whatever’s happening with the Baradar capture, President Obama convenes his national security team today for what I think is the first all-hands meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan since the December West Point speech. The (very long) guest list:

Testing the Bounds of U.S. Citizenship

By | 02.16.10 | 6:00 am

In the (unconfirmed) event anyone in the Obama administration is trying to annul the citizenship of any American recruited by al-Qaeda in order to kill him without legal encumbrance, the evidence is (mostly) clear: you can’t.

“If you’re an American citizen, we don’t take away your citizenship,” said Karen Greenberg, More…

Intel Chief ‘Deeply Regrets’ U.K.’s Torture Disclosure, But…

By | 02.10.10 | 6:27 pm

After a British court ruled that the U.K. government has to disclose sensitive information about how the United States tortured a British citizen named Binyam Mohamed whom the U.S. held as a terrorist for years, Dennis Blair, the director of national intelligence, released this statement:

The protection of confidential

More…

ACLU Not Exactly Cool With Obama Administration Assassinating Americans

By | 02.04.10 | 4:20 pm

Apropos of intelligence chief Dennis Blair’s remarkable disclosure, the following statement comes from the American Civil Liberties Union’s Ben Wizner:

It is alarming to hear that the Obama administration is asserting that the president can authorize the assassination of Americans abroad, even if they are far from any battlefield

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Americans Assassinating Americans

By | 02.04.10 | 9:44 am

Wow.

Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair acknowledged Wednesday that government agencies may kill U.S. citizens abroad who are involved in terrorist activities if they are “taking action that threatens Americans.”

Blair told members of the House intelligence committee that he was speaking publicly about the issue to reassure

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Dennis Blair vs. Politico

By | 02.03.10 | 5:10 pm

This email came to reporters’ inboxes from the office of the director of national intelligence, Dennis Blair, objecting to this Politico story about Blair’s testimony to the House intelligence committee today. From spokesman Arthur House:

The article published by Politico today regarding testimony of the Director of National Intelligence

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What Would the Next al-Qaeda Attack Look Like?

By | 02.03.10 | 10:46 am

Lately I’ve been bashing Dennis Blair, the director of national intelligence, for his performance in a recent Senate hearing. So let me take this opportunity to praise him for his detailed assessment to the House intelligence committee this morning on what al-Qaeda’s actual capabilities for attacking the U.S. look More…

This Threat Warning, Brought to You by the U.S. Law Enforcement Community

By | 02.03.10 | 8:47 am

Two data points that are almost certainly connected. First:

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a jetliner bound for Detroit on Dec. 25, started talking to investigators after two of his family members arrived in the United States and helped earn his cooperation,

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Gates Defends the Administration on Abdulmutallab

By | 02.02.10 | 10:02 am

Carrying forward a conservative attack on the Obama administration’s handling of the interrogation and prosecution of would-be Christmas bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), at this morning’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates whether Abdulmutallab should be tried in a military commission instead of More…

The Administration’s Pushback on Mirandizing Abdulmutallab

By | 02.01.10 | 9:43 am

Ever since Dennis Blair, the director of national intelligence, told a congressional panel two weeks ago that he was cut out of the loop on reading would-be Christmas bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab his Miranda rights, it’s been a circus. Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) plan More…