Outside the Beltway

The Senate went home last night without passing a bill to renew the PATRIOT Act, which expires at the end of the month.

U.S forces in Afghanistan have been involved in missions that go far beyond the counterterror mission the Obama Administration said they would be limited to.

An attack on al Qaeda outposts in January resulted in the death of two hostages, but also resulted in the death of two high value al Qaeda targets.

Explaining my ambivalence around the latest escalation in our intervention.

Some are criticizing the President for not going to Paris for yesterday’s rally.

The men responsible for the Charlie Hebdo massacre are dead, but the problems for France, and the rest of Europe, may just be at the beginning.

The terror attack in Paris seems likely to undercut GOP efforts to use the DHS budget to attack the President’s immigration policies.

In the wake of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on C.I.A. torture, some have suggested that eight years of Jack Bauer helped make torture more acceptable to the American public.

A hostage crisis has been unfolding overnight at a cafe in Sydney, Australia that has apparent links to international terrorism.

A dark and regrettable time in American history is finally seeing the light of day.

The shocking has become routine. We’re no safer because of it.

You thought the American combat role in Afghanistan would end on December 31st? Think again.

The CIA has always separated its core spying and analysis functions; that may soon change.

U.S. troops will be in Afghanistan for at least the next three years.

While the world pays attention to Syria and Iraq, Yemen is once against lurching into chaos.

So much for the President’s promise about ‘no ground troops.’

The plan won’t achieve achieve its stated goals.

The Global War on Terror isn’t over after all.

For some reason, President Obama wants to arm so-called “moderate” Syrian rebels.

Contrary to the oft-repeated slogan, the United States has negotiated with terrorists before. And we will do it again.

Good intentions aren’t an excuse for failure to follow the law.

Once again, President Obama’s attempt to communicate a foreign policy vision falls short.

An imperfect timetable, but better than nothing.

If Hillary Clinton runs for President, questions surrounding the Benghazi attack will continue to dog her.

President Obama’s new rules for killing Americans with drones are proving inconvenient.

Just when it became safe to keep your shoes and tablets on, a new threat to the friendly skies has emerged: toothpaste.

A potentially big legal setback for a big National Security Agency program.

Democracy was nice while it lasted.

The latest revelations about National Security Agency surveillance outside the United States have caused quite an uproar overseas.

Relations between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia seem to have soured in recent years.

The U.S. sends a mostly weak signal to the Egyptian military.

TheTransportation Security Administration is expanding its purview to train stations and sporting events.

In the end, it doesn’t appear that the Boston Marathon bombings could have been prevented by law enforcement.

A Federal Judge wasn’t very pleased when Administration lawyers told her that she doesn’t have jurisdiction to hear a lawsuit over the President’s drone policy.

The ACLU is suing over the NSA’s data mining. Does it really have a chance?

The government has your cell phone and credit card records. What can they do with that information?

The NSA’s data mining project is about more than just subpoenas for cell phone records.

Denied her chance at being Secretary of State, Susan Rice will be moving to a position that is arguably just as important in shaping American foreign policy.

The same story yet again.

Just how serious was the leak that the Associated Press reported on last May?

The United States is currently negotiating for a U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan after 2014, but they’re not sharing their plans with the American people.

Yesterday’s hearings shed more light while also raising yet more questions to which we’ll likely never get a satisfactory answer.