Scott Shane - Articles - RealClearPolitics

Troubles in a Close-Knit Neighborhood

Sun, 03 May 2015 00:00:00 -0500

BALTIMORE — The teenagers stood inside Sun Deli and Grocery, ordered iced tea and fruit punch through the bulletproof glass and casually divided the marijuana they planned to sell, unconcerned that it was broad daylight or that other people were present.

From Minneapolis to ISIS: The Lure of Jihad

Sun, 22 Mar 2015 00:00:00 -0500

Obama Pick for Defense Is an Ally, & Lightning Rod

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0600

WASHINGTON — When President Obama nominates Chuck Hagel, the maverick Republican and former senator from Nebraska, to be his next secretary of defense, he will be turning to a trusted ally whose willingness to defy party loyalty and conventional wisdom won his admiration both in the Senate and on a 2008 tour of war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The choice of Mr. Hagel, the first Vietnam veteran to be nominated for the post, would add a prominent Republican to Mr. Obama’s cabinet, providing some political cover for the president’s plans to exit Afghanistan and make cuts to a military budget that has roughly doubled since the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Biographer's E-Mails Led FBI to Petraeus Affair

Sun, 11 Nov 2012 00:00:00 -0600

WASHINGTON — The F.B.I. investigation that led to the sudden resignation of David H. Petraeus as C.I.A. director on Friday began with a complaint several months ago about “harassing” e-mails sent by Paula Broadwell, Mr. Petraeus’s biographer, to another woman who knows both of them, two government officials briefed on the case said Saturday.

When F.B.I. agents following up on the complaint began to examine Ms. Broadwell’s e-mails, they discovered exchanges between her and Mr. Petraeus that revealed that they were having an affair, said several officials who spoke of the investigation on the condition of anonymity. They also discovered that Ms....

The Coming Drone Arms Race

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0500

AT the Zhuhai air show in southeastern China last November, Chinese companies startled some Americans by unveiling 25 different models of remotely controlled aircraft and showing video animation of a missile-armed drone taking out an armored vehicle and attacking a United States aircraft carrier.

The presentation appeared to be more marketing hype than military threat; the event is China’s biggest aviation market, drawing both Chinese and foreign military buyers.

C.I.A. Chief Sees Taliban Power-Sharing as Unlikely

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0500

The director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Leon E. Panetta, expressed strong skepticism on Sunday about the prospects for an Afghanistan deal being pushed by Pakistan between the Afghan government and elements of the Taliban, saying militants do not yet have a reason to negotiate seriously.

“We have seen no evidence that they are truly interested in reconciliation, where they would surrender their arms, where they would denounce Al Qaida, where they would really try to become part of that society,” said Mr. Panetta in an interview on ABC’s news program “This Week.”

Shadow of 9/11 is Cast Again

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0600

WASHINGTON -- The finger-pointing began in earnest on Wednesday over who in the alphabet soup of American security agencies knew what and when about the Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up an airliner.

But the harshest spotlight fell on the very agency created to make sure intelligence dots were always connected: the National Counterterrorism Center. The crown jewel of intelligence reform after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the center was the hub whose mission was to unite every scrap of data on threats and suspects, to make sure an extremist like Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the would-be bomber, would never penetrate the United States’ defenses.

“N.C.T.C....

Crossed Paths: Obama & Ayers

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500