Rowan Scarborough

An eavesdropping phoenix, NSA arose from ashes of 9/11

The start of the National Security Agency's rise in power can be traced to the first years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, when new laws, secret presidential orders and lots of cash emboldened it to sweep up billions of communications.

July 23, 2013

Al Jazeera coming to America: Controversial network ready to hit U.S. TV markets

Al Jazeera, the Arab news network that has provided a venue for Osama bin Laden videos, the Muslim Brotherhood and a birthday bash for a convicted murderer, is coming to America.

July 23, 2013

Emails reveal how accuracy was scrubbed out of Benghazi ‘talking points’

As the hour grew late on the night of Sept. 14, the White House wanted to make one thing clear to the State Department and the CIA as the three collaborated on what would come to be known as the Benghazi "talking points," designed to be used by Congress and administration officials to explain what had happened three days earlier at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya.

July 16, 2013

The (spy) game’s afoot in hunt for NSA leaker Snowden

One twist in the fugitive hunt for asylum-seeking Edward Snowden is that the man who has revealed the most secrets about the National Security Agency in history now is undoubtedly one of its chief targets.

July 13, 2013

Granddaughter qualifies to follow in boot steps of Delta Force founder

A descendant of Col. Charles Beckwith, who in 1977 founded the Army's Delta Force that today hunts and kills Islamic terrorists, passed the test in May to become a member of the elite special operations forces.

July 9, 2013

Private suppliers fill in where Pentagon pulls out; TroopsDirect sends necessities to Afghanistan

Aaron Negherbon, who founded the nonprofit TroopsDirect, said his organization has shipped more than 180,000 pounds of essentials to troops since 2010, giving a new meaning to the idea of a CARE package.

July 8, 2013

Ouster of Egypt’s Islamist president a product of army’s U.S. military training

In ousting Muslim Brotherhood rule, the Egyptian army did what it has been taught to do for decades: Keep Cairo out of the hands of Islamists.

July 7, 2013

Two more female officers fail in Marines’ infantry course

A third pair of female Marine lieutenants has failed to complete the Corps' Infantry Officer Course at Quantico, Va.

July 3, 2013

GAO report conflicts with Army over battlefield intelligence system

The Army's vaunted battlefield intelligence processor is "difficult to operate" and suffers "workstation system failures," a confidential government report says.

July 1, 2013

Special operations forces are worried about adding women

Publicly and privately, U.S. commandos are casting doubt on the sexual revolution looming over Navy SEALs, Army Rangers, Delta Force and Green Berets.

June 27, 2013

Pentagon celebrates gay troops

The Pentagon on Tuesday toasted gays in the military, with a top adviser to President Obama declaring the country is "safer" now that they may serve openly in the ranks.

June 25, 2013

Military gives a salute to Gay Pride Month; messages sent to commands

The U.S. military is embracing a celebration of homosexuals in the ranks this month by sending out a gay pride poster and a directive to commands, while planning a Pentagon symposium that will be attended by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

June 23, 2013

Russia’s Putin hangs tough on Syria at G-8 summit

Outnumbered at the just-completed G-8 conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin did not give an inch on Syria, preferring to maintain one of Russia's most valuable, though unpopular, alliances.

June 18, 2013

Ex-insider: Prism use like ‘Bush on steroids’; Hoekstra still backs NSA intel program

Former Rep. Peter Hoekstra, who was chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, recalls a cryptic telephone call from the White House in August 2004: "Come on over. We've got something to tell you."

June 12, 2013

Exposure of Indiana fertilizer plant opens general’s talks with Pakistan on Taliban IEDs

The Army general who commanded the war against homemade bombs that have killed and maimed thousands of Americans in Afghanistan has left the Pentagon knowing he scored a major victory.

June 9, 2013

Military benefits for same-sex couples to begin Sept. 1

The Pentagon plans to begin issuing identification cards to the same-sex partners of service members beginning Sept. 1, according to an internal personnel Web posting on Thursday.

June 7, 2013

Congress gives an order to Army on battlefield processor

Congress is set to intervene for the first time in how the Army is developing its prized battlefield intelligence processor, which soldiers and the Pentagon's top operational tester have deemed ineffective.

June 4, 2013

Al Qaeda remains a threat to U.S. via its franchises despite Obama’s boast

In the months before President Obama declared al Qaeda was "on a path to defeat," his aides were telling Congress that the terrorist network was expanding and was capable of inflicting mass casualties in the U.S.

May 29, 2013

Analysts contradict Obama on Islamic terror threat

Terrorism analysts are rebutting President Obama's assertion that the "scale of the threat" from Islamic terrorists has reverted to pre-Sept. 11, 2001, levels.

May 24, 2013

Victims of sex assaults in military are mostly men

More military men than women are sexually abused in the ranks each year, a Pentagon survey shows, highlighting the underreporting of male-on-male assaults.

May 20, 2013