Gregory D. Johnsen: John Brennan is the wrong man for the CIA

Gregory D. Johnsen, a Princeton scholar who has emerged as a key Yemen analyst, explains why promoting John O. Brennan to CIA director following David Petraeus’ resignation is counterproductive: Mr. Brennan is the president’s chief counterterrorism adviser and the architect of… Continue Reading

Drones and COIN, Post-Petraeus

By Paul Mutter In what is sure to be one of the most glaringly obvious headlines written about the General Petraeus-Paula Broadwell affair, the Washington Post writes: “Petraeus hoped affair would stay secret and he could keep his job as… Continue Reading

WaPo on the “disposition matrix,” the CIA’s next-generation kill list

By Paul Mutter The Washington Post‘s Greg Miller has begun a three-part series on the future of the Obama Administration’s counterterrorism drone strike program, which will include a “next-generation targeting list” (aka “kill list”) in the form of a “dipposition matrix”. Though… Continue Reading

Inside a Foundation for Defense of Democracies Sponsored Junket to Israel

by John Walbridge I am in Israel at the moment, having just completed a terrorism tour for academics sponsored by a group called the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). The organizer described them as “hawkish,” which is certainly true.… Continue Reading

Jeremy Scahill: U.S. drone strikes in Yemen endanger U.S. national security

This week Al Jazeera English (AJE) aired a program that speaks to an article we published on Monday by Dr. Emile Nakhleh, a former top Central Intelligence Agency officer and Mideast expert. Nakhleh argues that by continuously repressing reform movements within… Continue Reading