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intelligence officials

Obama to give up NSA’s phone call sweep

The National Security Agency may be getting out of the business of sweeping up and storing vast data on people’s phone calls. According to The New York Times, the Obama administration this week will propose that Congress overhaul the once-secret electronic surveillance program to eliminate practices that set off alarms among privacy advocates and drew […] Continue reading →

Officials: Al-Qaida plots comeback in Afghanistan

 Al-Qaida’s Afghanistan leader is laying the groundwork to relaunch his war-shattered organization once the United States and international forces withdraw from the country, as they have warned they will do without a security agreement from the Afghan government, U.S. officials say. Farouq al-Qahtani al-Qatari has been cementing local ties and bringing in small numbers of […] Continue reading →

Though silent, Israel remains worried by Egypt upheaval

Israel has looked on at upheaval in Egypt largely in silence, keen to avoid disrupting strategic security cooperation with a military it sees as critical to curbing attacks by Islamist militants in neighboring Sinai, officials and analysts said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had aides instruct cabinet ministers to avoid public comment about Egypt, according to […] Continue reading →

Disclosures on NSA spying alarm lawmakers, tech companies

Recent revelations about the National Security Agency’s expansive data-collection efforts have underscored the power of electronic surveillance in the Internet era and renewed an historic debate over how far the government should go in spying on its own people. A disillusioned former CIA computer technician named Edward Snowden, who had worked as a contactor at […] Continue reading →

Obama administration backs Verizon data collection

The Obama administration on Thursday acknowledged that it is collecting a massive amount of telephone records from at least one carrier, reopening the debate over privacy even as it defended the practice as necessary to protect Americans against attack. The admission comes after the Guardian newspaper published a secret court order related to the records […] Continue reading →