National Security: National Security, Pentagon & Defense Department News

U.N. Security Council unites to approve Syria resolution

Karen DeYoung

The measure demands that the Syrian regime halt attacks on civilians and allow full humanitarian access.

World’s top drug lord arrested

Joshua Partlow and Nick Miroff

Sinaloa cartel chief “El Chapo” Guzmán was captured early Saturday in the resort town of Mazatlán.

Famous Iraq war tale of heroism unraveled

Ernesto Londoño

Marines who served with Sgt. Rafael Peralta in Iraq in 2004 now say story of his heroic death was fabricated.

U.S., allies agree on aid for Syrian rebels

Karen DeYoung

Countries agree on classifications for which opposition groups will receive supplies, assistance in civil war.

NSA explores options for vast telephone record database

Ellen Nakashima

The agency is expected to give the White House proposals for storing the data outside government.

Iran’s most sensitive uranium stockpile shrinks

Reuters

Following a nuclear deal with 6 major powers, Iran is further away from being able to build a bomb.

Relative of 9/11 hijacker pleads guilty at Guantanamo Bay

Adam Goldman

As part of guilty plea for war-crimes, he is likely to testify against a high-profile detainee, U.S. officials said.

Report: Drone strike didn’t comply with rules set by Obama

Greg Miller

Human Rights Watch’s findings contradict assertions by U.S. officials that only militants were killed.

NSA Secrets

FILE - This June 6, 213 file photo shows the sign outside the National Security Agency (NSA) campus in Fort Meade, Md. The NSA has broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of times each year since Congress granted the intelligence agency broad new powers in 2008, The Washington Post reports. In one case, telephone calls from Washington were intercepted when the city's area code was confused with the dialing code for Egypt. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

Revelations and reaction

The National Security Agency has been forced to respond to unprecedented disclosures about its surveillance programs. Those programs have been assailed as a violation of privacy rights by critics and defended as critical to U.S. national security by intelligence officials. Explore our coverage.