National Security: National Security, Pentagon & Defense Department News

Navy intelligence official indicted in rifle silencer scheme

Craig Whitlock

Prosecutors say Lee M. Hall, 52, arranged to bill $1.6 million for rifle devices that cost $10,000 to make.

CIA feared exposure of sources in Senate probe

Adam Goldman and Greg Miller

The agency withdrew documents that it felt might give clues to the identity of crucial intelligence sources.

Some prosecutors fight effort to change prison sentencing

Sari Horwitz

Career prosecutors credit longer sentences with reducing crime rate over past 20 years.

General says fight against drug traffic lacks resources

Ernesto Londoño

Commander of Southern Command tells senators budget cuts mean more narcotics get to U.S.

Mali national arraigned in 2000 killing of diplomat

Adam Goldman

The FBI secretly brought Alhassane Ould Mohamed from Mali to the United States to stand trial.

Holder urges reduced time for low-level drug offenders

Sari Horwitz

Effort to reduce prison population is part of attorney general’s mission to reform criminal justice system.

Obama warns of ‘cost’ if Russia won’t yield on Ukraine

Anne Gearan and Karen DeYoung

The president hosts interim leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk at the White House; Kerry to meet top Russian diplomat.

Blowup between CIA, Feinstein had a long, slow fuse

Greg Miller and Adam Goldman

Years of tension over a Senate panel’s report on interrogation practices erupted in public this week.

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.