National Security: National Security, Pentagon & Defense Department News

Obama’s revamp of anti-terror policies stalls

(Kirsty Wigglesworth / AP)

Karen DeYoung

A year after he pledged to pivot the U.S. from a “perpetual wartime footing,” he has gained little ground.

U.S. ordered to supply Guantanamo force-feeding records

Michael Doyle

After issuing order to stop the practice, judge directs government to give more information.

U.S. deploys 80 troops to Chad to help find kidnapped girls

Ernesto Londoño

President Obama says the military personnel will assist in the effort to find those abducted from neighboring Nigeria.

U.S. applies more sanctions in Magnitsky case

Anne Gearan

10 additional Russians are cited in a case that has come to symbolize human rights abuses.

U.S. to reveal justification for drone strikes on citizens

Karen DeYoung and Sari Horwitz

The Obama administration had long resisted disclosure of memos explaining legal rationale.

Veteran of Afghan war to be awarded Medal of Honor

Dan Lamothe

Cpl. William Kyle Carpenter becomes only the second living Marine since Vietnam War to receive recognition.

This history has a familiar ring to it

Walter Pincus

For NSA, some things haven’t changed, but other things have.

U.S. charges Chinese military members with cyberspying

Ellen Nakashima and William Wan

The indictment follows vows to hold other nations accountable for theft of U.S. companies’ intellectual property.

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.