QUOTE OF THE DAY
“The program [in Pakistan] appears to have ended.”
Peter Bergen, an analyst at the think tank New America Foundation, on the lull in CIA drone strikes in Pakistan
Article, 5A
House panel bill spares aircraft carrier
WASHINGTON -- The House panel that decides defense spending came out with a $570 billion blueprint Thursday that spares the USS George Washington aircraft carrier, gives military personnel a 1.8 percent pay raise and rebuffs Pentagon efforts to make troops and their families pay slightly more for housing and groceries at on-base commissaries.
The spending bill echoes the broad defense policy bill that the House overwhelmingly passed last week that saves ships and aircraft despite pleas from senior military officers for reductions. It also reflects lawmakers' reluctance to trim benefits for military personnel and their families amid increasing questions about the health care provided to veterans.
Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., chairman of the House appropriations subcommittee on defense, said the bill provides the Pentagon and intelligence agencies "with the resources needed to maintain and modernize the best equipped and most capable military in the world today and in the future."
Military leaders have warned that sparing what they consider to be parochial programs will undermine their ability to train soldiers, sailors and airmen to fight.
U.S. disputes fugitive Snowden's claim
WASHINGTON -- Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden contacted the agency's general counsel with a procedural question, not to raise concerns about the scope of secret intelligence gathering, the office of the director of national intelligence said.
Snowden, living in Russia with his U.S. passport revoked, said in an NBC interview that aired Wednesday that a paper trail exists showing he raised concerns about U.S. intelligence gathering internally before releasing a trove of secret documents last year about the program.
On Thursday, the National Security Agency released an email it said Snowden appeared to be referring to, which the agency says is the only communication from Snowden it could find raising any concerns. It was dated April 8, 2013, three months after Snowden first reached out to journalists anonymously.
In the email to the National Security Agency’s general counsel’s office, Snowden questions a document showing the hierarchy of governing authorities, which appeared to put executive orders on par with federal statutes.
In an email Thursday to The Washington Post, however, Snowden called the official release of the email “incomplete.”
Closed jury selection sought in '12 attack
CENTENNIAL, Colo. -- Lawyers for the man suspected of killing 12 people in a mass shooting at a Colorado movie theater told a judge Thursday they want the public and the media barred from the entire jury selection process.
Prosecutors agreed that individual questioning of potential jurors should be closed but said the last step should be kept open, when the panel of 12 jurors and 12 alternates will be chosen.
District Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. did not say when he would rule on the request.
James Holmes is charged with murder and attempted murder in the July 2012 attack, which also left 70 people wounded. He has pleaded innocent by reason of insanity. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Jury selection is scheduled to start Oct. 14, and Samour has said it could take up to three months.
Abortion doctor told to get hospital rights
MADISON, Wis. — A federal judge told a Milwaukee abortion doctor Thursday to renew his efforts to obtain hospital admitting privileges, hinting that it could resolve a lawsuit alleging a Wisconsin law requiring such privileges is unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge William Conley said he was “bewildered” that Affiliated Medical Services abortion provider Dr. Dennis Christensen and his attorneys haven’t received definitive responses from any Milwaukee hospitals. He told them to demand better answers from two facilities where Christensen is seeking admitting privileges.
“I’m being asked to strike down a law,” Conley told them. “I take no pleasure in that. If there’s a way to get privileges short of that, you should do that.”
Republican Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill last summer requiring abortion providers to get admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. The measure’s supporters argued the mandate would ensure better care for women who end up hospitalized with complications.
A Section on 05/30/2014