“John Brennan” on The Daily Caller

Top White House officials worked closely with producers of a movie about the successful killing of Osama bin Laden and pushed them to incorporate the administration’s talking points, according to administration documents unveiled by Judicial Watch. (more)

President Barack Obama’s counterterrorism director went out on the campaign trail Monday, and forcefully defended the anti-jihadi drone strikes begun by George W. Bush, amid widespread opposition from Obama’s progressive allies. (more)

In a striking departure from the White House’s official statement on its opposition the detainee provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act, Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan told NPR that placing American citizens suspected of terrorist activity in military custody would infringe on their rights and make diplomatic outreach overseas more difficult. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is taking serious the still unconfirmed intelligence tip of a possible al-Qaida plot tied to the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said Sunday. (more)

The White House released details of President Obama’s National Strategy for Counterterrorism today, saying the U.S. will focus almost exclusively on destroying Al Qaeda. (more)

In the days following the death of Osama bin Laden, the White House’s narrative on the basic facts of the missions evolved and along with it, the news reports. Three days after President Obama confirmed that U.S. forces killed the al-Qaeda leader, there have been numerous accounts and inconsistencies. Below are some of the most glaring. (more)

We all breathed a sigh of relief when the ball fell in New York’s Times Square and the holiday season this year ended without another terror attack — or attempted attack — on our homeland. You’ll recall that on Christmas Day 2009, the notorious “underwear bomber” tried to blow up his jet over Detroit. Young Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian citizen, wanted to take down his Northwest Airlines flight right over Detroit’s airport. Had he succeeded in detonating his BVDs, his victims would not only have been the 288 passengers and crew he was flying with, but doubtless hundreds or thousands on the ground. (more)

Just days before Christmas, the White House asked Americans to be vigilant this holiday season, warning of a possible — though unspecified — terror threat from Al Qaeda. The caution echoed a weeks’ worth of warnings from law enforcement authorities. (more)

The woman stepped off Hadda Street into a pair of courier offices in Yemen’s capital. In FedEx and UPS storefronts tucked along shopping centers and travel agencies in San’a, she mailed two Hewlett-Packard printers to the United States. (more)

Last week’s terror plot to send two explosive-laden packages from Yemen to synagogues in Chicago was far from an isolated incident.  The plot, in fact, likely represents the fifth attempt by the Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to strike Western targets in the past ten months.  An AQAP operative attempted to detonate a commercial airliner in the skies over Michigan last Christmas, and the group has unsuccessfully attacked three British diplomatic targets in Yemen this year, including a failed suicide assassination attempt on the British ambassador.  The Christmas Day attack alerted Americans and policymakers to the threat posed by AQAP, and last August the CIA assessed that the Yemen-based franchise eclipsed al Qaeda’s core in Pakistan — frequently referred to as “al Qaeda Prime” — as the most dangerous al Qaeda branch in the world.  Unfortunately, however, the U.S. has failed to develop an effective strategy to combat the terror threat emanating from Yemen. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — American intelligence officials tracked and intercepted three suspicious packages in mid-September that they now suspect were sent to the U.S. as a dry run for the mail bomb scheme unleashed last week, a U.S. official said Monday. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s counterterrorism adviser said Sunday that authorities “have to presume” there might be more potential mail bombs like the ones pulled from planes in England and the United Arab Emirates. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s counterterrorism adviser has called Yemen’s leader to make clear that the U.S. is ready help the Yemeni government in the fight against al-Qaida. (more)

WHITE HOUSE BRIEFING ROOM, THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, D.C.
4:23 P.M. EDT, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2010  (more)

President Obama has been reminding the American public lately that he has kept his own promise to withdraw combat troops from Iraq by the end of August. (more)

VINEYARD HAVEN, Mass. (AP) — The Obama administration asked Friday that the only person convicted for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 be returned to a Scottish prison. (more)

Former House Speaker and possible Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich will use quotes from French existentialist Albert Camus and British intellectual George Orwell to argue Thursday that President Obama should not set a deadline for withdrawal from Afghanistan. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon’s top intelligence official emerged as the leading choice Friday for what’s fast becoming known as one of the most thankless jobs in Washington — director of national intelligence. The position has a great title, but the office has just claimed its third victim. (more)

U.S. markets up: The markets closed up on Monday, based largely on positive developments in Europe. The Dow was up almost 4 percent and the S&P 500 up 4.5  percent and the Nasdaq closed up almost 5 percent. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House’s homeland security and counterterrorism adviser says there is no evidence that a cyber attack was behind the chaos that shook Wall Street last Thursday. (more)