The Treasury Department took aim at North Korea's nuclear weapons program on Tuesday, freezing the assets of an Iranian firm suspected of financing the Korean regime's efforts.
The Treasury targeted Hong Kong Electronics -- an Iranian firm -- for funneling money to a North Korean bank and mining company suspected of facilitating the country's nuclear weapons program.
The State Department also targeted a North Korean trading company under Executive Order 13382, which reezes the assets of designated proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and their supporters and prohibits U.S. persons from engaging in any transactions with them.
"North Korea uses front companies like Hong Kong Electronics and a range of other deceptive practices to obscure the true nature of its financial dealings, making it nearly impossible for responsible banks and governments to distinguish legitimate from illegitimate North Korean transactions," said Stuart Levey, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
"Today's action is a part of our overall effort to prevent North Korea from misusing the international financial system to advance its nuclear and missile programs and to sell dangerous technology around the world," Levy added.
The Treasury said that Hong Kong Electronics had transferred millions to Korean banks to aid proliferation efforts since 2007.
The White House is considering an executive order asserting the President's authority to indefinitely detain terrorism suspects, the Washington Post reported this morning.
Were the order to be signed by the President, it would effectively validate the policies of George W. Bush, who claimed expansive executive authority over detainees.
The move is also sure to enrage civil libertarians, who are already upset at the President for adopting or defending a handful of Bush's more controversial national security policies, such as denying habeas corpus to enemy combatants held overseas.
The White House is considering the executive order because Obama's advisers are reportedly pessimistic that Congress will agree on a new detention policy for the inmates currently held at Guantanamo Bay. The order would assert the President's authority to take a more unilateral approach to the problem.
Though civil liberties groups are sure to despise the prospect of indefinite detention, the Post reports that an executive order is least likely to anger them:
"Civil liberties groups have encouraged the administration, that if a prolonged detention system were to be sought, to do it through executive order," the official said. Such an order could be rescinded and would not block later efforts to write legislation, but civil liberties groups generally oppose long-term detention, arguing that detainees should be prosecuted or released.
Americans believe North Korea is the greatest threat to U.S. national security, a new Gallup poll finds.
51% of respondents say North Korea is a "direct threat" to the United States. 46% say the same thing about Iran.
The poll was conducted on Monday and Tuesday, just as the protests in Iran were building. I'd be curious to see how the growing unrest in that country affects Americans' perception of the Iranian threat.
Gallup helpfully breaks down responses by party ID. Republicans are much more likely to see global threats than Democrats are, with independents somewhere in the middle.
Former President Bush indirectly criticized President Obama yesterday by taking a few shots at current administration policy.
From the economy to Guantanamo Bay, Bush made clear he does not agree with his successor.
"Government does not create wealth. The major role for the government is to create an environment where people take risks to expand the job rate in the United States," Bush told a crowd of manufacturers in Erie, PA.
But Bush saved his strongest language for Obama's plan to close Guantanamo Bay and possibly bring some of the detainees to U.S. facilities.
"I told you I'm not going to criticize my successor," Bush said, before adding: "I'll just tell you that there are people at Gitmo that will kill American people at a drop of a hat and I don't believe that--persuasion isn't going to work. Therapy isn't going to cause terrorists to change their mind."
Four Uighurs recently released from Guantanamo Bay hope to open a restaurant in their new home, Bermuda.
According to the (London) Times Online, the four are enjoying life so far on the island--"We did not think we were going to be this happy"--and have plans to open the first Uighur restaurant:
The four former Guantanamo inmates--members of China's Muslim Turkic-speaking Uighur minority--are dreaming of opening the first Uighur restaurant, serving noodles and lamb in the millionaires' playground. "Uighur food is delicious. These kind and generous people of Bermuda, we want to do something for them. Of course, we want to have a Uighur restaurant," Mr Abdulqadir said.
CIA Director Leon Panetta should immediately retract comments he made to the New Yorker magazine suggesting former Vice President Cheney is wishing for another terrorist attack on the U.S., Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) demanded Monday.
"I disagreed with the Cheney policy on interrogation techniques, but never did it cross my mind that Dick Cheney would ever want an attack on the United States of America," the former Republican presidential candidate said during an appearance on Fox News. "It's unfair, and I think that Mr. Panetta should retract, and retract immediately."
Panetta suggested Cheney would like to see America attacked again to vindicate his beliefs that the Obama administration has made the country less safe.
"When you read behind it, it's almost as if he's wishing that this country would be attacked again, in order to make his point," Panetta told the New Yorker in a piece published this week. "I think that's dangerous politics."
McCain said the remarks crossed a line, and said Panetta "knows better" than to level such a charge against Cheney.
The Arizona Republican also took a shot at Panetta's leadership as CIA director before moving onto the next topic in the interview.
"By the way, I hear morale is not at an all-time high over at the CIA under Mr. Panetta's leadership," McCain said.
Update, 12:11 p.m.: Media Matters Action emailed to pass along their "fact check" blog reacting to McCain's comments. MMA points out that a McCain adviser had speculated that a terrorist attack would help the Republican's presidential campaign, and that McCain had said that a video message by Osama bin Laden would be a boon to then-President Bush.
Former Vice President Cheney wishes for the U.S. to suffer another terror attack so as to vindicate his arguments on national security, CIA Director Leon Panetta said in an interview.
"I think he smells some blood in the water on the national-security issue," Panetta told the New Yorker in an interview. "It's almost, a little bit, gallows politics."
Cheney has been a vocal critic of the Obama administration, especially on national security issues, which the former VP has said has made the country less safe.
Panetta accused Cheney of hoping for another attack for the sake of vindication.
"When you read behind it, it's almost as if he's wishing that this country would be attacked again, in order to make his point," he said. "I think that's dangerous politics."
Joe Lieberman said today that President Obama "should seriously consider" keeping Guantanamo Bay open, becoming the highest profile non-Republican to cast doubt on the administration's plan to close the controversial facility.
Lieberman made the remarks in an NPR interview that will air later today. (The Weekly Standard first reported Lieberman's comments, which Greg Sargent then confirmed from the Senator's office.)
With the Obama administration reportedly backing off its plan to bring some detainees to the United States, Lieberman's comments may increase Capitol Hill skepticism about what to do with suspected terrorists held at Gitmo.
Hillary Clinton said today that President Obama has successfully passed the "3 AM phone call" test that she famously warned about during the Presidential primary.
In her first Sunday morning appearance since becoming Secretary of State, Clinton praised Obama's handling of national security crises.
"Absolutely," she said, when asked whether Obama was handling the 3 A.M. phone calls well. "And, you know, the president, in his public actions and demeanor, and certainly in private with me and with the national security team, has been strong, thoughtful, decisive. I think he's doing a terrific job. And it's an honor to serve with him."
Thanks, but no thanks. That's the message Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper relayed to the Obama administration when asked if the country would accept the 17 Uighurs being released from Guantanamo Bay.
Canada has refused a request from the Obama administration to take men cleared for release from the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay.
Kory Teneycke, a spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, today said recent inquiries concerning 17 Chinese Muslims called Uighurs at Guantanamo were rejected.
Mr. Teneycke says Canada won't take any detainees. He says they have no connection to Canada and there are security concerns.
U.S. authorities no longer consider the Uighurs enemy combatants but have not been able to find a country willing to accept them and have opposed their release into the United States. The Uighurs fear persecution if they are sent back to China.
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