The White House is appointing Clifford Sloan, a veteran Washington attorney and civil servant, as the State Department's new envoy focused on shuttering the Guantánamo Bay prison, according to administration officials.

“I've known and respected Cliff Sloan for nearly ten years. His intellect and skill as a negotiator is respected across party lines, and he's served presidents Republican and Democratic with equal skill," Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement.

"I appreciate his willingness to take on this challenge. Cliff and I share the President's conviction that Guantanamo’s continued operation isn't in our security interests," he added.

Sloan served as an associate counsel to former President Clinton and as assistant to the solicitor general in the first Bush administration. He also worked as associate counsel in the Office of Independent Counsel investigating the Iran-Contra affair and clerked for Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. More recently, he served as publisher of Slate magazine, legal counsel for The Washington Post's online operations, and as a partner at Skadden Arps.

House appropriators want to slash green energy projects to help cover increased spending on nuclear security.

President Obama will get a chance to make his case directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Syria this week when the leaders meet at the Group of Eight (G8) summit in Northern Ireland.

Obama and Putin will hold a bilateral meeting on Monday, with the way forward in the two-year Syrian conflict sure to be at the top of the agenda.

The White House announced Thursday that it would begin sending military support to the Syrian opposition after it determined that Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime had used chemical weapons.

Senate defense lawmakers balked on several key national security issues in their version of the Pentagon's FY 2014 budget plan.  

The Pentagon has agreed to hand over American warplanes and anti-aircraft missiles to Jordan, as Washington wades deeper into the ongoing civil war in Syria.

The U.S. administration said it hopes the election will mean the new government will “heed the will” of the people.

A military judge in Hawaii has reportedly ruled that the president's comments about sexual assault could unfairly affect sentencing.

The movie chronicled operations leading up to the 2011 Navy SEAL raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

The Senate Appropriations Defense subcommittee is bringing in two service chiefs and the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer to testify on the F-35 program next week.

The panel, chaired by Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), announced the hearing on Friday.

In addition to F-35 program manager Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan, who normally testifies on F-35 issues, the committee is asking top Pentagon weapons buyer Frank Kendall, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh and Assistant Marine Commandant Gen. John Paxton to appear.