U.S. officials identified the alleged shooter as Staff Sgt. Robert Bales.

Brad McKeon, a former national security adviser for Vice President Biden, will serve as a national security adviser to President Obama, the White House announced Friday. 

McKeon will be the deputy assistant to the President and executive secretary and also chief of staff of the National Security staff. McKeon's new job was previously held by Nate Tibbits. 

The Navy will double the number of mine-hunting ships patrolling the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway near Iran.

The two leaders talked Friday morning after President Hamid Karzai said he was at "the end of the rope.”

U.S. intelligence forces found information about the assassination plot in papers recovered after bin Laden's death.

Officials questioned the relatives of an Afghan man who tried to run down a delegation, including Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

The Obama administration plans to resume sending military aid to Egypt despite a new congressional mandate that links military aid to the protection of basic freedoms, The New York Times reported.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will waive the congressional requirement on the basis of national security as early as next week, after the $1.3 billion in military aid was in jeopardy after Egyptian authorities prevented U.S. non-governmental organization (NGO) workers from leaving Egypt as they faced prosecution for allegedly operating illegally in the country.

One of the workers was Sam LaHood, son of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Numerous cost and schedule problems on the Pentagon's Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) might force a key American ally to bail out of the program. 

Canadian Associate Defense Minister Julian Fantino said Tuesday that government officials could pull the plug on its portion of the multimillion-dollar project. 

"The determinate decision has not yet been made as to whether or not we are going to actually purchase, buy, acquire the F-35," Fantino said, according to the Ottawa Citizen. "We have not yet discounted the possibility of backing out of the program." 

A global financial payments system announced Thursday it was cutting off Iranian banks facing sanctions from the United States and European Union, as the global community ramped up its pressure on that nation's nuclear development program.

The Belgium-based Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) announced it was no longer doing business with Iranian banks after an EU decision to prohibit the practice, including the nation's central bank. SWIFT handles cross-border transactions for most of the world's largest banks.

"This EU decision forces SWIFT to take action” said Lázaro Campos, the head of SWIFT. “Disconnecting banks is an extraordinary and unprecedented step for SWIFT. It is a direct result of international and multilateral action to intensify financial sanctions against Iran.”