Rep. Chris Gibson (R-N.Y.) on Monday introduced legislation that would fix controversial language in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that many believe could allow the U.S. government to detain Americans suspected of working with terrorists.

Gibson's bill, H.R. 4092, would add language to the NDAA that says, "Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the writ of habeas corpus shall remain available to any individual detained within the United States and no American citizen or lawful resident may be detained without all the rights of due process." Due process is defined as the right to a public trial, the right to be informed of the government's accusations and other procedural norms.

Israeli officials will not warn the United States ahead of a pre-emptive strike on Iran to stop its nuclear program, The Associated Press reported, citing an unnamed U.S. intelligence official.

Israeli officials would not inform U.S. officials in order to decrease the chances that the United States is held responsible for the attack, the AP said, a message that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delivered to U.S. officials in Israel in recent weeks.

The Obama administration is sending a clear message that it will not change its strategy of withdrawing troops from Afghanistan.

Pentagon officials said Monday that the U.S. military is not planning to change its strategy in the wake of violence over the burning of Qurans last week that has left more than 30 Afghans dead and seen four U.S. troops killed.

Pentagon press secretary George Little acknowledged that the situation in Afghanistan is tense, but said that the “fundamentals of our strategy remain sound."

“We're not going to let the events of the past week, which are regrettable and unfortunate and tragic, influence the long-horizon view that we're taking,” Little said in a Pentagon briefing Monday.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) is planning to introduce a bill this week that would bar private contractors and Afghans in a new private security force from guarding U.S. bases in Afghanistan.

The bill would make it more difficult for U.S. troops to withdraw from Afghanistan, as many bases in Afghanistan often use contractors for security.

Read more...

The ambassador to the U.N. said the violence in Afghanistan would not "curtail a vital mission."

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Monday that he and other House centrists are working to put together a “concrete” deficit-reduction compromise before the November elections.

The effort faces long odds and most deficit hawks assume that the next window of opportunity for a deficit deal would come in the lame-duck session.

Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) warned that Israel could become the site of a "second Holocaust" if the United States does not provide military cover against Iran, a local Jacksonville, Fla., radio station, WOKV-AM/FM, reported on Monday.

“You’re looking at a second Holocaust … [if Israel doesn't] know they can trust and depend upon the stars and stripes … to provide them support,” said West, who was speaking at the First Baptist Church in West Palm Beach.

Afghanistan’s defense and interior ministers canceled a trip this week to meet with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in order to deal with the violence in Afghanistan, Pentagon press secretary George Little said Sunday.

The two ministers and other senior Afghan officials were scheduled to meet with Panetta on Thursday, but a wave of violent protests in the wake of the Quran burnings at a U.S. airbase have caused the trip to be put off.

Little said the officials are consulting this week with Afghan government and religious leaders about “how to protect International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) personnel and quell violence in the country.”