A committee report that claims 27 percent of released detainees could be reengaging in terrorism has Democrats fuming.

Assassinations on Iranian nuclear scientists are being carried out by an Iranian dissident group aided by Israel, according to U.S. officials, NBC News reported.

The group that’s assassinating Iranian scientists, the People’s Mujahedin of Iran, also known as MEK, is designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has accused both Israel and the United States of being behind the attacks, the latest of which occurred last month when a motorcyclist strapped a bomb on a scientist’s car.

Sen. John McCain warned that Iran was ramping up its assistance to Bashar al-Assad’s embattled regime in Syria and called for greater international efforts to aid opposition forces, but “without boots on the ground.”

“If we really want to help these people, I'm confident that we can find ways to do so without the United States with boots on the ground or active intervention,” McCain said Thursday on CBS's "This Morning."

“I would not send NATO troops there, certainly not on the ground,” he said.

Republicans are regretting their votes for the deal that led to supercommittee failure and $500B in automatic defense cuts.

Three senators known for their hawkish views are pushing the Obama administration to do more in Syria.

A group of Democratic lawmakers introduced a bill Wednesday to cut $100 billion in “outdated” nuclear weapons programs, while Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) announced he will drop a bill for continued investment in modernizing the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

The Democratic bill, led by Rep. Edward Markey (R-Mass.), would cut nuclear weapons in submarines, bombers, and missiles and kill some nuclear weapons facilities to reach the $100 billion savings.

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A U.S. commander in Afghanistan said Wednesday that he’s cautiously optimistic about the direction of war there, disputing a scathing report about the operation published this week by a recently returned officer.

Lt. Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Joint Command, said that the article was just “one person's view of this.”

Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) on Wednesday said there are not "a lot of good options" to deal with the unrest in Syria.

Thornberry, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said it's unclear who those fighting the Syrian regime are, and suggested U.S. intervention could lead to unintended consequences.

Two House members on Wednesday morning called on the United States to leave Afghanistan for good after reports surfaced that cast new doubts on official statements that the military is making progress training Afghanistan to police itself against Taliban threats once the United States leaves.

In a report published in the Armed Forces Journal, Army Lt. Col. Danny Davis said attacks by the Taliban often go unanswered, Afghan troops are not well trained and they will likely be overrun once the United States leaves.

“What I saw bore no resemblance to rosy official statements by U.S. military leaders about conditions on the ground,” Davis wrote in an unclassified review of his tour of the country.

Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.), who met with Davis along with other House members, said this report shows the United States needs to leave Afghanistan as soon as possible. The Obama administration said last week that U.S. troops should be out sometime in 2013, but Garamendi said the sooner, the better.