The White House spokesman said drone strikes against Americans overseas are sometimes "necessary to mitigate ongoing attacks."

Feinstein's request comes after the disclosure of a confidential DOJ white paper outlining legal justifications for using strikes against Americans.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) isn’t saying whether he will filibuster former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), but he’s asking for President Obama to withdraw Hagel’s nomination.

Graham said Tuesday that the White House should “reconsider” Hagel’s nomination to be the next Defense secretary, citing his answers about Iran policy at his confirmation hearing last week, which he had to correct.

“Chuck Hagel is a good man, but these are dangerous times,” Graham said in a statement. “What kind of signal are we sending to the Iranians when our nominee for Secretary of Defense seems clueless about what our policy is?  I hope the Obama Administration will reconsider his nomination.”

The next round of nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers will be held this month in Kazakhstan, European Union and Iranian officials said Tuesday.

The talks will the latest attempt to find a diplomatic resolution to the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program between Tehran and the P5+1 group — the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany, after the talks had stalled last year without much traction.

A spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, the lead negotiator, said an agreement was reached to hold the latest round of talks in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Feb. 26.

The White House on Tuesday urged the European Union (EU) to list Hezbollah as a terrorist group after Bulgaria linked the Lebanon-based organization to last July's deadly attack on Israeli tourists.

The attack inside a member of the European Union creates pressure on France and Germany to drop their objections to listing the group, which are based in part on fear of retaliation in their own countries and against French peacekeeping troops in Lebanon. Five Israeli tourists and their Bulgarian driver were killed when a bomber blew up a tourist bus at the airport of the Black Sea resort town of Burgos.

“Bulgaria’s implication of Hizballah underscores the importance of international cooperation in disrupting terrorist threats,” the White House said in a statement. “We call on our European partners as well as other members of the international community to take proactive action to uncover Hizballah’s infrastructure and disrupt the group’s financing schemes and operational networks in order to prevent future attacks.”

“I don’t think it’s appropriate, and I would oppose such a move,” said McCain, one of Hagel's toughest critics.

The Topline: The Senate’s top Republicans aren’t ruling out a filibuster against former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) as senators are deciding how they will vote on his confirmation.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told a local TV station this weekend that it was “not clear yet” whether Hagel would need 51 or 60 votes to be confirmed.

An aide to Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) said last week that all options were still on the table.

Republicans were not impressed by Hagel’s performance at last week’s confirmation hearing, and McConnell said in the TV report that opposition to him had “intensified.”

But the two top GOP senators aren’t in the same place yet on Hagel: Cornyn is among his most vocal opponents, while McConnell has not said how he would vote.

With the Democrats holding a 55-45 advantage in the Senate — and no Democrats yet coming out against Hagel — a filibuster could be the only way for the GOP to try and derail the nomination of their former Senate colleague.

Even if Republicans take the unprecedented step of a filibuster, it could become moot if enough Republicans say they will back Hagel — or at least oppose the filibuster attempt.

Two Republicans thus far, Sens. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and Mike Johanns (R-Neb.), say they will back Hagel’s confirmation, while there are still many others who have not yet said how they will vote.

A dozen Republicans have said they will vote against Hagel.

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Afghanistan and Pakistan have formally agreed to terms on Taliban peace plan both governments expect to have in place by July, six months before the Obama administration's deadline to have all U.S. combat forces out of Afghanistan. 

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The Air Force is not following the Army’s lead and will renew its NASCAR sponsorship for 2013, the service said Monday.