Terrorism

Your morning global affairs speed-read

The CIA and its drone policy are coming under the microscope today as the Senate Intelligence panel considers the nomination of John Brennan to be the agency's new director. The White House leaked a white paper justifying the use of targeted missile strikes on Monday and President Obama vowed Wednesday to allow lawmakers to see a classified Justice Department memo, but the moves may not be enough to assuage the concerns of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

Back to Benghazi: The Senate Armed Services Committee holds its first hearing on the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi, Libya, this morning with Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of State Chairman Martin Dempsey testifying. Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and former ranking member John McCain (R-Ariz.) want to probe why U.S. forces didn't respond to the 7-hour assault that claimed the lives of U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, but some Republicans on the panel want to relitigate accusations that the administration purposefully lied about what happened for political gain.

Canadian crude: Kerri-Ann Jones, the assistant secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, meets with TransCanada CEO Russ Girling, at the Department of State this afternoon.

Arms control: Rose Gottemoeller, the acting under secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, arrives in Geneva, Switzerland, today to “meet with her foreign counterparts to underscore U.S. interests and strengthen collaborative efforts on arms control and nonproliferation issues.” Geneva is home to the United Nations' Conference on Disarmament.

Budget battles: EU leaders are meeting in Brussels, Belgium, over the next two days to hammer out a budget for the next seven years. "Massive differences over how much to spend on agriculture, development and administration will make a compromise extremely difficult," writes Spiegel Online International.

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.”

Your morning global affairs speed-read

The Open Society Justice Initiative today released its report on “Globalizing Torture,” billed as “the most comprehensive account yet assembled of the human rights abuses associated with CIA secret detention and extraordinary rendition operations. It details for the first time what was done to the 136 known victims, and lists the 54 foreign governments that participated in these operations.”

The report comes as the Obama administration, under pressure from lawmakers, on Monday released its legal rationale for targeting U.S. citizens abroad.

Mali donors conference: World governments meet in Brussels, Belgium, today to discuss the funding, equipping and training of an 8,000-strong African force, which is expected to eventually take over the fighting in Mali from France.

Biden in Britain: Vice President Biden meets today with British Prime Minister David Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg on the final leg of his three-country trip to Europe. He will attend a meeting of the United Kingdom National Security Council later in the day before heading back to the U.S.

On the Hill: The House Foreign Affairs and Energy & Commerce panels hold a joint hearing this morning on U.N. proposals to regulate the Internet. And the House Foreign Affairs panel on the Middle East and North Africa holds a hearing on “The Fatah-Hamas Reconciliation: Threatening Peace Prospects.”

The Senate passed a measure by unanimous consent Monday evening that would allow the Department of State to increase security at U.S. embassies and other overseas posts.

The Senate tried to pass the similar legislation at the end of the last Congress as an amendment to the Hurricane Sandy supplemental bill, but because the House never took up that bill the amendment died with the legislation.

At least three congressional panels are planning further hearings on the terrorist attack in Benghazi.

“You cannot just simply call and expect within two minutes to have a team in place," Panetta said Sunday.

Turkey's Revolutionary People's Liberation Army-Front's claim, which is vehemently anti-American, said it bombed the U.S. Embassy in Ankara.  

A suicide bomber attacked the side entrance to the U.S. embassy, killing a guard and a Turkish citizen.

Press secretary Jay Carney said the White House was unaware who was responsible for the attack.

Sen. Lindsey Graham threatened to hold up Chuck Hagel’s nomination unless the Defense secretary testified about the attack.