Terrorism

Sen. Dianne Feinstein hailed the report, saying it showed Washington "could finally close Guantánamo without imperiling our national security."

President Obama offered praise for his embattled and "extraordinary" U.N. ambassador on Wednesday.

“I don't understand why she wouldn't have at least qualified her response” about Benghazi, Collins said.

Your morning global affairs speed-read

Susan Rice is back on Capitol Hill today for meetings with Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) after meeting with three Senate hawks on Tuesday. The visits are widely seen as a last-ditch effort to salvage her chances of being nominated for secretary of State.

Tuesday's meetings did not go well, with Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) telling reporters afterwards that they had more concerns about the after meeting with the U.S. ambassador to the UN than before. The Hill has the latest on the state of play here.

Cross-Atlantic ties: European Parliament President Martin Schulz is scheduled to meet today with Vice-President Joe Biden and Senate leaders Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). The EU hopes to revive a free trade agreement with the United States.

Food aid: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee's foreign aid panel holds a hearing on “Evaluating current U.S. global food security efforts and determining future U.S. leadership opportunities” at 10 a.m. 

The full committee will then take up the nominations for ambassador to Kenya and Lithuania at 2 p.m.

Republicans remain concerned about comments Rice made following the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Republican attacks on United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice are “outrageous and utterly unmoored from facts and reality.”

Rice didn't convince Republican senators that she wasn't to blame for providing misleading information about the September attack in Benghazi, Libya, during meetings on Capitol Hill Tuesday.

Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) on Tuesday afternoon repeated his call for a ban on the ability of U.S.-labeled terrorist groups to deliver messages via Twitter.

"Foreign terrorist organizations like al Shabaab, Hamas, Hezbollah, [who] all use an American company, Twitter, to recruit other extremists," Poe said on the House floor.

Your morning global affairs speed-read

U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice meets with the usual trio of Senate hawks – John McCain (R-Ariz.), Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) – this morning in a bid to defuse criticism over her handling of the intelligence on the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The move is widely seen as a charm offensive ahead of her likely nomination to replace Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The Hill broke the story here.

Crossing the border: Mexico's president-elect, Enrique Peña Nieto, meets with President Obama at the White House today to talk about drugs, trade and immigration. Obama will be sending Vice President Joe Biden to lead the U.S. delegation to his inauguration on Saturday.

American exceptionalism: The conservative Foreign Policy Initiative hosts a day-long forum on “The Price of Greatness: The Next Four Years of Foreign Policy” at the Newseum. Participants include Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), as well as Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) and Congressman-elect Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and the ambassadors from Australia, the Philippines and India.

"She knew that the story she was giving out was not entirely true," King said of Rice's initial explanation for Benghazi.

“Allowing foreign terrorist organizations like Hamas to operate on Twitter is enabling the enemy,” said one lawmaker.