Terrorism

The State department had called for a "serious and sustained commitment from Congress" to address security after the attack.

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"John and I are hell-bent on making sure the American people understand this debacle," said Graham on Sunday. 

French air strikes in Mali have killed a top leader of al Qaeda's north African cell, the French daily Le Monde is reporting.

Abdelhamid Abu Zeid, known as the “emir of the south,” was killed along with 43 other militants “in the last few days,” the newspaper reports. He has been accused of kidnapping Westerners to raise money to buy arms, including four French nationals in neighboring Niger who remained in the group's captivity at the time of the strikes.

France intervened in northern Mali last month to prevent Islamist militants from taking over the rest of the country. The Obama administration has supported the offensive by providing intelligence and aerial refueling and transportation.

Republicans said CIA nominee made changes to Rice talking points.

“Brennan was involved,” Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) said after viewing intelligence documents. “It's pretty obvious what happened.”

Vice President Biden appointed Jake Sullivan, the head of the State Department's policy think tank under Hillary Clinton, as his new national security adviser Wednesday.

Sullivan replaces Tony Blinken, who went to President Obama's national security staff after the reshuffling caused by former White House national security adviser Denis McDonough's appointment as chief of staff.

“Jake is the ideal person to serve as my National Security Advisor,” Biden said in a statement. “He is respected across the administration for his intellect, his dedication to our country, and the perspective he brings to even the most complex issues. He has been part of some of the biggest foreign policy challenges our nation has faced, and he’s always handled himself with incredible skill."

Vice President Biden called Syrian opposition leader Moaz al-Khatib to thank the rebel leader for agreeing to multilateral talks.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein said classified documents support the claim that there is a unit of hackers in the Chinese military.

The documents include emails showing the internal debate among intelligence agencies about how to characterize the attack.

Japan lost more people than any other country when Islamist militants attacked an Algerian gas facility last month.