“The Killing of Osama bin Laden”
The White House maintains that this mission was an all-American affair, and that the senior generals of Pakistan’s army and Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) were not told of the raid in advance. According to Hersh’s sources, this is false, as are many other elements of the Obama administration’s account.
By Seymour M. Hersh, London Review of Books. Veteran investigative reporter Hersh is writing an alternative history of the war on terror.
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n10/seymour-m-hersh/the-killing-of-osama-bin-laden
“The Many Problems with Seymour Hersh’s Osama bin Laden Conspiracy Theory”
Hersh’s story alleges a vast American-Pakistani conspiracy to stage the raid, but his allegations are supported by only two sources, neither of whom has direct knowledge of what happened, and his story is riven with internal contradictions.
By Max Fisher, Vox. Fisher is content director at vox.com.
http://www.vox.com/2015/5/11/8584473/seymour-hersh-osama-bin-laden
“The Media’s Reaction to Seymour Hersh’s bin Laden Scoop Has Been Disgraceful”
While there’s no way to prove or disprove every assertion Hersh makes without re-reporting the whole story, one observer considers the overarching criticisms one by one.
By Trevor Timm, Columbia Journalism Review. Timm is the executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation and a columnist for the Guardian on privacy, national security, and the media.
http://www.cjr.org/analysis/seymour_hersh_osama_bin_laden.php
“Pakistani Asset Helped in Hunt for Bin Laden, Sources Say”
A retired Pakistani military intelligence officer helped the CIA track bin Laden down. The new revelations do not cast doubt on the overall narrative that the White House began circulating within hours of the May 2011 operation. The official story about how bin Laden was found was constructed in a way that protected the identity of the asset.
By Matthew Cole, Richard Esposito, Robert Windrem, and Andrea Mitchell, NBC News. Cole is an investigative producer for NBC News focusing on national security matters.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/pakistanis-knew-where-bin-laden-was-say-us-sources-n357306
More than Keeping Up the Facade: The U.S.-GCC Summit at Camp David
The ritualistic statements issued after the recent summit have an important theme. They include a clear U.S. commitment to a partnership with the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council. They also make clear that U.S. efforts toward an Iranian nuclear deal will not mean normalizing relations with Iran in ways that ignore the many threats Tehran poses to the region.
By Anthony H. Cordesman, CSIS Publications. Cordesman holds the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The author of a wide range of studies on U.S. security policy, energy policy, and Middle East policy, he has served as a consultant to the Departments of State and Defense during the Afghan and Iraq wars.
http://csis.org/publication/more-keeping-facade-us-gcc-summit-camp-david
“Saudi Shakeup”
A new generation of Saudi leaders has brought little change to the U.S.-Saudi alliance, a self-enriching bargain between the two countries’ élites, sustained without mutual understanding or sympathy between their publics. Obama has introduced novel honesty into U.S.-Saudi discourse, though the younger royals show no sign that they are willing to embrace democratic values or become less sectarian.
By Steve Coll, the New Yorker. Coll, a staff writer, is the dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, and reports on issues of intelligence and national security.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/05/25/saudi-shakeup?mbid=nl_051815_Daily& CNDID=26744763&mbid=nl_051815_Daily&CNDID=26744763&spMailingID= 7750978&spUserID=OTQ0Mjk1Nzc1NjMS1&spJobID=681977595&spReportId=NjgxOTc3NTk1S0
“EU Backs Migrant Crisis Naval Force”
EU ministers have approved plans to establish a naval force to combat people-smugglers operating from Libya.
Analysis by Rana Jawad, BBC. Jawad is the BBC’s North Africa Correspondent in Tunis.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32787342
“Stephen F. Cohen on the Truths U.S. Media and Politicians Hide”
Part 2 of an interview with the Nation columnist and scholar of Russian studies. Cohen concludes that “architects of American policy towards Russia and Ukraine are destroying American national security.”
By Patrick L. Smith, Salon. Patrick Smith is the author of Time No Longer: Americans After the American Century. He was the International Herald Tribune’s bureau chief in Hong Kong and then Tokyo from 1985 to 1992.
http://www.salon.com/2015/04/23/ architects_of_american_policy_towards_russia_and_ukraine_are_ destroying_american_national_security_stephen_f_cohen_on_the_truths_u_s_media_and_politicians_hide/
“SurveyMonkey Was the Other Winner of the U.K. Election”
The inside story of how SurveyMonkey, the Palo Alto-based online survey company, managed to predict the decisive Conservative victory in the United Kingdom’s election when traditional pollsters expected a much closer result.
By Carl Bialik, FiveThirtyEight. Bialik is FiveThirtyEight’s lead writer for news.
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/surveymonkey-was-the-other-winner-of-the-u-k-election/
“From Tel Aviv to the Thames, It’s the Age of Neo-Tribalism”
The failure to predict election results isn’t about left versus right; it’s about the collapse of our public sphere.
By Liel Leibovitz, Tablet. Leibovitz is a senior writer for Tablet magazine.
http://tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/190977/age-of-neo-tribalism?utm_source=tabletmagazinelist&utm_campaign=a302023b5f-Thursday_May_14_20155_14_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c308bf8edb-a302023b5f-207334713
“DOD’s New Internet Strategy Boosts Role in Defending ‘U.S. interests'”
In a recent speech at Stanford University, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced a new DOD strategy for defending the United States in cyberspace. He also asked the technology industry to work more closely with DOD to defend against cyber-threats and announced the creation of a new organization within the military: Defense Innovation Unit X (for Experimental).
By Sean Gallagher, Ars Technica. Gallagher is Ars Technica’s IT editor.
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/04/the-x-men-dod-embraces-silicon-valley-ethos-with-new-innovation-unit/
“The Iraq Question Conservatives Need to Do a Better Job Answering”
Jeb Bush’s fumbling attempts to answer a question on the Iraq War point up conservatives’ unwillingness to acknowledge that most of the goals laid out by President George W. Bush to justify the invasion “were fanciful and immaterial to the promotion of American national security. That is the most important lesson learned.”
By Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review. McCarthy is a policy fellow at the National Review Institute. His latest book is Faithless Execution: Building the Political Case for Obama’s Impeachment.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/418485/iraq-question-conservatives-need-do-better-job-answering-andrew-c-mccarthy
“Ask Me Anything About Cuba”
Two State Department experts venture into a Reddit online forum to discuss what U.S. policy change toward Cuba means in detail.
By Seth Wyngowski and Benjamin Barron, Reddit. Wyngowski is an economic officer with the Office of the Coordinator for Cuban Affairs. Barron works in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs.
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/35q054/we_are_seth_wyngowski_and_benjamin_barron_ask_us/
“A League of His Own”
FIFA, international soccer’s governing body, will meet May 28-29 in Zurich to elect a president. The odds-on favorite for a fifth term is Sepp Blatter, the man the Gaurdain has called “the most successful non-homocidal dictator of the past century.” This article details how FIFA – despite well-documented reports of corruption – continues to resist calls for reform.
By Tariq Panja, Andrew Martin, and Vernon Silver, Bloomberg Business. Panja, Martin, and Silver are reporters for Bloomberg News. They are based respectively in London, New York, and Rome.
http://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-sepp-blatter-fifa/