Epstein Secrets

al Security Staff's senior director for the central region, EFTA00712787 which includes the Middle East, Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and South Asia. The bulk of Ross's career, however, has been dedicated to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and his work on this front remains highly controv

00 billion in military cuts set to take effect next year unless a new budget passes would be, in Levin's words, "a train wreck." (Defense Secretary Panetta has preferred the more apocalyptic "doomsday mechanism.") But while McCain has proposed protecting the defense budget by reducing federal spending

lpel, slicing and dicing Pentagon programs to save an estimated $490 billion over the next decade. As CIA director before his move to the Pentagon, Panetta oversaw the raid that killed bin Laden, handing Obama his signature foreign-policy achievement, and he jealously guarded his agency's turf against

ee top Obama Cabinet positions are held by Clinton veterans: Secretary of State Clinton, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. It's only a slight exaggeration to say that the many staffing changes since 2010 have resulted in the Obama camp running the campaign while the C

we have to try to get the peace process going," said Rep. Gary Ackerman (D- ), the ranking member of the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia. "They're not entitled to other people's money. We're not punishing them. We're trying to encourage them." U.S. officials have declined to name wh

lopment work would be done and that he expected the bomb to be ready to take on the deepest bunkers soon. "We're still trying to develop them," Mr. Panetta said. President Barack Obama has made clear that he believes U.S. and international sanctions can curb Iran's nuclear program if they are given mo

erground in Iran. But U.S. defense officials say they believe the MOP could already do damage sufficient to set back the program. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal Thursday, acknowledged the bomb's shortcomings against some of Iran's deepest bunkers. He said more

n focused on the EFTA00701625 problems of the past, wasting its energy on East Asia, Europe and the Middle East, and missed the obvious crisis in South Asia. Despite repeated acts of terrorism sponsored by Pakistan against India, somehow the administration failed to heed its own intelligence predicting

contributed to a warning last week from Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta that the United States was at risk of a "cyber-Pearl Harbor." After Mr. Panetta's remarks on Thursday night, American officials described an emerging shadow war of attacks and counterattacks already under way between the United

vernment in Egypt. Meshaal entered Gaza through Egypt's Rafah border crossing (a logistical impossibility under the Mubarak regime). I Central and South Asia Afghanistan: Following a recent visit by US Secretary of Defense Panetta, President Karzai told the press that he will travel to Washington early i

(a logistical impossibility under the Mubarak regime). I Central and South Asia Afghanistan: Following a recent visit by US Secretary of Defense Panetta, President Karzai told the press that he will travel to Washington early in 2013 to discuss the possibility of US forces remaining in Afghanistan af

, a former State Department and National Security Council official, was a special assistant to President Obama for the Middle East, Afghanistan and South Asia from 2009 to 2011. Ankle 2. Los Angeles Times On Iran, a stark choice Benny Morris February 14, 2012 -- Most people in the Arab world, accordin

as publicly stated that if Iran decided to do it, it could have the bomb within a year and the means to deliver it a year or two later. And perhaps Panetta is wrong — perhaps there is less time than he thinks. Or, as Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak put it earlier this month, those who advise Israel

first nuclear devices in 1998, the Clinton administration condemned the action and then went about quietly adjusting itself to the new reality in South Asia. The lesson Barak absorbed, according to the former official: even ironclad American assurances are never truly ironclad. But the Obama administra

its time with Barak. At least a half-dozen times in the past year, he has made trips to Washington, where he usually meets with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Between the visits, U.S. military officials are on the phone with him almost every week. Though Barak deni

devices EFTA00711873 in 1998, the Clinton administration condemned the action and then went about quietly adjusting itself to the new reality in South Asia. The lesson Barak absorbed, according to the former official: even ironclad American assurances are never truly ironclad. But the Obama administra

n its time with Barak. At least a half-dozen times in the past year, he has made trips to Washington, where he usually meets with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Between the visits, U.S. military officials are on the phone with him almost every week. Though Barak denie