David Welna

Defense Secretary Ash Carter is visiting Japan at a time when Tokyo is worried about its longstanding treaty with the U.S. and how President-elect Trump will deal with China.

Gen. James Mattis broke ranks with the Obama administration and left his post in charge of U.S. Central Command over his fixation on Iran as a threat to the U.S. Mattis is known as an independent thinker in the military. His past statements put him at odds with some of Donald Trump's views as well.

New rules let a federal court approve government searches of devices outside the court's district. The Justice Department wanted the change to keep up with technology. Opponents consider it scary.

Only a few copies exist of the infamous CIA torture report, and the Senate committee that created them has called for the agencies that received them to return them. Activists and journalists are hoping to keep those copies at least extant, so they might one day be declassified and released. They fear that if all the copies are returned, they will be destroyed and the information lost forever.

Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, a registered Democrat fired by President Obama as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, has been chosen by Donald Trump to be his national security adviser. Kansas Republican Rep. Mike Pompeo, who clashed with Hillary Clinton over the Benghazi attacks, is Trump's pick for CIA director. NPR looks at the men chosen for these key national security posts.

President Obama promised to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo. President-elect Trump has said he'll keep it open, though only 60 prisoners are there today.

Longstanding nonproliferation deals between the two countries are fraying. Bickering over nuclear issues has increased markedly in recent months, with each side accusing the other of cheating.

The presidential campaign has gone nuclear. A hacked recording of a Hillary Clinton fundraiser reveals her questioning a program putting nuclear warheads on cruise missiles. A question about the nuclear triad seemed to stump Donald Trump. And a very expensive nuclear stockpile modernization plan awaits whoever wins in November.

The vote to override Obama's veto of a Sept. 11 lawsuit bill pits lawmakers from both parties against Saudi Arabia. On the other hand, the Senate has cleared the way for arms sales to the kingdom.

NPR's David Welna was recently hacked by a pro-Kremlin website when he applied for press credentials in Ukraine. He's hardly alone. But it's an issue the U.S. government is reluctant to discuss.

The president warned that the bill could undermine government actions to fight government-sponsored terrorism and threaten the immunity that protects many U.S. citizens, including military, overseas.

Obama plans to veto a bill allowing relatives of Sept. 11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia for allegedly helping the hijackers. The White House says it could lead to reprisals by nations against the U.S.

A classified congressional report on Edward Snowden's stunning 2013 removal of top secret National Security Agency documents was approved Thursday by the House Intelligence Committee. It was just hours before the Oliver Stone biopic, Snowden, is set to hit theaters nationwide. Panel members say their report paints a far less favorable portrait of Snowden and his motives than the new movie does.

Supporters of National Security Agency data leaker Edward Snowden launched a campaign Wednesday urging President Obama to pardon Snowden from a possible 30-year prison sentence. Snowden has been exiled in Russia since making off with a trove of NSA files in 2013, and he spoke from there via video link to his supporters Wednesday. The campaign coincides with the release of an Oliver Stone biopic titled, Snowden.

Fifteen years after being touched off by the Sept. 11 attacks, Afghanistan has become America's longest war. It's also become the forgotten war, all but absent from the presidential campaign.

The Obama administration is increasing the number of review boards it convenes for Guantanamo Bay detainees as it works to empty the detention facility of as many people as possible.

Fixing up the school is part of an ongoing battle for the hearts and minds of a people whose ethnic ties are with Russia but whose military and leaders identify with the West.

An information war is underway on Ukraine's troubled eastern flank, with pro-Russia radio and TV dominating the airwaves. But with key help from an American charity that makes no claim to neutrality, Ukraine's military now has its own FM radio station for its troops on the front. The reach of Army FM is limited, but Spirit of America's Jim Hake is determined to change that.

Some national security leaders are skeptical about Washington's attempted overtures to Moscow to establish better coordination in the fight against the Islamic State in Syria.

Donald Trump and top advisers have business ties with Russia and its leaders going back many years. Moscow has a distinct point of view about the U.S. presidential election and cause to support Trump.