David Welna

There are reasons why Chuck Hagel may have wanted out as Defense Secretary, but even more reasons why the White House may have wanted him out. Who might succeed him? And how will a GOP-controlled Senate handle a nominee?

The CIA plan calls for deleting the email of almost all employees after they leave the agency. But opponents say this would erase too many important documents. The example they cite: Edward Snowden.

An executive summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee's two-year-old "torture report" will be made public before Democrats relinquish control of the Senate to Republicans in January — but don't look for its release until sometime after Thanksgiving. That's according to Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who is chairwoman of the ...

Last September's entry into the White House by an Iraq War veteran who scaled the fence along Pennsylvania Avenue is the focus of another hearing on Capitol Hill Wednesday.

A bid to overhaul the National Security Agency has failed. The measure didn't receive enough votes in the Senate Tuesday night to cut off debate.

Obama has said he will take executive action on immigration by the end of the year; now, as NPR's Tamara Keith tells Audie Cornish, there are reports he could act as soon as the end of next week.

At the first congressional hearing on ISIS since the U.S. began bombing that force in Syria, Republicans called for U.S. boots on the ground, while Democrats questioned whether Iraq's...

NATO's commander says Russian troops, tanks and artillery have been spotted in Ukraine. This could mark an escalation in the conflict between Ukraine's government and pro-Russian separatists there.

President Obama is meeting with congressional leaders at the White House on Friday. The general overseeing the campaign against militants from the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, will brief them.

More than a month after the U.S. targeted a shadowy al-Qaida bomb-making group known as the Khorasan in Syria with Tomahawk cruise missiles, little is known about the impact of that attack.

As a condition for further assistance in fighting the Islamic State, Turkey has requested the creation of a buffer zone just south of its border with Syria. Some U.S. officials are al...

A couple of nights ago, in the pre-dawn hours, Larry King took his Twitter followers on a personal tour of the inside of his own head. It all started at 1:40 a.m. with a simple declaration.

After more than two months of U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and an expansion of that campaign to Syria, critics complain too little has been accomplished — and too little is being done.

The CIA, whose post-Sept. 11 interrogation techniques are said to be blasted in the report, has blacked out large parts of the unreleased summary.

Congress approved arming moderate rebels in Syria to battle Islamic State militants. Experts say that might violate international law banning the use of force against duly constituted governments.

The president got approval for his plan to train and equip Syrian opposition fighters, but lawmakers didn't approve funds to pay for it or the broader air campaign.

Federal programs that give or pay for military-grade equipment for local police departments are coming under new scrutiny from the Senate Homeland Security panel.

A committee is looking at how federal programs have equipped thousands of local police and sheriff's departments with gear made for warfare, and whether more oversight is needed.

The Pentagon has been transferring mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles to local police. Built to protect U.S. forces from roadside bomb blasts at war, these huge vehicles aren't always welcome.