NATIONAL
March 16, 2013 | By David S. Cloud, Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon plans to add 14 missile interceptors to a problem-plagued anti-missile system in Alaska aimed at North Korea, which has issued increasingly bellicose threats since it tested an underground nuclear device and launched a small satellite. The upgraded ground-based interceptors would augment 26 interceptors already deployed at Ft. Greely, part of a multi-layered missile defense system that includes up to five Navy Aegis cruisers with tracking radars and their own interceptors in the northern Pacific.
NEWS
December 7, 2012 | By Steven P. Bucci
BioWatch, the Homeland Security-led effort to provide early warning if biological pathogens are released against the American people, has fallen into disfavor in some corners. The Times produced a series of highly critical articles, and the editorial board has chimed in , suggesting that the program be "squashed. " But calls to bag BioWatch, while well intentioned, are frankly ill-advised. Yes, BioWatch is far from perfect. The program has problems and needs to improve.
WORLD
November 21, 2012 | By Glen Johnson, Los Angeles Times
GAZIANTEP, Turkey - An uneasy truce held in the Syrian town of Ras Ayn on Tuesday, one day after at least 18 combatants were reportedly killed in clashes between Kurdish militiamen and Syrian rebels. The fighting, which added fresh ethnic dimensions to Syria's bloody 20-month-old rebellion against President Bashar Assad's regime, began Monday after Kurdish protesters demanded that opposition forces leave the town and intensified after the killing of a local Kurdish leader, reports indicated.
NEWS
March 27, 2012 | By Lisa Mascaro
A day after President Obama's hushed remarks to a Russian leader sparked outrage from GOP circles, House Speaker John A. Boehner backed off the criticism, and suggested Mitt Romney should do the same, while the president is traveling abroad. “While the president's overseas, I think it's appropriate that -- that people not be critical of him or of our country,” Boehner said Tuesday. Obama was captured on a live microphone telling Russian President Dmitry Medvedev he would have “more flexibility” to negotiate on a missile defense system in Europe after the fall elections.
NEWS
March 26, 2012 | By Maeve Reston
While campaigning in California Monday morning, Mitt Romney pounced on President Obama's offhand comments to Russian leaderDmitri A. Medvedev - calling the conversation caught on a hot microphone “an alarming and troubling development.” During a nuclear security summit meeting in Seoul, Obama was captured on tape telling Medvedev that after the November election he would “have more flexibility. " The remarks were interpreted by some as a suggestion that Obama plans to delay discussions with Russian leaders about a missile defense system based in Europe that has been a source of tension between the two nations.
WORLD
April 19, 2010 | By Julian E. Barnes, Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
Iran unveiled what it described as a new air defense system during an annual military display Sunday as policymakers in Washington confronted new reminders about their limited range of options for responding to Tehran's apparent arms buildup. The new system, which Iran said is designed to defend against attacks by missiles and high-altitude planes, was introduced as the government awaits delivery of sophisticated missile defense batteries it has bought from Russia but which have been delayed because of Israeli pressure on Moscow.