National Security

Does Osama bin Laden have a secret submarine fleet nobody told us about? Does Al Qaeda have advanced fighter jets parked on runways atop the mountains of South Waziristan? Why, then, does the U.S. Department of Defense, in the midst of two wars and a "generational struggle" with radical Islamist terrorism, want to spend $92 billion to buy 30 Virginia-class attack submarines, $65 billion for 184 advanced F-22 fighter jets and $29 billion for seven behemoth DDG-1000 destroyers?

Any future terrorist attack on the United States probably would originate in Pakistan's western tribal regions, where Al Qaeda leaders have set up their most secure haven since the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the top U.S. military officer said Tuesday. But Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said action to forcibly disrupt the militants' planning effort is unlikely for now.

The struggle to restrain the excesses of the executive branch of government -- and to maintain the separation of powers envisioned by this country's founders -- continues. The latest effort came from a panel of federal appellate judges who, on Monday, after taking a look at the government's evidence, ruled there was no basis to have labeled former fruit peddler Huzaifa Parhat an enemy combatant or to have detained him at Guantanamo Bay for the last six years.

In their rush to get home for their Fourth of July vacations, the members of the Senate left some important work on their desks -- the FISA Amendments Act of 2008. The bill is a rare bit of common sense in this election-year cycle and should be passed first thing upon the Senate's return.

If the sweeping surveillance law signed by President Bush on Thursday -- giving the U.S. government nearly unchecked authority to eavesdrop on the phone calls and e-mails of innocent Americans -- is allowed to stand, we will have eroded one of the most important bulwarks to a free press and an open society. The new FISA Amendments Act nearly eviscerates oversight of government surveillance.

The United States remains "dangerously vulnerable" to chemical, biological and nuclear attacks seven years after 9/11, a forthcoming independent study concludes. The recent political rupture between Russia and the U.S. only makes matters worse, said Lee H. Hamilton, the former Democratic congressman from Indiana who helped lead the 9/11 Commission and now chairs the independent group's latest study.

Nearly six weeks after Russia sent troops into neighboring Georgia, the Bush administration remains deeply divided over whether to retaliate against it -- and some officials fear the internal conflict is already undermining strategically important national security collaborations.

Smart as they are, whales and dolphins make lousy attorneys, which is why they were represented by sharks from the Natural Resources Defense Council in a case heard Wednesday by the Supreme Court. Yet even if the plaintiffs couldn't be present, their lives are on the line in a case that also has deep implications for defining the powers of the executive branch when national security issues are at stake.

In the interest of national security, the United States must aggressively police its border with Mexico. But the cause of concern is not the northward flow of migrants and drugs. Rather, our focus should be on the southward flow of arms and ammunition that is fueling an explosion of drug-related violence in Mexico and that could soon threaten U.S. interests.

Barack Obama, thrown on the defensive by his own running mate, staged a high- profile appearance with a team of silver-haired advisors Wednesday to assert his readiness for any foreign crisis that might erupt if he becomes president. "Yes, we are going to face a number of threats and tests and challenges," the Democratic nominee told reporters.