Richard Lawless

In the past six months, at least a dozen "free-lancers" have initiated unauthorized mediation efforts to free nine American hostages held by Islamic extremists in Lebanon that may have endangered or delayed their release, U.S. officials say.

In the past six months, at least a dozen "free-lancers" have initiated unauthorized mediation efforts to free nine American hostages held by Islamic extremists in Lebanon that may have endangered or delayed their release, U.S. officials say.

Secretary of State George P. Shultz on Thursday bluntly told self-appointed negotiators trying to cut a deal for the release of American hostages in Lebanon to "butt out." Speaking to a news conference at the United Nations, Shultz insisted that the United States has not engaged in direct talks with Iran about the nine American hostages or any other subject. And, he reiterated, the Reagan Administration will make no deal to get the hostages out.

With the Iraq war stretching the Army to its limit, the Pentagon announced Monday that it would move 3,600 soldiers from their garrisons in South Korea to Iraq this summer. The decision to move troops from a unit stationed long-term in South Korea underscores how much the military is straining to provide enough forces for Iraq while meeting its other commitments around the world.

The Pentagon said Monday that it planned to withdraw a third of the 37,000 troops stationed in South Korea, auguring the biggest change to the U.S. military presence in the nation in three decades. The plan to pull out 12,500 troops by the end of 2005 will force the South to shoulder more responsibility for defending itself against any aggression by North Korea, U.S. defense officials said. A U.S.

The United States wants to begin a dramatic realignment of its roughly 37,000 troops in South Korea as early as this year, a move that would involve pulling out of the historic garrison in Seoul where U.S. forces have been headquartered since the Korean War and moving troops away from the demilitarized zone, according to sources here and in Washington.

As the Bush administration strengthens ties in Asia as part of a hedging strategy to contain fast-rising China, it has allowed a key relationship in the region to fray: its half-century-old alliance with South Korea. Strong ties with Seoul have never been more pressing, regional experts say, and the administration plans to launch a diplomatic initiative to breathe new life into a relationship that, much like an unhappy marriage, has soured over the years as the partners drift apart.

In May, President Obama completed his long-awaited "cyberspace policy review," concluding that cyberspace is a strategic asset that must be safeguarded from attack as a national security priority. He recalled how hackers had gotten into his own campaign servers, and he worried that crucial infrastructure, public and private, was vulnerable to hackers, cyber terrorists and even other governments. The president promised to appoint a permanent "cyber czar" who would coordinate the work of federal agencies charged with protecting us. But since "acting cyber-security czar" Melissa Hathaway resigned in August, the post has been unfilled.

By severing some of the few remaining U.S. ties with North Korea in recent days, the Bush administration appears to be trying to further isolate the Pyongyang regime over its pursuit of nuclear weapons, analysts say. Wednesday's suspension of a Pentagon program to recover the remains of U.S. soldiers killed in the Korean War puts an end to one of the few regular channels of face-to-face contact between Americans and North Koreans.

After Marine Gen. Peter Pace, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited China in March, he came home glowing about the access he had been given. He had sat in the Chinese military's top fighter plane and ridden in its most sophisticated tank. "They took me to places no other U.S. officer had been," Pace said. "They took me to their private offices. They took me to their command centers and showed me their maps and their plans." But others in the Pentagon were less impressed.