CQ's Josh Rogin reports: The White House has given the Pentagon guidance to delay procurement of aerial refueling tankers by five years and cancel plans for a new long-range bomber, according to three sources close to the discussions. No final decisions have been made, and the recommendations are pa...

The Washington Post has finally reported on the controversy surrounding the appointment of Charles Freeman to head the National Intelligence Council. It seems that the Post also spoke to Charles Freeman, though they don't have any on the record quotes from the appointee. According to the paper, Free...

Greg Sargent reports that six Republican Senators have joined the growing chorus on the Hill calling for Dennis Blair to withdraw his appointment of Charles Freeman to head the National Intelligence Council. The letter has not yet been sent to Blair, but Sargent obtained a draft that had already bee...

Mark Hemingway revisits James Baker's The Politics of Diplomacy and finds two references to Chas Freeman. The first has Freeman pleading with Baker to lay off the Saudis as Baker lobbies for more Saudi money to fund U.S. operations as U.S. forces began their buildup in the Gulf as part of Desert Shi...

I hardly expected her to be moved to tears by this story, but the the AP's Pamela Hess really phoned this one in: Republicans on Thursday also asked for a review of Freeman's relationship with China and Iran. Freeman has served on an international advisory board of the government-owned Chinese Natio...

Another note from Freeman to the China Security Listserv, this one giving greater detail of his views on the threat posed by China and Beijing's brutal response to the protests at Tienanmen Square. Note in particular paragraph (2) -- which makes clear that the previous Tienanmen e-mail wasn't "taken...

The editors of National Review lay out their view of Obama's Iraq policy today and it's a line of argument that has gained fairly wide support among conservatives. Yes, reducing force levels is OK, on the path that Odierno has charted out. The first wait-and-see evaluation should be after the Iraqi ...

Stephen Walt, in a post accusing critics of Chas Freeman's appointment of a McCarthyite "smear campaign," composes his own blacklist of Jews with divided loyalties. Walt writes: What unites this narrow band of critics is only one thing: Freeman has dared to utter some rather mild public criticisms o...

Nancy Pelosi appeared on MSNBC last night and discussed Obama's much-hyped withdrawal strategy: MADDOW: Doesn't 50,000 seem like an awful lot for a residual force. PELOSI: I completely agree with that. And the president hasn't made a statement, so I don't know what he's going to say. I know what the...

Senator McCain is just now delivering a speech at AEI on the war in Afghanistan. Some highlights: "Success is possible in Afghanistan. Afghans reject the Taliban. Just 4 percent of Afghans wish them to rule the country, and they rate the Taliban as by far the most dangerous threat to their nation. D...