Mark Hosenball

The Obama administration says that even though a prominent Democratic Party fundraiser close to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton allegedly was targeted for cultivation by a Russian spy ring, there is no evidence that Clinton herself was a target of the spies.

The FBI investigation has been going on for years—maybe as long as a decade, according to law-enforcement officials. So why did federal agents move now to take down 10 alleged deep-cover U.S.-based spies for Russia's foreign-intelligence service, only a few days after Russian President Dimitri Medvedev's U.S. visit, during which he and President Obama proclaimed a new era of warm relations between their countries?

Echoing the more frigid years of the Cold War, Washington said Monday it had busted up a network of Russian spies who posed as ordinary Americans, prompting angry denials from Moscow. Among the clever code names used by the alleged espionage ring: Farmer, Cat, and Parrot.

In an ABC News interview Sunday, CIA Director Leon Panetta alluded to a fact that was reported by NEWSWEEK months ago: U.S. intelligence agencies have revised their widely disputed 2007 conclusion that Iran had given up its efforts to design or build a nuclear bomb.

One of America's most respected campaigners against excessive government secrecy has launched a broadside against the Web site WikiLeaks, suggesting that the enterprise is self-indulgent, irresponsibly invades the privacy of groups that are not involved in public policy, and on occasion has engaged in behavior that is "overtly unethical."

Officials say the Obama administration has little interest in easing the plight of five American Muslims jailed by Pakistani authorities for 10 years on terror-related charges. But the head of a prominent Islamic group suggests the administration was using a double standard, noting that an American arrested in Pakistan while attemtping to kill Osama bin Laden was released and sent home days after his arrest.

The House speaker is blocking a floor vote on an intelligence-reform bill that she says doesn't go far enough to strengthen congressional oversight of sensitive spy operations. But congressional sources say that unless Pelosi allows the legislation to move forward, key senators are likely to stall confirmation hearings for James Clapper, the Obama administration's nominee to be director of national intelligence.

European investigators believe a man arrested by Polish authorities earlier this month may be a key fixer in Europe for Israel's Mossad spy agency. Although the suspect was using an Israeli passport in the name of Uri Brodsky when arrested June 4 at Warsaw airport, an official familiar with the inquiry said investigators believe the man's true identity remains a mystery.

Although he spent more than half an hour laying out his story before a federal court in New York on Monday as he said he was pleading guilty to his failed attempt to set off a car bomb in Times Square, Faisal Shahzad left some important questions unanswered. How did he hook up with the Pakistani Taliban? Who imbued him with such a burning hatred of America?

Mideast media has been abuzz over the movement of 12 U.S. warships into the Red Sea, speculating that it might be in response to an alleged Iranian attempt to send aid to Gaza. But U.S. and European officials describe the naval activity as routine.

The Pentagon's main spy outfit, the Defense Intelligence Agency, is building a new database which will consolidate in one system "human intelligence" information on groups and individuals – potentially including Americans -- collected by DIA operatives in United States and abroad.

Officials say they're baffled by a claim in The Guardian that the U.S. government is trying to contact the head of whistle-blower Web site WikiLeaks, hoping to persuade him not to release secret U.S. documents that could threaten national security. Nevertheless, the government does seem concerned about that risk.

For years, counterterrorism officials have expressed concern that a lawless corner of Paraguay, known as the Tri-Border Area, was becoming a haven for Islamic terrorist groups. New evidence of a possible terrorist presence there emerged this week, when authorities arrested a defendant in a major U.S. prosecution of alleged Hizbullah supporters.

The U.S. and Europe are expected this week to step up economic sanctions on Iran over its alleged continuing defiance of United Nations efforts to curb its nuclear ambitions. Last week, the United Nations Security Council voted to step up sanctions on Iran, claiming that it had defied earlier U.N. measures intended to ensure that Tehran's nuclear program cannot be used to develop weapons.

U.S and European officials seem surprisingly relaxed about news that Iran is sending its own seaborne challenge to Israel's Gaza blockade. The officials say they see no cause to doubt Iranian media reports that the first ship in what could become a small flotilla will sail from Iran this week, if it hasn't embarked already.

President Obama and his advisers face a dilemma in their war on terror: how do you aggressively fight terrorism at home and abroad without exacerbating the very conditions that fuel the jihadist cause? This problem is particularly acute at a time when many new jihadists are "self-recruiting."

In an apparent effort to build support among powerful senators for the nomination of James Clapper as new national intelligence director, the White House has sent a letter to Capitol Hill confirming its support for an intelligence bill that had been stalled in Congress for months.

Declassified has learned that the Obama administration has now asked a career Justice Department lawyer, Matthew Olsen, to become the NSA's new general counsel, filling a position open since October.

A Pentagon memo objects to a congressional proposal regarding oversight of the intelligence czar's office. But who wrote the memo, and what are its aims?

Senators appear likely to slow-roll the confirmation of Pentagon official James Clapper as national intelligence director until the administration helps push through a stalled intelligence-authorization bill.

In less than a week, federal authorities have announced arrests in two investigations involving American citizens who allegedly sought to involve themselves with violent jihadist groups.

President Obama's nomination of Pentagon intelligence chief James Clapper as intelligence czar could reignite the Bush-era debate over how and why U.S. agencies overstated Saddam Hussein's weapons-of-mass-destruction arsenal before the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.

President Obama has named Pentagon intel chief James Clapper, a retired Air Force lieutenant general, as the new director of national intelligence. However, Clapper's nomination faces potentially serious political problems on Capitol Hill.

U.S. officials are privately questioning Israeli claims that the Gaza relief convoy's sponsor, the Istanbul-based Islamic charity I.H.H., has ties to terrorist groups.

Despite strong objections from several members of Congress, the Obama administration still seems to be seeking support for retired Lt. Gen. James Clapper to become the new director of National Intelligence.

U.S. officials are citing Pakistani officials' acquiescence, if not support, for drone-borne missile strikes on suspected terrorist targets as part of the Obama administration's defense against a United Nations human-rights monitor's warning about possible legal problems with such "targeted killings."

A man suspected by U.S. authorities of terrorist ties, who was taken off an airplane in Canada on Sunday, has been handed over to the United States, according to U.S. and Canadian officials.

The case of an Aeroméxico flight denied access to U.S. airspace after a passenger's name was found on the U.S. "no fly" list highlights continuing gaps in the U.S. government's no-fly system, which is supposed to prevent people on the list from boarding U.S.-bound flights.

U.S. authorities are expressing confidence that Al Qaeda's de facto third-ranking leader was killed in a U.S. missile strike in Pakistan's tribal region within the last two weeks. If true, the killing of Mustafa Abu al-Yazid would be a major blow to the terrorist organization, according to one U.S. official.

U.S. national security officials predict that the presumed death of Mustafa Abu Al-Yazid, the purported third-ranking leader of al Qaeda's central command, will contribute to what the U.S. already believes is a significant deterioration in the ability terror network to conduct effective terrorist attacks both in South Asia and against targets overseas.