National Security

Biden's national security adviser doubles down on Taiwan policy after Pelosi visit

2:17am August 04, 2022

Jake Sullivan, the president's national security adviser, discusses the war in Ukraine, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan and the U.S. drone strike that took out al-Qaida's leader.

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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., right, welcomes Paivi Nevala, minister counselor of the Finnish Embassy, left, and Karin Olofsdotter, Sweden's ambassador to the U.S., on Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022.

U.S. Senate approves Finland and Sweden for membership into NATO

12:00am August 04, 2022

by The Associated Press

Wednesday's vote for the candidacy of two Western European nations took a crucial step toward expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Ayman al-Zawahiri is seen in a still from an August 2006 video shown on Al Jazeera.

Does the killing of al-Zawahiri make Americans safer? It's complicated

1:11pm August 03, 2022

by Rachel Treisman

The State Department warns of potential anti-American violence following the U.S. killing of al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. Experts say his loss hurts the group, but doesn't erase the threat.

National

What Ayman al-Zawahiri's death means for al-Qaida

7:39am August 03, 2022

NPR's Asma Khalid speaks with intelligence expert Douglas London, a retired senior CIA officer and author, about the significance of the killing of al-Qaida's leader in Afghanistan.

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President Bill Clinton holds up his hands indicating no more questions as he and Chinese President Jiang Zemin hold a joint press conference in 1997 in Washington, D.C. Clinton confirmed that he agreed to lift a ban on the export of nuclear power technolo

What 3 past Taiwan Strait crises can teach us about U.S.-China tensions today

10:18pm August 02, 2022

Both the U.S. and China stepped up military activity in the region ahead of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Taiwan visit. Here's what is different now from crises in the Taiwan Strait decades ago.

In this photo released by the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi walks with Taiwan's Foreign Minister Joseph Wu as she arrives in Taipei, Taiwan, on Tuesday, despite threats from Beijing of serious consequences, becoming t

Pelosi has landed in Taiwan. Here's why that's a big deal

6:10pm August 02, 2022

by Barbara Sprunt

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is making an unannounced, but widely anticipated, stop in Taiwan. The move is expected to increase already heightened tensions between the U.S. and China.

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Osama bin Laden (left) sits with his No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, for an interview that was published in November 2001, shortly after the 9/11 attacks. The U.S. says it killed al-Zawahiri in a drone strike in Kabul on Sunday.

3 things the strike on al-Zawahiri tell us about the U.S. counterterrorism strategy

3:03pm August 02, 2022

The U.S. targeted the top al-Qaida leader, showing it could track down and strike against a hard-to-find extremist figure even in a country where the U.S. has no military or diplomatic presence.

In this 1998 file photo, Ayman al-Zawahiri (left) holds a press conference with Osama bin Laden in Khost, Afghanistan. Zawahiri succeeded bin Laden as al-Qaida's leader following the 2011 U.S. raid that killed bin Laden in Pakistan.

Opinion: What Ayman al-Zawahiri's death means for al-Qaida's future

2:54pm August 02, 2022

by Colin P. Clarke

Zawahiri's death places al-Qaida in a precarious position, argues Colin P. Clarke of the Soufan Center. The question of succession will help shape al-Qaida now — and it may prove divisive.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres says we are facing "a time of nuclear danger not seen since the height of the Cold War." His remarks came at the 2022 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons at th

Why the U.N. chief says we are 'one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation'

11:58am August 02, 2022

by Bill Chappell

It's not the first time for such a dire warning. Here's a brief look at why Guterres and others are raising the alarm now.

National

Ayman al-Zawahiri's death is a significant blow to al-Qaida, Kirby says

9:01am August 02, 2022

NPR's A Martinez talks to John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the White House's National Security Council, about the death of one-time al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.

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