National Security

News brief: Texas abortion law, jobs report, CIA's focus on China

7:56am October 08, 2021

Some clinics in Texas are offering abortions again after a federal judge intervened. The Labor Department issues its monthly jobs report. The CIA director says China is the agency's main focus.

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National

With the China Mission Center, the CIA refocuses on the changing world stage

7:44am October 08, 2021

The CIA is establishing a mission center that will focus on the challenges posed by a rising China. This is the strongest sign yet that CIA Director William Burns considers China his top priority.

Fiona Hill, the National Security Council's former senior director for Europe and Russia, arrives on Capitol Hill on Nov. 21, 2019.

Former White House Russia expert Fiona Hill warns the U.S. is on a path to autocracy

8:57am October 07, 2021

by Terry Gross

Fiona Hill was a key witness at Donald Trump's first impeachment hearing. Now she's warning about the threat to American democracy that comes from within. Her memoir is There Is Nothing for You Here.

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Volunteer Sandra Hoeser plays frisbee with Afghan refugees at Fort McCoy on Sept. 30. There are nearly 13,000 Afghan refugees being cared for at the base under Operation Allies Welcome.

National

Wisconsin military base turns into a small city as Afghans await resettlement

8:29pm October 06, 2021

Some 13,000 Afghan refugees who escaped the Taliban forces find themselves in an Army base in rural Wisconsin. They await resettlement in communities across the nation.

Thousands of Afghans at a military base in Wisconsin await resettlement

7:31pm October 06, 2021

by Tom Bowman

Some 13,000 Afghan refugees who escaped the Taliban forces find themselves in an Army base in rural Wisconsin. They await resettlement in communities across the nation.

Supreme Court justices push government on allowing Guantanamo inmate to testify

6:50pm October 06, 2021

by Nina Totenberg

But a majority of the court appeared inclined to defer to the government's position that the release of information on Abu Zubaydah's treatment would hurt national security.

National

Supreme Court pushes government after it sought to block testimony in torture case

5:03pm October 06, 2021

by Nina Totenberg

Both liberal and conservative Supreme Court justices pressed the U.S. government's lawyer about why a detainee at Guantanamo Bay couldn't testify about his own torture at the hands of the CIA.

National

Weeks after Ida, Bayou communities outside New Orleans' levee system still devastated

5:03pm October 06, 2021

NPR's Sarah McCammon examines how one Louisiana community is weathering the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, Climate change and disappearing land.

A military helicopter carrying a Taiwanese flag flies near the Taipei 101 building as part of the rehearsal ahead of the Double Ten National Day celebration in New Taipei, Taiwan, on Tuesday.

Taiwan says tensions with China are at their worst in 4 decades

11:14am October 06, 2021

by Scott Neuman

No shots have been fired, but Taiwan says nearly 150 Chinese military aircraft have entered its air defense zone in a four-day period. The U.S. calls China's sorties "provocative military activity."

Abu Zubaydah, who has never been charged, is held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. He is at the center of Wednesday's case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court considers whether the CIA's black sites are state secrets

8:41am October 06, 2021

by Nina Totenberg

The case's central issue concerns whether a Guantánamo Bay detainee who has never been charged with a crime can subpoena testimony from the CIA contractors who supervised his torture.