Tagged: Al-Qaida (al Qaeda)

James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, went before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday in a bit of a sour mood. He led off complaining that he had to speak publicly at all.

"An open hearing on intelligence matters," Clapper said, "is a contradiction in terms." And then, before getting to any international problems Clapper hit a domestic one: the spending cuts mandated under the sequestration package.

After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, President George W. Bush often made a provocative claim: He argued that the U.S. was fighting a war without a typical battlefield. In effect, he said, this war is everywhere.

"Our enemies make no distinction based on borders," he said in a 2007 speech in Michigan. "They view the world as a giant battlefield and will strike wherever they can."

Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, the son-in-law of Osama bin Laden who is now in U.S. custody, pleaded not guilty this morning to a charge of conspiracy to kill Americans.

On Morning Edition moments ago, NPR's Dina Temple-Raston said it isn't known yet whether he may face additional charges.

Abu Ghaith, 48, appeared in a Manhattan federal court. As Dina reported for us Thursday: