Egypt’s role in aiding U.S. counterterrorism efforts across the Middle East— through intelligence assistance, interrogation tactics and more — could be diminished after a new government takes hold in Cairo, intelligence experts say.
Egypt has long been “a good intelligence partner,” for the United States, says former George W. Bush administration CIA chief Michael Hayden, now a consultant with the Chertoff Group. “Any diminution of healthy cooperation with the Egyptian service would be harmful … to both countries.”
Egypt has spawned some of the past decade’s most infamous terrorists. Among them: 9/11 lead hijacker Mohammad Atta, who died piloting American Airlines Flight 11 into the World Trade Center, and the man currently known as Osama bin Laden’s top al-Qaeda lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
via Egypt’s Turmoil Could Threaten US Anti-Terrorism Efforts – ABC News.
MUNICH (AP) — A U.S.-Russia nuclear arms treaty that limits the number of atomic warheads the former Cold War foes can possess and allows them to inspect each other’s arsenals — securing a key foreign policy goal of President Barack Obama — went into effect Saturday.
The New START treaty was approved by the U.S. Senate in December after Obama pressed strongly for its passage. Russia ratified the deal last month.
The 10-year treaty, which can be extended by another five years, went into effect when U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton exchanged the ratification papers with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of an international security conference in Munich.
New START is a cornerstone of Obama’s efforts to “reset” U.S. relations with Russia, and Clinton called it a “milestone in our strategic partnership.”
“When it comes to the button that has worried us the most over the years — the one that would unleash nuclear destruction — today we take another step to ensure it will never be pushed,” Clinton told reporters after the treaty went into effect.
Lavrov said that the treaty is in the national interests of both Russia and the United States.
“Both Russia and the U.S. share responsibility for security in the whole world,” he said through a translator.
