WASHINGTON, Feb 6 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s
nominee to head the CIA, John Brennan, has been interviewed in
connection with U.S. prosecutors’ probes into unauthorized leaks
of government secrets to the news media, documents released by
the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday said.

Written submissions from Brennan to the committee were
posted on the panel’s website. In them, Brennan confirmed that
he had participated in voluntary interviews as part of probes
into leaks concerning cyber attacks against Iran and a foiled
bomb plot tied to Al Qaeda’s Yemen-based affiliate.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Central Intelligence Agency, John Brennan, is expected to face tough questioning about U.S. spy activities from waterboarding to the use of drones when he appears at a Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday.

Members of the Senate Intelligence Committee plan to examine Brennan, a former CIA executive under George W. Bush who has become the steward of Obama’s drone policies, about controversial spy activities of both administrations, congressional sources said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senator John McCain said on Monday he opposes using a procedural hurdle to block a vote on Chuck Hagel’s nomination to be defense secretary, a stance likely to boost White House confidence that Hagel will win Senate confirmation.

“I do not support a filibuster,” the Arizona Republican told reporters at the Capitol. “I don’t think it’s appropriate and I would oppose such a move.”

WASHINGTON, Jan 31 (Reuters) – Signs that Canadian citizens
were involved in the attack by hostage-taking Islamist militants
on a remote gas plant in Algeria are of great concern to
American authorities, U.S. intelligence officials said on
Thursday.

While Algerian authorities apparently have not yet provided
Western governments with cast-iron proof, a senior U.S.
intelligence official said, “We’re taking very seriously the
reports of the two Canadians’ involvement.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – John Brennan, President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the CIA, had detailed, contemporaneous knowledge of the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” on captured terrorism suspects during an earlier stint as a top spy agency official, according to multiple sources familiar with official records.

Those records, the sources said, show that Brennan was a regular recipient of CIA message traffic about controversial aspects of the agency’s counter-terrorism program after September 2001, including the use of “waterboarding.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – John Brennan, President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the CIA, had detailed, contemporaneous knowledge of the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” on captured terrorism suspects during an earlier stint as a top spy agency official, according to multiple sources familiar with official records.

Those records, the sources said, show that Brennan was a regular recipient of CIA message traffic about controversial aspects of the agency’s counter-terrorism program after September 2001, including the use of “waterboarding.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – France’s military intervention in Mali has revived trans-Atlantic tensions over security issues, this time involving a key counterterrorism battlefield, along with dismay from critics who see U.S. President Barack Obama as too reluctant to use military force.

According to interviews with officials from both sides, the French have privately complained about what they see as paltry and belated American military support for their troop deployment, aimed at stopping the advance of militants allied with Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Veteran Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler is one of few westerners to have been taken captive by Islamist militant leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar, and to have lived to tell the tale.

Belmokhtar has claimed responsibility on behalf of al Qaeda for the four-day siege in Algeria last week that resulted in the deaths of at least 23 hostages and 32 militants, according to a regional website.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Algerian militants planned their hostage-taking attack on a remote desert gas plant well before a French military operation against militants in neighboring Mali, European and U.S. national security officials said on Thursday.

Intelligence indicates that the hostage takers, believed to be members of a breakaway faction of al Qaeda’s North African affiliate, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), had planned to capture the hostages and take them to a hideout where it would be harder to mount a rescue attempt, a European security official said.

WASHINGTON, Jan 15 (Reuters) – Former Republican Senator
Chuck Hagel appears increasingly likely to be confirmed as U.S.
defense secretary, thanks to support from two key senators and
the lack of an overt campaign against him by mainstream
pro-Israel groups.

Hagel, whose comments on Israel, Iran and gay rights have
sparked opposition to his candidacy, on Tuesday won the backing
of Senator Charles Schumer, the Senate’s No. 3 Democrat, who had
been conspicuously on the fence. Sen. Barbara Boxer, a
California Democrat, also weighed in with support.