DUBAI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – One person was killed and three others injured on Monday when a U.S. Navy ship fired at an approaching fishing boat off the United Arab Emirates, but officials did not immediately blame terrorism or cite an Iran-link to the still-murky incident.

Why the boat approached the U.S. refuel ling ship, the USNS Rappahannock, was still unclear, U.S. officials said. But the U.S. Navy said the small motor boat ignored repeated warnings to halt its approach before a security team fired rounds from a .50-caliber machine gun.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. intelligence and defense officials have been ordered to preserve documents and emails that could be relevant to national security leak investigations being pursued by federal prosecutors, Obama administration officials said on Tuesday.

A U.S. defense official said the order to Defense Department personnel applies to any documentation – emails, faxes and paper documents – that might be relevant to investigators.

WASHINGTON June 26 (Reuters) – U.S. intelligence and defense
officials have been ordered to preserve documents and emails
that could be relevant to national security leak investigations
being pursued by federal prosecutors, Obama administration
officials said on Tuesday.

A U.S. defense official said the order to Defense Department
personnel applies to any documentation – emails, faxes and paper
documents – that might be relevant to investigators.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Iraq has given the United States assurances it will not release a suspected Hezbollah operative accused of killing American troops, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told Reuters, saying he expected Baghdad to honor its commitment.

The fate of Ali Mussa Daqduq has been vexing U.S. officials since last December, when the United States was forced to hand him over to Baghdad after failing to secure a custody deal before the U.S. military withdrawal from the country.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Defense Secretary Leon Panetta all but ruled out an apology over an air strike last year that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers and badly set back efforts to improve U.S.-Pakistani ties, saying it was “time to move on.”

Pakistan banned trucks from carrying NATO supplies into neighboring Afghanistan after the air strike, a move that costs U.S. taxpayers $100 million a month given the need to use more expensive, longer routes to the north.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Nearly one year ago, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta predicted the strategic defeat of al Qaeda was within reach if the United States could kill or capture up to 20 leaders of the core group and its affiliates.

In an interview on Thursday with Reuters, Panetta disclosed that only a “small handful” of the individuals on that original list remained on the battlefield and that Saudi Arabia – the birthplace of late al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden – was reporting a drop-off in recruitment.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Defense Secretary Leon Panetta defended the Obama administration’s decision not to arm the Syrian opposition, saying the country risked being pushed into an all-out civil war if efforts to secure a smooth political transition fail.

“We made a decision not to provide lethal assistance at this point. I know others have made their own decisions,” Panetta said in an interview on Thursday.

JEDDAH (Reuters) – U.S. security chiefs visited Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to convey President Barack Obama’s condolences for the death of Crown Prince Nayef, underscoring the importance of a relationship seen as key in the battle against al Qaeda.

The delegation was led by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and included Federal Bureau of Investigation director Robert Mueller, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security, Counter-terrorism John Brennan and former Central Intelligence Agency director George Tenet.

WASHINGTON, June 13 (Reuters) – Pakistan’s closure of supply
routes to the Afghan war is costing American taxpayers $100
million a month, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on
Wednesday, as he recommended possibly setting conditions on
future U.S. aid to Islamabad.

Panetta’s decision to disclose what had been a closely
guarded figure at the Pentagon appeared to be another sign of
frustration with Pakistan and will do little to generate
sympathy for that country in Congress, which is wrestling with
ways to scale back the U.S. budget deficit.

WASHINGTON, June 13 (Reuters) – The United States should
examine setting conditions for aid to Pakistan but not cutting
it off, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Wednesday, as he
disclosed that Islamabad’s closure of supply routes to the
Afghan war cost American taxpayers millions of dollars a month.

Asked during a Senate budget hearing whether he would
recommend halting aid to Pakistan, Panetta said: “I’d be very
careful about just shutting it down.”