Three-quarters of National Journal’s National Security Insiders said the Obama administration’s plan to cut the Pentagon budget was a smart decision driven by the end of the Iraq war and the nation’s current fiscal crisis, dismissing criticism by defense hawks who maintain that chopping nearly $500 billion over 10 years could undermine the military’s capabilities.

WASHINGTON — First, they had to get the handshake right. Two decades earlier in Geneva, Chinese Premier Zhou En-lai had been mortally offended when U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles spurned his offered hand. As TV cameras flashed the scene worldwide, President Richard Nixon and first lady Pat Nixon descended the steps of Air Force One to a waiting Zhou on a Beijing runway.

Now that the European Union has agreed to impose a ban on oil purchases from Iran and the U.S. has signed new sanctions against its central bank into law, 60 percent of National Journal’s National Security Insiders said the tough measures are likely to isolate Iran and stave off the necessity of a military response.

A whopping majority of National Journal’s National Security Insiders support the Obama administration’s renewed push for peace talks with the Taliban—but just as many believe that negotiations are unlikely to pay dividends.

Exclusive: Official Washington has a soft spot for “defectors” from hostile nations, especially if their tales of perfidy about their ex-homelands fit with favored policy.

Hey, is this a tribute or a roast? Brent Scowcroft was toasted Tuesday night at an Atlantic Council dinner at the Mandarin Oriental, but the topic that kept coming up was the two-time national security advisor’s habit of falling asleep in meetings. C’mon, now, who among us hasn’t done that? He was apparently so infamous for snoozing that George H.W. Bush (the second of his White House bosses; he ...

With the news that the head of the family is to serve more than a decade in prison for attempting to solicit bribes and getting caught on a wire, the Blagojevich family welcomed a new member of the family-- a homeless puppy likely to be named Twix Blagojevich . Twix was welcomed at a press conference along with former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich his wife and children, and the family's ...

GREENVILLE — The SPCA of Texas has announced a court hearing is scheduled one week from today, to determine if the agency should receive custody of nine dogs found abandoned near Royse City earlier this week.

Under the authority of the Hunt County Sheriff's Department, the SPCA of Texas seized nine abandoned dogs on Wednesday.

National Journal's National Security Insiders sided with the Obama administration and the Pentagon in their opposition to the controversial detainee provisions the Senate adopted as part of its massive defense authorization bill.