New role for David Petraeus: Professor
From Shirley Henry
David Petraeus, who resigned as director of the Central Intelligence Agency after the revelation of an extramarital affair, has been named a visiting professor at Macaulay Honors College at the City University of New York, the school's chancellor said Tuesday.
Petraeus will assume the position in August, Matthew Goldstein, the chancellor, said. The university did not provide specifics about what Petraeus would be teaching.
In a statement, the retired Army general indicated he will lead an economic seminar.
"I look forward to leading a seminar at Macaulay that examines the developments that could position the United States - and our North American partners - to lead the world out of the current global economic slowdown," he said.
Petraeus, who once ran the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, resigned from his CIA post in November.
He resigned after admitting he had had an affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, a fellow West Point graduate who spent months studying the general's leadership of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
The affair came to light during an FBI investigation of "jealous" e-mails Broadwell reportedly sent to another woman.
House GOP Benghazi report says Clinton signed off on security reduction
By Deirdre Walsh and Jill Dougherty
House Republican leaders released a report Tuesday on the deadly terror attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, in which they claim former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton personally signed off on cuts in security at the compound, which they say would contradict her congressional testimony.
The September 11, 2012, attack resulted in the deaths of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.
The 46-page report by Republicans on five House committees cites a request from then-U.S. Ambassador to Libya Gene Cretz, sent last March 28 to Clinton asking for additional security resources, and a response dated last April 19 that bears Clinton's signature.
The April cable from the State Department, according to the GOP report, "acknowledged then-Ambassador Cretz' formal request for additional security assets but ordered the withdrawal of security elements to proceed as planned."
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Kerry warns NATO on potential use of chemical weapons in Syria
By Elise Labott
Brussels, Belgium (CNN) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged NATO members on Tuesday to prepare for the possible use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime, while Russia's foreign minister accused the West of politicizing the search for such weapons, comparing it to the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Though NATO has flatly ruled out military intervention, Kerry told foreign ministers meeting in Brussels, Belgium, that "moving forward, we should consider NATO's role as it relates to the Syrian crisis."
In his first address to NATO since taking office in February, Kerry noted that ongoing contingency planning for Syria was "an appropriate undertaking for the alliance."
"We should also carefully and collectively consider how NATO is prepared to respond to protect its members from a Syrian threat, including any potential chemical weapons threat," Kerry said, according to prepared remarks.
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Al Qaeda, Iran ... and Canada plot?
By CNN National Security Analyst Peter Bergen
Editor's note: Peter Bergen is CNN's national security analyst, the author of "Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for bin Laden - From 9/11 to Abbottabad" and a director at the New America Foundation.
The news that Canadian law enforcement on Monday arrested two men accused of planning to derail a passenger train in the Toronto area has attracted much attention, in part, because the plotters are also charged with "receiving support from al Qaeda elements in Iran."
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U.S. concern grows about fate of Syria’s chemical weapons
By CNN's Barbara Starr
Growing U.S. concern about the fate of Syria’s chemical weapons is increasing at the very time an Israeli defense official contends the regime has used them against rebel forces.
A senior U.S. official tells CNN there have been “several” movements of chemical weapons by Syrian forces in the past month.
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Israeli official: Syria using chemical weapons
The Syrian government is using chemical weapons against rebel forces, the head of the Israel Defense Forces' intelligence research departments said Tuesday.
"In all likelihood they used sarin gas," Brig. Gen. Itai Brun said Tuesday in a speech at a conference in Tel Aviv. This comes as a civil war between the government and rebels rages across Syria - which borders Israel.
Analysts believe the Syrian government may have one of the largest stockpiles of chemical weapons in the world. The supply is believed to include sarin, mustard and VX gases, which are banned under international law. Syria has denied the allegation.
Reports have repeatedly surfaced that Syrian forces moved some of the chemical weapons inventories, possibly because of deteriorating security in the country, raising fears the stockpile could fall into the hands of al Qaeda-linked groups working with the opposition should Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government fall.
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