The firm formerly known as Blackwater is front and center again in Iraq — and Afghanistan. We ask why US forces are still entwined with the contractor.

Sotomayor and the Senate. CIA secrets. a Goldman Sachs windfall. And healthcare on the move. Our news roundtable goes behind the headlines

We asked former Senator Bob Graham about the heated debate over torture now raging in Washington.

Frederick Hitz got out of college, taught in Africa for a year, practiced some law, didn’t like it. Joined the CIA. Became a spy. Now, decades later, he’s hoping other bright young Americans will do the same.
But the world has changed since James Bond was the fantasy and Tom Clancy wrote his tales. It’s tougher [...]

When America’s spy agencies issued a National Intelligence Estimate two weeks ago stating that Iran shuttered its nuclear weapons program in 2003, it was a blockbuster like few can recall.
The sigh of relief in Washington and around the world was audible. Only recently, President Bush had said a nuclear Iran might ignite “World War III.”
But [...]