Free Republic

The National Guard said Thursday it is working to return some of the troops who came to Washington, D.C., to protect the inauguration, but that thousands will remain on duty. In a press release, the Guard said 10,600 will remain on duty for the time being to continue the mission of assisting federal law enforcement authorities in protecting the Capitol. “The National Guard Bureau is assisting states with coordination and the logistics of returning troops safely to their homes. With almost 26,000 troops providing support from 50 states, three territories and the District of Columbia, approximately 10,600 remain on duty...

Mystery surrounds costly spy programWASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress' new blueprint for U.S. intelligence spending includes a mysterious and expensive spy program that drew extraordinary criticism from leading Democrats, with one saying the highly classified project is a threat to national security.In an unusual rebuke, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, complained Wednesday that the spy project was "totally unjustified and very, very wasteful and dangerous to the national security." He called the program "stunningly expensive."Rockefeller and three other Democratic senators -- Richard Durbin, Carl Levin and Ron Wyden -- refused to sign the congressional compromise...