Free Republic

Key CIA Task Force Leader Moved May 17 — As the Bush administration defends its actions over information it had on possible terror attacks before Sept. 11, ABCNEWS has learned that the chief of the CIA's counterterrorism center has been moved out. The center, led by Cofer Black for the past three years, is the lead CIA team tasked with finding indicted terrorist Osama bin Laden. Sources tell ABCNEWS' Claire Shipman there will be more changes coming among the top figures in the CIA but President Bush still has faith in both George Tenet, the head of the CIA, and...

The Bush administration turned over thousands of documents Monday related to Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force, including some showing industry's attempt to influence the direction of the administration's energy plan. But most of the papers, released in response to court orders, were blanked out and provided little substantive information. This prompted critics to accuse the administration of continuing to hold back vital information surrounding development of President Bush's energy plan a year ago. Among the papers, however, were documents from the Environmental Protection Agency revealing an oil industry push to ease state regulation of so-called "boutique" gasoline blends...

The Air Force may keep selected aircraft and weapons on alert as part of a strike package aimed at responding quickly against terrorist targets, according to a draft service briefing obtained by Inside the Pentagon. The "Global Response Task Force," or GRTF, is one of seven task forces around which the Air Force will soon plan nearly all its requirements, operations and acquisition, ITP was the first to report Jan. 31. Other packages will assemble Air Force capabilities for: Global Strike; Homeland Security; Humanitarian Relief or Non-combatant Evacuation; Joint Space Command and Control/Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance; Nuclear Response; and Air...