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The State Department claimed Wednesday that they have been “looking at” developing a long-term strategy to fight ISIL in both Iraq and Syria for a year. The United States has stressed repeatedly that its current limited missions in Iraq against ISIL are not long-term solutions. “We are looking long-term at how we fight ISIL,” said State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf. Asked by a reporter to clarify, Harf said, “We’ve been looking at that for quite some time. That’s not new.” “We’ve been looking at that for months and months, even before the latest offenses that started in June against Mosul...

The Syrian Emergency Task Force the pro-rebel lobbying outfit that employs widely quoted intervention advocate Elizabeth O’Bagy as its political director, receives funding from the U.S. Department of State and related government contractors. In an exclusive interview with The Daily Caller earlier last week, O’Bagy explained how she got paid. O’Bagy has been roundly condemned for working for a pro-Syrian lobbying group at the same time she was casting the Syrian rebels in a positive light. She works as an analyst at the neoconservative think tank, the Institute for the Study of War. “Most of the contracts that I’ve been...

After suffering through a striking number of rough grillings at the hands of Congress, State Department officials have approved a contract worth up to $545,000 to help train themselves for how to brief lawmakers and to testify at hearings. The contract with Orlando, Florida-based AMTIS, Inc. includes classes entitled “Communicating with Congress: Briefing and Testifying” and pays for one-on-one sessions to hold a mock hearing with questioners playing the role of lawmakers asking hard questions of the would-be witnesses. Leslie Paige, spokeswoman for Citizens Against Government Waste, said if officials were doing their jobs correctly, the money wouldn’t be needed....

WASHINGTON — The State Department has endorsed the broad conclusions of a harshly critical Senate report on the CIA's interrogation and detention practices after the 9/11 attacks, a report that accuses the agency of brutally treating terror suspects and misleading Congress, according to a White House document. "This report tells a story of which no American is proud," says the four-page White House document, which contains the State Department's preliminary proposed talking points in response to the classified Senate report, a summary of which is expected to be released in the coming weeks. Isn't it clear that the CIA engaged...

President Obama appears reticent to help Israel stamp out Hamas once and for all because his administration is being run by a “Muslim Sisterhood,” nationally syndicated talk-host Michael Savage told his listeners.""With the likes of senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, U.N. Ambassador Stephanie Power and National Security Adviser Susan Rice guiding Obama’s foreign policy, America appears to be siding with the Muslim Brotherhood, the movement founded in Egypt in 1928 that seeks to bring the world under Islamic law and has spun off violent jihadist groups such as al-Qaida and Hamas.It was the Muslim Brotherhood that governed Egypt in the wake of...

“I take my hat off to Israel, and I say to the army, the people, and the Israeli leadership – you’re good men,” enthused Tawfik Okasha, owner and anchor of the Egyptian television channel Al-Faraeen. Although it’s true that Okasha has a personal vendetta against the Muslim Brotherhood, which closed down his channel during their rule, statements such as these haven’t been heard in Egypt in generations. There’s no doubt that the official and public discourse in Egypt is more favorable to Israel than it is to Hamas, but it’s still too early to rejoice about any kind of miracle...

Former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul claimed Sunday that the U.S. and European Union may share responsibility for the downing of a Malaysia Airlines plane over Ukraine last week. “While western media outlets rush to repeat government propaganda on the event, there are a few things they will not report,” Paul, a former Republican congressman from Texas, wrote on his website. “They will not report that the crisis in Ukraine started late last year, when the EU and U.S. overthrew the elected Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych. Without U.S.-sponsored ‘regime change,’ it is unlikely that hundreds would have been killed in...

Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Richard Stengel gave a peculiar apology to outraged Twitter users on Sunday after he tweeted #UnitedForGaza to his 15,000 followers. In a tweet directed to the State Department, Mr. Stengel said, “Critical for a full, credible and unimpeded intl investigation of crash. Urge Russia to honor it’s [sic] commitment,” Twitchy first reported. After receiving swift backlash, the tweet was deleted, and Mr. Stengel sent out a terse explanation. “Earlier tweet with wrong hashtag was a mistake. My bad,” he said. (Snip) Twitter users weren’t buying Mr. Stengel’s apology.

The account for U.S. Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Rick Stengel published a tweet with a pro-Gaza hashtag, which was captured by the following screenshot.

<p>The White House allowed the parents of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl to take part in a series of secure video conferences with State Department and intelligence officials and senior military commanders, according to a published report.</p>

A senior White House aide said Thursday he had seen “no evidence” to confirm a report that rescued Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl converted to Islam, fraternized with the Taliban, and declared jihad during nearly five years of captivity. “We have seen no evidence of that,” deputy national security adviser Tony Blinken told CNN when asked about a Fox News report about Bergdahl’s conduct while imprisoned by the Taliban.

The United States on Tuesday rejected Israel’s expressions of disappointment over its statements that Washington was planning to cooperate with the new Palestinian Authority (PA) unity government. Deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said, in fact, that the new government does not include any members of the Hamas terrorist group. “It is not a government backed by Hamas. There are no members of Hamas in the government,” Harf told reporters. She added that the new unity government is a transitional one that is made up of individuals who are not politically associated with any party. “Hamas is a designated terror...

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki tentatively approved of Palestine’s new unity government Monday, saying “Based on what we know now, we intend to work with this government.” [....] Asked if this means that the U.S. will continue to provide aid to the Palestinian government, she replied “It does. But we will continue to evaluate the composition and policies of the new government and calibrate our approach accordingly.” Abbas swore in new government ministers Monday, and promised to support several peace principles, including recognizing Israel. This position is in conflict with the official stance in Jerusalem, which outright rejects the new...

"I really believe, having read it, that it is the smoking gun warning here. You've got this emergency meeting in Benghazi, less than a month before the attack. At that briefing, the people are told that there are ten, ten, Islamic militias and al-Qaeda groups in Benghazi. The consulate can not sustain a coordinated attack and they need extra help. This information goes directly to the office of the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. So, again, you have the culpability of the State Department. This is a very specific warning that they're in trouble, they need help and they see...

May 29, 2014 Reporters Openly Mocked the U.S. State Department’s Spokeswoman Today Bryan Preston Whatever US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki is trying to sell, she’ll have no buyers among the Washington press corps. Psaki tried arguing that President Obama “doesn’t give himself enough credit” for his foreign policy triumphs.Reporters asked a sensible question in response: What on earth are you talking about? When does this president not give himself enough credit?One reporter even asked Psaki how much credit she would give the president. Answer: A lot.As the conversation devolves into farce, this exchange happened. Q: I mean — I...

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki was openly mocked by the assembled press corps Thursday after saying President Obama “doesn’t give himself enough credit for what he’s done around the world.” Associated Press reporter Matt Lee asked sarcastically whether he deserved 200 percent credit, while another one wondered for what “accomplishments” Psaki meant he deserves more praise. “For engagement initiatives like Iran, what we’ve done on Ukraine, efforts to dive in and engage around the world,” she said. “I mean, Russia has still annexed Crimea,” another reporter asked. “I mean, Iran — there’s ongoing negotiations, but is that the success here...

The State Department misplaced and lost some $6 billion due to the improper filing of contracts during the past six years, mainly during the tenure of former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, according to a newly released Inspector General report. The $6 billion in unaccounted funds poses a “significant financial risk and demonstrates a lack of internal control over the Department’s contract actions,” according to the report. The alert, originally sent on March 20 and just released this week, warns that the missing contracting funds“could expose the department to substantial financial losses.” The report centered on State Department contracts worth...

Bureau boss overseeing shipments has Benghazi connectionsThe State Department bureau tasked with secretly sending to embassies plastic and liquid explosives operates under the guidance of Under Secretary of State for Management Patrick F. Kennedy, whom a congressional panel last year separately found to be largely responsible for security lapses in Benghazi, WND has learned. A series of WND articles recently exposed the purchase and international transport of many hundreds of pounds of plastic, sheet and linear explosives along with thousands of containers of high-energy liquid explosives. Weeks after a State official laughed in response to WND’s inquiry, the department belatedly...

Washington (AFP) - The US State Department recommended Americans in Libya "depart immediately," in its latest travel warning on Tuesday.

The State Department’s Counter Terrorism (CT) Bureau apologized on Tuesday for promoting a controversial Muslim scholar whose organization has reportedly backed Hamas and endorsed a fatwa authorizing the murder of U.S. soldiers in Iraq. The apology came on the heels of a Friday Washington Free Beacon report detailing the CT Bureau’s promotion of Sheik Abdallah Bin Bayyah, the vice president of a radical Muslim scholars group that was founded by a radical Muslim Brotherhood leader who has called “for the death of Jews and Americans.” Bin Bayyah himself is one of several clerics who endorsed a 2004 fatwa, or religious...