There is a long history of the CIA briefing presidents-elect on foreign policy. Donald Trump has rebuffed the agency’s advice. Tim Weiner asks why

Republicans disenchanted with Donald Trump as the party’s presidential candidate plan to put forth a conservative alternative — the former top House Republican aide and former CIA officer Evan McMullin.

Drones steered by military personnel in Nevada, in the US, routinely and anonymously kill people on target lists half a world away, in places like Yemen and Afghanistan, careless of who else dies in the attacks, says Des Breen.

Former US president George H.W. Bush suffered a neck fracture in a fall at his home in Maine, though he was listed in stable condition and his hospital stay was expected to be brief, his spokesman said.

The Department of Justice has said Ireland has no case to answer arising out of the report published this week into Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) torture, as there is no evidence ‘extraordinary rendition’ flights ever passed through here.

Germany is investigating a suspected US spy in its military days after the arrest of a member of its foreign intelligence agency as a double agent tested US relations already strained by espionage.

The Central Intelligence Agency was involved in a spying operation against Germany that led to the alleged recruitment of a German intelligence official and has prompted renewed outrage in Berlin, two US officials familiar with the matter said yesterday.

President Barack Obama has nominated Senator John Kerry, one of Washington’s most respected voices on foreign policy, as his next secretary of state.

US president Barack Obama said last night his re-election means Americans support his approach for avoiding a looming “fiscal cliff” that threatens a new recession — and that his approach means the country’s wealthiest people will have to pay more in taxes.

David Petraeus has resigned as the director of US intelligence agency the CIA after admitting he had an extra-marital affair.

Forget underpants bombs. The new terror threat is far more serious. Daniel Klaidman And Christopher Dickey report on a more sophisticated attempt to evade security

US General David Petraeus, Washington’s new intelligence chief, handed over command of US and NATO-led troops in Afghanistan after a tentative start was made to a gradual process of transferring security to Afghan forces.

US General David Petraeus handed over command of American and coalition forces in Afghanistan to General John Allen today, transferring responsibility for the nearly 10-year war as Kabul’s international allies draw up exit plans from the conflict.

EMPLOYERS rushing to boost cyber defences after a rash of US online break-ins won’t block spies and thieves by simply throwing technology at the problem, since their core weakness is often badly-trained and badly-managed workers.

AN Taisce was last night labelled a secret society.

The CIA has signed a $100 million (€80m) contract with the private security firm formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide, to guard its facilities in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

THE former US lawmaker and hero of the film Charlie Wilson’s War, who championed covert CIA support for Afghans fighting Soviet troops in the 1980s, died at the age of 76 on Wednesday.

Security services were warned of a terrorist bomb plot weeks before the failed Christmas Day airliner attack, it was claimed today.

SLEEP deprivation, “insult slaps”, water dousing and “walling”, or slamming a detainee’s head against a wall, were techniques used by CIA interrogators to “break” high-value detainees, according to an agency memo.

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director Leon Panetta said the US does not know the location of all of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons but is confident there are “pretty secure” measures to keep them out of terrorists’ hands.

CIA agents are offering the potency drug Viagra and other gifts to win over Afghan warlords in the US-led war against Taliban insurgents, the Washington Post reported yesterday.

A secret 2004 order gave the US military the authority to attack al-Qaida targets anywhere in the world, according to a US report today.

US CONGRESSIONAL leaders agreed late last year to President George W Bush’s funding request for an escalation of covert operations against Iran aimed at destabilising its leadership, according to a report in The New Yorker magazine published online yesterday.

John Breslin on a court case that throws a spotlight on the murky world of international espionage and shady deals struck in Afghanistan.

A ceasefire watchdog will say today that current or former Provisional IRA members were involved in the murder of a 21-year-old man last year.

The US government today defended the use of the interrogation technique known as waterboarding, saying it is legal - not torture, as critics argue - and has saved American lives.

Pakistan said today that it will not let American forces hunt al-Qaida and Taliban militants on its soil, after a news report said Washington was considering expanding US military and intelligence operations into Pakistan’s tribal regions.

Iran’s parliament today approved a non-binding resolution to label the CIA and the US Army “terrorist organisations”.

The CIA recruited a former FBI agent to approach two of America’s most-wanted mobsters and gave them poison pills meant for Fidel Castro during his first year in power, according to newly-declassified papers.

The US Defence Department announced the capture of one of al-Qaida’s most senior and most experienced operatives, an Iraqi who was trying to return to his native country when he was captured.

The US Defence Department said today it has custody of one of al-Qaida's most senior and experienced operatives, an Iraqi who was attempting to return to his native country when he was captured.

The final obstacle to the restoration of stable power sharing in the North has been cleared by the ceasefire watchdog, Peter Hain claimed today.

A SMALL number of people suspected of involvement in Islamic terrorism “come and go” from this country but are under close watch by gardaí, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern confirmed yesterday.

Oliver Stone is set to direct another movie based on the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America following his recent film World Trade Centre.

There is no evidence deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein had a relationship with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his al-Qaida associates, according to a US Senate report on pre-war intelligence on Iraq.

A new army manual bans some prisoner interrogation techniques used by the US since the September 11, 2001 attacks and adds others the defence department thinks are necessary, officials said today.

A group of MEPs today sought to shed light on allegations about secret CIA prisons and flights for terror suspects in Europe, meeting with US officials, politicians and human rights groups.

CIA Director Porter Goss resigned unexpectedly today, pushed from the helm of a spy agency still reeling from intelligence failures before America’s worst terrorist attack and faulty information that formed the US rationale for invading Iraq.

US vice president Dick Cheney’s former top aide told prosecutors President George Bush authorised the leak of sensitive intelligence information about Iraq, according to court papers filed by prosecutors in the CIA leak case.

US Vice President Dick Cheney’s former top aide told prosecutors President George Bush authorised the leak of sensitive intelligence information about Iraq, according to court papers filed by prosecutors in the CIA leak case.