The important and probably irresolvable debate about torture in the new movie has overlooked what it gets right: Namely, that the intelligence business is painstaking, frustrating, and slow. More…    

The government claims Mark Owen violated secrecy agreements in writing about the mission to kill Osama bin Laden. Here’s how the ex-SEAL can avoid jail time.

A former Navy Seal who took part in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden has written a first-hand account. Despite the author’s public statements to the contrary, the book is political, and that’s too bad. More here.

Before a team of elite Navy forces stormed Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, they and senior US officials had closely studied a digital mock-up of the facility and even a physical miniature, able to be laid out on a table. It showed them the intelligence community’s best guess about what Bin Laden’s hiding [...]