Search results for

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge says he is making changes in the agency that could provide thousands of additional federal air marshals and improve security at the nation's borders. The changes involve reshuffling some of the department's 180,000 employees and working more closely with state and local governments. Hear NPR's Pam Fessler.

The Bush administration will begin circulating a draft resolution within the U.N. Security Council that would authorize the creation of a multinational force in Iraq under U.S. command, U.S. officials say. The decision, an effort to attract more foreign contributions, comes as the cost of the U.S. operation in Iraq continues to mount. Hear Guillaume Parmentier of the French Center on the United States.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visits Baghdad to assess the security situation there as the U.S. seeks to enlist more U.N. help in postwar Iraq. Rumsfeld says 10,000 to 15,000 more soldiers are needed, but he doesn't want to use American troops. Allies want the United States to cede more administrative control of the nation to U.N. authorities. NPR's Emily Harris reports.

A draft resolution by the United States asking for a greater U.N. role in Iraq is called "insufficient" by France and Germany. At a news conference, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder say the resolution needs to cede more authority in Iraq to the United Nations. NPR's Vicky O'Hara reports.

The United States says Iraq needs more security, and Iraqis have to do much of the job. Early efforts have focused on police retraining. But it could take another year and a half, U.S. officials say, to get as many trained police as needed. NPR's Emily Harris reports.

More than a decade after his death, American composer John Cage continues to challenge listeners. When Cage wrote a piece called As Slow As Possible, he expected a performance would last about a half hour. But as NPR's Jeffrey Freymann-Weyr reports, a group of Cage scholars started a performance of the piece in Germany two years ago, and hope that it will last more than six centuries.

The Senate starts what promises to be a long inquiry into February's space shuttle Columbia disaster. NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe faces questions ranging from budgets to affixing blame for the accident, which killed seven astronauts. NPR's Richard Harris reports.

To celebrate their 50-year anniversary, we trace the history and legacy of the independent jazz record label Strata-East founded by trumpeter Charles Tolliver and the late pianist Stanley Cowell.

Woodward's new book Plan of Attack is a behind-the-scenes look at how and why the Bush administration decided to wage war in Iraq. Woodward interviewed more than 70 government officials for the book, including President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell. Woodward is the author of a number of best-selling books, including Bush at War and his first, All the President's Men, written in 1974 with Carl Bernstein about Watergate.

Pentagon officials acknowledge that extending the combat tours of some U.S. soldiers in Iraq will cost several hundred million extra dollars. The White House's 2005 budget curently includes no funding request for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Concerns are growing among members of Congress from both parties about the overall cost of military operations in Iraq. NPR'S Eric Westervelt reports.