“The military’s elite Special Operations Command has quietly stepped back from a controversial plan that gave it the authority to carry out secret counterterrorism missions on its own around the world.” (NYT)

“CIA chief Michael Hayden charged Wednesday that China was beefing up its military with “remarkable speed and scope,” calling the buildup “troubling.” The Chinese, he said, had fully absorbed the lessons of both Gulf wars, developing and integrating advanced weaponry into a modern military force.” (AFP)

“The U.S. government will soon begin collecting DNA samples from all citizens arrested in connection with any federal crime and from many immigrants detained by federal authorities, adding genetic identifiers from more than 1 million individuals a year to the swiftly growing federal law enforcement DNA database.” (Washington Post)

“In dozens of top-secret talks and meetings in the White House, the most senior Bush administration officials discussed and approved specific details of how high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency, sources tell ABC News. The so-called Principals who participated in the meetings also approved the use of “combined” interrogation [...]

“A plan to expand the number of government police and security agencies that can tap into detailed satellite images is proceeding, despite concerns from Congress, the head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday.” (CNET News)

“U.S., Afghan and Pakistani officers opened the first of six joint military intelligence centers along the rocky Afghan-Pakistan border Saturday, an effort to cut down on militants’ movement in a region of rising terrorist activity. The centers represent the latest step in American efforts to get Afghanistan and Pakistan to coordinate in the fight against [...]

“The House of Representatives abruptly postponed a vote on a spy bill on Thursday after Democrats agreed to a Republican request to hold a rare secret session to discuss classified security matters.” (Reuters)

“House Democrats on Tuesday failed to overturn President Bush’s veto of a bill that would have prohibited the CIA from using waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques on terrorist suspects. The vetoed legislation would have limited the CIA to using only the 19 interrogation methods approved in the Army field manual.” (AP)

“FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III told senators yesterday that agents improperly used a type of administrative subpoena to obtain personal data about Americans until internal reforms were enacted last year.” (Washington Post)

“Several thousand law enforcement agencies are creating the foundation of a domestic intelligence system through computer networks that analyze vast amounts of police information to fight crime and root out terror plots.” (Washington Post)