Today's Headlines and Commentary

Yesterday was a big day: As Ben already noted, SecDef Panetta spoke to business executives in national security on cybersecurity yesterday in New York. Here's coverage in The Hill, the New York Times, Agence France Presse, TIME's Battleland blog, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. GOP Congressmen complained yesterday that the cybersecurity executive order that is in the works will hurt internet freedom. Here's Jennifer Martinez of The Hill on the latest laments. The vice presidential debate was yesterday too, and the debate focused to a considerable degree on foreign policy and military strategy. Coverage of the issues here at the Times and the Times again, and The Hill. Glenn Kessler of the Post fact-checks the arguments. And NPR's Larry Abramson reports on another debate on Wednesday in D.C. between Dov Zakheim and Richard Verma, foreign policy advisors to the campaigns. There also was a drone strike yesterday that killed 18 insurgents yesterday along the Afghan-Pakistan border. Hezbollah officials acknowledged that the drone that Israel shot down last weekend was theirs. Here's the Journal, the Jerusalem Post and the Times on the subject. Today news came in the Pakistani police have arrested "a number" of suspects in the shooting of 14-year old Malala Yousuafzai, says the AP this afternoon. Michael Gerson argues in his latest Washington Post column that Obama is showing no leadership in the war on terror. The Economist takes a look at the Senate report on Chinese telecommunications firms Huwai and ZTE. Anne Gearan and Craig Whitlock write in the Post about comparisons the Obama administration is making between its successful efforts in Somalia against Al Qaeda and the “military, political and humanitarian intervention” it is contemplating in Mali. Wired's Danger Room blog reports that a GAO study of the "policies, plans and procedures" for transferring Guantanamo detainees to federal facilities in the U.S. is scheduled to come out 8 days after the election. Seven British Marines have been arrested in connection with the death of an insurgent in 2011. Here's Agence France Presse and Alan Cowell of the Times. Thomas Erdbrink of the Times provides the surprising details of Iran's involvement in the U.S. war on drugs. Iran security forces are seizing, according to the UN Office of Drugs and Crime, “the highest amounts of opiates and heroin worldwide”:

Tehran has long been shy about inviting reporters to these borderlands, particularly during the difficult years when the police were dying in droves. But now, with the prospect of negotiations with the West over Iran’s disputed nuclear enrichment program, experts say, Iran’s leaders are eager to grab credit for their efforts. During previous negotiations Iranian diplomats often pointed at Iran’s high human costs from trying to stop the drug trade, and one influential political adviser, Hamid Reza Taraghi, said that Iran expected to be politically “rewarded” for its efforts.

Dina Temple-Raston's latest story is on the federal case against Mahamud Said Omar and others in Minnesota related to a recruitment effort in the state for Somali-Americans to join the fight in their native land. It looks like Morten Storm, a Danish double agent, is claiming connections with Anwar Al-Aulaqi. Here's Joby Warrick's Washington Post story in the post about the news that surfaced this week. For more interesting law and security-related articles, follow us on Twitter, visit the Georgetown Center on National Security and the Law’s Security Law Brief, Fordham Law’s Center on National Security’s Morning Brief, and Fordham Law’s Cyber Brief. Email us noteworthy articles we may have missed at wakeman.lawfare@gmail.com and singh.lawfare@gmail.com, check out the Lawfare Events Calendar for upcoming national security events, and post relevant job openings at the Lawfare Job Board.