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Despite hot issues, lawmakers meet public less

UPDATED 19:33 PM EDT, June 2, 2013 | CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — From her front row seat at the Fort Dodge Public Library, pugnacious retiree Betty Nostrom wasted no time grilling the U.S. senator standing before 80 constituents over how he was investigating the deaths of four Americans in Libya last fall.

"Or will that just be swept under the rug?" Nostrom asked Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, kicking off an hour of polite, though pointed, questioning.

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UPDATED 7:40 AM EDT, May 20, 2013

Why Benghazi keeps coming back

WASHINGTON (AP) — The night of smoke, chaos, gunfire and grenades that killed four Americans in Benghazi, Libya, is well-documented. Eight months later, it is the decisions made back in Washington that remain murky and in perpetual dispute.

Why were a diplomatic outpost and the visiting U.S. ambassador left so poorly protected? Should the Pentagon have rushed jets or special forces to the rescue when the assault began? Did President Barack Obama's administration obscure the true nature of the terrorist attack to help him get re-elected?

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UPDATED 6:45 AM EDT, May 13, 2013

Clinton not interviewed during Benghazi review, head of panel divulges

WASHINGTON (AP) — The seasoned diplomat who penned a highly critical report on security at a U.S. outpost in Benghazi, Libya, defended his scathing assessment but absolved then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. "We knew where the responsibility rested," Thomas Pickering said Sunday.

"They've tried to point a finger at people more senior than where we found the decisions were made," Pickering, whose career spans four decades, said of Clinton's critics.

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UPDATED 7:28 AM EST, December 10, 2012

Dempsey: Start officers' ethics training earlier

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation's top military officer says ethics training for senior leaders is adequate but should begin earlier in an officer's career and be reinforced more frequently.

That's one of two initial findings by Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in response to a request by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta for a review of ethics training following a series of highly publicized ethical lapses by top military officers.

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UPDATED 15:36 PM EST, November 9, 2012

Petraeus Out

WASHINGTON (AP) — David Petraeus has resigned as director of the CIA after admitting he had an extramarital affair.

According to his letter of resignation, Petraeus asked President Barack Obama on Thursday to allow him to resign and on Friday the president accepted.

Petraeus said in a statement that he had shown "extremely poor judgment" in having the affair.

Petraeus has been married for 37 years to Holly Petraeus, whom he met when he was a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

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UPDATED 12:03 PM EDT, September 5, 2012

Former aide to Sen. Ensign receives probation

WASHINGTON (AP) — A judge has sentenced a onetime top aide to former Sen. John Ensign to a year's of probation for violating federal lobbying restrictions.

Doug Hampton is Ensign's former administrative assistant. He says he is "very relieved" at Wednesday's sentence.

Hampton resigned his job four years ago after learning that his wife and Ensign were having an affair. He lobbied the Nevada Republican's office, just a few days after leaving, on behalf of Allegiant Air, an airline headquartered in Las Vegas.

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