— The Hill reports: The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan Gen. John Allen issued a lengthy statement Thursday detailing the steps NATO and the Afghans are taking to stem the rising number of “insider attacks.”
— The Obama administration has reportedly decided to designate the Haqqani network as a terrorist group. The militant organization is responsible for attacks on U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
— While the Pentagon escalates its case against the Navy SEAL who wrote about his experience in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, former SEALs say he is likely to be ostracized within the special ops community.
— Russian president Vladimir Putin praised President Obama as a “very honest man” and said Russia is more likely to get a missile defense deal with Obama as president rather than Mitt Romney. Putin criticized Romney’s harsh rhetoric toward Russia. “He was obviously wrong,” Putin said, “because such behavior on the international arena is the same as using nationalism and segregation as tools of U.S. domestic policy.”
— The AP reports: The U.S. is ramping up its presence at Syria’s Turkish border, sending more spies and diplomats to help advise the rebel forces in their mismatched fight against the better armed Syrian regime, and to watch for possible al-Qaida infiltration of rebel ranks.
— A federal judge has ordered the government to stop trying to restrict lawyers’ access to detainees at Guantanamo Bay.