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Stephen Dinan

Stephen Dinan

Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.

Articles by Stephen Dinan

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich contends voting district are drawn intentionally to pack white voters into one area to outnumber Hispanic voters. (Associated Press)

Supreme Court hears gerrymandering cases that affect noncitizens

Supreme Court justices grappled Tuesday with how to balance the "one person, one vote" principle against late-20th century affirmative action policies, hearing two cases testing how far states can go in accommodating noncitizens or racial minorities when it comes time to draw voting districts. Published December 8, 2015

The dome of the Capitol is reflected in a skylight of the Capitol Visitor's Center in Washington on Jan. 1, 2013. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

House approves new scrutiny for terrorism-risk visitors

The House took the first steps to rein in the visa waiver program Tuesday, rallying to an overwhelming bipartisan vote to demand that high-risk travelers face stricter scrutiny, as Congress and the White House look for ways to keep potentially thousands of foreign fighters from reaching the U.S. Published December 8, 2015

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (left) of Nevada listens as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington on Oct. 28, 2015. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Congressional Democrats urge Supreme Court to reinstate amnesty

Congressional Democrats filed an extraordinary brief with the Supreme Court late Thursday urging the justices to overturn a lower court ruling and reinstate President Obama executive amnesty, arguing that the executive branch has a better handle on immigration than Capitol Hill. Published December 4, 2015

John F. Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, said in a letter released Thursday that the Task Force for Business and Stability Operations was unable to show a return on the $150 million it spent on villas in Kabul, Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif and Jalalabad. (Associated Press)

Pentagon spent millions for luxurious private villas

The same Defense Department office that spent $43 million on a gas station in Afghanistan also spent 20 percent of the rest of its budget to house workers and visitors at luxurious private villas, rather than have them stay on military bases for free to save "tens of millions of dollars," investigators have concluded. Published December 3, 2015

Sarah Saldana, who runs U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said estimates of the illegal immigrant population in the U.S. could be as high as 15 million. (Associated Press)

ICE gives away $113 million, says not enough illegal immigrants to deport

Even as they were pleading poverty in the federal courts, immigration officials gave away $113 million this year, with Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Sarah R. Saldana testifying to Congress on Wednesday that they didn't need the money because there weren't enough illegal immigrants to hold or deport. Published December 2, 2015

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

Homeland Security ‘limited’ in ability to detect asylum fraud: watchdog report

Homeland Security officials have "limited capabilities" to detect fraudulent asylum applications, the government's chief watchdog said in a devastating report released Wednesday that could deal a major blow to President Obama's approach to illegal immigration across the southwestern border. Published December 2, 2015

Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat, joined by Sen. Ben Cardin, Maryland Democrat, points to the embedded chip in her passport that contains digital information, as she and other Democrats talk about security measures for Syrian refugees and others coming into the U.S. on Nov. 19, 2015, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Bipartisan consensus forms on restricting Visa Waiver Program

A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation Tuesday to stop foreigners who've recently visited Syria or Iraq from traveling to the U.S. on a visa waiver, signaling Congress's next likely target as it tries to take steps to reduce the chances of a Paris-style terrorist attack. Published December 1, 2015

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton pauses while speaking at the at New Hampshire Democrats party's annual dinner in Manchester, N.H., Sunday, Nov. 29, 2015. (AP Photo/Cheryl Senter)

Hillary Clinton email classification rate rises

The classification rate for former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's government emails rose again Monday, as the department released more than 5,000 additional messages and deemed at least 6 percent of them to contain information that had to be kept from the public. Published November 30, 2015

Sen. James Lankford, Oklahoma Republican, is releasing "Federal Fumbles," a report that compiles some of the questionable and ridiculous projects on which the government has chosen to spend taxpayers' money. (Associated Press)

New Senate waste-watchers fill up ‘Federal Fumbles’

The dating habits of America's seniors might be of interest to online matchmakers and certain pharmaceutical companies, but Sen. James Lankford wants to know why the federal government felt it needed to get involved — to the tune of nearly $375,000 — to conduct its own study. Published November 30, 2015

FILE In this June 6, 2013 file photo, a sign stands outside the National Security Agency (NSA) campus in Fort Meade, Md. The National Security Agency has begun winding down its collection and storage of American phone records this week after the Senate failed to agree on a path forward to change or extend the once-secret program ahead of its expiration at the end of the month. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

NSA to end phone-snooping, but asks for three-month extension to keep records

The intelligence community was scheduled to stop collecting Americans' phone metadata Sunday -- but still wants three more months to continue looking through the billions of phone call records it already has, as it tries to see whether its replacement snooping program is working. Published November 27, 2015