Washington Post intelligence reporter Dana Priest was online Thursday, April 17 at 2:30 p.m. to discuss the latest developments in national security and intelligence.

The transcript follows.

Dana Priest covers intelligence and wrote " The Mission: Waging War and Keeping Peace With America's Military" (W.W. Norton). The book chronicles the increasing frequency with which the military is called upon to solve political and economic problems.

Archive: Dana Priest discussion transcripts

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Dana Priest: Better late than never, right? I hope you all didn't go away. Sorry for the delay. let's begin.

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Glenmont, Md.: Dana, when you clear aside all the hot air about the war, what is the bottom line about how long we can sustain the current level of troops in Iraq? At what point will we have to draw down for lack of troops to send and lack of money to support them? Do you have an estimate?

Dana Priest: They won't draw down for that reason. As you see already, they will begin admitting more and more people whom they would not admit before, such as those with criminal or mental health records. Lack of money, again, will push politicians -- particularly in an election season -- to consider things they would not otherwise have considered, like scaling back sooner rather than later.

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Arlington, Va.: If Clinton/Obama win the election in November, what changes are we likely to see to the nation's homeland security operations? Massive scale-back? It's generally well-known that the Democrats want to spend less, and favor a smaller military, but homeland security is a completely different beast.

Dana Priest: I don't foresee a massive scale down from either, at least not in the near future.

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Ocala, Fla.: A while back there were a number of stories about China making inroads economically and even in security matters in South America, an area that has become increasingly unsympathetic to the U.S. during the past eight years. Those stories seem to have died away. Is China's influence growing in South America, and is there a threat to our interests?

Dana Priest: Yes and yes. It's not just Latin America, it's Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East oil producers as well.

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Herndon, Va.: Ms. Priest: A belated congratulations on your Pulitzer. I saw you with that esteemed commentator Bill Maher, plus Jason Alexander and Richard Clarke, on Comedy Central the other night. The conversation was interesting, but tell me -- with you trying to get a few words in edgewise and being constantly interrupted, did you ever get the urge to punch Maher out?

Dana Priest: No, I'm just grateful there aren't too many pauses. Now I have been on with guests who yell and cuss so much that I wish they would just slide off their chairs and let the show go on. That didn't happen this time. Thank goodness.

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Raleigh, N.C.: Michael O'Hanlon thinks that the US should address our troops shortage by recruiting foreigners (not noncitizens living in the U.S., but people who live in Manila or Tegucigalpa) to serve in our armed forces. The key incentive would be U.S. citizenship. What do you think of the idea? (Don't hold back.) What does it say about continuing the Iraq War that this is the kind of crap war supporters are suggesting?

washingtonpost.com: The Future of the Military (Brookings Institution, April 7)

Dana Priest: I see you are not holding back! I disagree with Mike. If anything, I think there's merit in going in the opposite direction -- a draft, or incentives for more middle- and upper-middle-class Americans to serve in the military or some other way. The striking thing about the post Sept. 11 conflicts has been how the hardship and sacrifice is so contained to one small segment of the population while the rest of us just go on with our lives. Something wrong with that.

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Anonymous: Historically empires have exhausted their national treasure to pursue foreign wars, and the first indication of collapse seems to come not from their enemies, but when they have not been able to sustain their country's economy and wealth at home. At that point they than have become vulnerable to their enemies. Question: Do you see any cumulative similarities in the U.S.'s efforts in the Cold War, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq et al?

Dana Priest: Cumulative similarities? No. The Cold War -- fought by proxy -- was very different from the latter three (and you forgot a couple: Gulf I, Panama, Kosovo). But I take your point anyway, and it is worth pondering, hard, as the economy tanks.

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McHenry, Ill.: Seems that the drawdown in Iraq simply will allow for an increase in Afghanistan. What sense do you get from those you speak with of what the true need is Afghanistan?

Dana Priest: There is a true need in Afghanistan, but I doubt it ever will be with large units, so I would not see a one-to-one shifting of resources from Iraq to Afghanistan.

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Minneapolis: Isn't the fundamental problem with our strategy in Iraq that we (that is, the Bush administration) have not given the major Iraqi parties -- and the Iraqi government in particular -- any incentive to make the hard political bargains we all know are the only hope for actually achieving some semblance of sustainable security and stability in Iraq?

In particular, hasn't the Bush administration sent exactly the wrong message in essentially assuring the Iraqis, time and again, that as far as they are concerned, the American presence in Iraq is open-ended? Wouldn't the best incentive for the Iraqis to arrive at sustainable political settlements a guarantee to the Iraqis that, while we are not going to abandon them immediately as long as they undertake real political bargaining amongst themselves, neither is our commitment open-ended -- i.e. the Democratic plan?

Dana Priest: I think it's debatable. The other side is that if you set a date-certain, your enemies and the enemy of peace and stability (a multihead thing in Iraq) can just wait you out and pounce when you're gone. That' ha been doctrine in the military forever.

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Asheville, N.C.: What was Russia's interest in permitting NATO to use its territory to transport nonlethal goods to support its troops in Afghanistan? How much of an entering wedge is that supposed to be? Can it lead to the troop transport and overflights that originally were sought?

Dana Priest: It certainly could. That would be a good idea. I'm of the mind that the more we can suck Russia into the NATO way of thinking, the harder it will be for Putin to get off the reservation -- either in bellicose words, or worse, action. That's kind of the whole idea behind multinational alliances -- to up the political/psychological cost of spinning off on one's own.

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Washington: On Thursday, Secretary Gates asked Congress to grant the Pentagon permanent authority and $750 million to train and equip foreign militaries to "combat terrorism," a program previously administered by the State Department. This seems like another sign of the waning of State's influence and the further militarization of our foreign policy -- but as it had the "full support" of Secretary Rice, maybe I'm missing something.

Dana Priest: I don't know if she supports it, sorry. But you are right about the other point: It does show the continued waning influence of the State Department.

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About Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's denunciations of other captives: I have a question that troubles me. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah and other captives who were in CIA custody, and Mohammed Al-Kahtani, whose two months of sleep deprivation triggered the concern of the FBI and NCIS, all denounced dozens, possibly hundreds of other captives. If found guilty and executed, how will the more sober, responsible analysts of a new president ever determine which of their confessions and denunciations should be believed? Shouldn't clearing the innocent men they denounced -- so that we have a more realistic idea of the real threats we face -- trump the thirst for vengeance? Won't the public be less safe if these men are executed with some of their false confessions and false denunciations on the record?

Dana Priest: I believe the thinking would be that they would not be executed until their intelligence value was depleted, to put it crudely. Given that their knowledge is now more than six years old, that is not inconceivable.

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Princeton, N.J.: Why wasn't there more fuss made about the release of the AP photographer held for two years by the U.S. Army with no charges ever brought? It seems to me that this cuts to the heart of the idea of a free press when a government can imprison a journalist arbitrarily and hold him or her without any sort of legal authority.

washingtonpost.com: AP photographer freed by U.S. after two years in custody (AP, April 16)

Dana Priest: Probably because he is Iraqi and was under court proceedings. But I bet we have not heard the last of it either.

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Fairfax, Va.: Why aren't there questions in the debates or other forums about things like what the candidates would do about China's growing influence in the oil markets or its growing naval power?

Dana Priest: No time. Hosts (last night at least) were too busy asking about the latest gossip and innuendo and the last attack from the other campaign. When, exactly, would they have been able to fit in a question about China?

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Baltimore: Do you know what (if any) plans there are for a worst case scenario in Iraq -- an Iraq that remains a weak, decentralized fractious country? Is the plan simply to stay there and keep doing what we're doing until eventually, hopefully Iraq gets it together? Or is there some alternative plan that hasn't been disclosed? Thanks.

Dana Priest: Plan A is Plan B. I think the president has made that clear on numerous occasions. I have not heard otherwise.

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Carrboro, N.C.: I have a question about the NATO expansion, and maybe it's a silly one. To be eligible, do you need to be a democracy? Is Albania really a democracy? When did that happen? Thanks.

Dana Priest: Democracy can, and is, viewed as a process. Being on the path to democracy is good enough, but it has to be real -- at least that is the goal.

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New York: Welcome back, and congratulations on your Pulitzer. The Washington Post is my home team. Do you have any thoughts about how energy independence will be pursued in a Democratic administration working with a Democratic Congress? Is there progress at Walter Reed? Thanks so much for the chat.

Dana Priest: I'll try one of two, progress at Walter Reed. Lots has changed there. New battalions with new leaders were created. More case managers are there to try to help soldiers through the process. Commissions are trying to streamline the cumbersome disability process. There's loads more money for everything. Despite all this and more, serious problems remain. Soldiers call or write every week with examples. Bureaucratic inertia lives on. The Army still is spending too much on "assessing" mental health needs and not enough on luring mental health doctors to treat patients. In a nutshell. Here's a good take on it from my colleague Steve Vogel.

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washingtonpost.com: The Young Lions of Able Troop (Post, April 10)

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Rural Illinois: After Iraq, assuming we don't fight the Iraqis for the next hundred years, what will be the challenges for the military to preserve the national security of the United States? That is a rather broad question. I would like for you to answer as to what your vision is for the future requirements of our national security.

Obviously, there will have to be a substantial rebuilding and re-equipping of our military forces. The Army is broken and its equipment is worn out from the Middle East environment. The Navy has retrenched from a 600-ship navy to a barely 300-ship navy. The Air Force's planes literally are falling from the sky. The wisdom or lack thereof of our former Secretary of Defense has crippled the effectiveness of our naval air superiority against more modern Russian aircraft, as shown by our "war games" with the Indian Air Force.

Based on the socioeconomic-military aspects of a global economy, our country has been deindustrialized, resulting in the twin deficits of trade and the budget. The subprime crisis in housing is a direct consequence of the stagnant wages for more than a generation, and the exporting of jobs with the importation of inferior manufactured products. So, if you were asked by the next president of the United States, what advice would you give with respect to the national security needs of this country for the next five or 10 years? Thank you in advance, and keep up the good work.

Dana Priest: Wow, Now that's some question. As I'm not really in the business of offering the government advice, I'll let your answer stand as one. It ain't bad. Not complete, and a little, well, loaded.

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Dana Priest: Having come late, I have to bow out on time. Hope you can make it back next time. If you're in Washington, leave early, enjoy the weather -- that's an order!

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Re: Foreign militaries to combat terrorism: Dana, can you please confirm that this won't be a more modern version of the "School of the Americas"? I would hate to think that we would be repeating that mistake.

Dana Priest: It could well be ... can't help be give you one more ... now I'm off.

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