Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-Va.) has long been on almost everyone's short list for the Republican vice presidential nomination. But now McDonnell's national security credentials have come into question, thanks to his mishandling of a bill passed by the Virginia General Assembly.

We must understand "AQI" if we are to defeat it.

In the wake of the recent events in Afghanistan, sentiment is growing to speed the U.S. military exit. Half of the American people now want to get out faster, and Obama administration officials are reportedly debating doing just that. Which raises a critical question: What would happen if we pulled out of Afghanistan?

Yesterday the Treasury Department designated six al Qaeda members as global terrorists. These operatives form a network that funnels money and personnel from the Gulf to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan via Iran and is tied to other enemy groups. Al Qaeda's safe haven in Iran is not unlike the militant sanctuary in Pakistan.

Here's what success in Iraq looks like: democratic elections, sectarian comity, independence in foreign policy, al Qaeda stymied, cooperating with the United States, and self sufficiency. Iraq didn't look completely like that in early 2011, but it was headed in the right direction.

If there is one success story since 9/11, it has been the efforts to combat terror finance. If military action is sometimes akin to conducting surgery with an axe, efforts to dry up sources of funding are like wielding a scalpel.

American policy makers have failed to implement this strategy outside of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. The result has been a growing threat from the Gulf of Aden region, where two of al Qaeda’s franchises—al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen and al Shabaab in Somalia—have established safe havens. (INCLUDES VIDEO)

A jihadist in plain sight in Lahore makes the most-wanted list.