In Today's Times:
- President Obama outlined his plan on Thursday to transition away from the continuous, global state of war that has gripped the United States since Sept. 11, 2001, describing a more targeted counterterrorism effort that would involve limiting his war power and reigniting the debate over how to fight terrorism, Peter Baker reports.
- Under the counterterrorism blueprint the president described Thursday, the Central Intelligence Agency's duties would shift away from paramilitary work and to more traditional spying and analysis - a transition some experts say could take a while, Mark Mazzetti reports.
- Refusing to resign from her position as head of the Internal Revenue Service's division on tax-exempt organizations, Lois Lerner was put on administrative leave on Thursday after invoking the Fifth Amendment and declining to testify before a House committee investigating the I.R.S., Jonathan Weisman reports.
- The Senate confirmed Mr. Obama's nominee for a long-empty seat on an important appeals court on Thursday, but tensions mounted over a sluggish confirmation process portending tough times for other nominees, Jeremy W. Peters reports.
- With the July 1 deadline looming to avoid a doubling of student loan interest rates, the House passed a bill on Thursday basing rates on market trends and cutting off federal subsidies. Unpopular with Democrats, the move is sure to lead to the next Congressional showdown, Jonathan Weisman reports.
Washington Happenings:
- Mr. Obama will travel to Annapolis, Md., on Friday to give the commencement address at the United States Naval Academy, as he did in 2009. Later, he will sign a bill posthumously honoring the four girls killed in a Birmingham, Ala., church bombing in 1963 with a single Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor Congress can bestow.
