Jupiterimages/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- Making sure that more Republican women run for office and that they get the support they need is the focus of “Right Women, Right Now,” a new initiative by the Republican State Leadership Committee to encourage and mentor GOP women considering a run for office.

Ed Gillespie, chairman of the RSLC, said the goal of the program, which was started last year but relaunched Thursday, was to grow the Republican Party and “foster up-and-coming diverse voices, and to get new women to the table from the state level."

“We believe one of the ways to grow our Republican Party is by creating a strong pipeline of diverse leaders to put some new voices and fresh faces on the escalator to higher office, and we believe the first step to that is some of these state offices,” he said.

Of course, that’s not all. With more female candidates, there might be less chance of some of the damaging incidents that hurt the Republican Party in 2012 by male candidates such as Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock, who made insensitive comments about rape and abortion.

Gillespie noted that “women candidates maybe have a better ear for how to talk about some of these issues and the right tone without compromising principles, for example, on the issue of life, but address them in a way that I think is more resonant with voters and less alienating of women.

“There have been times where how the issue was discussed had a negative impact on Republicans up and down the ballot, and I do believe that women candidates have demonstrated a greater ability to talk about the issue in a way that doesn’t alienate but is more persuasive and builds by attraction,” Gillespie said, answering a question raised during a conference call to relaunch “Right Women, Right Now” about how this initiative could possibly limit those kind of comments in the next election cycle.

The main backers of the initiative include Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, Tennessee Speaker of the House Beth Harwell and Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman.

Harwell said she “understands” the issue of abortion “is a very emotionally high-strung issue” and “it touches people’s personal lives directly,” but approaching the "issue with a great deal of kindness” is what “earns the respect of voters.”

“I will say that what I’ve found in the female candidates that are running for office…is that they hold firm to their own personal convictions because this is a value vote,” Harwell said.

Kleefisch had another view, saying the “war on women is alliteration and fits great on a masthead.”

“In reality, it is basically asking women to be transparent and one-dimensional and vote on a single issue, and I’ll tell you that women are a lot more complex than a single issue,” Kleefisch said. “We care about the war on unemployment and that’s the one that the women in this group are fighting, the war on poverty, the battle of making sure ends meet every day in this country."

"I think it’s kind of insulting to say that women care only about a single issue and care about that most as opposed to making sure that their families are healthy and happy,” she continued, “and that they can pay their bills.”

Bondi, the first female attorney general of Florida, said the campaign would “spend unprecedented resources to elect a record number of women to state level offices."

“We need to take upon ourselves to encourage other women to say yes to leadership and that’s not always an easy thing to do and you put yourself on the ballot and we know the challenges faced when you say yes to this commitment and it’s up to us to ensure that other women have the support and encouragement to do the same,” she said.

Kleefisch said the group was doing more than just encouraging more women to run at the state level and would actively mentor women and provide support to help with work and family-life balance, saying she knows that “sometimes you feel like your entire life is spent going back and forth between Lincoln Day dinners and carpool obligations, but that’s the life that many women who have chosen to step forward and serve in this way are looking at."

One thing the group will not be doing is getting involved in primaries, even if it is a Republican woman who’s running. “We don’t engage in primaries as a rule,” Gillespie said, when asked about the number of Republican women who ran in 2010  but were defeated in their primaries by Republican men.

“One of the things we try to do is to work with the state party chairs and legislative caucus leaders and coordinate with them and try to identify qualified and quality women candidates and get them into the process,” Gillespie said. “We don’t want to recruit for women to run for seats where they can’t get the nomination [and] can’t win [or] have a credible chance at winning a general election for that matter.”

Republicans are not the only ones working to get more women to run. Earlier this month, Emily’s List, known for backing female Democratic candidates who support abortion rights, launched its "Madam President” campaign to get an early start on electing a female president in 2016. It backed its first gubernatorial candidate of the 2014 election cycle Thursday, endorsing Rep. Allyson Schwartz of Pennsylvania.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

The White House(WASHINGTON) -- In a wide-ranging speech at the National Defense University, in Washington D.C., Thursday, President Obama launched a spirited defense of his administration's efforts to pursue terrorists overseas, even while he outlined a more limited path forward in the fight against terror.

"We are at war with an organization that right now would kill as many Americans as they could if we did not stop them first. So this is a just war -- a war waged proportionally, in last resort, and in self-defense," Obama said. "And yet as our fight enters a new phase, America's legitimate claim of self-defense cannot be the end of the discussion."

In the first major foreign policy speech of his second term, Obama addressed head-on some of his administration's most passionate critics from both the opposite end of the political spectrum and his own party.

"These are tough issues and the suggestion that we can gloss over them is wrong," Obama said when a protester repeatedly interrupted his hour-long remarks.

Obama said that on Thursday he signed a Presidential Policy Guidance that outlined not only his administration's guidelines for the use of force against terrorists but for more oversight and accountability for those actions.

He called on Congress to close Guantanamo Bay, and he encouraged the use of diplomatic power to address the ideology that produces terrorists domestic and abroad.

Yet in the speech, Obama insisted that his administration's strategies were proactive and effective, despite questions about the legality of some of the actions.

He spoke pointedly about intelligence gathered in Osama bin Laden's compound that proved that al Qaeda operatives knew that drone strikes were working.

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"In the intelligence gathered at bin Laden's compound, we found that he wrote, 'We could lose the reserves to the enemy's air strikes. We cannot fight air strikes with explosives.' Other communications from al Qaeda operatives confirm this as well," Obama said. "Dozens of highly skilled al Qaeda commanders, trainers, bombmakers and operatives have been taken off the battlefield. Plots have been disrupted that would have targeted international aviation, U.S. transit systems, European cities and our troops in Afghanistan."

"Simply put, these strikes have saved lives," Obama said.

He also acknowledged that drone strikes have resulted in civilian deaths and, like in any conflict, may have had a negative impact on public perceptions of the U.S. abroad. But Obama said that the strikes, and the civilian casualties that they have resulted in, are preferable to the alternative.

"To do nothing in the face of terrorist networks would invite far more civilian casualties," Obama said. "Let us remember that the terrorists we are after target civilians, and the death toll from their acts of terrorism against Muslims dwarfs any estimate of civilian casualties from drone strikes."

Ahead of Obama's speech, Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday disclosed publicly for the first time that four American citizens had been killed in drone attacks.

The administration says that only one of these people, Anwar al-Awlaki, a senior al Qaeda official, was targeted. One of the other three was killed with al-Awlaki; another was al-Awlaki's son, killed in another strike.

Obama said that he does not believe the U.S. government can target and kill American citizens without due process, but that American citizenship cannot be used as a "shield."

"His citizenship should no more serve as a shield than a sniper shooting down on an innocent crowd should be protected from a SWAT team," Obama said. "That's who Anwar al-Awlaki was, he was continuously trying to kill people."

The revelations come at a time when the U.S. has already begun drawing down the number of drone attacks it carries out, which a senior administration official said Thursday is partially a result of a months-long process of refining the requirements for carrying out a strike.

Obama's liberal allies have also not forgotten his 2008 campaign promise to close Guantanamo Bay.

Obama said that he remains committed to closing the facility but he urged Congress to repeal its restrictions on transferring detainees away from the prison, and he called on lawmakers to close it.

"No person has ever escaped from one of our super-max or military prisons in the United States-- ever," Obama said. "Given my administration's relentless pursuit of al Qaeda's leadership, there is no justification beyond politics for Congress to prevent us from closing a facility that should never have been opened."

But, speaking with ABC News, Andrea Parsow, senior counterterrorism counsel at Human Rights Watch, said that by not moving immediately after taking office to close Guantanamo, Obama may have missed his window in 2008 when there was some bipartisan support for closing the prison.

"I think he was convinced by his advisers that doing so would be a politically risky move at the time. But by not acting, he opened up the space to make things like closing Guantanamo political," Parsow said.

With pressure to close the prison mounting, critics of the administration are unlikely to be satisfied by Thursday's speech.

For more than 100 days, prisoners at Guantanamo Bay have been on a hunger strike and some are now being fed through tubes, which has only further outraged opponents of the prison.

In the speech, Obama also addressed two scandals that have dogged the administration, particularly in the past several weeks: the attack on a U.S. consulate in Benghazi, and reports that the Justice Department seized phone records of several journalists in the course of investigating leaks of classified information.

Obama reiterated his pledge to implement the recommendations of the Accountability Review Board, which found "unacceptable failures" in Benghazi. And he also expressed concerns that the Justice Department's investigation of leaks may have gone too far.

"I am troubled by the possibility that leak investigations may chill the investigative journalism that holds government accountable," Obama said. "Journalists should not be at legal risk for doing their jobs. Our focus must be on those who break the law."

The speech featured a litany of items Obama would like added to Congress's agenda, from repealing the "authorization to use military force" (signed into law just after 9/11 and authorizing the use of the armed forces against those responsible for the attacks) to the closing of Guantanamo Bay.

"If you're going to get anything done in your second term it's really got to be in the first year, because the next year is an election year. That's what's really dictating it," said Larry Korb, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and a former assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan administration.

Obama has also faced mounting pressure on both sides of the political aisle to explain the U.S.'s policy around drone attacks and when he believes the government is justified in targeting U.S. citizens.

In March, Republican Tea Party-backed Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) filibustered CIA Director John Brennan's confirmation hearing for 13 hours to protest the U.S. drone program.

And on Wednesday, the human rights group Amnesty International, released a new report blasting the administration's drone program for perpetrating executions in violation of international human rights law.

By laying out publicly his administration's policy for the future of the war on terror at the onset of his second term, Obama may be looking to solidify his presidential legacy.

"I think when it comes to the drone program and the future of the war against al Queda, he's thinking of what he wants to leave in place for the next president," Parsow said. "He's a young man; he's going to have a lot of years to look back on what he has wrought."

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- Four days before the nation’s veterans make their way down hometown streets in a flurry of star spangled confetti for Memorial Day, a bill to protect war heroes from impostors is making its way to the White House for President Obama’s signature.

The Stolen Valor Act of 2013, which would make it illegal to profit from lying about military honors, passed the Senate with unanimous consent Wednesday after breezing through the House of Representatives Monday.

The bill, introduced in January by Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.), is the latest attempt by Congress to push through legislation targeting military fakers.

The original iteration of the bill, the Stolen Valor Act of 2005, had been in effect for six years before the Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional. At the time, the law was written to say it was a crime simply to lie about military service and awards -- a broad characterization the Supreme Court said violated a person’s First Amendment right to free speech.

A new version of the bill, introduced by Heck in late 2012, narrowed the act to say the liar must be attempting to somehow materially profit from the lies, making the would-be crime more akin to fraud. Heck reintroduced tweaked legislation in January.

“Tonight marks the end of what has been a very long, challenging, and rewarding process,” Heck said late Wednesday. “It is a fitting tribute to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country that both chambers have passed this bill before Memorial Day and I am hopeful that the President will sign [it] into law as quickly as possible.”

A spokesperson for the White House did not immediately respond to request for comment, but President Obama took a hard stance against military phonies last year when he announced a new government website to track awards for legitimate heroes.

“It may no longer be a crime for con artists to pass themselves off as heroes, but one thing is certain -- it is contemptible,” he said in reference to the Supreme Court’s ruling in 2012. "...[N]o American hero should ever have their valor stolen.”

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- As the people of Moore, Okla., grapple to recover following the devastating tornado that hit its community earlier this week, the head of a major weather forecasting service told a congressional subcommittee Thursday that the technology doesn’t yet exist to provide warning times of an hour or more before a tornado strikes.

“We expect people to ride out the storms in their bath tubs. That’s not acceptable. The only reason that’s the case is that we cannot yet scientifically determine far enough in advance the strength, the exact path, the location of where a tornado is going to form and where it’s going to go,” Barry Myers, chief executive officer of AccuWeather, told a House Science, Space and Technology subcommittee Thursday. “The science is not there. I don’t know how we’re going to get there. I think that’s what research is required to do.”

The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration issued its first tornado warning for the twister that devastated Moore 16 minutes before the tornado developed.  Myers said that “with enhanced modeling, perhaps we might have known hours in advance exactly where the tornado would form, where it would touch down, how monstrous it would grow and its exact path.”

“Imagine being able to tell people an hour or two in advance to move out of the zone of danger and have them watch the tornado from miles away. Is it a pipe dream?” he said.

The hearing, which was held by the subcommittee on environment and scheduled several weeks prior to the Oklahoma tragedy, examined how to improve NOAA weather forecasting and discussed draft legislation to enhance weather-related research.

“Superstorm Sandy made clear what many in the weather community have known for years: Our model for weather prediction has fallen behind Europe and other parts of the world in predicting weather events in the United States,” Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, chairman of the subcommittee, said.

But while the hearing focused on boosting NOAA research and weather forecasting, an official from NOAA did not testify before the committee.

A committee aide said they invited Deputy NOAA Administrator Dr. Kathryn Sullivan to testify, but Ciaran Clayton, director of communications for NOAA, said they were unable to provide a witness because of “logistical and scheduling challenges,” but “look forward to working with Congress on weather forecasting and related matters.”

The committee plans on working with NOAA to have someone from the agency testify on weather prediction research in the near future.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call(HARRISBURG, Penn.) -- Emily’s List is backing Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.) in her bid for governor of Pennsylvania, making their first endorsement of the 2014 gubernatorial cycle.

The group, known for backing female Democratic candidates who support abortion rights, is supporting Schwartz in her bid against Republican Gov. Tom Corbett.

“Allyson Schwartz has an incredible track record of fighting for the women and families of Pennsylvania. Now it’s time for her to take that experience and dedication all the way to the governor’s mansion, where she will help get Pennsylvanians back to work, protect access to healthcare, and fight for seniors and veterans,” Stephanie Schriock, president of Emily’s List, said in a statement.

In her statement, Schriock noted that they have been supporting Schwartz for “more than a decade,” adding, “We’re thrilled to be a part of her campaign to become Pennsylvania’s first woman governor.”

Schwartz, the only female member of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation, currently represents the 13th congressional district of Pennsylvania and is serving her fifth term. She represents Montgomery County and Northeast Philadelphia in Congress. Schwartz announced her gubernatorial campaign last month and, as Schriock noted, she would be the first female governor of the state.

Earlier this month Emily’s List launched a “Madam President” campaign with the goal of electing a female president in 2016.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

John Heller/WireImage(WASHINGTON) -- President Obama will nominate former campaign official Katherine Archuleta as director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) on Thursday, according to a White House official.

Archuleta served as national political director for Obama's 2012 reelection campaign. She was the first Latina to serve in that role on a major presidential campaign, the White House said. Former OPM director John Berry's term expired last month.

Obama's appointment of Archuleta comes after the president faced pressure from Latino advocacy groups to appoint Hispanics to serve in his second-term cabinet. More than seven in 10 Latinos voted for Obama in last year's election, but the number of Latino cabinet members is set to fall from two to one.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar both left the administration this year. Thomas Perez, a former Justice Department official, was nominated to fill Solis' position at the Department of Labor.

The position of OPM director is not a cabinet-level role. The agency, however, does oversee the hiring of federal employees and the pension and insurance plans for federal retirees. That role has become increasingly important as the federal government grapples with across-the-board sequestration spending cuts. The $85 billion in cuts this year alone have caused agencies to furlough employees.

Before serving as the Obama campaign's political director in 2012, Archuleta was chief of staff to Solis at the Department of Labor. A Colorado native, she worked as a senior adviser to Denver's first Latino mayor, Federico Peña (D), from 2005 to 2009.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Photos.com/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- The current march on Washington won’t fill the National Mall, or see an influx of buses down Constitution Avenue. But what it will do is clog your inbox.

You can only see it on your computer, or mobile device, but it’s out there: a two-day virtual march on Washington with the goal of demanding immigration reform.

“We don’t see this as exclusive of a regular march,” Jeremy Robbins, director of the Partnership for a New American Economy, told ABC News. “It’s 2013 and the way we communicate is broader and different than it was a generation ago, and we want to be able to maximize all the ways we can to push Congress.”

The event, which started on Wednesday and goes until Thursday night, is organized by Mayor Bloomberg’s immigration forces in partnership with President Obama’s OFA (Organizing for Action) and asks viewers to send their senators emails, tweets and Facebook messages demanding immigration reform.

“We tried to leverage all the different social media tools for all the different purposes,” Robbins said, in order to garner attention for the event.

President Obama even retweeted former Florida governor Republican Jeb Bush: “Delaying solutions will only make the problem grow. NOW is the time for immigration reform. Join the #iMarch…”

Twitter chats with Bloomberg kicked things off Wednesday morning. Google hangouts, Mashable and Tumblr are all resources used for the iMarch.  The event will live stream music and documentaries with the goal to push people to their website, where they make it easy for users to quickly locate their senator and, with just a click of the mouse, send a message.

One of the things that make this march different, Robbins says, is the flexibility it allows.

“If you are relying just on typical ways of lobbying, physical marches, etc., those are very powerful tools and we use all of them,” he said. “One of the benefits of a virtual match is there are no hotel rooms to book, no permits to obtain…. So you can time the virtual march to when it’s going to be most effective in the debate.”

Just Tuesday the Senate Judiciary committee voted to send the immigration bill to the full Senate for debate.

The launch of #iMarch saw the biggest political thunderclap of all time, reaching over 45 million users. A thunderclap is a way for many users to coordinate their social media messages to post simultaneously.

“We don’t want to pretend that we are starting from scratch, but this is a new area and this is just a start,” Robbins said. “We are going to keep pushing, keep marching and see this through the entire Senate and then see it through the House.”

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio