Starting this month, TNI’s Managing Editor, Harry Kazianis, will select the day’s top foreign policy, national security, and defense articles for your reading pleasure. From the latest crisis in Syria or the Middle East, to China’s rise, to important matters of U.S. foreign policy and domestic politics, TNI has you covered.

What you need to know for Monday 9/30:

The Hill -
Speaker Boehner on the Cliff Edge - “John Boehner is taking the biggest risk of his political career.”="#ixzz2gnhsylew">

Politico - Government Shutdown Would Threaten Fragile Economy -

From the article: “A weak economy can only take so much abuse — and it looks like a government shutdown is about to test the nation’s resilience.

There is one possible way a shutdown could help the economy: It could result in a long-term agreement, reduce partisan tensions and take the far scarier prospect of a debt default off the table.

But there are much darker — and equally likely — scenarios that could play out over the next days and weeks.”

CNBC: Will 11th Hour Bill Keep the Lights On Temporarily?

Foreign Policy: Absurdistan, D.C. - How Republicans are threatening to turn Washington into a failed state.

NYTimes: Qaeda Plot Leak Has Undermined U.S. Intelligence

From the article: “As the nation’s spy agencies assess the fallout from disclosures about their surveillance programs, some government analysts and senior officials have made a startling finding: the impact of a leaked terrorist plot by Al Qaeda in August has caused more immediate damage to American counterterrorism efforts than the thousands of classified documents disclosed by Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor.”

Image: Wikicommons.