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U.S. Mounts Quiet Effort To Weaken Assad's Rule
(Wall Street Journal) The U.S. has been mounting a secret but limited effort to speed the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad without using force, scrambling spies and diplomats to block arms and oil shipments from Iran and passing intelligence to front-line allies.
Generation Vet
(Boston Globe) As veteran demographics change, so must the services that help them.
More Time At Sea
(Navy Times) Increased global demand and fewer aircraft carriers mean sailors will spend more time at sea and less at home the next two years, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jon Greenert has announced.
A Moving Target
(St. Louis Post-Dispatch) As Congress stares down a legal deadline to rein in the nation's runaway budget deficit, defense spending has become the prime target. And that puts contractors including Boeing's defense division - which relies almost entirely on military contracts - in the cross hairs.
Getting Real On Defense Cuts
(Politico.com) Despite the heat or maybe because of it Washington is abuzz with debates over future U.S. defense spending.
Don't Sequester The Common Defense
(Politico.com) House Republicans believe we must get our spending under control. However, the military, already experiencing deep budget cuts, will not be able to carry out its assigned missions with these slated new reductions.
Obama's Defense 'Pivot' Masks Shrinkage
(Politico.com) Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, speaking in Singapore recently, underscored the importance of peace and prosperity in the Pacific to maintaining peace and prosperity at home. He spelled out what the pivot strategy entails including bolstering diplomacy, strengthening strategic partnerships, sustaining a presence in the region and maintaining force projection
Naval Militia To Help With Border Patrol
(Wall Street Journal) New York National Guard officials say a Naval Militia boat and two-man crew will help Border Patrol agents inspect pleasure craft entering the United States from Canada at Rouses Point, N.Y.
Interview With Senator John McCain (R-AZ)
(CNN) Let me move you first overseas and talk to you about Syria, this has obviously been a subject you have been heavily involved in, pushing for more U.S. action, more U.S. leadership, not boots on the ground, but getting some help to these rebels. I want to play something that Leon Panetta said this week for you.
US Spy Chief To Go To Hacking Party
(China Daily) Computer geeks attending the world's largest annual hacking party in Las Vegas this week will have a rare chance to rub shoulders with the head of the US National Security Agency. General Keith Alexander, director of the spy agency that has a focus on cyber security, will speak at the Defcon conference. He is the most senior US government official to ever visit the gathering.
Reboot Set For Program That Moves Vets To Civilian Life
(Wall Street Journal) President Barack Obama plans to announce the first major overhaul Monday in more than 20 years of the military's much-derided program to help veterans make the transition from the military to work or school.
Green Fleet Upstarts Make Conventional Washington Moves
(Reuters.com) Two companies involved on the ground level of an expensive Pentagon effort to embrace biofuels have used familiar strategies in building their profiles in Washington, using hefty campaign contributions and aggressive lobbying to secure support.
Obama, Romney May Face Tough Crowd At VFW Convention In Reno
(Reno Gazette-Journal) When President Barack Obama and presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speak to the Veterans of Foreign Wars National Convention today and Tuesday in Reno, they might face a tough crowd.
At DoD, 6 IT Projects $8 Billion Over Budget
(Federal Times) Six Defense Department modernization projects are a combined $8 billion -- or 110 percent -- over budget and suffering years-long schedule delays -- in one case, more than 12 years -- a new audit report finds.
Court-Martialed For Attempting Suicide
(Army Times) The military's highest court will soon decide whether troops can be court-martialed for trying to kill themselves by reviewing the June 2010 conviction of a Marine who slit his wrists in Okinawa.
Pacific Nations Seeking 'Insurance' At War Games
(U-T San Diego) China isn't invited but remains unspoken presence.
Palantir Report Swapped With Data Against It
(Washington Times) The Army ordered the destruction of a report that praised the performance of an off-the-shelf software program that finds buried explosives in Afghanistan and replaced it with a revised, less-favorable assessment, according to internal Pentagon documents.
Marine Corps Activates Three Law Enforcement Battalions
(Washington Post) The Marine Corps has created enforcement battalions--a lean, specialized force of military police officers that it hopes can quickly deploy worldwide to help investigate crimes from terrorism to drug trafficking and train fledgling security forces in allied nations.
Syrian Conflict Draws In Christians
(Wall Street Journal) Syria's conflict, increasingly characterized as a Muslim sectarian war, is now also threatening to engulf the country's estimated 2 million Christians.
Israel Leader Ready To Act To Secure Syria Arsenal
(Yahoo.com) Israel would "have to act" if the Syrian regime collapses and there's a risk Syria's chemical weapons and missiles could fall into the hands of militant groups, Israel's prime minister warned Sunday.
US Afghan Withdrawal Halfway Done
(Yahoo.com) This year's pullout of 23,000 American troops from Afghanistan is at the halfway mark, U.S. Gen. John Allen, the top commander of U.S. and NATO forces, said Sunday in an interview with The Associated Press.
Iran Sanctions Take Toll On Afghans
(Wall Street Journal) The U.S.'s effort to wield economic pressure to influence Iranian leaders is having the unintended consequence of hurting Afghanistan, which relies on remittances from millions of migrants living in the country to its west.
Israel Says Intelligence Ties Hezbollah To Bulgaria Attack
(Wall Street Journal) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that his government has gathered "unquestionable" intelligence showing that the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, backed by Iran, was behind a suicide bombing in Bulgaria last week that killed five Israeli nationals.
Carter To Focus On Strengthening Defence Ties With India
(Press Trust of India) Strengthening defence ties with India would be the main focus of US Deputy Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter during his three-day visit to the country, Pentagon officials here said today.
Osprey On Way But U.S. Won't Ignore Safety: Defense Deputy
(Japan Times) U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said the United States wants MV-22 Osprey flight operations to be in full swing in Japan in October despite local opposition to the deployment of the funky tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
U.S. Keeping Wary Eye On China's Space Program
(Channel 6 News) China launched an anti-satellite test in 2007 and an anti-ballistic missile test in 2010 without alerting the international community beforehand.
China Plans Garrison To 'Defend' Disputed Islands
(Yahoo.com) Beijing will establish a military garrison on a group of disputed islands in the South China Sea, China's defence ministry said Monday, a move likely to provoke further tensions with its neighbours.
. Taiwan Mulls Buying Used US Tanks
(Yahoo.com) Taiwan is considering purchasing tanks used by the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan to update its ageing fleet, the defence ministry and media said on Monday.
Forrest S. McCartney, A Top NASA Official, Dies At 81
(New York Times) Forrest S. McCartney, a retired Air Force lieutenant general who played a central role in developing military spy satellites and the MX intercontinental missile system before being appointed head of NASA's civilian-run Kennedy Space Center not long after the space shuttle Challenger exploded, died Tuesday in a hospice near Cape Canaveral, Fla.
Green Light, Yellow Light
(Defense News) The Pentagon is facing unprecedented budget cuts while our nation faces a growing number of complex threats. This is no time to use precious budget resources on technologies rightly the province of the commercial market.
Gunboat Diplomacy, Chinese Style
(Singapore Straits Times) THERE is a saying in international diplomacy: Watch what countries do rather than what they say. China's recent actions in asserting its claims to ownership and other forms of jurisdiction over about 80 per cent of the South China Sea speak louder than its oft-repeated soothing words that it is not seeking hegemony.
Regime Change Needs To Be Endgame For Iran
(Washington Times) The question of what we should do about Iran's drive to achieve nuclear weapon capability soon becomes moot. The endgame cannot be some "peace in our time" agreement with the mullahs. We have more than sufficient justification to launch a devastating strike against Iran.
A Spiteful New Policy At Guantanamo Bay
(New York Times) The Obama administration's latest overuse of executive authority at Guantanamo Bay is a decision not to let lawyers visit clients in detention under terms that have been in place since 2004.
Washington, Be Wary Of A War On Leaks
(Los Angeles Times) Leaks of confidential government information are nothing new in Washington. But a recent spate of news stories about national security operations has emboldened advocates of new punishments for revealing classified information.
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