| November 21, 2014 |
THE EARLY BIRD BRIEF |
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TODAY'S TOP 5
1. Sources: Top Appropriators Focusing Solely on Omnibus, Have Had No CR Talks
(Defense News) Capitol Hill's top appropriators have yet to discuss another short-term measure to keep the government running, focusing solely on a longer-term bill they hope to drop in early December.
2. Pentagon, in reversal, won't wait for Congress to deploy Iraq troops
(The Hill) The Pentagon said Thursday that it would begin deploying 1,500 new troops to Iraq "in the next weeks" without first securing funding from Congress, reversing previous comments.
3. What if the Military Has Been Focusing on the Wrong Thing the Whole Time?
(Yinon Weiss in Small Wars Journal) For over a decade, and ever since the United States began the endeavor of creating a stable Iraq and Afghanistan, the dogmatic military view has essentially been "We will train our allies until they are able to secure their own nation." With conflict in Afghanistan lasting over 13 years, and with the recent tragic losses of momentum, equipment, and territory in Iraq, it is apparent that things are not going as was hoped by many. Going back to my time training Iraqi Commandos as a US Special Forces officer, I have had one question that always lingered in the back of my mind:
4. Paralyzed MARSOC Marine to receive Bronze Star with 'V'
(Marine Corps Times) Thanks to perseverance and cutting-edge technology, Capt. Derek Herrera will do something once thought impossible: He'll walk across a stage to receive the Bronze Star with combat distinguishing device.
5. U.S. Aircraft Carrier's Cost Likely to Rise Again, GAO Says
(Bloomberg) The cost of the U.S. Navy's new aircraft carrier is likely to keep rising from the $12.9 billion now estimated, with the final price masked by deferring some work until after the ship is delivered, the Government Accountability Office said.
CONGRESS
McCain Sees 'Good News' in Incoming Class of Military Hawks
(Defense News) For US Sen. John McCain, reinforcements are on the way.
McCain Emerges as Pentagon's Last Hope to Avert Sequester
(National Defense) Pentagon pleas for relief from drastic spending cuts are getting scant attention as the lame-duck Congress becomes enmeshed in partisan fighting over immigration reform and the threat of a government shutdown.
After VA letdown, Minn. Dem may get Armed Services seat
(The Hill) A day after Rep. Tim Walz (Minn.) had his hopes of becoming the top Democrat on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee dashed, he says he is in talks with Democratic leaders to join the powerful House Armed Services Committee in the 114th Congress.
House Republican Wants To Work Around Baghdad, Arm the Kurds
(Defense News) As Washington weighs changes in its strategy to fight the radical Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, the head of the House's Foreign Affairs Committee has introduced a new wrinkle into the debate: providing weapons and military equipment directly to the Kurdistan Regional Government's Peshmerga forces.
Rep. Tammy Duckworth gives birth to daughter
(Chicago Tribune) Rep. Tammy Duckworth, who won a second term in the U.S. House two weeks ago, gave birth Tuesday to a daughter: Abigail O'kalani Bowlsbey.
ISLAMIC STATE
Families of U.S. hostages say government ignored their search for answers
(McClatchy) Within days of a video emerging that showed the beheading of journalist James Foley, his mother, Diane Foley, bluntly told President Barack Obama what she and the families of other hostages held in Syria had been feeling for months: The government failed them.
Vickers: Boots on the Ground Not Necessary for Intel in Iraq
(Defense One) Everyone from the president of the United States to the head of Cyber Command has acknowledged that the rise of the Islamic State represents a huge intelligence failure for the United States, a failure that's been blamed on the withdrawal of troops in 2011. But the solution to the intel gap is not necessarily more boots on the ground, the Defense Department's Undersecretary for Intelligence Michael Vickers said.
Iraq Needs Weapons But Can It Keep Them?
(Foreign Policy) After watching ISIS roll over Iraqi security forces this summer, stealing equipment the U.S. provided, Congress has been hesitant to sell Baghdad more.
Militants launch attacks around Iraq's western Ramadi city
(Reuters) Suspected Islamic State militants launched coordinated attacks on Friday around the western Iraqi city of Ramadi, overrunning a village to the east and clashing with tribal fighters to the west, a local official and a tribal leader said.
Drone airlift project hopes to supply beleaguered Syrian refugees
(Washington Post) When Maj. Mark Jacobsen visited the Turkey-Syria border with the Air Force's School of Advanced Air and Space Studies last year, he toured some of the Syrian refugee camps that, in the midst of a punishing civil war, had turned into small cities. Jacobsen didn't see just a humanitarian crisis - he saw siege warfare.
Islamic State reportedly buying silver, gold as it prepares to issue currency
(McClatchy) The Islamic State is accumulating gold, silver and copper in markets throughout northern and western Iraq, dealers report, in an apparent effort to stockpile enough precious metal to follow through on a pledge to mint its own currency.
Kurds Appeal to U.S. for Heavier Weaponry to Fight Islamic State Militants
(Wall Street Journal) The Kurdish local government in Iraq is urging the Obama administration to provide it with heavy arms, including helicopters, tanks and artillery pieces, to fight better-armed Islamic State insurgents, a Kurdish official said Thursday, providing new details on the request.
Canadian military mum on CF-18 inflicted casualties
(Globe and Mail) The Canadian military has estimates on the casualties caused by its air strikes in Iraq but won't make this information public on the grounds it could compromise the mission.
INDUSTRY
France Orders 12 A330 Tanker Transport Aircraft
(Defense News) France has signed a 3 billion euros (US $3.8 billion) contract for 12 Airbus A330 multirole tanker transport aircraft, Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told a high-level conference on the French nuclear deterrent Thursday.
U.S. Air Force 'pretty optimistic' about SpaceX certification
(Reuters) A top U.S. Air Force official on Wednesday said she is "pretty optimistic" that privately held Space Exploration Technologies will eventually be certified to launch U.S. military satellites into orbit but declined comment on the timing of such an action.
Company Developing Hybrid Energy Motorbike For Special Operators
(National Defense) As the nature of warfare changes, it's likely special operators will need increasingly stealthy ways to penetrate remote, hard-to-reach locations. That is one of the reasons Logos Technologies is developing a hybrid-powered offroad motorbike for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Wade Pulliam, the company's manager of advanced concepts, stated in an email.
Boeing aims to make missile defense more like space programs
(Reuters) Boeing Co is working with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency to address quality and reliability issues with the sharply criticized $41 billion homeland missile defense system by adopting controls from space programs, a company official said.
STK and General Dynamics announce ammunition partnership
(IHS Jane's 360) General Dynamics has entered a partnership with ST Kinetics (STK), the land systems arm of Singapore Technologies Engineering (ST Engineering), to produce 40 mm high-velocity airburst ammunition for the US military.
VETERANS
Board upholds VA's firing of Talton
(Montgomery Advertiser; Ala.) The firing of the former director of the Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System was upheld, according to a 32-page decision issued Wednesday.
Study: Volunteer work could help vets' careers
(Military Times) Volunteer work after military service has been billed as a way for veterans to better connect to their communities and build new relationships. Now, a new study says it also might help them find better jobs.
Will Veterans' Data Ever Truly Be Secure?
(Nextgov) For two hours yesterday, members of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee poked and prodded a slew of Department of Veterans Affairs officials over glaring information security weaknesses that potentially put millions of veterans' personal information at risk of exposure.
ly Press; Newport News, Va.) Identical bills making their way through both chambers of Congress would amend the federal charter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars to include women.
DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
DoD tightens child care background checks
(Military Times) Defense officials are moving to strengthen criminal background checks for anyone who interacts with children in a DoD-sanctioned program - whether it's in child development centers, family child care homes, chapels, youth programs, DoD schools or elsewhere.
Autism care coverage improves, but costs are still a worry
(Military Update) More than 26,000 military families with autistic children are getting better Tricare coverage of applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy and related services, which can improve a child's development and quality of life.
U.S. sends 5 Guantanamo detainees to European resettlement
(Miami Herald) The Pentagon sent five long-held Arab detainees to resettlement in Europe on Thursday, three to Georgia and two to Slovakia.
DISA's biggest IT initiatives focus on securing DoD networks
(C4ISR & Networks) It's been a busy year at the Defense Information Systems Agency, where the military saw significant changes in how the Defense Department handles major IT initiatives including cloud computing, mobility, joint regional security stacks and the Joint Information Environment.
Thanksgiving meals deploy for troops
(Military Times) Whether they've been in Afghanistan for months or in West Africa or Iraq for a few weeks, troops will have plenty of turkey, cranberry sauce and other fixings on their plates for Thanksgiving Day.
ARMY
Army names inactivating combat aviation brigade
(Army Times) The Army will inactivate the 159th Combat Aviation Brigade this year, officials announced Thursday.
Odierno Rejects Comparing Gulf War to Recent Iraq War
(DoDBuzz) The Army's top officer was initially curt in his response to a retired general's provocative new book that argues the U.S. lost the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Army wife found stabbed to death in Hawaii
(Army Times) An Army wife was found stabbed to death in her home Saturday morning in a case that Army Criminal Investigation Command is investigating as a murder.
Fort Carson soldier convicted of murder in death of girlfriend
(Colorado Springs Gazette) Sgt. Montrell Mayo acted with deadly intent in the Valentine's Day killing of his girlfriend, a panel of military officers found Wednesday in delivering across-the-board guilty verdicts against the Fort Carson sergeant.
Soldier connected to Iraq killings says he'll plead guilty to threatening reporter's family
(Tacoma News Tribune) An Army paratrooper's alleged attempts to stymie a newspaper's investigation into the fatal shooting of two Iraqi boys seven years ago is expected to plead guilty Thursday to threatening a journalist's wife, according to his Twitter feed.
Internet scammer adopts face of Army officer from Pasco
(Tampa Tribune) Norma Jean Culpeper of Mullins, South Carolina, says the man who scammed her out of $1,200 by claiming to be an Army officer stationed in Afghanistan was able to do so, in part, because of the picture he emailed her.
JAG officers named for promotion to major
(Army Times) Here are the names and sequence numbers of the active-component Judge Advocate General's Corps captains recommended for promotion to major by a board that met in September:
NAVY
Navy: Store guns of sailors at risk for suicide
(Virginian-Pilot) In hopes of stemming suicides, the Navy this week formally advised commanders to ask sailors thought to be at risk of harming themselves to voluntarily turn over personal firearms for temporary safekeeping.
Swift nominated to lead Pacific Fleet
(Navy Times) President Obama has picked the former head of the Japan-based 7th Fleet to lead the Pacific Fleet, which oversees ships from San Diego and Everett, Washington, to the western Pacific and Indian Ocean.
US Navy ships briefly collide in Gulf of Aden
(Associated Press) A US Navy spokesman says two of its supply ships briefly collided in the Gulf of Aden but that no one was injured.
Fleet Forces command change ceremony canceled
(Navy Times) The Fleet Forces Command change of command ceremony set for Monday has been canceled, FFC said Thursday.
Departing Adm. Gortney recalls highs, lows of the job
(Virginian-Pilot) The worst days during Adm. Bill Gortney's two years as the top Navy commander in Hampton Roads were the ones when he had to notify families that their sailors would never again come home.
Powerful New UHF Satellite System Expected by End of 2015
(National Defense) After more than a decade of development, 2015 promises to be a key year for the Navy's mobile user objective system communication satellite.
Ex-SEAL's defenders see double-standard in criticism of bin Laden shooter O'Neill
(Washington Post) For 3½ years since the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, former Navy SEAL Robert O'Neill managed to keep a lid on the last major secret from that historic mission: his own name.
AIR FORCE
Airman-turned-activist sentenced to 15 days in jail
(Air Force Times) A judge late Wednesday sentenced an airman-turned-environmental activist to 15 days in jail for trespassing during a protest of a New York energy company last month.
Air Force again considers keeping or moving Eielson F-16s
(Alaska Dispatch) The Air Force told Alaska's congressional delegation Wednesday it has launched a review that may end with a decision to keep a squadron of F-16s at Eielson Air Force Base or move them to Anchorage or to Nevada.
Air Force Academy superintendent to receive award
(Colorado Springs Gazette) The Air Force Academy's superintendent will receive an award Saturday that is given to outstanding airmen in honor of a World War II bombardier.
Air Force major at Fort Bliss tests negative for Ebola
(Stars & Stripes) An Air Force major who returned sick from an operation to fight an Ebola outbreak in West Africa has tested negative for the virus, the Pentagon said Thursday.
Senator: Air Force close to decision on SD bomber training area expansion
(Associated Press) The U.S. Air Force is in its "final step" of deciding whether to move forward with an expansion of a bomber training area over the Northern Plains that would help solidify Ellsworth Air Force Base's future in the region, South Dakota U.S. Sen. John Thune said Wednesday.
479 selected for promotion to chief master sgt.
(Air Force Times) The Air Force has selected 479 senior master sergeants for promotion to chief master sergeant.
MARINE CORPS
Marine veteran Phil Klay wins National Book Award
(Marine Corps Times) Veteran Marine Capt. Phil Klay's fictional account of the Iraq War earned one of literature's most esteemed awards Wednesday night.
Webb launches exploratory bid for 2016 race
(Des Moines Register) Former U.S. Sen. James Webb, a Democrat from Virginia, has announced he has created a committee to explore a presidential run in 2016.
Japan opens door for possible shift of Ospreys off Okinawa
(Stars & Stripes) Japanese officials appear to be laying the groundwork for shifting some Marine Corps Ospreys to the mainland from Okinawa, where some residents have grumbled over their deployment.
Ex-Marine pleads not guilty in slayings of 2 girls
(Associated Press) A former Marine already sentenced to death in the slaying of a sailor in Virginia pleaded not guilty on Thursday in the 2005 slayings of two young Illinois girls who were playing in a forest preserve.
AFGHANISTAN/PAKISTAN
Eavesdropping on Pakistani Official Led to Inquiry of Former U.S. Diplomat
(New York Times) American investigators intercepted a conversation this year in which a Pakistani official suggested that his government was receiving American secrets from a prominent former State Department diplomat, officials said, setting off an espionage investigation that has stunned diplomatic circles here.
AQIS announces death of two senior leaders in US operation
(Long War Journal) Two senior leaders of al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), the newest branch of the global jihadist group, were killed in a recent US operation along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, AQIS's spokesman announced today. One of those killed was a former Pakistani Army officer who had been directly linked to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, an architect of 9/11. The other operative was a doctor who also served as a AQIS propagandist.
Pakistan receives 'a squadron' of surplus Jordanian F-16s
(IHS Jane's 360) The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) has received into service 'a squadron' of Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter aircraft from the Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF), a senior PAF service official disclosed on 19 November.
Pakistan Refugees Prepare for Winter in Afghanistan
(Wall Street Journal) This summer, Paidad Khan fled here with his wife and six children to escape fighting in Datta Khel, his hometown in the Pakistani tribal region of North Waziristan.
MIDDLE EAST
Questions, Praise for UAE's Terrorist List
(Defense News) Although the United Arab Emirates' list of designated terrorist organizations has raised questions about who it does and does not include, officials see the move as necessary for the Arabian Gulf sheikhdom.
Servicemembers in Bahrain urged to be cautious ahead of election
(Stars & Stripes) U.S. officials are warning servicemembers stationed here about increased protest activity ahead of national elections.
Bahrain elections missing key Shiite players
(Associated Press) The island-nation of Bahrain is preparing to hold its first elections for a new parliament since Arab Spring-inspired protests erupted nearly four years ago, but many say they are heeding calls by the country's Shiite opposition to boycott the Saturday polls.
Egypt's Sisi calls on West to support Libya
(Reuters) Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi urged the United States and Europe on Thursday to help the Libyan army in its fight against Islamist militants now to save the country from requiring intervention on the scale of Iraq and Syria.
EUROPE
U.S. 'committed' to aiding Ukraine but seeks progress on government formation, reforms
(Washington Post) The Obama administration is prepared to "bring more resources to bear" to help Ukraine, but Washington and its allies are looking for more momentum from Kiev in forming a new government and implementing promised reforms, a senior U.S. official said as Vice President Biden arrived here late Thursday.
U.N. rights agency reports 'total breakdown' in eastern Ukraine
(Los Angeles Times) The Geneva-based U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights lamented what it said was "a large amount of sophisticated weaponry, as well as foreign fighters that include servicemen from the Russian Federation" for worsening an already dire situation for residents of the embattled region.
Aboard Danish Frigate, Clean Lines and Room To Grow
(Defense News) It is striking how the now-familiar smooth, angled architecture of today's warships, intended to reduce visual, heat and other signatures, is also somehow inherently Danish-modern. And the first thing one notices after boarding this ship is how clean and spotless everything is - almost relentlessly clean.
ASIA-PACIFIC
Russia and China to Hold 2015 Naval Exercises in Mediterranean, Pacific
(USNI News) Russia and China have committed to a pair of 2015 naval exercises as a sign of growing military cooperation between the two countries, Russia's minister of defense said this week.
China Detains an American Who Assists North Koreans
(New York Times) A Korean-American aid worker who lived in China on the border with North Korea for more than a decade has been detained by the Chinese authorities, his lawyer said Thursday.
Hong Kong protests spur renewed debate over 'patriotic' education
(Washington Post) Until the dying days of British rule in Hong Kong, there was no place for politics or controversy in education. Chinese history, as far as the school curriculum was concerned, ended in with the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911, and local current affairs were not really anybody's business but the colonial rulers'.
AFRICA
Police Fire Tear Gas in Clashes at Nigeria's Parliament
(Wall Street Journal) Nigerian police fired tear gas inside Parliament on Thursday during a dispute concerning who should preside over a vote on whether to extend a state of emergency for six months in three states where Boko Haram holds territory.
Ebola Spread Has Slowed in Liberia, C.D.C. Says
(New York Times) The international response to West Africa's Ebola epidemic, coupled with more effective action by local communities, has stopped the exponential spread of the disease in one of the hardest-hit countries, Liberia, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.
Six months after Ebola appeared, Sierra Leone still lacks beds for patients
(Washington Post) Outside Connaught Hospital, the woman with the glassy eyes and raging fever had been waiting all day, hoping that a doctor might be able to answer her questions: Did she have Ebola? Could someone treat her?
THE AMERICAS
Clashes Erupt Over Missing Mexican Students
(New York Times) A day of mostly peaceful antigovernment mass marches on Thursday to protest the disappearance, and presumed murders, of 43 college students ended with clashes with the police who tried to prevent some demonstrators from damaging the National Palace in the city center.
Mexico President Peña Nieto Issues Updated Declaration of Assets
(Wall Street Journal) Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto issued an updated declaration of his personal assets late Wednesday that critics say does little to dispel rising scrutiny over his family's wealth and allegations of conflicts of interest.
Colombia rebels to free general, opening door to resume peace talks
(Reuters) Colombian Marxist rebels agreed to release an army general captured by their comrades over the weekend, a move that may lead to a resumption of peace talks and defuse a crisis that threatened to extend five decades of war.
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
A Failure of Leadership
(Combat Cav Scout) Ladies and gentlemen, I have come to a sad conclusion: as an Army, we have lost the art of leadership.
Futurists in Foxholes: Fear-Driven A-10 Opponents Hunker Down, Avoid Debate
(John Q Public) I wrote an article recently in response to a peculiarly toothless and inept essay insisting that the only argument for retaining the A-10 Warthog was rooted in how much people love airplanes and hate to see them go. To debunk that "theory" I did my best to provide an exhaustive analysis rich with fact, logic, and precedent, building on a capability-focused essay favoring retention of the A-10 that I'd written not long before.
We Love the Pentagon's 'Encyclopedia of Ethical Failure'
(Matthew Gault in War is Boring) Ethically, it's been a rough couple of years for the military.
Winning Battles, Losing Wars
(Retired Army Lt. Gen. James M. Dubik in ARMY Magazine) As much as we may not want to admit it, in this sense, our current war against al Qaeda and their ilk resembles that of Vietnam. In fighting our post-9/11 wars, we have won nearly every battle but are far from winning the war. How can this be? The answer lies largely in the civil-military nexus that underpins how America wages war. - See more at: http://armymagazine.org/2014/11/18/winning-battles-losing-wars/#sthash.gRM55J3t.nuZW0e7e.dpuf
Why ISIS is spreading across Muslim world
(Peter Bergen and Emily Schneider in CNN) In the many media stories about the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, much of the focus has rightly been on the thousands of foreign fighters ISIS has attracted, its brutal tactics and its robust social media presence.
Special Warfare: The Missing Middle in U.S. Coercive Options
(Dan Madden, Dick Hoffmann, Michael Johnson, Fred T. Krawchuk, John E. Peters, Linda Robinson and Abby Doll in War on the Rocks) In the face of adversaries exploiting regional social divisions by using special operations forces and intelligence services, and dwindling American appetite for intervention, the United States needs to employ a more sophisticated form of special warfare to secure its interests.
Why We Lost' offers few answers on Iraq and Afghanistan
(Jeff Schogol in Military Times) "Why We Lost," a new book that promises to answer the question as it applies to America's newest wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is full of contradictions that make it maddeningly hard to follow at times.
Time for the Exceptional Superpower To Act Like It
(Robin Shepherd in Defense One) Absence, it appears, does not make the heart grow fonder, nor the world a safer place for peace, stability and democracy. Americans on both sides of the aisle may be forgiven for feeling more than a little aggrieved that having been widely and soundly excoriated for showing too much leadership for most of the two decades after the end of the Cold War, they are now faulted for showing too little.
The Cold War Offset Strategy: Assault Breaker and the Beginning of the RSTA Revolution
(Robert Tomes in War on the Rocks) "We had a serious problem," recalled Frank Kendall, now the Defense Department's point man on acquisition. He returned to government in 2010 and was vexed by intelligence reports detailing foreign military developments.
Flight MH17: Will Russia Get Away With It?
(Amy Knight in The New York Review of Books) Following the entry of more than 120 Russian military convoys into Ukraine last week, the US and its European allies appear to have reached a turning point in their response to the Ukrainian conflict. On Sunday, at the G20 summit in Brisbane, Australia, US President Barack Obama used his strongest words yet about Russian military involvement, openly acknowledging that the Russians are providing "major arms" to the rebels. And on Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel went further, rebuking Russia for destabilizing Ukraine and for putting "the whole of the European peaceful order into question." Yet even now the West is refraining from any actions against Russia beyond continuing the sanctions it already imposed months ago. According to Obama, "the sanctions that we have in place are biting plenty good." If that is the case, why is Russia continuing to escalate its military activities in Ukraine?
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