| November 18, 2014 |
THE EARLY BIRD BRIEF |
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TODAY'S TOP 5
1. 31 women chosen for Ranger Course assessment
(Army Times) More than 30 women have been selected for a potential Ranger Course Assessment next spring, Fort Benning announced.
2. Exclusive: Obama Orders Hostage Policy Review
(The Daily Beast) President Obama has ordered a top-to-bottom review of how the U.S. government tries to win the release of Americans held hostage by terrorist groups overseas, The Daily Beast has learned. The review, which will include a specific emphasis on how the U.S. treats hostages' family members, follows criticism that current hostage-negotiation operations are plagued by bureaucratic infighting and a lack of leadership, particularly by the White House.
3. Defeating ISIS
(Max Boot in the Council on Foreign Relations) If the president is serious about dealing with ISIS, he will need to increase America's commitment in a measured way-to do more than what Washington is currently doing but substantially less than what it did in Iraq and Afghanistan in the past decade.
4. Oxygen therapy no better than placebo for treating concussion, study finds
(Military Times) New research finds that oxygen therapy, administered in the same type of pressurized chamber used to treat scuba divers for decompression sickness, works no better than compressed air for treating troops with lingering symptoms of concussion.
5. Sequestration Could Hamper Joint Light Tactical Vehicle
(National Defense) The Army and Marine Corps joint light tactical vehicle program is on schedule, but if sequestration returns in 2016, it will likely decrease the services' purchasing power, said the joint program office manager.
CONGRESS
House GOP Approps Chair Lobbies for Omnibus, Warns Against Govt. Shutdown
(Defense News) US House Republicans' top appropriator has a message for any member who might favor a government shutdown next month: The American people "want action."
Missing debate on defense bill frustrates advocates
(Military Times) In this do-nothing Congress, even work that might get done will be incomplete.
Congress Likely to Back War Chest to Fight ISIS
(DoDBuzz) Congress will likely pass the White House's separate war-funding request to battle Islamic militants in Iraq and Syria despite some lawmakers' concerns over strategy, an analyst said.
AIA's Blakey Pleads With Congressional Leaders for Full 2015 Defense Bill
(Defense News) The head of the most powerful defense lobbying group is pressing Republican and Democratic congressional leaders to resist passing another short-term emergency funding bill.
ISLAMIC STATE
Ranger-turned-aid worker's 'entire life was about helping others'
(Military Times) Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel offered condolences to the family of the Army Ranger-turned-aid worker who was beheaded by Islamic extremists and said the tragedy should renew the nation's focus on defeating the Islamic State.
Pentagon and Hill Officials Say They're Still in the Dark On Obama's New War Powers
(Defense One) President Barack Obama said drafting new war powers for the fight against the Islamic State is one of his top priorities for working with Congress before the fast-approaching end of the year.
Agreement reached for US to train Syrian rebels in Turkey
(Stars & Stripes) The United States will train fighters from the Syrian moderate opposition in Turkey, the Department of Defense said Monday.
CIA intelligence gap hinders counter-terrorism efforts in Syria, Iraq
(Los Angeles Times) In mid-September, as the U.S. military prepared to launch cruise missiles against Islamic State militants in Syria for the first time, CIA analysts lobbied to expand the target list to include eight possible locations for leaders of a band of battle-hardened Al Qaeda operatives moving between towns west of Aleppo.
Government, Industry Countering Islamic State's Social Media Campaign
(National Defense) The U.S. government, along with industry partners, is working to stymie the Islamic State's burgeoning social media campaign, which experts say is widespread and highly advanced for a terror organization.
Syrian Defectors Watch Civil War From the Sidelines
(Wall Street Journal) When Syrian Col. Malik al-Kurdi fled to Turkey early in the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad, he joined an exodus of officers expecting to be equipped by the U.S. and sent back to fight the Assad regime.
Eight Men, and One Gun, on the Iraqi Front
(The New Yorker) After fighting in two wars with no front lines, in Iraq and Afghanistan, I wanted to see one, so I drove for several days from Gaziantep, a city in southern Turkey, to Makmour, a town just outside Erbil, in northern Iraq. After some coördination with the Kurdistan Regional Government's Ministry of Peshmerga, I arranged an audience with Staff Colonel Salim Surche.
INDUSTRY
US Army, Navy Advance Multi-Year Sikorsky Deals Worth $1.3 Billion
(Defense News) The US Army and Navy will go ahead with plans to buy 102 helicopters from Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., for $1.3 billion in fiscal 2015, according to Defense Department contract announcements released Monday.
US looking to replace re-manufactured MH-47Gs with newbuild helos
(IHS Jane's 360) The US Army is looking at options for replacing its remanufactured Boeing MH-47G special-mission Chinook helicopters with newbuild platforms.
S. Korea Moving Closer To Lockheed F-16 Deal
(Defense News) South Korean officials are expected to approve a plan this week paving the way for Lockheed Martin to take over its F-16 upgrade program.
Elbit wins radio contract in Canada
(C4ISR & Networks) Firm will provide Satellite-on-the-Move
RAF Takes Delivery of First A400M Atlas
(Defense News) The Royal Air Force has officially taken delivery of its first Airbus A400M Atlas airlifter with the aircraft landing at the Brize Norton airbase Monday
Israel may halve second order of F-35 fighters: minister
(Reuters) Israel may soon order 10 to 15 U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets, around half the number previously mentioned by defence sources in both countries, an Israeli cabinet minister said on Monday.
UAV-Killing Iron Dome Eyed as Cheaper Option to Patriot
(Defense News) Israel has a generational commitment to its Patriot force, cemented by growing interoperability with sister systems from US European Command and significant support elements for US batteries stocked here and available to Israel in time of need.
ASPI says Australian F-35B purchase wouldn't make sense
(IHS Jane's 360) Acquiring Lockheed Martin Lightning II F-35B short take-off vertical landing (STOVL) fighters to operate from the Royal Australian Navy's (RAN's) two 27,800-tonne Canberra class landing helicopter dock (LHD) amphibious ships would not be justified, a leading think-tank has concluded.
VETERANS
Veterans claim contractor in charge of burn pits is responsible for lung illnesses
(PBS Newshour) Throughout the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, all kinds of things -- batteries, paint, plastic, electronics, even whole vehicles -- were disposed of in so-called "burn pits" by the U.S. military. Some veterans have filed a class action lawsuit against a defense contractor claiming toxic smoke from burning waste caused lung disease and cancer. Hari Sreenivasan and NewsHour producer Dan Sagalyn report.
98-year-old Scotia vet dons uniform one last time
(Daily Gazette; Schenectady N.Y.) World War II Veteran Justus Belfield gave his final salute on Veterans Day.
More veterans press VA to recognize medical marijuana as treatment option
(Washington Post) Every morning, former Air Force senior airman Amy Rising makes breakfast for her second-grader, drives him to school and returns home to prepare what she calls her medicine.
Veterans lash out at Memphis VA during town hall meeting
(WREG-TV; Memphis, Tenn.) Emotions boiled over Monday as area veterans spoke out about problems at the Memphis VA Medical Center.
DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
Hagel urges more base closures, troop benefit cuts
(The Hill) Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is calling on lawmakers to approve a new round of military base closures and limit troop benefits to give the Pentagon flexibility to address its budget woes.
Military Training Dilemma: To Outsource or Not?
(National Defense) In the United States, there has been less enthusiasm for privatized training, partly because the Pentagon has had plenty of money to build and operate its own facilities. But that could change as military budgets shrink and officials rethink spending priorities.
In Ebola quarantine at Langley, boredom is enemy
(Virginian-Pilot) Concern that some troops could come down with Ebola is not high on the list of issues occupying the commanding officer in charge of housing 90 service members who returned this week from an Ebola relief mission in Africa.
Hagel defends Ebola mission in Fort Campbell visit
(Military Times) Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel offered a forceful defense of the military mission in West Africa on Monday, saying the first-of-its-kind operation to help contain the Ebola virus is vital to America's national interest.
SOCOM wants to proble mobile devices
(C4ISR & Networks) RFI seeks technologies to extract
ARMY
Update: Colonel's alleged lover testifies at Article 32
(Army Times) After almost seven hours of testimony Monday, the Article 32 hearing for a senior Army National Guard officer charged with knowingly exposing a woman to HIV by having unprotected sex will continue into Tuesday.
Army Takes Stock of Its Domestic Chem-Bio-Nuclear Response Capabilities
(National Defense) More than a decade after the Army reluctantly took on the responsibility for responding to domestic chemical, biological and nuclear attacks or accidents, it has built a force of more than 18,000 dedicated personnel.
Most wanted': Army to roll out list of fugitives
(Army Times) The Army's bad-guy list will go public by the end of the year.
Fort Carson soldier relearned to walk after losing leg in Afghanistan
(Colorado Springs Gazette) Capt. Michael Caspers will leave the Army one day, but he says he will do it on his terms and not before.
NAVY
Surface Ships Need More Offensive Punch, Outlook
(Defense News) Commanders of Aegis-equipped cruisers and destroyers long have been confident in their ability to detect, engage and destroy incoming enemy missiles, often employing a layered strategy to hit threats at long, medium and short ranges. That's key to one of their prime missions, protecting an aircraft carrier from enemy attack.
Crowd waiting on shore when USS Philippine Sea returns to Mayport
(Florida Times Union) Ally Veneziale's husband had been at sea for most of the couple's first year of marriage.
USS Houston Dive Report Finalized
(USNI News) The U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command has finalized its report on the wreck of USS Houston (CA-30) - a cruiser sunk by the Imperial Japanese Navy in an early World War II battle off the coat of Indonesia.
AIR FORCE
AF creates teams to address nuclear infrastructure problems
(Air Force Times) Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, has a new maintenance team with the specific mission of quickly fixing problems in the base's aging missile control centers, a long-standing concern.
Air Force working to open last 7 jobs to women
(Associated Press) The Air Force's top boss said Monday she hopes to make all jobs in the service open to qualified women in the next year and a half.
Predator, Reaper Crew Training at All Time High As Demand Continues
(National Defense) Inside what looks like a small shipping container, in a tiny space crammed with rows of electronics and stacks of video displays, a pilot practices flying the MQ-9 Reaper with an instructor hovering behind.
Ex-general says Alaska governor should have let leadership clean up National Guard
(Alaska Dispatch) The first woman general to serve in the Alaska National Guard says Gov. Sean Parnell should have allowed the guard's leaders to continue their cleanup of the organization instead of firing them.
Italian under house arrest after trying to enter Aviano Air Base
(Stars & Stripes) A 20-year-old Italian man is under house arrest after assaulting an Italian police officer while trying to talk his way onto this U.S. base last week.
MARINE CORPS
Lawyer: Cop should be punished for punching Marine
(Marine Corps Times) The lawyer representing a California-based Marine charged with a felony after a physical confrontation with cops is calling foul against the San Diego Police Department
Transparency clouds Osprey acceptance
(Yomiuri Shimbun; Japan) In the morning of Nov. 8, an MV-22 Osprey transport aircraft appeared in the sky over Oshima, an island just off the coast of Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture. The Osprey from the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture was taking part in the Michinoku Alert 2014 drill, an exercise designed to help practice the response needed should the island become cut off due to a massive earthquake. After the Osprey dropped off water and blankets, two people playing the roles of patients seriously injured in an ensuing tsunami were loaded onto the aircraft and transported to a Ground Self-Defense Force facility in Sendai.
Don't call me 'POG': The push to end the Corps' most damaging divide
(Marine Corps Times) Gunnery Sgt. Hector Vicente has 20 years of Marine Corps experiences under his belt, but what he heard one morning from his junior Marines made him wonder how well he knew the Corps.
No Man Left Behind' sculpture unveiled at Camp Pendleton
(Los Angeles Times) In November 2004, embedded photographer Lucian Read captured one of the most memorable battlefield images of the U.S. war in Iraq.
The bloody battle of Khe Sanh: 77 days under siege
(Stars & Stripes) Marine Cpl. Steve Wiese watched in horror from a shell crater as several North Vietnamese Army regulars walked toward him, callously executing his wounded brothers in arms.
COAST GUARD
Coast Guard Information Technology, Sensor Needs Go Unfilled
(National Defense) The Coast Guard is operating ships with obsolete command, control, computer and communications systems, the Department of Homeland Security inspector general said.
US Coast Guard receives first C-27J aircraft
(IHS Jane's 360) The US Coast Guard (USCG) has received the first of 14 Alenia Aermacchi C-27J Spartan transport aircraft to be transferred from the US Air Force (USAF), it was announced on 14 November.
Coast Guard, NOAA Testing Drones in Arctic
(National Defense) The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association and the Coast Guard are teaming up in the Arctic to test new unmanned aerial system applications.
AFGHANISTAN/PAKISTAN
U.S. commander weighs decisions that will shape Afghan war's final chapter
(Washington Post) The United States is planning to base about 1,000 security personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul after the formal end of the military mission in Afghanistan and may retain the ability to use attack planes to support local forces until then, according to the top American commander in the country.
Suicide Attack in Afghan Capital Kills 2
(New York Times) A suicide attack targeted a base for foreign contract workers in Kabul on Tuesday morning, killing at least two security guards, the authorities said.
Insurgents in Afghanistan's Laghman province may win by not losing
(Stars & Stripes) The howitzer belched flame and a rolling rumble followed the supersonic round as it crossed low over the valley where police forces were battling a handful of insurgents. Then it slammed into a bare mountainside.
MIDDLE EAST
Four Killed in Jerusalem Synagogue Complex
(New York Times) Two assailants armed with a gun, knives and axes stormed a synagogue complex in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of West Jerusalem on Tuesday morning, killing at least four worshipers during morning prayers, according to the police. The attack was one of the deadliest in the city in the past several years.
Political infighting fuels rumors of early elections in Israel
(Washington Post) It's been less than two years since the Israeli government, a coalition of centrist and right-wing parties, was sworn into office. But for the past few weeks, talk of the country heading once again to the polls has filled the air - and the airwaves.
Two U.S. Islamic Groups Called Terrorist by U.A.E.
(Bloomberg) The U.A.E. named the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based group known as CAIR, as well as the Muslim American Society, in a list that also included al-Qaeda and Islamic State.
EUROPE
EUCOM bars troops from wearing uniforms off base
(Stars & Stripes) U.S. European Command has ordered all troops serving on the continent to refrain from wearing uniforms off base except when they are commuting to work in their personal cars or on base buses.
EU Plan Offered To Simplify Battle Group Deployment
(Defense News) A group of European parliamentarians and officials are working on a novel way to cut through red tape and allow European Union forces to be more easily, and more quickly, deployed.
Eastern Ukraine Braces for 'Full-Scale War'
(The Daily Beast) Ukrainian soldiers are on edge and artillery barrages continue. With Russian troops and tanks crossing the border, how long can this 'ceasefire' hold?
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
Admiral Greenert Speaks: What Should the U.S. Navy's New Maritime Strategy Look Like?
(Janine Davidson and Sam Ehrlich in the Council on Foreign Relations) Admiral Jonathan W. Greenert, Chief of Naval Operations,visited the Brookings Institution earlier this month to discuss future Navy strategy. Greenert, who has held the position of CNO for three years, touched on issues pertaining to Asia and the Pacific, sequestration, U.S. Naval arms and technology developments, and strategy for Navy's assured access around the world. Greenert remained hopeful that the official Maritime Strategy would be decided by the end of this calendar year, and his remarks offered a preview as to what that strategy might include.
The Gray Line: The Very Model of a Postmodern Military
(Jason Fritz in War on the Rocks) When Kristine Potter's collection of photographs titled The Gray Line were posted to Buzzfeed last week, the military and veteran community generally greeted it with derision. The pictures were deemed weird or gay or effeminate or really just not that good. This reaction led Potter to ask Buzzfeed, successfully, to remove the photos from their site. The photos do remain on the website Women in Photography, and I suggest our readers visit it and reconsider them.
How Many Flying Hours Does It Take To Kill a Terrorist?
(Todd Harrison in Defense One) How many flying hours, steaming days or tank miles does it take to kill a terrorist?
Discrediting the Forrest Gump Argument for Killing the A-10
(Tony Carr in Real Clear Defense) I usually try to find something positive to say when an Air Force Colonel publicly opines on a matter of substance, a rarity in a service that prefers its officers remain intellectually compliant and carefully muzzled. But some thoughts are indeed better left unshared, as demonstrated by Robert Spalding's exceptionally lamentable Sunday article ("The A-10: America's Latest Must Save Aircraft")vilifying the A-10 as an impediment to life-saving innovation only achievable by a rapid fielding of the F-35. Perhaps Spalding should be commended for intellectual consistency, given that the balance of his argument is as inaccurate and dishonest as this bankrupt premise.
Offset 3.0, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Commercial Technology
(Adam Jay Harrison in War on the Rocks) America loves technology. As a nation, our cultural predilection for technical ingenuity has created the conditions for economic prosperity, scientific discovery, and military superiority. However, the worldwide proliferation of American free market ideas and liberalism (not to mention technology) has led to the emergence of an increasingly competitive global innovation landscape. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization, the U.S. represented just 26% of world total patents in 2012, down from 40% in 1999. During the same period, the number of patents filed in China increased by some 3,200 percent, growing to roughly 10% of world total patents today.
What the War Classics Teach Us about Fighting Terrorists
(Retired Army Col. Philip Lisagor in Cicero Magazine) Clausewitz has taken a beating in the War on Terror. His theories on warfare initially came about coincident with the development of the modern idea of the nation state. Clausewitz regarded war as being between nations. Asymmetric warfare between transnational entities, such as Al Qaeda, has not lent itself to this analysis. Sun Tzu has been the winner as he largely thinks about battles and tactics and is not devoted to strategy.
Is Obama Done Playing Footsie With Assad?
(Michael Tomasky in The Daily Beast) As we brace for Aleppo's fall, there are signs that the White House may realize it can't train an army while playing nice with its enemy.
Stop Fearing Iran and Back the Free Syrian Army
(Defense One) President Barack Obama rightly has proclaimed that strengthening Syrian opposition forces will form an important component of the wider campaign against the Islamic State. But the Defense Department's train and equip plan for the Syrian opposition falls far short from balancing the score card against ISIS, or ISIL, and its implementation timeline simply is not fast enough to deny ISIS and al-Qaeda key terrain in Syria.
As Putin keeps advancing, the U.S. keeps rationalizing
(Fred Hiatt in The Washington Post) If someone had told you last fall that Russia would soon invade a neighboring country, annex part of it and occupy another chunk, you might have been skeptical.
China's Stealth Fighter Could Get Much Better
(David Axe in Real Clear Defense) We don't know much about the FC-31, China's other stealth fighter prototype. But a non-flying model of the FC-31 that appeared at the Zhuhai air show in southern China in early November offers some compelling new clues.
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