TODAY’S TOP 5
1. Top general to ask Obama to keep more troops in Afghanistan
(Los Angeles Times) he U.S. commander in Afghanistan is planning to go to the White House on Monday to argue for keeping about 10,000 troops in the country after this year, a subject that has exposed a fissure between some of President Obama's top advisors and the Pentagon.
2. Military brass, behaving badly: Files detail a spate of misconduct dogging armed forces
(Washington Post) The embarrassing episodes are described in previously undisclosed files of military investigations into personal misconduct by U.S. generals and admirals. Along with about two dozen other cases obtained by The Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act, the investigations add to a litany of revelations about misbehaving brass that have dogged the Pentagon over the past 15 months and tarnished the reputation of U.S. military leadership.
3. How to lose great leaders? Ask the Army
(Tim Kane in the Washington Post) The Army has bled talent for decades, a consequence of a deeply dysfunctional organization that poorly matches jobs with talent and doesn’t trust its officers to make choices about their own careers.
4. A job nobody applies for - military caregiver
(San Diego Union-Tribune) With more than half of U.S. troops married, the hard work of dealing with war injuries – both missing limbs and emotional scars – is falling to spouses and family members who are increasingly identifying themselves as “military caregivers.”
5. Obama signs off on nomination of Rogers as NSA director
(Washington Post) President Obama has signed off on the nomination of Vice Adm. Michael S. Rogers to lead the embattled National Security Agency and the Pentagon’s cyberwarfare organization, according to sources familiar with the decision.
AFRICA
Somali Militant Killed in Missile Attack
(Associated Press) A member of Somali rebel group al-Shabab was killed Sunday by a missile fired by a suspected drone, a rebel commander said, blaming the U.S. for the strike.
Inside Africa ops
(Army Times) Behind the scenes, hundreds of U.S. soldiers are launching counter efforts. Mostly, it’s indirect support — training foreign armies, for example. But other times, it’s kinetic, covert ops.
French Defense Minister: US 'Indispensable' Ally In Africa
(Defense News) The US military’s partnership with France in Africa is “indispensable” in the fight against extremist groups in the Sahel region, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Friday.
French minister warns of 'fragile' Libya
(The Hill) During a visit to the Pentagon Friday, the French defense minister warned that the U.S. and European allies need to do more to combat a growing terrorist threat in Libya.
Germany to bolster its presence in Africa
(Deutsche Welle) Germany has declared that it will not contribute combat troops to the planned EU mission in the Central African Republic. In addition to providing logistical support, it is mulling over an exchange deal with France.
INDUSTRY
Pentagon F-35 program says "laser-focused" on software issues
(Reuters) The Pentagon's F-35 program office on Friday said it was "laser-focused" on finishing development of the software needed for the U.S. Marine Corps to start using its Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jets from mid-2015.
Tactical Trainer Would Teach F-35 Pilots Decision-Making Skills
(National Defense Magazine) A new tactical trainer for fifth-generation aircraft would allow F-35 pilots to practice how to react in deadly situations that would be impossible to recreate in live exercises.
Turkey Likely To OK Indigenous Fighter Program
(Defense News) Turkey’s government, procurement and industry officials widely expect Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to approve an ambitious program to build the country’s first indigenous fighter aircraft, amid doubts that Ankara could afford to buy it alongside theF-35 joint strike fighter.
Raytheon to keep next-generation jammer contract -U.S. Navy
(Reuters) The U.S. Navy on Friday said it was sticking with Raytheon Co as prime contractor for next-generation radar-jamming technology seen valued at billions of dollars in coming years, despite a November ruling by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) that upheld a protest against the award.
Raytheon Secures Oman as New Customer for NASAMS
(Defense News) Oman has signed a $1.28 billion deal with Raytheon to purchase the US contractor’s National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) .
New System to Test Firing Air-to-Surface Missiles from Ground
(National Defense Magazine) Moog Inc. is scheduled in March to test whether its new system will allow users to launch Hellfire missiles from combat vehicles and boats in addition to being fired by helicopters and airplanes. That capability has been on the Army’s wish list for years, company officials said.
Training of Libyan Recruits May Spur Procurement Deals
(Defense News) More than 300 Libyan Army recruits have arrived in Italy for basic training, part of a program that seeks to provide the struggling Libyan government with a viable military force, but may also kick-start Tripoli’s stalled defense procurement program.
New at the top: Gen. William ‘Kip’ Ward, contracting firm’s president
(Washington Post) Retired Gen. William ‘Kip’ Ward, president of Alexandria-based Sentel, organized the U.S. Africa Command.
CONGRESS
A Three-Horse Race Emerges for HASC Gavel
(Defense News) The race for the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) gavel is underway, and sources see the panel’s vice chairman as the odds-on favorite despite an expected challenge from an up-and-coming rival.
Group Tries to Tie HASC Members, Republican Hawks to Tea Party
(Intercepts) A left-leaning political organization has concluded several House defense hawks voted with the far-right Tea Party on nearly 50 bills most of the time. Behold, “the Tea Party Scorecard.”
Democrat Dianne Feinstein proves an obstacle to Obama’s push for changes at spy agencies
(Washington Post) Twice in the past year, President Obama has set plans to get U.S. spy agencies out of secret missions that had come under harsh public scrutiny: killing militants with drone strikes and stockpiling the phone records of U.S. citizens.
DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
U.S. will be ready to rescue Americans from Sochi in the event of attack
(USA Today) Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told reporters Friday that the United States will be ready to remove Americans from Sochi in the event of a catastrophic terror attack at the upcoming Winter Olympics.
Pentagon says 'absolutely no new orders have been placed' for BlackBerry phones
(The Verge) Did the Pentagon really purchase 80,000 new BlackBerry smartphones? The answer is no. The agency is merely using phones that it already had in its possession.
Operational Funds Could Play Bigger Role in Network Modernization
(National Defense Magazine) The Defense Department is making progress in modernizing its network infrastructure, but most information technology funding still goes toward maintaining current systems.
ARMY
Delta Force commando saved ‘numerous lives’ in Benghazi siege
(Washington Times) An Army Delta Force commando who infiltrated Benghazi to rescue U.S. diplomats, spies and security officers during a 2012 terrorist attack “was critical to the success of saving numerous lives,” according to a citation awarding him the military’s second-highest honor.
Platoons learning to deal with enemy, faltering equipment
(The News Tribune; Tacoma, Wash.) Lt. Tyler Tessman awoke in the desert one day this week with two problems.
Army's Army give children of fallen troops a day to play
(Fayetteville Observer) Joann Yost-Rodeffer's son, A.J., was only 2 years old when his father was killed in Iraq. Eight years later, A.J., now 10, is just beginning to grieve over the loss of his father, and his mother is having to grieve all over again with her son.
Soldier held without bond on attempted murder charge
(Northwest Florida Daily News; Fort Walton Beach, Fla.) Okaloosa County Circuit Judge Michael Flowers ruled Friday afternoon that Army Special Forces soldier Vaughn Pottle will remain in jail until his trial on attempted murder charges.
NAVY
Carrier Cut Could Be Back on Table
(Defense News) The reality of finalizing the fiscal 2015 budget submission is driving top US defense officials and the White House to quickly make major decisions, and indications are growing that the elimination of one carrier and one carrier air wing could be among the defense request’s key features.
Naval Academy superintendent defends prosecution of assault case
(Baltimore Sun) The superintendent of the Naval Academy told a military judge Friday that his decision to prosecute a midshipman in a high-profile sexual assault case was not influenced by politicians, public pressure or his military supervisors.
USNA adds nuke engineering major, rotorcraft specialty
(Navy Times) Naval Academy midshipmen will soon have the chance to specialize in nuclear engineering or helicopter design — moves that will help them better prepare for the fleet.
Colorado couple shares son's Navy SEAL life story
(Colorado Springs Gazette) Two Front Range Gold Star parents are hoping that a new book about their son, a fallen Navy SEAL, inspires others to greatness.
Sailor's Ashes Return Home to Family (with video)
(KTVN; Reno, Nevada) The community continues to grieve the loss of a sailor from Truckee. 25-year old Petty Officer, Third Class Brian Collins was one of five killed after a helicopter crash off the Virginia beach coast back on January 8th.
AIR FORCE
Global Hawk Wins in 2015 Request, Sources Say
(Defense News) The Global Hawk UAV looks to be a big winner in the US Air Force’s fiscal 2015 budget submission, an impressive turn of events for a program the service has spent years attempting to kill.
New Air Force secretary sworn in; charged with restoring confidence in nuclear mission
(Air Force Times) Deborah James was publicly sworn in Friday as the 23rd Secretary of the Air Force against the backdrop of missteps in the nuclear missile community that prompted her three-day tour of bases earlier this week.
Hagel suggests nuclear proficiency tests may be too difficult
(Stars and Stripes) Proficiency tests for nuclear launch officers might be too difficult, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said Friday.
Bat colony found at Lackland dorm
(San Antonio Express-News) The Air Force said Sunday a small bat colony has been discovered in an aging dormitory complex that is home to around 900 recruits in basic training.
MARINE CORPS
Experts: Marine Corps looking strong ahead of QDR
(Marine Corps Times) With the long-anticipated Quadrennial Defense Review likely to be published in February, defense experts say to expect few surprises in the document, but marked support for the Marine Corps’ equipment needs, its post-Afghanistan mission, and its stated minimum end-strength goal of 174,000 troops.
Marine reservists the latest left on the hook for 'erroneous payments'
(Stars and Stripes) For two years, Marine Corps Reservist Lt. Col. Rollin Jackson served on active duty in California, some 2,000 miles from his Missouri home.
In the wake of the deadly training accident at Hawthorne, one question remains unanswered - why?
A command investigation's findings leave more questions unanswered, about the sequence of events that night and about the firings of two Marine officers and a seasoned warrant officer in the wake of the tragedy. For the families grieving the loss of a son or a brother, it’s likely that some doubts will always remain.
Grand jury for Marine shooting case postponed
(Island Packet; Bluffton, S.C.) A grand jury hearing for five people charged in a Nov. 23 attempted robbery that left a Marine dead of a gunshot wound was postponed Thursday until Feb. 20, according to a spokesman for the 14th Circuit Solicitor's Office.
Marine for all seasons
(The Hutchinson News; Hutchinson, Kan.) The Marine veteran from Lovettsville, Va., is not bashful about his double amputation. He is riding across the country to raise awareness and $1 million to help others in his predicament.
VETERANS
Vets exposed to cadaver parts from contaminated lab
(Virginian-Pilot; Norfolk, Va.) The Department of Veterans Affairs ordered $241 million of cadaver tissue and other material derived from human and animal bodies in the last three years, some of it from vendors warned by federal regulators about contamination in their supply chain.
In State of the Union, military often takes a back seat
(Stars and Stripes) Military watchers are hoping the president’s State of the Union speech Tuesday will feature lengthy passages about the war in Afghanistan, the recent reductions in military retirement pay or the veterans claims backlog. If history is any indication, they’ll be disappointed.
WWII vet exposed to radiation in Hiroshima wins VA fight
(San Francisco Chronicle) John Brenan rolled his Jeep into freshly bombed Hiroshima in 1945 on a reconnaissance mission to see if there was any enemy left to fight. The only enemy the Army sergeant found in the miles of rubble pulverized by America's atomic attack was the one he couldn't see - radiation.
Retired colonel homeless after 30 years in military
(Air Force Times) Robert Freniere’s situation is complex, and contributing to his homelessness are family issues, financial obligations and other unique circumstances.
Records belie Pike County vet's claims
(Pocono Record; Stroudsburg, Pa.)Newly obtained records tell a story profoundly different than the one supporters of Pike County Army veteran Timothy Flaherty have told about how he was injured in Afghanistan. Now Pike County District Attorney Ray Tonkin is asking Judge Joseph Kameen to require Flaherty to return to prison and complete the sentence Kameen imposed on him nearly a year ago for drunken driving.
AFGHANISTAN
False Claims in Afghan Accusations on U.S. Raid Add to Doubts on Karzai
(New York Times) It was the kind of dossier that the Taliban often publish, purporting to show the carnage inflicted during a raid by American forces: photographs of shattered houses and bloodied, broken bodies, and video images of anguish at a village funeral, all with gut-churning impact and no proof of authenticity.
Karzai links US-Afghan deal to Taliban talks
(Al Jazeera) President Hamid Karzai appears to have hardended his stand against signing a security pact with the US, saying American troops should leave Afghanistan unless it could restart peace talks with the Taliban.
Afghanistan Exit Is Seen as Peril to Drone Mission
(New York Times) The risk that President Obama may be forced to pull all American troops out of Afghanistan by the end of the year has set off concerns inside the American intelligence agencies that they could lose their air bases used for drone strikes against Al Qaeda in Pakistan and for responding to a nuclear crisis in the region.
Afghanistan: Will the Taliban take over again? (with video)
(BBC) The BBC's world affairs editor John Simpson visited Kabul, a city he knows well, to discover what shape Afghan government forces are in and whether the Taliban could take over after UK and American troops leave.
Suicide bomber hits military bus in Afghan capital, killing 4
(Los Angeles Times) Extending a spate of bloodshed in the Afghan capital, a suicide bomber attacked a military bus Sunday morning, killing two soldiers and two civilians and injuring 20, officials said.
IRAQ
Iraqi airstrikes, artillery target militants in Fallujah; at least 7 dead in city
(Washington Post) Iraqi government forces battling al-Qaeda-linked militants intensified airstrikes and artillery fire on the rebel-held city of Fallujah on Sunday, and at least seven people were killed there, according to hospital officials and tribal leaders.
Iraq’s imagined conflicts
(Al-Monitor) Besides the real causes behind the disputes in Iraq, there are a great number of conflicts revolving around figments of the imagination in the collective mindsets of the country's sects. These illusions have a great impact on the ground and feed the conflict, adding fuel to the fire of the hell taking place in Iraq.
Kurdish Independence from Iraq in Five Years, KRG Advisor Says
(Rudaw) Within five years the autonomous Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq will have declared independence, according to a senior energy advisor at the Kurdistan Regional Government.
MIDDLE EAST
U.S. coming under fire from Mideast allies, who see retrenchment
(Los Angeles Times) Five years after President Obama vowed to expand U.S. relations with the Arab world and the broader Middle East, his administration is under fire from allies worried that the United States is scaling back its historic role as a power broker and peacemaker despite growing turmoil across the region.
Israelis Rally Against US Plan For Strategic Jordan Valley
(Defense News) As US Secretary of State John Kerry finalizes proposals for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, rifts remain as vast as this strategic valley west of the Jordan River that much of the international community wants Israel to give up.
The Franchising of Al Qaeda
(New York Times) The letter bore the corporate tone of a C.E.O. resolving a turf dispute between two middle managers. In formal prose and numbered lists, Ayman al-Zawahri, the leader of Al Qaeda, directed one of the group’s affiliates in Syria to withdraw to Iraq and leave operations in Syria to someone else.
Aberdeen scientists to destroy Syria's chemical weapons
(Baltimore Sun) A team of civilian specialists from Aberdeen Proving Ground is headed to the Mediterranean Sea for what is being called a historic mission to destroy Syria's chemical warfare stockpile — an effort that could serve as a model in the drive to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction.
Lebanon-based militant pledges allegiance to ISIS
(The Daily Star, Lebanon) A Lebanon-based Sunni militant with reported links to Al-Qaeda pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria in an audio recording released late Saturday, urging the radical Syrian rebel group to "reactivate its cells" in the country.
Ansar Jerusalem claims SAM attack as 3 soldiers killed in Sinai bus ambush
(Long War Journal) In a statement released to jihadist forums on Jan. 25, the Sinai-based jihadist group Ansar Jerusalem (Ansar Bayt al Maqdis) said its fighters fired a surface-to-air missile (SAM) at an Egyptian helicopter operating in North Sinai. Hours before Ansar Jerusalem released its statement, Egypt's army spokesman had confirmed on his official Facebook page that an army helicopter operating in North Sinai had crashed around noon.
ASIA-PACIFIC
Future of the Army in Asia: Less War, More Diplomacy
(National Defense Magazine) A new study by an influential think tank suggests the Army will have a role in Asia, but mostly a peaceful one, at least through the next decade.
Experts Wary Over News of China's 2nd Carrier
(Defense News) Experts on China’s Navy are sounding cautionary tones after news surfaced last week that China is reportedly constructing a second aircraft carrier.
Why China and the Philippines are Battling Over Rocks, Reefs
(Wall Street Journal) The Philippines cried foul this week when China announced plans to begin regular patrols of the South China Sea, known here as the West Philippines Sea. The two countries have been engaged in a tense dispute over the region since 2012, when Chinese ships took control of Scarborough Shoal, which is just one of the areas Beijing and Manila contest.
Philippines, Rebels See Final Peace Deal In Weeks
(Defense News) he Philippine government and the country’s main Muslim rebel group said Sunday they hoped to sign within weeks a final peace deal to end decades of deadly insurgency after clearing the last hurdle in 18 years of negotiations.
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
Career advice from a 42-year veteran
(Retired Senior Chief Petty Officer Don Gore in Navy Times) I recently retired from the Navy after more than 42 years of service on active duty and in the Reserve. I joined at my earliest opportunity, age 17. I served in Vietnam and provided leadership throughout the Cold War, operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan. I instilled leadership and a sense of discipline to sailors deployed in various corners of the world.
Failure to Learn: Reflections on a Career in the Post-Vietnam Army
(David Johnson in War on the Rocks) The legacy and future of American counterinsurgency remains perhaps the most contentious issue in contemporary military affairs. Many punches have been thrown in this raucous debate in key online publications, most notably Small Wars Journal, the late Abu Muqawama, and here at War on the Rocks. WOTR’s Mark Stout caused quite a stir with his article on “Why the Counterinsurgency Debate Must Go On.” Critics focused their fire and ire on his caution that the Army must not do what it did after the Philippine Insurrection and the Vietnam War, when it “consciously decided to forget. It locked the records away and pretended that nothing had ever happened.
Karzai's Great Game Gamble
(Gawdat Bahgat and Bob Sharp in Small Wars Journal) Peter Hopkirk’s famous book: “The Great Game,” building on Rudyard Kiplings Great Game concept in his novel “Kim”, charts the imperial wrestling match for power in Central Asia, the graveyard battlefield of Empires that is Afghanistan, and access to riches in India and the East. The players back then were England and Russia. If the struggle continues, as many say it does, do the players today seek the same gains as before or is there a new prize? What is the impact of Afghan President Karzai’s resistance in signing the Bi-Lateral Security Agreement (BSA) with the US? What is Karzai’s Great Game Gamble?
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