TODAY’S TOP 5
1. U.S. and NATO Plan Afghanistan Force Small Enough for Quick Exit
(New York Times) American and NATO military planners, facing continued political uncertainty about whether foreign troops will remain in Afghanistan after December, have drawn up plans to deploy a force this summer that is tailored to assume a training mission in 2015 but is also small enough to withdraw if no deal for an enduring presence is reached, alliance officials said.
2. James: Air Force is addressing 'systemic' problem in nuclear force
(Air Force Times) Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said Wednesday the service will “get to the bottom” of a systemic problem in its nuclear force, where 14 percent of officers reportedly have been at least temporarily removed from active duty after allegations of cheating on a proficiency exam.
3. Dempsey’s Message on Women in Combat: Trust Transcends Gender
(Gen. Martin Dempsey in Defense One) In the days following September 11, 2001, women and men took to the seas, to the skies and to the sands in defense of our country. It’s worth noting that women served in combat zones in Afghanistan and Iraq because they were needed. They shared a common commitment to their nation with their male counterparts in squadrons, ships, and squads.
4. No Sign of Political Thaw After State of the Union
(Defense News) There were few signs Wednesday morning that President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address will thaw in the chill that has so stymied the legislative process here.
5. Bunker-Buster Bomb Upgrades Effective, Pentagon’s Tester Says
(Bloomberg) Upgrades that let the U.S. military’s most powerful precision-guided bomb hit more deeply buried targets have been successful, according to the Pentagon’s top weapons tester.
INDUSTRY
Boeing Profits Surge But Tougher 2014 Awaits
(Defense News) US aerospace giant Boeing Wednesday reported a big jump in quarterly earnings, but signaled a leaner 2014 profit outlook after last year’s boom.
Schumer Headlines Lockheed Rally For USAF Helicopter Program
(Intercepts) With the fate of the US Air Force’s Combat Rescue Helicopter (CRH) effort still hanging in the 2015 budget balance, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has emerged as one of the program’s most powerful champions.
Lockheed Martin to help develop Israeli cyber security companies
(IHS Jane's Defence Industry) Lockheed Martin and EMC Israel announced on 27 January that they would launch a new technology incubator organisation to help develop cyber security products in association with Israel's Ben Gurion University.
German Defense Producer and Industrial Plant Constructor Team Up
(Defense News) Rheinmetall of Düsseldorf and Ferrostaal of Essen have created a joint venture to plan and build industrial facilities. Each company holds 50 percent of Rheinmetall International Engineering.
Brazilian P-3AM upgrade to complete in 'coming months'
(IHS Jane's Defence Weekly) Airbus Defence and Space (DS) is to deliver back to the Brazilian Air Force (Força Aérea Brasileira) (FAB) "in the coming months" the last of nine Lockheed Martin P-3AM Orion maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) it has been upgrading, an official told IHS Jane's in late January.
CONGRESS
McCain: SOTU 'empty' on national security
(The Hill) Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Tuesday criticized President Obama for not fully addressing national security concerns with al Qaeda in his State of the Union address.
Packed hearing explores new accommodations for religious freedom
(Stars and Stripes) House legislators confronted Defense Department officials and chaplains in a heavily attended hearing Wednesday with the question of whether a new DOD policy to ensure religious freedom really does.
House spending panel shuffles members
(The Hill) The powerful House Appropriations Committee announced Wednesday that it has re-allocated membership in its subcommittees, bringing new faces and new priorities to crucial panels such as the one overseeing defense spending.
DNI Clapper Endorses Expedited Supreme Court Ruling on NSA Surveillance
(Defense News) Under questioning from a hard-nosed senator, America’s top intelligence official on Wednesday endorsed an expedited Supreme Court ruling on controversial NSA spying programs.
DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
UAE, Libya Request US Arms Purchases
(Defense News) The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DCSA) has notified Congress that it has approved key foreign military sales to the United Arab Emirates and Libya last week, bring the total worth of approvals to $7.1 billion.
Pentagon, GSA map out acquisition cybersecurity; tester finds issues remain
(Reuters) The U.S. Defense Department and General Services Administration on Wednesday mapped out six broad reforms to improve the cybersecurity of more than $500 billion in goods and services acquired by the U.S. federal government each year.
Life at NDU: Gen. Martin said to threaten to fire anyone who questions his plans
(Foreign Policy) Army Maj. Gen. Gregg Martin, the president of the National Defense University, announced -- not proposed -- to his senior subordinates last Friday a series of abrupt and sweeping changes in the structure of the institution. To top it off, by some accounts, he then threatened to terminate anyone who even questioned the changes.
Unresolved Budget Issues Continue to Cast Cloud Over Military Strategy
(National Defense Magazine) Unsettled matters such as the future size of U.S. military forces and funding levels beyond 2015 are putting major decisions on hold at the Defense Department. Among them are how to reorganize the armed forces under the “pivot to Asia” strategy and how to modernize the military for its post-Afghanistan future.
ARMY
Toxic general hires help to hide career blemishes
(Army Times) Retired Lt. Gen. Patrick O’Reilly has got a tarnished reputation as a toxic leader and bad boss, but maybe not for long.
Brigade to families: Don’t send porn, Nerf guns to troops
(Colorado Springs Gazette) Leaders Fort Carson’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team took to Facebook Wednesday with a plea to families to take more care with their care packages.
U.S. Army Aviation Plan Emphasizes Multirole Capability
(Aviation Week) With the ink still fresh on the Army's aviation restructuring, questions are already surfacing about the assumptions behind a proposal to retire the Bell OH-58D and TH-67 fleets in the next five years.
Sisters killed last week are laid to rest
(Killeen Daily Herald) eila and Zeinab Ezzeddine were beautiful, cheerful and girly, said their uncle, Jose Santisteban.
NAVY
4 senior enlisted counseled after 2013 chief-select PT fiasco
(Navy Times) Four Hawaii-based senior enlisted sailors were formally counseled in the wake of a grueling Aug. 30 physical training session that sent 12 chiefs-select at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, to the hospital for extreme exhaustion, according to a Navy investigation.
306-Ship Navy in the Balance in LCS Fight
(Roll Call) While the Littoral Combat Ship would fill three distinctive Navy needs — countering submarines, mines and fast small boats — it plays a far larger role for lawmakers and some Navy officials and experts that isn’t laid out in its military specifications.
Navy to Set Up Expeditionary Combat Headquarters in Guam
(Seapower) The Navy will stand up an operational staff in Guam in 2015 to command units of the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command in the U.S. Seventh Fleet area of operations.
Navy’s Laser Gun Nears Critical Test
(National Defense Magazine) A laser gun that looks like a telescope will go to sea later this year aboard a Navy warship. Over a 12-month trial deployment in potentially hostile waters, sailors will attempt to prove whether laser beams can serve as legitimate weapons against approaching small aircraft or high-speed boats.
John Glenn to attend ship christening
(San Diego Union-Tribune) John Glenn, the first American astronaut to orbit Earth, is scheduled to visit General Dynamics-NASSCO in San Diego on Saturday to attend the christening of a Navy logisitics ship that bears his name.
AIR FORCE
Exclusive: Nuke Cheating Scandal Puts Promotions for Air Force Brass on Ice
(Foregin Policy) The widening cheating scandal roiling the Air Force's nuclear force has put all of the promotions for its senior officers on hold, including at least one colonel who had been nominated to become a general officer, Foreign Policy has learned.
U.S. Air Force, Boeing confident tanker program still on schedule
(Reuters) U.S. Air Force and Boeing Co officials on Wednesday expressed confidence that a $52 billion air refueling program would deliver its first 18 planes by August 2017 as scheduled, despite a Pentagon report warning that testing of the new aircraft could be delayed by at least six to 12 months.
Little Rock AFB drops Christian marriage video from Wingman Day
(Air Force Times) Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., has dropped an evangelical Christian video series on marriage from a day of self-help activities after its religious components drew objections from some airmen stationed there.
Retired Air National Guard colonel subject of federal fraud probe
(Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) The Air Force has completed a financial fraud investigation into the conduct of a former top officer at the 171st Air Refueling Wing at Pittsburgh International Airport and turned over its results to the Justice Department.
Air Force Academy mourns captain killed in crash
(Colorado Springs Gazette) Three weeks after he died in a helicopter crash in England, Capt. Christopher Stover was brought home to the Air Force Academy.
MARINE CORPS
Marine claims court reps unfit
(San Diego Union-Tribune) Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III, the Camp Pendleton Marine being retried for the slaying of an Iraqi man at the height of the war, requested a new military defense team Wednesday on opening day of his latest general court-martial.
Former commandant: Fall of Fallujah makes U.S., Iraqi policy look 'weak'
(USA Today) As a three-star general, James Conway commanded Marines during the first battle of Fallujah in April 2004, when coalition forces first entered the city after a mob set upon and killed four American contractors.
US Rep. Dan Kildee talks with Obama about ex-Marine held in Iran
(Lansing State Journal) A Michigan congressman says he spoke briefly with President Barack Obama after the State of the Union address about an ex-Marine held in Iran on spying charges for more than two years.
US Activists Rally Against Okinawa Base Plan
(Defense News) Prominent US liberal activists on Wednesday pledged solidarity with Okinawa residents opposed to a US military base, despite efforts by Japan and the United States to finalize a relocation plan.
VETERANS
Corporate jobs initiative meets 100,000 vet hiring goal
(USA Today) A coalition of companies that vowed in 2011 to hired 100,000 veterans within a decade has made its goal seven years early, announcing today that 117,439 former service members have since been provided jobs.
Veterans’ groups disappointed in Obama on veteran benefits
(Washington Times) While President Obama talked about many initiatives to help veterans during his State of the Union address Tuesday night, veterans’ groups criticized him Wednesday for not demanding a full repeal of cuts to military retirement benefits.
Gastrointestinal backlog reported at second east Georgia VA hospital
(The Augusta Chronicle, Ga.) The Charlie Norwood Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Augusta isn’t the only hospital of its kind in east central Georgia to delay consultations for gastrointestinal patients.
AFGHANISTAN/PAKISTAN
Hagel hints at US impatience with Karzai
(Associated Press) Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel hinted Thursday at growing U.S. impatience with Afghan President Hamid Karzai for not signing an accord permitting American troops to remain in his country after the U.S. combat mission ends in December.
Report: U.S.-funded hospital in Afghanistan lacks clean water, basic equipment
(Stars and Stripes) More than half a million dollars in U.S. aid money went toward building a hospital in rural Afghanistan that lacks clean water and sufficient electricity and is failing to provide minimum health care for its patients, according to a report released Wednesday by an American government watchdog.
Report Says Afghanistan Can’t Be Trusted to Prevent Misuse of U.S. Aid
(New York Times) With billions of dollars in American aid increasingly flowing straight into Afghan government coffers, the United States hired two global auditing firms three years ago to determine whether Afghanistan could be trusted to safeguard the money.
Karzai ‘welcomed’ Obama’s comments on Afghanistan
(The Hill) Afghan President Hamid Karzai took a more upbeat tone toward the U.S. on Wednesday, saying he “welcomed” President Obama’s Afghanistan remarks in the State of the Union.
Hard-Line Taliban Leaders Exploit U.S.-Afghan Rift
(Wall Street Journal) A rift between Kabul and Washington has empowered hard-line Taliban commanders at the expense of a faction that pursued peace talks, further reducing the prospect of a negotiated settlement to the 12-year war.
Sharif Offers 'Last Chance' Talks to Pakistan's Taliban
(Wall Street Journal) Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif told parliament Wednesday that he would give Taliban militants "one last chance" to halt their spree of killings and bombings and join peace talks.
IRAQ
Iraqi army declares its control of Khalidiya
(Al Monitor) The Iraqi army has declared that it gained control over the Jazira area of Khalidiya, which is halfway between Fallujah and Ramadi in Anbar province. With this gain, the army has acquired a strategic point that al-Qaeda has been using for years to maintain its presence and movement in a complex area that extends from Anbar to Salahuddin and Mosul in the north, and to Baghdad and Diyala in the east.
Iraq militants take hostages at Baghdad building
(BBC) Militants have stormed a building in Baghdad next to the Iraqi ministry of human rights and taken a number of people hostage, officials say.
Arming Syrian rebels means supporting terrorism in Iraq: Al-Maliki
(Indo Asian News Service) Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki said Wednesday that providing arms to rebels in Syria would only mean sending weapons to terrorists in the country.
MIDDLE EAST
Exclusive: Syria ships out less than 5 percent of chemical arms
(Reuters) Syria has given up less than five percent of its chemical weapons arsenal and will miss next week's deadline to send all toxic agents abroad for destruction, sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
Clapper: Syria becoming ‘huge magnet’ for foreign terrorists
(The Hill) Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on Wednesday said that Syria has become a “huge magnet for extremists,” including a flood of foreign fighters.
Petraeus: Terrorists With Missiles Could Down Global Air Traffic
(Time) Just three days after extremists aligned with al-Qaeda posted a video of militants using a shoulder-fired missile to down an Egyptian military helicopter in the Sinai peninsula, some of the West’s most seasoned counter-terrorism officials gathered in Tel Aviv for an annual security conference. There was no shortage of topics—Iran’s nuclear ambitions and the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks featured prominently. But former CIA Director David Petraeus grew most animated laying out the implications of the Sinai strike.
Israel MoD Boss Blasts US Mideast Missteps
(Defense News) Two weeks after apologizing for a scathing attack on US Secretary of State John Kerry and the US-led Mideast peace drive, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon delivered a relatively temperate, yet no less critical assessment of US policy and its impact on the region.
Israeli general says al Qaeda's Syria fighters set up in Turkey
(Reuters) Some of the al Qaeda militants going to fight in Syria have bases in neighbouring Turkey and can easily access Europe from the NATO member state, Israel's military intelligence chief said on Wednesday.
Turkish troops fire on Al Qaeda-affiliated militants in Syria
(Los Angeles Times) Turkish troops opened fire this week on a convoy of Al Qaeda-linked militants across the border from Turkey in northern Syria, Turkish news media reported Wednesday.
ASIA-PACIFIC
Cavalry battalion arrives in Korea for 'plus-up' deployment
(Stars and Stripes) A U.S.-based cavalry battalion, complete with tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles, has arrived in South Korea for a nine-month rotational deployment.
N. Korea Warns Against War Games in Rare News Conference
(Voice of America) North Korea's ambassador to China warned South Korea and the United States Wednesday against upcoming joint military drills on the peninsula.
U.S. Intel Chief Confirms Growing North Korean Reactor Relaunch
(National Journal)North Korea appears to have restarted a Soviet-era plutonium production reactor, the top U.S. intelligence official told lawmakers on Wednesday.
Institute: North Korea Enlarging Site for Bigger Missiles
(Defense News) North Korea appears to be expanding its main launch site to permit more advanced missiles which may eventually be able to reach the United States, a think tank said Wednesday.
U.S. Dependence on Space Assets Could be a Liability in a Conflict with China
(US Naval Institute) Challenges the United States faces in space “are on a par with cyber,” the chairman of a key U.S. House panel said as witnesses described China’s advances in an area where “some vulnerabilities we just can’t escape”—acknowledging the two nations are now engaged in a “long-time competition” that cannot be firewalled from other domains.
Japan Navy Admits Losing Unmanned Submarine
(Defense News) Japan admitted Wednesday that its navy lost a $5 million unmanned submarine during a survey last year, with a nine-day search of the ocean floor yielding nothing.
AFRICA
Alleged S. Sudan coup plotters flown to Kenya
(Associated Press) Seven men detained for allegedly plotting a coup in South Sudan were flown to Kenya and granted political asylum, President Uhuru Kenyatta said Wednesday of a breakthrough expected to foster negotiations to end the South Sudan conflict that has killed thousands and driven 700,000 people from their homes.
French struggle to stop C. African Republic mobs
(Washington Post) The French patrol in two armored personnel carriers showed up just as the bystanders started pulling out their mobile phones to photograph what moments ago had been a human being.
Somali President: AMISOM Operations Against Al-Shabab to Begin Soon
(Voice of America) Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud says the Somali military and African Union peacekeepers will soon launch operations against al-Shabab in areas still under the militant group’s control. Hassan also welcomed the addition of Ethiopian troops into the AMISOM force.
EUROPE
U.S. Says Russia Tested Missile, Despite Treaty
(New York Times) The United States informed its NATO allies this month that Russia had tested a new ground-launched cruise missile, raising concerns about Moscow’s compliance with a landmark arms control accord.
NATO Transformation Chief: Without Good Training 'No Need' for New Platforms
(Defense News) The general in charge of NATO’s training and strategic planning recognizes the budgetary problems afflicting member states, but believes the organization must focus on training and interoperability to remain effective after the drawdown in Afghanistan, he said during a roundtable with reporters Wednesday.
Ukrainian President Takes Sick Leave Amid Crisis
(New York Times) Ukraine's embattled president Viktor Yanukovych is taking sick leave as the country's political crisis continues without signs of resolution.
Swiss To Vote in May on Gripen Fighter Deal
(Defense News) Switzerland’s plan to buy 22 fighter jets from Sweden will be put to the Swiss public in a referendum on May 18, the Alpine country’s government announced Wednesday.
German Leader Criticizes U.S. Over Pervasive Surveillance
(New York Times) Chancellor Angela Merkel took perhaps her sharpest swipe yet at pervasive American intelligence surveillance, saying on Wednesday that Washington had endangered its standing by violating the freedom of the individual, a value for which it is admired abroad.
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
Shooting the Pentagon in the Foot
(Mackenzie Eaglen in US News & World Report) Since the defense budget peaked in 2010, Congress has been quick to approve proposed cuts to the military's top line. But Congress has been just as swift to oppose specific proposals made once those vague budget cuts trickle down to become real-world, tangible consequences.
20YY: The Future of warfare
(Paul Scharre and Shawn Brimley in War on the Rocks) The U.S. military is at a critical juncture. With the end of two wars and a sharp drawdown in defense spending, investments over the next several years will set the military’s course for decades to come. The Pentagon can make smart investments now to prepare for the future, or it can continue to cling to “wasting assets,” legacy platforms and concepts that will be less and less survivable in a future of widely proliferated precision-guided weapons. Without a clear vision of what future force to build, however, bureaucratic inertia and existing programs of record will carry the day.
A Partnership Forged in Hell
(Ryan Neely and Kevin Lawhon in Small Wars Journal) This article recounts the success, failures, trials, and tribulations of one Engineer Company and the unique circumstances of the security force assistance mission they attempted, and ultimately succeeded in from March to September of 2013 in the Devil’s Elbow. Their lessons were hard learned and their approach was unconventional, but it had an enduring impact on the battle space. The cast of characters is too many to list; what is more important is what they collectively achieved and the lessons they learned.
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