TODAY’S TOP 5
1. Prosecutor's departure fuels debate over command influence in sexual assault cases
(Army Times) The stunning resignation of the military lawyer who was prosecuting an Army general on a charge of forcible sodomy is raising new questions about how commanders are handling sexual assault cases.
2. Military Compensation Savings About 10 Percent of Cuts
(Bloomberg) Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s proposed reductions in military compensation, such as housing allowances, amount to only about 10 percent of cuts being sought over the next five years, the No. 2 U.S. military official said.
3. Despite 'historic' cuts, the US will still have 450,000 active-duty soldiers
(Michael Cohen in The Guardian) "Hagel plans to shrink the United States Army to its smallest force since before World War II," blared the lede in yesterday's New York Times. The Defense Department "proposed cutting the Army to its smallest size in 74 years," said the Washington Post.
4. U.S. takes a step back in the drug wars
(Marine Corps Times) Tons more cocaine, heroin and other drugs are crossing the border into the United States each year because budget shortfalls have forced the military to scale back interdiction efforts, top generals told lawmakers on Feb. 26.
5. US General: Grim Afghan Future if no Security Pact
(Associated Press) Depicting a grim future for Afghanistan without U.S. help, the top U.S. military officer said Wednesday that Afghanistan's refusal to sign a security agreement with the United States may make the fight more difficult this year, embolden the enemy and prompt some Afghan security forces to cooperate with the Taliban to "hedge their bets."
INDUSTRY
James: USAF Expects Long-Range Bomber RFP in Fall
(Defense News) The Air Force intends to issue a request for proposal (RFP) on its new long-range strike bomber this fall, according to the service’s top civilian official.
Bogdan Warns Of Possible Six-Month F-35 Slip After Development Ends
(Aviation Week) F-35 activities planned to take place after the program’s development phase ends in 2016 could slip by up to six months, according to U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, program executive officer for the stealthy fighter.
Boeing Winding Up Tests on FAB-T Terminals; Air Force May Push Back Down Select
(National Defense Magazine) The Boeing Co. has nearly wrapped up all the tests for the long-awaited Family of Advanced Beyond Line of Sight Terminals (FAB-T) program, the company’s program manager said Feb. 26.
Ingalls Protesting US Coast Guard Cutter Contract
(Defense News) Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) is protesting the US Coast Guard’s Feb. 11 award of design contracts for the Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) program, reportedly citing questions about the grading criteria.
Poseidon enters into full-rate production
(IHS Jane's 360) The US Navy (USN) has awarded Boeing a USD2.4 billion contract to begin full-rate production of the P-8A Poseidon maritime multimission aircraft, the company announced on 25 February.
Hyperspectral UAV Sensor Slated for Flight Test
(C4ISR & Networks) Raytheon will flight-test a new U.S. Air Force hyperspectral sensor pod. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center intends to issue a sole-source contract to Raytheon for testing the Airborne Cueing and Exploitation System Hyperspectral (ACES HY) UAV sensor.
CONGRESS
McCain's 'Hold' on DoD Nominees Isn't Binding, Experts Say
(Defense News) US Sen. John McCain says he wants to block two nominees for high-level Pentagon jobs — but the Senate’s “maverick” is about to find out a hold isn’t what it used to be.
Exclusive: Congress Bars Families of Fallen SEALs From Testifying at Hearing About Their Deaths
(Foreign Policy) After more than two years of waiting, the families of service members killed in the United States' deadliest mission in Afghanistan will finally get to hear Defense Department personnel testify before Congress on Thursday about the operation and the questionable ways the remains of the troops were handled afterward. But before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing even begins, lawmakers on the panel are already taking fire for not allowing any members of those families to testify about their pain and lingering uncertainty about why their loved ones died.
Veterans groups to Senate GOP: Don't tie Iran sanctions to our bill
(The Hill) Two of America's largest veterans organizations on Wednesday urged Republicans to abandon their push to attach Iran sanctions to pending benefits legislation.
Sex assault victims recount military system's failures
(Military Times) Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., used the bully pulpit of her Senate Armed Services personnel panel chair on Feb. 26 to continue pressing for legislation that would strip military commanders of their authority to decide whether sexual assault cases should be referred for prosecution.
DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
DoD Has a Detailed Sequester Back-Up Plan
(Defense News) The Pentagon has a detailed five-year spending plan that adheres to federal defense spending caps should sequestration return in 2016. Just don’t expect to see it anytime soon.
Reports of sexual assault in the military climbed in FY 2013
(Stars and Stripes) bout 5,400 instances of sexual assault or “unwanted sexual contact” were reported within the U.S. military last fiscal year, a 60 percent rise from 2012, the Pentagon said Wednesday.
Top enlisted members: Don't mess with commissaries
(Military Times) The Marine Corps’ senior enlisted adviser told lawmakers Wednesday that he believes focusing on the commissary benefit as a potential source of defense budget savings is a mistake.
Winnefeld: A Brave Congress Needs to Accept Base Closings
(Seapower) ADM James Winnefeld Jr., vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Congress needs to be brave in accepting these closings as a reality as the department looks for savings mandated by the Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011 and sequestration.
DoD official to coordinate efforts to free POW
(Military Times) The Pentagon has named acting Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michael Lumpkin as the point person for efforts to bring home prisoner of war Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, according to a congressional source.
Facebook group to servicemembers: Don’t be an idiot on social media
(Stars and Stripes) A new Facebook group created Tuesday is slamming servicemembers who post controversial photos and comments on social media.
ARMY
Army disqualifies 588 soldiers after sexual assault review
(USA Today) The Army has disqualified 588 soldiers as sexual assault counselors, recruiters and drill sergeants for infractions ranging from sexual assault to child abuse to drunken driving, USA TODAY has learned.
US Army study gives women taste of combat tasks
(Associated Press) Standing just over 5 feet, Army Spc. Karen Arvizu is barely a foot taller than the anti-tank missile she carries in both arms and loads into an armored vehicle. She stands on her tip-toes to wrestle open the 300-pound top hatch.
Soldier relieved of duties amid misconduct investigation
(Fayetteville Observer) The soldier, whose name was not released, is a command sergeant major within the 95th Civil Affairs Brigade at Fort Bragg, according to a spokesman from U.S. Army Special Operations Command.
Paratroopers jump into Arctic for extreme exercise
(Army Times) About 40 paratroopers from 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division jumped into Deadhorse, Alaska, on Tuesday for the unit’s first airborne operation north of the Arctic Circle.
Fort Belvoir holds cache of art the Nazis made and a WW II U.S. Army officer tracked down
(Washington Post) Army Capt. Gordon W. Gilkey had traced the missing art to a train that left Berlin for the Czech border two weeks before the German surrender.
NAVY
Fox: Pentagon will plan for possible carrier cut in 2015
(The Hill) The Pentagon will take steps next year to retire an aircraft carrier in case Congress does not lift sequestration by 2016, a top defense official said on Wednesday.
Verdicts released for January courts-martial
(Navy Times) Continuing a policy that began in mid-2013, the Navy published the results of special and general courts-martial tried in January of this year — 21 verdicts in all.
Mystifying Deaths for 2 Anti-Piracy Guards
(New York Times) The night before their lifeless bodies were found inside a cabin on a cargo ship, Jeffrey Reynolds and Mark Kennedy enjoyed the night life here, at tourist haunts called Le Rendez Vous and the Pirates Arms.
Indiana state senator called up to Navy service
(Indianapolis Star) Senate President Pro Tem David Long says Republican Sen. Jim Banks of Columbia City is scheduled for naval duty starting the last week of the session.
AIR FORCE
Secretary expects personnel cuts to be less severe than previously estimated
(Air Force Times) The Defense Department’s 2015 budget request, to be unveiled next week, will propose cutting fewer than the previously estimated 25,000 airmen over five years, and the majority of those cuts will come from the active duty, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said Wednesday.
JBER Airmen Found Dead at His Off-base Home
(KTUU-TV, Anchorage) A U.S. Air Force staff sergeant was found dead in his Eagle River home, officials at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson announced Wednesday.
Former Arizona Air National Guard commander takes plea deal
(Arizona Daily Star, Tucson) A former Arizona Air National Guard commander has agreed to deal allowing him to avoid prosecution on charges he masterminded a scheme to falsify records to receive added pay.
Air Force program a rare bright spot in military’s sex assault fight
(Stars and Stripes) After she was raped, she had to describe the attack time after humiliating time in interviews — with investigators, prosecutors, victim advocates and defense attorneys.
MARINE CORPS
Sleeves up! Here's why the commandant reversed unpopular uniform policy
(Marine Corps Times) The Marine Corps’ two-year-old “sleeves down” policy ended with an announcement late Tuesday night on the Marines’ official social media platforms. But a spokesman for the commandant, Gen. Jim Amos, said the change has been under consideration for some time.
Tips, video led to arrest in Marine’s death
(Dayton Daily News) Citizen tips and the damage to an Urbana woman’s vehicle helped make an arrest in a hit-and-run crash that killed a Marine.
Marines look to beef up Insider Threat Program security, training
(Marine Corps Times) Marine officials are working to add more muscle to the Corps’ Insider Threat Program, launched last year at the direction of President Obama to prevent insider leaks of classified military information and potentially violent incidents.
Twentynine Palms Marine base child abuse allegation probed
(Desert Sun; Palm Springs, Calif.) San Bernardino County is investigating an abuse allegation at a child development center on the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, according to Capt. Justin Smith, base spokesman.
Marine Corps commandant: 'Never any intention to ban' independent newspaper
(Marine Corps Times) Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Jim Amos issued a statement Wednesday saying “there was never any intention to ban” the independent newspaper Marine Corps Times from base exchange stores.
VETERANS
Top VA health official denies dumping patient records
(Military Times) The Veterans Affairs Department’s top health official dismissed a report this week that VA health care system employees dumped thousands of medical appointment records in an effort to cover up overdue work.
College kicks disabled vet, dog off campus
(Tampa Tribune) Bill Smith, a 100 percent disabled retired Green Beret colonel, survived the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the Pentagon, several deployments to war zones and ailments seen and unseen as a result.
DoD, VA issue new concussion care guide
(Military Times) The Defense and Veterans Affairs departments have published new guidelines on post-concussion care — a detailed, step-by-step road map for returning to duty that embraces rest and nixes activities such as driving and video games.
AFGHANISTAN
Hard Talk Aside, Little Desire by the West to Leave Afghanistan
(New York Times) Few of the interested parties — and especially not the Pentagon — really want to cut and run out of Afghanistan after 13 years of war in which almost 3,500 coalition troops, mostly American, have been killed; an untold but exponentially higher number of Afghan civilians have died or been wounded; and $700 billion has been spent.
NATO plans for early Afghan exit
(Stars and Stripes) NATO defense ministers will discuss plans for a complete withdrawal from Afghanistan by the end of 2014 should Afghanistan and the U.S. fail to reach agreement on a key long-term security deal, the alliance’s top official said Wednesday.
IG raps military's inspection of Afghan hospital
(USA Today) The U.S. military relied on Afghans to certify a troubled hospital built with American funds instead of conducting its own inspection, according to a letter the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction sent to commanders Thursday.
Warlords With Dark Pasts Battle in Afghan Election
(New York Times) Ashraf Ghani, the apparent front-runner in the Afghan presidential race this year, was once unstinting in his opinion of one of the country’s most prominent warlords, Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, calling him a “known killer.
MIDDLE EAST
Iraqi army struggles in battle against Islamist fighters in Anbar province
(Washington Post) The United States is shipping arms to Iraq to help its army fight a Sunni Islamist insurgency in Anbar province. But some Iraqi soldiers argue that basic planning and supplies are just as sorely needed.
Under US Pressure, Iraq Denies Iran Arms Deals
(Defense News) Iraq, facing heavy pressure from the United States, has denied signing deals for weapons and ammunition with Iran in apparent violation of international sanctions.
Muqtada al-Sadr doesn't appear to have quit Iraqi politics
(Christian Science Monitor) Iraqi Shiite cleric and political powerhouse Muqtada al-Sadr has reversed his promise to quit politics. It now looks like gamesmanship ahead of April parliamentary elections.
Politics Paralyze Israeli Oversight of Defense, Foreign Affairs
(Defense News) Israel’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee (FADC), the parliamentary panel with oversight of the nation’s defense establishment, has been rendered dangerously dysfunctional due to political infighting over the committee chair, lawmakers here said.
Hezbollah vows retaliation against Israel for airstrike against site in Lebanon
(Washington Post) Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah movement threatened Wednesday to retaliate against Israel for carrying out an airstrike against one of the group’s positions in Lebanon for the first time in eight years, raising the stakes in Syria’s steadily expanding war.
Israel Concludes Tests of Airliner Protection System
(Defense News) More than 13 years after the near disaster that triggered urgent government demands to defend commercial airliners from shoulder-launched missile attack, a solution is finally in hand, defense and industry sources said.
Syrian troops reportedly kill more than 150 Al Qaeda-linked rebels
(Los Angeles Times) More than 150 Syrian rebel fighters were killed Wednesday in an ambush by pro-government forces outside Damascus, according to official and opposition accounts.
Turkish Leader Disowns Trials That Helped Him Tame Military
(New York Times) A series of sensational trials that shook the Turkish military in recent years achieved what many regard as the most important legacy of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s more than a decade in power: sending the army back to its barracks and out of politics.
ASIA-PACIFIC
Australia Reviews Plan to Double Submarine Fleet
(Wall Street Journal) Australia will review plans to double its fleet of submarines, with the new conservative government under pressure to rein in its budget even as Asian neighbors dramatically ramp up military spending.
Indian Navy Chief Resigns Following Fatal Sub Fire
(Defense News) Indian Navy Chief Adm. D.K. Joshi has resigned, claiming “moral responsibility” for the Feb. 26 fire of a Russian-made Kilo-class submarine, INS Sindhuratna.
Kashmir: Indian soldier shoots five colleagues dead
(BBC) An Indian soldier has shot dead five of his colleagues before killing himself in Indian-administered Kashmir, military officials say.
End draws near for U.S. military hub in Kyrgyzstan
(Military Times) The U.S. military has ended its air refueling mission in Kyrgyzstan, the latest sign that time is growing short for the Transit Center at Manas, which has been a major hub for U.S. troops heading to and returning from Afghanistan.
Report: Japan Moves To Relax Arms-Export Ban
(Defense News) Japan’s ruling party wants to loosen self-imposed rules banning arms exports in a bid to boost the country’s defense influence, a report said Wednesday, a move that would mark a major shift from its pacifism and could irritate China.
US says military engagement key for Myanmar reform
(Associated Press) The appointee to become the top U.S. defense official for Asia said Tuesday engagement with the Myanmar military is crucial for democratic reform in the Southeast Asian nation.
EUROPE
US, UK Ink Research Collaboration Deal
(Defense News) Great Britain and the US have signed a defense pact aimed at increasing the number of collaborative science and technology programs undertaken by the longtime allies.
NATO debates policy for cyber defense of public and private sectors
(Inside Cybersecurity) The prospect that NATO might formally do more to prevent and mitigate cyber threats to governments and critical infrastructure looms this week as the alliance prepares for a defense ministerial in Belgium that will pave the way for a major fall summit in Wales.
NATO Ready To Help Ukraine Democratic Reforms
(Defense News) NATO said Wednesday it will continue to help Ukraine, which has close ties with the military alliance, to push ahead with democratic reforms.
Russia Orders Military Drill, Stoking Tensions
(Wall Street Journal) President Vladimir Putin ordered surprise military exercises for 150,000 troops in Russia, including some based close to Ukraine, where protest leaders are scrambling to fill a political vacuum after the ouster of the president.
Pro-Russia gunmen seize government buildings in Ukraine's Crimea
(Los Angeles Times) Ukraine put its police on high alert after dozens of pro-Russia gunmen stormed and seized local government buildings in Ukraine's Crimea region early Thursday and raised a Russian flag over a barricade.
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
Hagel is trying to get ahead of the ‘tough’ defense budget battles
(Walter Pincus in The Washington Post) The first shots in this year’s battle over the Defense Department budget have been exchanged, with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s opening salvo fired Monday and quickly drawing heat from Capitol Hill, veterans’ groups and K Street.
The Enduring Relevance of the Aircraft Carrier
(U.S. Rep. J. Randy Forbes in war on the Rocks) Predictions about the end of the aircraft carrier are a lot like those we hear about the decline of American power – they occur often, continue to be incorrect, and provide a great opportunity for spirited debate.
Michael O'Hanlon: How much Army is enough?
(Michael O'Hanlon in USA Today) The Pentagon's new strategy calls for an active-duty Army of 450,000 soldiers — the fewest number of full-time soldiers since before World War II.
Is the CIA Better Than the Military at Drone Killings?
(Michael Hirsh in National Journal) It's been more than a year since incoming CIA Director John Brennan signaled his intention to shift drone warfare to the Pentagon as soon as possible. Brennan, a career spook, was said to be determined to restore the agency to its roots as an espionage factory, not a paramilitary organization. And President Obama endorsed his plan to hand drone warfare over to the military, according to administration officials.
Walang komento:
Mag-post ng isang Komento