“Today, there is still a rigorous debate over the structure and dynamics of al-Qaeda. That debate is complicated by the fact that al-Qaeda, like most violent non-state actors seeking to survive, exists in a murky realm. Intelligence–closed or open source–shines a light into the cave but cannot illuminate the entire structure. The main problem with the targeted killing program is precisely uncertainty over who the targets really are and how their deaths lead to strategic effect.” – Adam Elkus
TEARLINE
Secretary Panetta said on Friday evening that the United States is positioning military forces so that it can respond to unrest in as many as 17 or 18 places that the Pentagon is “paying particular attention to.” US embassies across the Muslim world remained on high alert on Sunday and the United States urged vigilance after days of anti-American violence.
The head of Libya’s national assembly said an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans last Tuesday looked like a planned assault by a “group with an agenda” rather than a spontaneous reaction to the video posted online.
With protests continuing from London to Lahore on Sunday, Germany followed the U.S. lead and withdrew some staff from its embassy in Sudan, which was stormed on Friday. Washington ordered non-essential staff and family members to leave its embassy on Saturday after the Khartoum government turned down a U.S. request to send Marines to bolster security.
Non-essential U.S. personnel have also been withdrawn from Tunisia, and U.S. citizens left the capital Tunis. Officials are also reminding all members of the Incirlik community to be alert and continue to follow standard security and situational awareness procedures.
Around 350 people chanted slogans at a rally outside the U.S. embassy in London on Sunday. A small group of protesters burned a U.S. flag outside the embassy in the Turkish capital, and in Pakistan there were protests in more than a dozen cities. One person was killed when unidentified people opened fire at a protest in the southern city of Hyderabad, and five people were injured in clashes with police in Karachi as around 1,000 protesters tried to reach the U.S. consulate.
AROUND THE WORLD
The U.S. and Japan announced Monday that they will expand a shared missile defense system in East Asia by installing a new, high-powered radar in southern Japan.
Four US troops were killed Sunday at a remote checkpoint in southern Afghanistan when a member of the Afghan security forces opened fire on them, military officials said. The attack brought to 51 the number of international troops shot dead by their Afghan partners this year.
An airport official in the Libyan capital Tripoli says flights resumed out of the country’s airports after they were halted for over seven hours due to a strike by air traffic controllers.
Members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps are providing non-military assistance in Syria and Iran may get involved militarily if its closest ally comes under attack, commander-in-chief Mohammad Ali Jafari said Sunday. Jafari’s statement is the first official acknowledgement that Iran has a military presence on the ground in Syria where an 18-month-old uprising has left tens of thousands dead. The U.S. and Syrian opposition groups have long suspected Iran has troops in Syria. Iran has denied this. “A number of members of the Quds force are present in Syria but this does not constitute a military presence,” Iranian news agency ISNA quoted Jafari as saying at a news conference.
ON THE FIGHT
Daniel Trombly: If America wants to scale-down its forward presence and power projection footprint, it will need to focus more energy and attention on force protection.
An 18-year-old who tried to set off what he thought was a car bomb outside a downtown Chicago bar on Friday night has been arrested and charged in a federal undercover sting, authorities said Saturday. Adel Daoud, a U.S. citizen who lives in the Chicago suburb of Hillside, planned for months for the attack and prayed with a man who turned out to be an undercover agent before attempting to set off a bomb in a Jeep outside a bar, authorities said. Daoud, who considered up to 29 possible targets, was charged with one count of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and one count of attempt to damage and destroy a building by means of an explosive.
Foreign Policy’s Keith Baron is reporting that Congress was warned about Libyan security concerns over a month ago. While Washington vacationed in August, the non-partisan Congressional Research Service issued a now prescient-sounding report warning that Libya’s security concerns were an “immediate priority” that might require far more attention and resources than the United States had given it.
Iona Craig posits that Yemeni government officials may have allowed the latest attack on the U.S. Embassy in Yemen to happen — on purpose.
MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
The Arlington County Board voted yesterday to approve 1900 Crystal Drive, Vornado’s enormous office building that will be the tallest in Crystal City. The county’s approval allows the developer to demolish the super-block sized building now on the site and replace it with an even larger, more contemporary building. The building, designed by New Haven-based Pickard Chilton, will feature a number of impressive vitals, including 720,000 square feet of office space in 24 stories, and a 5-story underground parking garage. The plan for the block is to eventually demolish another of the office buildings on the block to create a large “Center Park” – a centerpiece of the Crystal City Sector Plan developed in 2010 – to replace the mid-block, concrete-heavy park that now connects the 3 existing office building. While the project will have a more appealing street view, especially on Crystal Drive where 11,000 square feet of retail will face the street, the building will still make large concessions to the automobiles along 18th and 20th Streets with wide curb cuts for garage access.
Robert Caruso is a veteran of the United States Navy, and has worked for the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, Business Transformation Agency and the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
