TEARLINE
Investigators are probing reports of record-shredding by officials in the command that trains the Afghan army after learning that records of fuel purchases for the Afghans totaling nearly $475 million are gone.
Mali Islamic militant group MUJWA said on Sunday the killing of 16 Muslim preachers including eight Mauritanians and eight Malians by an army patrol in Mali was a declaration of war. The Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa, or MUJWA, is one of the Islamic groups that has hijacked a Tuareg rebellion in northern Mali since April with the intention of imposing Sharia law in the country.
The vice president of Iraq was convicted of murder and sentenced to death on Sunday in a trial conducted in absentia. The verdict coincided with a wave of bombings and insurgent attacks that claimed at least 100 lives, making Sunday one of the bloodiest days in Iraq since American troops withdrew last year. Together, the verdict and the violence threaten to deepen an already intractable political crisis among the country’s ruling factions.
The U.S. is “not setting deadlines” for Iran and still considers negotiations as “by far the best approach” to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
Yemen’s main Maarib oil pipeline has been blown up for a second time in less than a week while repairs were being carried out to fix damage from an attack by tribesmen.
ON THE FIGHT
The first of the U.S. Navy’s new mobile landing platform (MLP) ships is structurally complete. The MLP is a centerpiece of the Sea Base concept, intended to carry vehicles, small craft, gear and supplies as part of a Maritime Prepositioning Force squadron.
Almost 470 flight engineers, aerial gunners and loadmasters who fly Air Force Special Operations Command’s CV-22, AC-130 and Non-Standard Aviation aircraft are transitioning to one Air Force specialty code, 1A9X1 Special Mission Aviation starting in November. “Having all of the Airmen in the same AFSC will help us to develop SOF warriors equivalent to our sister service counterparts,” said Master Sgt. Ben Lerman, AFSOC’s aerial gunner functional manager. “The sailors and soldiers grow up as SOF operators. Now we will be able to better manage the assignment system and give our Airmen more opportunities.”
A senior Pentagon official said this week that as many as 66 countries would be eligible to buy U.S. drones under new Department of Defense guidelines, but Congress and the State Department, which have a final say, have not agreed to the exports.
ON TECH
The FBI is spending $1 billion to add facial recognition technology to its national fingerprint database.
The House Intelligence Committee will hold an open hearing as part of their investigation into the national security threats posed by Chinese telecommunications companies working in the United States. The hearing begins at 10:00am, on Thursday, September 13, 2012, in the U.S. Capitol, room HVC-210.
ON SECRECY – OR LACK THEREOF
American authorities have discovered at least three models of a new and sophisticated drug-trafficking submarine capable of traveling completely underwater from South America to the coast of the United States.
CONTRACT WATCH
Cubic Corporation, a specialty contractor focused on providing turn-key solutions to the interagency intelligence community, is expanding in a bid to cater to special operations forces.
The Department of State is purchasing WiMax radios for Belize and other equipment for the Bureau of Diplomatic Security.
