TEARLINE
The U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other State Department officials were killed in a rocket attack as they fled the U.S. Consulate after it was stormed by militants in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi. This followed protesters breaching the wall of the American embassy in Cairo and tearing down the flag over a U.S.-made film, which the attackers claim insults the Prophet Muhammad. The American flag, which was flying at half mast to mark the 9/11 attacks, was replaced by an al-Qa’ida flag.
U.S. intelligence agencies recently monitored a secret meeting between Egypt’s intelligence chief and a senior Iranian spy that is raising new fears the Muslim Brotherhood government in Cairo could begin covertly supporting global terrorism. According to U.S. officials, the head of the Egyptian General Intelligence Service, Murad Muwafi, met in early August with a senior official of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security.
The leaders of a Bahraini uprising last spring were in "intelligence contact" with Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah, a public prosecution official told a news conference after twenty of the organizers’ sentences were upheld by a court on Tuesday.
AROUND THE WORLD
The Marine Corps currently has 20,400 personnel deployed globally.
Beneath their common desire to oust Assad, Washington and Ankara have two distinctly different visions of a post-revolutionary Syria.
ON THE FIGHT
General Ham, Commander, United States Africa Command, has cited the National Guard’s role in operations in Libya as a model example of integration across the Total Force. In particular, Ham highlighted the National Guard’s 20-year-old, 65-nation State Partnership Program, Africa Command exercises, and a joint task force in the Horn of Africa as critical enablers for his combatant command.
The British government is currently debating whether the time is propitious following the successful conclusion of the London Olympic Games to begin shifting intelligence resources away from counterterrorism towards a new set of national security priorities. According to sources, somewhere between 40% and 50% of Britain’s intelligence collection and analytic resources are currently focused on counterterrorism.
Research into the use of private military security companies in the Indian Ocean has found the fight against Somali-based pirates has become a private battle as global defense cuts reduce naval counter-piracy deployments. The report, ‘Pirates and Privateers: Managing the Indian Ocean’s Private Security Boom’ sheds new light on the serious problem of Somali piracy and highlights new problems with the rapid increase in private military security companies protecting commercial ships transiting the Indian Ocean. “There is a legitimate role for private companies in fighting piracy, possibly half of ships travelling the Indian Ocean are employing them. But private naval fleets are operating in a legal vacuum” said report author James Brown.
ON SECRECY – OR LACK THEREOF
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta reacted angrily to the publication of a new book written by a retired Navy Seal involved in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden that did not undergo a Pentagon review before publication. While Panetta conceded "that the American people have a right to know about this operation," he said the book risked putting others at risk in future operations. "People who are part of that operation, who commit themselves to the promise that they will not reveal the sensitive operations and not publish anything without bringing it through the Pentagon, so that we can ensure that it doesn’t reveal sensitive information, when they fail to do that, we have got to make sure that they stand by the promise they made to this country," the secretary of defense said.
TURNOVER
Captain Greg Kolb, United States Navy, has assumed the duties and responsibilities of Mission Commander – Africa Partnership Station.
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.
