TEARLINE
Adam Elkus, an analyst on national security issues and the study of war, who blogs regularly at the Center for a New American Security:
“One of the preemiment problems with the way that guerrilla warfare is discussed is the almost commonplace idea that it is a fundamentally different type of war, requiring fundamentally different interpretive and operational methods. Last weekend’s spectacular assault on Camp Bastion should disabuse everyone of that notion. The assault on the heavily fortified airbase demonstrates an Taliban special operations capability that has yielded strategic effect. Since the 2008 Kabul Serena Hotel attack, the Taliban (likely guided by their Pakistani patrons) have developed a capability for complex, high-risk assaults that now seems to have taken center stage. The war of position has hardened, as swathes of the country remain in the hands of either Mullah Omar or the Haqqani Network and the International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) continues what has been a problematic effort to consolidate their gains in the south. The Taliban are now using special operations to bolster the political effect of their territorial holdings and make their mark on Afghanistan’s new politics…” Continue reading here.
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NATO was adamant on Tuesday that the move to suspend most joint operations between NATO and Afghan troops was not going to affect the transition of giving security control to the Afghans by the end of 2014. But the measures taken are raising fresh questions about a transition focused on training, advising and ultimately handing off security control to the Afghans. The move is a public blow to the U.S. plan for withdrawal from Afghanistan to let Afghans take the lead in combat roles in 2013 and hand off full control in 2014.
U.S. and NATO officials downplayed the significance of the move, emphasizing that it was a temporary measure and that partners would still occur at the battalion level and above, and that regional commanders could approve other operations on a case-by-case basis. But they were clearly on the defensive discussing a suspension that’s come in the face of a spate of “insider attacks” on NATO troops, which have led to 51 deaths this year. The International Security Assistance Force released a terse statement Tuesday stating that “recent media coverage was not accurate. Partnering occurs at all levels, from platoon to corps,” the statement said. “This has not changed.”
The North African branch of al Qaeda has called for attacks on U.S. diplomats as well as for increasing protests against American citizens. In its statement, the group called on Muslims to pull down flags at embassies, as well as kill or expel American diplomats in order to “purge our land of their filth in revenge for the honor of the Prophet.” The statement also praised the killing of Ambassador Christopher Stevens in Benghazi, Libya. In addition, the group threatened attacks in several North African states, including Tunisia, Morocco, Mauritania and Algeria, and charged the United States with “lying to Muslims for more than 10 years, saying its war was against terrorism and not Islam.” The group in North Africa is not the only al Qaeda branch in the Middle East to call for more attacks. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, allegedly the most active al Qaeda branch, has also called for more attacks.
AROUND THE WORLD
U.S. and Japanese officials have reached an agreement to deploy a second advanced missile defense radar on Japanese territory to counter North Korean missile threats. Japan houses one X-band radar as part of a setup designed to identify and intercept ballistic missiles. The location for the second has not been decided.
Workers dug out a road through the Kalu Valley in Afghanistan’s Bamian Province up to the Black Mountain, which has rich iron ore deposits. Afghanistan is estimated to have $1 trillion in untapped mineral resources, but the potential boom seems increasingly imperiled by corruption, violence and intrigue.
ON THE FIGHT
Impending cuts of about $900 million from DHS infrastructure and network protection funds and other federal cybersecurity accounts through sequestration could knock out support for private sector cyberdefense programs. “Research and development grants, forensics equipment for prosecuting cybercrime cases and other corporate network security assistance” could be scaled back. But security of government networks likely would dodge cuts.
CONTRACT WATCH
A new report by the White House’s administrator of federal procurement policy, Joe Jordan, found that suspensions and debarments of companies that violate federal contracting rules have increased across the government over the past three years, rising from just over 1,900 in fiscal 2009 to more than 3,000 in 2011.
SAIC was awarded a $74 million contract from the Air Force to continue operating intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms in Afghanistan. The surveillance system, dubbed Angel Fire, is flown on four modified twin engine King Air 90 turboprop aircraft equipped with wide-angle cameras that provide broader coverage than the optical sensors unmanned aircraft systems carry.
It may be too costly to modify for export a fleet of 18 unmanned Northrop Grumman Global Hawk surveillance planes the Pentagon wants to retire. The Air Force will continue using the Block 30 version of the high-altitude spy planes until Congress agrees to take them out of service, USAF LTG James said Monday.
ASRC Federal named retired Air Force Col. Stephen Butler director of Space Programs. Butler will be responsible for ASRC Federal’s defense space programs. Before joining ASRC Federal, he was chief of the Space Situational Awareness and Command and Control Division, Directorate of Requirements at Headquarters, Air Force Space Command.
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.
