President Obama hopes to announce his new national security nominees Friday, but the date depends on the status of the “fiscal cliff” negotiations, administration officials said. Other White House business has taken a back seat to talks with Republicans to avert the cliff — a set of mandatory spending cuts and tax increases — before the Dec. 31 deadline, the officials said. Obama may also postpone his scheduled Friday departure for his holiday vacation in Hawaii.
ON THE FIGHT
The number of major attacks against aid workers rose again in 2011, reversing a two-year decline. Worldwide there were 151 major incidents of violence against civilian aid operations. Since 2009, kidnappings have become the most frequent means of violence against aid workers, showing the steepest and steadiest rise out of all tactics over the past decade.
Al-Shabaab, the Somali branch of al Qaeda, booted Abu Mansour al-Amriki out of the group after he posted video messages contrary to the terrorist organization’s teachings. Al-Amriki, who was born Omar Hammami in a suburb of Mobile, Ala, had become a highly visible member of the group that once dominated central and southern Somalia.
Unidentified gunmen shot dead an intelligence officer in Yemen’s southeastern province of Hadramout on Monday, a government official told Xinhua. The masked assailants, who were on a motorcycle, shot and killed Shaker Bani, an inspector in the military intelligence agency in Bawazir neighborhood in Hadramout province, before fleeing the area, the local government official said, requesting anonymity.
ON THE FORCE
The Accountability Review Board is set to to release its findings to Capitol Hill this week.
ON SECRECY – OR LACK THEREOF
News of Carl Sagan’s involvement with a plan to "nuke" the moon, Project A119, has become relevant again. In fact, Sagan was involved in a number of military causes during his all-too-short lifetime. But later, he cut all ties with the military. Here’s what happened.
"Ever since President Ronald Reagan’s CIA-run Central American Contra wars of the 1980s, the definition of “covert” has changed. It no longer means hidden from sight, but beyond accountability. It is now a polite way of saying to the American people: not yours. Yes, you can know about it; you can feel free to praise it; but you have nothing to do with it, no say over it."
Pentagon investigators concluded that a senior Defense Department official who’s been mentioned as a possible candidate to be the next CIA director leaked restricted information to the makers of an acclaimed film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, and referred the case to the Justice Department, according to knowledgeable U.S. officials.
ON DEVELOPMENT
"In Tysons we have so much space that serves only 10-hours of the day. Parking lots are ghost towns after 6pm, sodded open spaces make you feel anything but urban. Why not provide land owners the ability to use their property as a destination that might be a little more hip than heading to the mall, and have a special vendor permit which could also raise funds (much needed) for the County? All the while you provide a good outlet for innovation and specialization for retailers who can’t afford 1500 sf of retail space within the mall or around town."
CONTRACT WATCH
The [Department of State] announced last month that it intends to solicit replacement services that are currently being provided by KBR under the LOGCAP Program and services provided by [the Defense Logistics Agency]. The replacement services will be called Baghdad Life Support Services, or BLISS for short. Bliss in Iraq? Holy molly guacamole, who would come up with a name like that?
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.
