Brookings is hosting a talk by retired General Stanley McChrystal this morning at 10AM in Washington, on the his realignment and reformation of Joint Special Operations Command, the sub-unified command that brought the fight to al-Qa’ida in Iraq’s doorstep.
THREAT WATCH
The Department of State has issued a Travel Warning for El Salvador, detailing the crime and violence in the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. While El Salvador is a 10% COLA and 15% hardship differential post, State has yet to designate it and the surrounding U.S. missions as a danger pay post.
A top Israeli official has hinted that the United States may not have to back a surprise attack on Iranian nuclear facilities by Israel, since Israel has a range of covert actions planned in cooperation with the United States that will not necessitate overt military action.
ON THE FIGHT
Timbuktu, in the thick of a militant stronghold, is celebrating upon being liberated by French special operations forces yesterday. French military assets have conducted raids and airstrikes on the location of suspected Islamist militants occupying the centuries-old spiritual capital of Muslims in Africa. AFP: "Mohamed Toure, a 44-year-old driver, said he had no sympathy for the Islamists who plundered, looted, terrorised locals, vandalised and destroyed the shrines of revered Islamic saints and imposed strict sharia, including death stonings and amputations. ‘Of course war is not good. But the liberation of the north, is that really war?’ he said."
With the assistance of French special operations forces and light infantry, Malian forces have pushed farther still into Islamic strongholds across central Mali in a bid to oust al-Qa’ida militants.
The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad has set up shop in Ouagadougou, located in neighboring Burkina Faso, to coordinate and synchronize offensive operations against militants inside Mali.
The Department of Defense is significantly expanding Cyber Command, or USCYBERCOM, in a previously unheralded push to expand cyberspace warfare operations despite a spate of budgetary cuts looming on the horizon. The Washington Post on the tiered system rumored to go into effect imminently:
The plan calls for the creation of three types of forces under the Cyber Command: “national mission forces” to protect computer systems that undergird electrical grids, power plants and other infrastructure deemed critical to national and economic security; “combat mission forces” to help commanders abroad plan and execute attacks or other offensive operations, and “cyber protection forces” to harden the Defense Department’s networks.
In an interview, a senior defense official said that the “national mission” teams would focus their efforts overseas and that any actions they took would be directed outside U.S. networks — unless the teams were asked to provide assistance to another agency with domestic authority, such as the FBI. “There’s no intent to have the military crawl inside industry or private networks and provide that type of security,” the official said.
The plan to expand the Cyber Command comes at a time when the military’s services are being ordered to cut spending, a reflection of how important senior military officials see the need to improve the nation’s cybersecurity footing. Some military officials have grudgingly accepted the need to contribute personnel to an expanded cybersecurity force. There are also differences over how much control the combatant commands will have over cyber teams.
The “combat mission” teams may help commanders in operations such as a cyber component to disable an enemy’s command-and-control system before a conventional attack. Each region will have teams that focus on particular threats — say, from China or Iran.
ON THE FORCE
The New York Times’ Charlie Savage asks a prescient question: who, exactly, determines the laws of war?
Former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has made a controversial claim at a military symposium by claiming that technological advances by the Department of Defense has eradicated the fog of war.
Retired General McChrystal told a CNN host that he believes women will make a positive contribution to special operation forces
A mere 28 days into the new year, the Navy has already fired their second commanding officer.
ON SECRECY – OR LACK THEREOF
Upon being run out of government, one of the United States government’s most notorious whistleblower was forced to work as a sales clerk in an Apple Store in "a Washington, DC suburb."
In an ever-increasing bid by the Obama administration to crack down on "unauthorized disclosures" — leaks of classified or compartmented information — the FBI has began to exercise its wide range of investigative and counterintelligence mechanisms to access emails and phone records of government officials without a warrant.
The Afghanistan Ministry of Defence will soon be in charge of deciding which reporters can and cannot embed with Afghan or coalition forces.
Dirty Wars, a documentary film that follows investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill around the globe as he unravels the operations of JSOC, hits theaters this summer.
The Department of State’s hush-hush Office of Intelligence and Threat Analysis has begun hiring foreign area officers.
Customs and Border Patrol has, apparently, set up shop in Lorton, Va, right down the road from the I-95 and Fort Belvoir.
CONTRACT WATCH
The Defense Intelligence Agency is holding a career fair for transitioning contractors in Royal Air Force Station Lakenheath, or RAF Lakenheath, a British Royal Air Force station located near the town of Lakenheath in England.
Red Gate Group is looking for subject matter experts well-versed in counter-improvised explosive device support to US Special Operations Command.
The Joint Program Executive Office – Chemical and Biological Defense wants to hire program analysts — quickly.
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.
