Upon four or more raucous interruptions by Code Pink, John Brennan’s confirmation hearing was banned to the public temporarily by order of Chairwoman Diane Feinstein.
ON THE FIGHT
Five militants were killed in Waziristan, Pakistan today after a lull in kinetic strikes by the U.S/ government. This is the first recorded kinetic strike in four weeks.
A conservative columnist posits that the most grave concerns about the use of remotely piloted vehicles to conduct kinetic strikes is that there aren’t rules.
At his a confirmation hearing today, a fiery John Brennan insisted that the CIA should not detain or interrogate suspects, be involved in traditional military activities, or conduct any illegal activities abroad. Brennan’s statements on his preference to use the military and FBI to interrogate suspects, detain prisoners and help gather human intelligence will be fodder for national security analysts going forwards.
Newsweek/The Daily Beast gave significant insight into these tough issues in a spread a few days prior.
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs insisted in Congressional testimony today that the Department of Defense did not receive any requests for support from the Department of State during the assault on Benghazi.
Meanwhile, Secretary of Defense LeonPanetta announced at the same hearing that the Pentagon will, over the next two to three years, increase the presence of Marines at diplomatic posts worldwide, create 35 new Marine security detachments to fight back assaults and a change in their mandate that would allow Marines to be proactive in deterring and disrupting attacks.
The Pentagon was onboard after all with arming the Syrian rebels.
Andrew Lebovich, a specialist in North and West Africa, takes an in-depth look at al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb and their closest affiliates across the Sahel.
ON THE FORCE
An improbably-named American military officer with a French name pens a gameplan for engaging violent extremists and orchestrating special operations forces varies capabilities to find and kill them.
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
On his first day in office, John Kerry left ‘Main State’ — the State Department headquarters and went over the Key Bridge to visit the Diplomatic Security Command Center in Rosslyn, Va. Now we know why — diplomatic security is one of Secretary Kerry’s top emergent priorities.
ON SECRECY – OR LACK THEREOF
Iran claims it has extracted surveillance video from the downed RQ-170 SENTINEL remotely piloted vehicle, and released it online.
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.
