THREATWATCH

The United States grows increasingly worried about the influence and intentions of the pirates who subsist off pillaging West Africa’s shipping trade.

ON THE FORCE

The Navy has updated its annual list of Selective Reenlistment Bonuses, a bonus pay paid in a lump (and sometimes tax-free) sum meant to incentivize service beyond the original service contract. The Special Duty Assignment Pay list has also been updated.

The USS ESSEX has entered drydock, leaving the fleet with one less amphibious ship at a time when the world is becoming increasingly volatile.

POTOMAC TWO-STEP

The Marine Corps appears to have dodged a budgetary bullet.

ON TECH

DARPA is convinced the best way to keep tabs on troops’ vital signs on and off the battlefield is…a tattoo?!

DARPA also wants a drone to serve as a sort of traffic cop and synchronization node between surface ships, subs and aircraft.

ON SECRECY – OR LACK THEREOF

The National Security Agency, in the NSA Four, has a problem on its hands: credible whistleblowers convinced that the agency made some egregious missteps leading up to and after 9/11.

The CIA may have a female director heading up the National Clandestine Service.

CONTRACT WATCH

The Department of Defense Inspector General is not amused at the prospect of the Army searching for yet another new rifle.

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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.