Russia’s Rattling Sabres, Ash’s Asian Pivot, and Oliver on Surveillance

Tuesday’s Top Ten & John Oliver explains government surveillance

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THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT

1. Russia’s rattling sabres. Los Angeles Times’ W.J. Hennigan reports from Tin City, Alaska, “U.S. F-22 fighter jets scrambled about 10 times last year — twice as often as in 2013 — to monitor and photograph Russian Tu-95 ‘Bear’ bombers and MiG-31 fighter jets that flew over the Bering Sea without communicating with U.S. air controllers or turning on radio transponders, which emit identifying signals. The Russian flights are in international airspace, and it’s unclear whether they are testing U.S. defenses, patrolling the area or simply projecting a newly assertive Moscow’s global power.”

2. Counterterrorism in Africa. Homeland Security News Wire reports, “President Barack Obama has referred to his strategy against al-Shabaab militants in Somalia as a model of success for his administration’s low-investment, light-footprint approach to counterterrorism. . . . Critics of this approach now say that last week’s massacre of 148 people at Garissa University College in Kenya by al-Shabaab militants, demonstrates the limits of Obama’s approach to counterterrorism.”

3. Asian pivot is still on. Defense News’ Aaron Mehta reports, “The Pacific remains ‘the defining region’ for America’s future, despite the ongoing challenges in the Arabian Gulf and European regions, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said Monday. In his first major speech focused on the region, Carter made it clear that world events of the last year will not deter him from continuing the so-called pivot to Asia, telling an audience at Arizona State University that he is ‘personally committed’ to overseeing the continued refocus in the Pacific.” Read Ash Carter’s “Remarks on the Next Phase of the U.S. Rebalance to the Asia-Pacific.”

4. French SpecOps take on al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. The Long War Journal’s Caleb Weiss reports, “French special forces freed Dutch captive Sjaak Rijke in an operation in northern Mali. Rijke, along with Swedish and South African nationals, were captured in Timbuktu in 2011 by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), al Qaeda’s official branch in North Africa. The special operations raid was originally targeting AQIM militants before the French forces found Rijke. . . . his presence caught the French special operators by surprise; it was only after the fighting was over when they realized the militants were holding the Dutch hostage.”

CONTRACT WATCH

1. New rules for contractors on the table: handling sensitive information. Nextgov’s Mohana Ravindranath reports, “Private sector government contractors may soon be subjected to new rules for managing sensitive federal information. The National Institute of Standards and Technology recently published draft requirements for federal and nonfederal groups with access to ‘controlled unclassified information’ – a subset of confidential information that, while not classified, must still be protected. The Commerce Department agency is accepting public comments on the draft until May 12, 2015.”

2. Textron moves forward on new Landing Craft, Air Cushion (LCAC) vessels. Military & Aerospace Electronics Editor John Keller reports, “Officials of the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington announced an $84.1 million contract modification last week to the Textron Marine & Land Systems segment in New Orleans to build the second and third Ship-To-Shore Connector (SSC) vessels, which are replacing the Navy’s Landing Craft, Air Cushion (LCAC) vessels. The SSC program is the functional replacement for the existing fleet of LCAC vessels, which are nearing the end of their service life. The SSC program involves air cushion vehicles designed for a 30-year service life.”

TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY

1. Sea-Based X-Band Radar: $10 billion flush. Los Angeles Times’ David Williams reports, “The project not only wasted taxpayer money but left a hole in the nation’s defenses. The money spent on it could have gone toward land-based radars with a greater capability to track long-range missiles, according to experts who have studied the issue. Expensive missteps have become a trademark of the Missile Defense Agency, an arm of the Pentagon charged with protecting U.S. troops and ships and the American homeland.”

2. So what about surveillance? The Atlantic’s Adam Chandler reports, “Using the June 1 expiration of controversial sections of the Patriot Act as a peg, Oliver decided to revive the conversation anew by highlighting one specific aspect of the surveillance issue that a majority of Americans could relate to. And Sunday’s final product is earning Oliver plaudits across the Internet. In the interview, Oliver accomplishes several feats. He’s not only funny (Snowden apparently misses eating Hot Pockets, the sodium vehicle of the American freezer section), but also incisive and tough.”

3. Merging Trusted Internet Clouds: DHS and FedRAMP. FierceGovernmentIT’s Stephanie Kanowitz reports, “A draft overlay for the Trusted Internet Connection, or TIC, is now available for public comment, marking a first step toward increasing agencies’ flexibility in adopting cloud solutions. Once finalized, the overlay from the Homeland Security Department and the Federal Risk Authorization Management Program, or FedRAMP, Program Management Office, would allow agencies to ensure that cloud services they use comply with FedRAMP and TIC requirements.”

POTOMAC TWO-STEP

1. Courting Corker. “The White House is aggressively courting Sen. Bob Corker as it seeks to buy time for the final stretch of negotiations with Iran over a nuclear deal. The Tennessee Republican helms the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and is working to assemble a veto-proof majority for legislation that would allow members of Congress to review any nuclear agreement. Yet White House officials view Corker as someone they can work with.”

2. Confident? “President Barack Obama says his successor in the White House will not call into question the executive branch’s power to cut deals between the United States and other countries, such as the nuclear framework reached last week with Iran. ‘I am confident that any president who gets elected will be knowledgeable enough about foreign policy and knowledgeable enough about the traditions and precedents of presidential power that they won’t start calling to question the capacity of the executive branch of the United States to enter into agreements with other countries’ . . . .”

OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS

1. “What’s the Alternative to Obama’s Iran Deal?” The Atlantic contributor Peter Beinart argues, “[I]f America follows Netanyahu’s advice, Iran’s isolation will ease and America’s will grow. Perhaps it’s no surprise that a leader whose policies have so isolated his own country from the world is urging the United States down a similar path.”

2. “The heart of Iran’s debate on a nuclear deal.” Christian Science Monitor’s Editorial Board argues, “In coming weeks, as the final talks get down to the wire, the world can hope to see more change in Iran’s regime, the kind that reflects a respect for Iranians and others to freely reason together.”

3. “Two small tents, with most Americans on the outside.” Reuters contributor Bill Schneider argues, “Normally, the only way Washington can work is through compromise and deal-making. President Bill Clinton once said, ‘If you read the Constitution, it ought to be subtitled, ‘Let’s make a deal.’ As the party tents shrink, the distance between them gets bigger. And it gets harder to make deals. The likely result? Perpetual gridlock, which can be resolved only by the least democratic institution of government — the federal courts.”