THREATWATCH
French and Malian soldiers have pushed back advances from Islamic militants in Mali, and arrested their momentum.
Syrian rebels have set fire to at least three oil wells in the embattled country, stoking fears that the disjointed Free Syrian Army could complicate things going forwards.
More than a decade after invading Iraq, Iran — not the United States — has the upper hand.
ON THE FORCE
US Special Operations Command has a vision for what the force should look like in 2020: forward-deployed, constantly engaged.
The Army has war-gamed a potential flare-up on the Korean peninsula and has found itself wanting.
The embattled Human Terrain System is under fire yet again, this time from Republican lawmakers questioning its cost and mission profile.
The Department of Defense has announced the selection of six appointees to the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services, or DACOWITS. The committee, established during the Korean War in 1951 by Secretary of Defense George C. Marshall, is an independent advisory committee that provides the department with advice and recommendations on matters and policies relating to the recruitment and retention, treatment, employment, integration, and well-being of highly qualified professional women in the Armed Forces.
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
A former State Department lawyer has expressed reservations that transferring the drone programs to the Pentagon from CIA will result in any meaningful amount of transparency.
The Week’s Marc Ambinder: on the practical effects of transferring the drone programs to the Pentagon from CIA
ON SECRECY – OR LACK THEREOF
A former CIA case officer has found his niche in Hollywood, advising studios and providing inputs to scripts.
Two former CIA employees whose Kansas home was fruitlessly searched for marijuana during a two-state drug sweep claim they were illegally targeted, possibly because they had bought indoor growing supplies to raise vegetables.
CONTRACT WATCH
The Defense Intelligence Agency’s Combat Intelligence Augmentation Teams are ramping up support to their ‘customers’ overseas, and with that comes greater contractor augmentation.
