C U R R E N T NEWS
E A R L Y B I R D
October 19, 2012
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CIA
1. CIA Seeking More Drones
(Washington Post)...Greg Miller
The CIA is urging the White House to approve a significant expansion of the agency's fleet of armed drones, a move that would extend the spy service's decade-long transformation into a paramilitary force, U.S. officials said.
AFGHANISTAN
2. Afghan Officials Spar Over 2014 Vote
(New York Times)...Matthew Rosenberg
Nearly two years before Afghanistan's presidential election, a brewing dispute between President Hamid Karzai and Afghan lawmakers over the handling of voter fraud complaints is raising questions about whether a credible election can be held — and, by extension, future international support for the country's financially ailing government.
3. Karzai: Afghan Forces 'Ready'
(Los Angeles Times)...Ned Parker
President Hamid Karzai said Thursday that Afghan security forces were ready to protect the country if the U.S.-led NATO force speeds up its withdrawal before a scheduled 2014 departure date.
4. Afghan Villagers Expel The Taliban
(Philadelphia Inquirer)...Robert Burns, Associated Press
...
Small-scale revolts in recent months like the one in Kunsaf, mostly along a stretch of desert south of the Afghan capital, indicate bits of a grassroots, do-it-yourself anti-insurgency that the United States hopes Afghan authorities can transform into a wider movement. Perhaps it can undercut the Taliban in areas it still dominates after 11 years of war with the United States and NATO allies.
DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
5. Troops Mounting Student Debt Raises Concerns At Pentagon
(Washington Post)...Phil Stewart, Reuters
U.S. military officials voiced concern Thursday over American troops' mounting student-loan debt, saying loan companies appeared to be guiding them away from special protections they earned through service.
6. Panetta: New Africa Command Leader To Be Nominated
(Yahoo.com)...Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press
An Army general with extensive experience in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is being nominated by President Barack Obama to lead the military's Africa command, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday, amid growing U.S. worries about terrorism and unrest in that region. Gen. David Rodriguez, currently head of U.S. Army Forces Command, would be the third Army general to head Africa Command, which was created in 2007.
7. Arctic Thaw Brings New Security Worries
(Los Angeles Times)...Kim Murphy
...
The rush for riches as Russia, Norway and Canada vie with the U.S. for the Arctic's mineral resources, and the possibility that drug dealers, arms merchants and terrorists could begin to explore transport routes near America's largest oil fields have prompted the U.S. military to begin planning for a future in the Arctic much more substantial than it had envisioned.
8. Application Deadline For 'Stop-Loss' Pay Is Sunday
(Washington Post)...Steve Vogel
The deadline for service members, veterans and beneficiaries to apply for retroactive "stop loss" pay for post-9/11 military service is fast approaching.
MIDEAST
9. Joint Missile Defense Exercise
(CNN)...Chris Lawrence
A massive show of military power between the United States and Israel underway right now. The first of a thousand American troops arriving in Israel for the largest joint missile defense exercise in the history of the U.S./Israeli alliance. It all comes amid escalating intentions with Iran and international concerns it may soon flex its nuclear muscle down the road.
10. Iraq Presses US For Faster Arms Deliveries
(Yahoo.com)...Adam Schreck, Associated Press
Iraq's prime minister pressed for faster deliveries of weapons to help arm his country's military during a Thursday meeting with a senior U.S. defense official. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki made the request during talks with U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter in Baghdad, according to a statement by the Iraqi leader's office.
11. Seized By Rebels, Town Is Crushed By Syrian Forces
(New York Times)...Anne Barnard and Hwaida Saad
...
On Thursday, jubilation turned to horror as government airstrikes sent fountains of dust and rubble skyward and crushed several dozen people who had returned to what they thought was a new haven in a country mired in civil war, according to reporters on the scene for a Western news agency, and antigovernment fighters and activists who backed up their accounts with videos posted online.
12. Turkey And Egypt Seek Alliance Amid Upheaval Of Arab Spring
(New York Times)...Tim Arango
...
As a result, each country seems to need the other in an alliance that could shape the region for decades to come and help it emerge from the tumult of Arab revolutions.
LIBYA
13. Suspect In Libya Attack, In Plain Sight, Scoffs At U.S.
(New York Times)...David D. Kirkpatrick
Witnesses and the authorities have called Ahmed Abu Khattala one of the ringleaders of the Sept. 11 attack on the American diplomatic mission here. But just days after President Obama reasserted his vow to bring those responsible to justice, Mr. Abu Khattala spent two leisurely hours on Thursday evening at a crowded luxury hotel, sipping mango juice on a patio and scoffing at the threats coming from the American and Libyan governments.
14. Early Uncertainty On Libya Account
(Wall Street Journal)...Adam Entous and Siobhan Gorman
The night before Susan Rice went public with the administration's assessment of the Sept. 11 U.S. consulate attack in Libya, intelligence analysts were receiving new information that contradicted the account she gave.
PAKISTAN
15. Pakistanis Debate Real Enemy: Girl-Shooting Taliban Or Drone-Firing US
(Christian Science Monitor (csmonitor.com))...Taha Siddiqui
The news that the Taliban shot a 14-year-old girl for speaking out against them has highlighted a major division in Pakistan over the question of which is worse: the United States or militants?
MILITARY COMMISSIONS
16. U.S. Seeks More Secrecy In Case Against 9/11 Suspects
(Los Angeles Times)...Richard A. Serrano
Government prosecutors in the Sept. 11 conspiracy case broadened their request for secrecy Thursday by asking for more restrictions against the public release of sensitive law enforcement material collected in the sweeping investigation into the 2001 terrorist attacks.
17. Judge In 9/11 Case Weighs Whether Constitution Applies At Guantanamo
(Reuters.com)...Jane Sutton, Reuters
The Guantanamo tribunal judge should deal with constitutional challenges individually as they arise rather than make a blanket presumption the U.S. Constitution applies in the trial of five men accused of plotting the September 11 attacks, a U.S. prosecutor argued on Thursday.
18. Navy To Go After Rats, Mold In Gitmo Legal Offices
(Yahoo.com)...Ben Fox, Associated Press
Legal offices that are so contaminated with mold and rat droppings that lawyers in the Sept. 11 terrorism trial have been getting sick will get a full clean-up and be evaluated by safety experts, a military official said Thursday.
ARMY
19. Army Leaders Say Soldiers Will Require Long-Term Mental Health Care
(Fayetteville (NC) Observer)...John Ramsey
Army commanders said they expect more soldiers to struggle with mental health problems as deployments to the Middle East become more rare.
20. Texas: Defendant Told To Shave
(New York Times)...Associated Press
An Army appeals court has ruled that the defendant in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting that killed 13 can have his facial hair forcibly shaved off before his murder trial.
21. Fort Hood Victims See Similarities To Benghazi
(Washington Times)...Susan Crabtree
...
Mrs. Munley, who is in close contact with many of the other Fort Hood victims, said top Defense Department and Obama administration officials have never contacted her or any other victim that she knows of about their desire to have the federal government classify the attack as terrorism.
MARINE CORPS
22. Troops And Dogs Bond On Battlefield
(USA Today)...Jim Michaels
The shrapnel tore into his midsection and blood was squirting from his right leg. Marine Cpl. Joseph Singer plugged the hole in his leg with a finger and fretted about his dog.
NAVY
23. Ships, Subs Shift At Pearl Harbor
(Honolulu Star-Advertiser)...William Cole
A sea change is coming to the fleet at Pearl Harbor.
24. Sub Cost Must Continue To Fall, Admiral Says
(Newport News Daily Press)...Michael Welles Shapiro
The Navy admiral overseeing submarine construction said Thursday that if the price tag for building the newest vessels remains where it is today, there will have to be cutbacks to the Virginia-class program.
25. Serene About Scene
(Philadelphia Inquirer)...Edward Colimore
At 178 feet long and 56 feet high, the massive airship dwarfed members of the ground crew Thursday as they strained to hold on to tethering lines like so many Lilliputians trying to control Gulliver.
AIR FORCE
26. Top Brass To Discuss U.S. Air Force Role In Cyber Warfare
(Reuters.com)...Reuters
Twenty top U.S. Air Force generals are due to discuss cyber warfare in a November meeting aimed at clarifying the service's role in this new and increasingly important arena of military conflict.
ASIA/PACIFIC
27. U.S. To Invite Myanmar To Joint Military Exercises
(NYTimes.com)...Reuters
The United States will invite Myanmar to the world's largest multinational military field exercise, a powerful symbolic gesture toward a military with a grim human rights record and a milestone in its rapprochement with the West.
28. US Military Imposing Curfew In Japan After Attack
(NYTimes.com)...Associated Press
The commander of the U.S. forces in Japan says American military personnel will be subject to a curfew and other restrictions following allegations two U.S. sailors raped a woman in Okinawa.
29. China's Navy Drills Amid Isles Dispute With Japan
(NYTimes.com)...Associated Press
China flexed some maritime muscle in its dispute with Japan over a chain of uninhabited islands, holding naval exercises in the East China Sea on Friday to demonstrate its ability to enforce its territorial claims at sea.
BUSINESS
30. EADS Pushes Plan For U.S. Army Helicopter
(Wall Street Journal)...Dion Nissenbaum
In the wake of failed merger talks, European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. is going through a reset and looking to improve its position in the U.S. defense industry by aggressively pushing a lucrative plan to replace the U.S. Army's light attack helicopter.
COMMENTARY
31. A Better Place To Cut
(Washington Post)...Harold Brown
To protect military programs, get rid of redundant service secretaries.
32. Afghanistan's Gray Future
(ForeignPolicy.com)...Haseeb Humayoon
...
The future of the country, though, is neither black nor white. The truth is that Afghanistan has been transformed since 2001, rendering responsible politics a chance to define its outlook.
33. Among The Snipers Of Aleppo
(New York Times)...Benjamin Hall
...
It would be an error for the United States and the European Union to supply arms to the rebels or intervene on the ground. No one would be happier to see America mired in the country than Iran, which sees a chaotic Syria as the next best thing to an allied Syria. The most the West can do is impose a no-fly zone under the auspices of NATO to ground the government's air force.
34. An Arms Control Opportunity
(Los Angeles Times)...Steven Pifer and Michael O'Hanlon
...
Arms control will provide the president in 2013 with an important opportunity. As we mark the 50th anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis this month, the United States and Russia thankfully do not stand at another nuclear brink, but they do still have a very considerable interest in seizing this opportunity.
35. Topic No. 1 For Next Debate: War Powers
(Washington Post)...Walter Pincus
Bob Schieffer, moderator of Monday's foreign policy debate, should ask President Obama and Mitt Romney to state their beliefs about a president's power to send U.S. forces to fight without authorization of Congress.
36. The Veteran Vote
(Los Angeles Times)...Linda J. Bilmes
Veterans could play a key role in deciding whether Mitt Romney or Barack Obama is in the White House next year. The swing states -- Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, Nevada, Colorado and Ohio -- have high concentrations of vets. And veterans as a group are twice as likely to vote as the rest of the electorate. No surprise, then, that both candidates are heavily courting their votes.
37. Groups Want Congress To Contract Contractor Pay
(Washington Post)...Joe Davidson
Federal employee and public interest groups are asking key members of Congress to significantly lower the limit on payments to Defense Department contract workers.
38. In The Loop
(Washington Post)...Al Kamen
Shaking a car, and trying to shake up an envoy?; Roughing the Democrat; Does this orange jumpsuit make me look fat?; McHugh back, mending
39. The Foreign Policy Debate
(Wall Street Journal)...Editorial
How Romney can show Americans he can be a capable Commander in Chief.
40. The Choice On Defense
(Washington Post)...Editorial
Mr. Romney's plan better meets U.S. needs. But how to pay for it?
41. Safety Of Marine Mammals -- (Letter)
(New York Times)...John F. Kirby
...
We are recognized leaders in the field of marine mammal research. We know that there is an effect on marine mammals, and we take that very seriously.
CORRECTIONS
42. Corrections And Amplifications
(Wall Street Journal)...The Wall Street Journal
The civilian expert who said analysts have begun compiling, at U.S. request, potential militant targets in northern Mali is based in the U.S. A page-one article on Wednesday about the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, incorrectly identified the analyst as Mali-based. Also, senior Libyan rebel commander Abdel Fattah Younis was assassinated in July 2011; the article said it was last July.
43. Corrections
(New York Times)...The New York Times
An article on Tuesday about violence in Afghanistan quoted incorrectly from comments by an I.S.A.F. spokesman, Maj. Adam Wojack, about a coalition attack over the weekend in Nawa district in which three Afghans were killed. Major Wojack called the attack "a precision strike" on the three, not "a precision airstrike." (The military has since clarified that it was an artillery barrage, not an airstrike.)