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Combined Force Kills Dozens of Insurgents

Fri, 14 May 2010 02:51:37 +0000

Compiled from International Security Assistance Force Joint Command News Releases May 13, 2010 – An Afghan-international security force killed more than two dozen insurgents and captured several others while pursuing a senior Taliban commander in Afghanistan’s Kunduz province last night, military officials reported. The combined force went to a compound in the province’s Kunduz district, after intelligence information confirmed the Taliban were staging for a large attack. As the Afghan-led element moved into the target area, it immediately began receiving fire from a mosque and surrounding woods, and then returned fire. Shortly after, several armed men ran toward and fired on the combined force. They were engaged and killed. Other insurgents were killed as they continued to fire on the combined force with machine guns, automatic rifles and hand grenades.

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Combined Force Kills Dozens of Insurgents

Afghan Perceptions Key to Success, McChrystal Says

Thu, 13 May 2010 20:45:00 +0000

By Jim Garamone American Forces Press Service May 13, 2010 – Changing the perceptions of the Afghan people about the coalition, their own government and the Taliban will be key to success in that nation, the commander of the International Security Assistance Force and U.S. forces in Afghanistan said here today. Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal told Pentagon reporters that achieving more progress in the counterinsurgency campaign in Afghanistan will be a slow, deliberate endeavor, because changing perceptions is challenging. Efforts in the country will be directed toward “changing not only the dynamics of security, governance and development, but also the attitudes of a population long pressured by insurgents,” he said. The strategic priority in the country is the development of Afghan national security forces, McChrystal said. “While both the army and police have demonstrated considerable growth,” he said, “significant challenges remain. The bottom line is there’s much more work ahead to mature Afghan security forces

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Afghan Perceptions Key to Success, McChrystal Says

Russian Generals Want Their Space Weapons, Too

admin — Thu, 13 May 2010 15:57:09 +0000

Weeks after the Air Force launched the X-37B reusable space plane on a classified mission and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency launched a hypersonic glider over the Pacific , the Russians are looking at their own inventory of space weaponry — and are worrying of a serious lag behind the United States. Russian news agency RIA-Novosti reports today that a group of retired Russian generals has called for an upgrade to the country’s space defenses, saying that the Russian defense industry has fallen dangerously behind and that the country has a limited capability to counter possible threats from space. “Frankly, our space defense capabilities are limited and insufficient to ensure our national security,” the agency quoted former Russian air force commander Anatoly Kornukov at a roundtable on the future of Russia’s air and space defenses. Anatoly Sitnov, the former head of procurement for Russia’s armed forces, had a better (and more eeeevil !) quote. “Who owns space, owns the world,” he said. “When we tried to test laser weapons in space, we were told that the militarization of outer space must not occur and we stopped, but the United States has started and continues to test these weapons even today.” Fair enough.

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Russian Generals Want Their Space Weapons, Too

Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of Intelligence and Analysis

Steven Aftergood — Thu, 13 May 2010 15:29:49 +0000

Testimony of Under Secretary and Chief Intelligence Officer Caryn Wagner and Principal Deputy Under Secretary Bart Johnson, before the House Committee on Homeland Security , on the Office of Intelligence and Analysis’ Vision and Goals Release Date: May 12, 2010 Introduction Chairman Harman, Ranking Member McCaul, and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the vision and goals for the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A). This is my first testimony before the Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment since my confirmation on February 11, 2010. I am honored to serve as the Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis and Chief Intelligence Officer for DHS. I look forward to working closely with this Subcommittee and the Congress to lead and strengthen the critical intelligence mission of the Department. The Office of Intelligence and Analysis Strategic Vision I&A’s overarching vision is to be the trusted leader in meeting our nation’s homeland security intelligence needs. This vision drives our core focus of strengthening the Department’s and our partners’ ability to protect the homeland by accessing, integrating, analyzing, and sharing timely and relevant intelligence and information, while protecting the privacy and civil rights and civil liberties of all Americans. I&A’s programs and activities align with the core DHS missions designated in our recently completed Quadrennial Homeland Security Review (QHSR). Intelligence and information sharing are identified as key activities for the Department in the QHSR. To that end, I&A plays a critical role to DHS’ success in all of its core mission areas: preventing terrorism and enhancing security; securing and managing our borders; enforcing and administering our immigration laws; safeguarding and securing cyberspace; ensuring resilience to disasters; and strengthening and maturing the Department. I have spent considerable time reviewing the roles, missions, functions and alignment of I&A since my confirmation in February.

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Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of Intelligence and Analysis

Afghanistan Operation Leaves Taliban Commander Dead

Steven Aftergood — Thu, 13 May 2010 14:46:40 +0000

From an International Security Assistance Force Joint Command News Release KABUL, May 12, 2010 – Afghan and international forces killed a leading Taliban commander in Afghanistan’s Helmand province yesterday, military officials reported. Officials said the combined operation resulted in the death of a leading Taliban commander known as Amid. The insurgent commander’s demise is expected to disrupt the training facilitation of an active Taliban network in Helmand’s Malmand district. After several compounds were identified as possible locations for Amid, the operation was conducted to search the compounds and find him. As the combined force approached the first compound, one insurgent fled to an adjacent compound that was occupied by women and children, while two others hid in a nearby tree line. The combined force secured three compounds, and Afghan special police conducted numerous callouts in local dialects. Several men, women, and children vacated the compounds and were moved to a safe area for the duration of the operation. Once they were assured the civilians were safe, the combined force proceeded to the tree line to apprehend the insurgents who had fled from the first compound.

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Afghanistan Operation Leaves Taliban Commander Dead

Vice Chair Cartwright Tells Services to Wake Up to Reality of Smaller Budgets

admin — Thu, 13 May 2010 14:44:03 +0000

The point man in charge of requirements at the Pentagon, vice chair of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Hoss Cartwright, just told the services to “wake up!” at a CSIS sponsored conference in Washington, DC. In the real world, not the fantasy bubble of never ending defense budget increases, there are such things as economic dislocation, fiscal deficits and resource constraints, he said. “You are not going to have 300 to 500 ships. You are not going to have thousands of fighters.” At the same time, America must try and reverse its course of the last decade, which was bringing us to the point where we would have one ship on each coast and one plane on each coast, and focus on quantity to help reverse that stark reality: “We need quantity more than we need that high end exquisite capability. If we can’t figure out how to get to that we’re living in denial of the world we’re in and hoping for the world we want to have in front of us.” He echoed a theme that we’re hearing more and more from top military leaders, particularly SecDef Robert Gates, in recent weeks: we must think in terms of partnering and building coalitions. Defense planners too often look at a military challenge and say the U.S. military must buy up weapons in sufficient number to meet that challenge (think the rise of China).

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Vice Chair Cartwright Tells Services to Wake Up to Reality of Smaller Budgets

Afghanistan Operations Target Bombers, Weapons

Steven Aftergood — Thu, 13 May 2010 03:17:22 +0000

Compiled from International Security Assistance Force Joint Command News Releases May 11, 2010 – Afghan and international patrols targeted bombing facilitators and weapons used to attack security forces during recent operations in southern and eastern Afghanistan, military officials reported. Two insurgents were killed when they fired on an Afghan-international security force as it pursued a Taliban commander in Ghazni province last night. The combined force went to an open field in the Qara Bagh district after intelligence information indicated insurgent activity. The security force was confronted in a small camp by several armed insurgents. Two of the militants were killed in the ensuing firefight. The search team interviewed one of the tent owners, who said the insurgents were outsiders who had forced their way into the camp.

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Afghanistan Operations Target Bombers, Weapons

U.K. Firm Fined $2 Million After Pleading Guilty to Illegally Exporting Boeing 747 Aircraft to Iran

Thu, 13 May 2010 02:17:25 +0000

Balli Aviation Ltd., a subsidiary of the United Kingdom-based Balli Group PLC, was sentenced today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to pay a $2 million fine and to serve a five-year corporate period of probation after pleading guilty on Feb. 5, 2010, to a two-count criminal information in connection with its illegal export of commercial Boeing 747 aircraft from the United States to Iran. The sentence was announced today by David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; Ronald C. Machem Jr., U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia; David W. Mills, Commerce Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement; and Adam J. Szubin, Director of the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control

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U.K. Firm Fined $2 Million After Pleading Guilty to Illegally Exporting Boeing 747 Aircraft to Iran

Our Pal Karzai Kicks Charities Out of Afghanistan

admin — Tue, 11 May 2010 18:54:55 +0000

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is in Washington this week, and corruption is expected to be at the top of the agenda. Back at home, Afghan authorities have already launched their own crackdown — aimed, in part, at foreigners. Reuters reports today from Kabul that the Afghan government has closed down nearly two dozen international aid groups and charities working in the country for failing to provide proper documentation and paperwork to the government. IRIN reports that the groups hit by the ban include Save the Children Japan, Afghan Children’s Relief Organization, International Dispensary Association and Samaritan’s Purse International. In addition, several dozen 152 Afghan non-governmental organizations had their licenses revoked. It’s not clear if this is a populist push — Karzai has blamed “foreigners” for encouraging electoral fraud during Afghanistan’s flawed 2009 presidential election – or part of a genuine effort to close non-profits that aren’t doing what they are supposed to do. But it comes after a series of raids by Kabul’s vice squad that targeted expatriate watering holes and set the capital’s international community on edge. Private security firms also seem to be in the crosshairs. Early this week, the Afghan government barred two private security firms after separate incidents in which hired guards shot and killed civilians on a dangerous southern highway. One of the firms, Compass Integrated Security Solutions , maintains offices in Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Iraqi Kurdistan; a second, Watan Risk Management , describes itself as “Afghan owned and British managed.” Again, it’s not clear if the move represents the beginning of a broader crackdown on expatriate security firms, or a genuine effort to reduce on civilian casualties

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Our Pal Karzai Kicks Charities Out of Afghanistan

Iran Nukes – No Easy Choices

Tue, 11 May 2010 13:40:00 +0000

Administration policy aimed at countering Iran’s nuclear ambitions has so far been a “four rail bank shot”, Ambassador Robert Joseph , former arms control official and senior scholar at the National Institute for Public Policy, told a group of national security bloggers at the Heritage Foundation on Monday. By giving up plans for a third ground-based interceptor missile defense site, Joseph said, the administration eased the path to a strategic arms agreement with Russia, “which was supposed to ease the relations with Russia and help get Russia and China together to put pressure on Iran.” “I don’t know what we got for that,’ Joseph added, “but so far it doesn’t appear to be working.” Overall, he suggests, future administration policy could be “Plan A isn’t working, so Plan B is to do more Plan A.” The NIPP is also urging the Senate to take a hard look at the New Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) treaty signed in Prague last month, in particular what the NIPP calls “explicit and implicit” limits on missile defense and conventional Prompt Global Strike systems. The Prague preamble states that missile defense forces are to be kept proportional to delivery systems, while PGS systems would count against the agreed ceilings on “strategic launchers”. As for Iran, Joseph sees no easy answers. The use of force “could slow the program but not end it, and the consequences would be enormous.” As for an Israeli attack, even if effective, “we would be blamed for it whether we knew about it or whether we didn’t.” The problem with Israel’s own deterrent – generally considered to include a second-strike capability, based on cruise missiles carried by Dolphin-class submarines – is that it is “99 per cent effective”, Joseph says. “Iran’s leader says that he wants to destroy Israel. Would he pull the trigger?

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Iran Nukes – No Easy Choices

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