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Monday 19 May 2014

Monday Defense Briefing

The Pentagon would be forbidden from using U.S. tax dollars on contracts with the Russian arms dealer Rosoboronexport under a new, bipartisan bill. – The Hill

The high cost of the US Defense Department’s weapon programs threatens national security, the head of the Pentagon’s advanced research-and-development arm said. – Defense News

A key US senator signaled he will support at least some of the Obama administration’s proposed US troop cuts in his portion of the upper chamber’s 2015 Pentagon policy bill. – Defense News

The Republican Party is trying out a new line in defense of the embattled F-35 fighter jet. It goes a little something like this: Burn Washington’s partners on the program now, and building coalitions of the willing will be harder later. – Defense News

The War
The unique U.S. counterterrorism model of intelligence-driven operations by multiagency task forces around the globe represents war—perhaps by another name, but deadly and perpetual, nonetheless. – National Journal

The chances that a terrorist will try to target the United States are growing increasingly high, according to the former head of the National Security Agency. – The Hill

US Sen. John McCain is poised to ignite a new — and potentially fiery — fight on Capitol Hill over whether the military or CIA should control America’s armed drone program. – Defense News

The heads of state of five West African countries, including Nigeria, met Saturday with Western officials and agreed to share intelligence and strengthen military cooperation to combat the regional threat from the extremist Islamist group Boko Haram, which abducted more than 200 schoolgirls in northern Nigeria last month. – New York Times

A federal judge in Washington ordered the U.S. military on Friday to at least temporarily stop force-feeding a hunger striking prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay naval base. – Associated Press

Video: Intel Cmte Chair Sen. Dianne Feinstein on NSA spying and the threat of terror worldwide. – CNN

A suicide car bomber killed five people on a street of popular bars and restaurants in the northern Nigerian city of Kano on Sunday evening, in an area mostly inhabited by southern Christians, police said. – Reuters

In sifting through the long-dead embers from the embassy bombing, Mr. Bird makes a startling assertion: that an Iranian intelligence officer who defected to the United States in 2007 and is still living here under C.I.A. protection, oversaw the 1983 bombing, as well as other terrorist attacks against Americans in Lebanon. – New York Times

More than a week after the announcement of a House select committee to investigate the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Democrats — who have dismissed the panel as a partisan political witch hunt — have yet to formally say the extent to which they plan to participate in the probe. – Washington Times

Chinese police have launched an international manhunt for a member of a separatist organization suspected of plotting a knife-and-bomb attack at a train station in the northwestern region of Xinjiang in April, official media reported. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)

The terror group Hamas says that it will continue its “armed resistance” against Israel and Jewish people “in all of its forms” until Israel is destroyed, according to a statement by one of the terror group’s top officials. – Washington Free Beacon

Militias allied with a former Libyan general staged a brazen attack on Libya’s parliament on Sunday and declared it dissolved, in some of the worst fighting the capital has seen since the 2011 revolution. – Washington Post

A series of attacks in Iraq, mainly bombings targeting markets and commercial streets, killed 14 people Sunday, officials said. – Associated Press

From his base in Damascus, Bashar al-Assad can contemplate a broad sweep of Syria clawed back from rebels who once threatened to drive him out. The capital which they targeted is now plastered with posters inviting Syrians to reelect him president. – Reuters

NATO
Montenegro’s prime minister said he hopes the country will get an invitation this fall to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization despite new tensions between the West and Russia, which views NATO’s eastward enlargement as a strategic threat. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)

America’s top general plans to push his NATO counterparts to increase security contributions in southern Europe along the Mediterranean at a meeting of the alliance’s uniformed leaders this week. – Defense News

NATO would struggle to defend the Baltic states from any Russian aggression “with conventional means”, Germany’s Spiegel magazine reported on Sunday, citing sources close to the organization and a draft of a NATO planning document. – Reuters

Foreign Armies East
Britain offered on Saturday to send advisers to help the Nigerian military organize its efforts to fight Boko Haram rebels. – Reuters

The head of Syria’s air defenses was killed in clashes near the capital, Damascus, a government official and activists said Sunday. Lt. Gen. Hussein Ishaq was one of a few high-ranking military officers to be killed in the country’s three-year-old conflict. – Washington Post

A Chinese weapons supplier on Friday rejected claims that it sold Syria chlorine gas, an unusual statement from a tight-lipped company that reflects Beijing’s desire to distance itself from chemical weapons. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)

Ukraine wants the US to provide it with military body armor, vehicles and reconnaissance equipment left over from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to help it deter Russian forces in the eastern region of the country, according to a former Kiev official. – Defense News

Mali sent in troops on Sunday to retake Kidal from Tuareg separatists after six government workers and two civilians were killed, according to the United Nations, during an attack on the regional governor’s office. – Reuters

More than 13,000 troops from 24 countries are to take part in the annual “Eager Lion” military exercise in Jordan, state news agency Petra said Sunday. – AFP

Saudi Arabia’s reshuffling of its top military leadership — in which hardliners are being replaced by moderates — is just the latest in a string of changes in the kingdom’s defense posture, and comes as Saudi Arabia assures its allies that it is still strong on defense. – Defense News

United Nations peacekeeping missions routinely avoid using force to protect civilians who are under attack, intervening in only 20 percent of cases despite being authorized to do so by the U.N. Security Council, an internal U.N. study found. – Reuters

If North Korea shoots a missile at a U.S. aircraft carrier, and Japan has the ability to knock the missile down before it strikes. Should it do so?  Mr. Abe says that, under current law and constitutional interpretation, Japan would be unable to act. He wants to change that. – Washington Post

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