Category: Intl Security

Iran: Info Quality

    U.S. Is Said To Expand Covert Operations In Iran
    (Washington Post)…Joby Warrick
    The Bush administration told Congress last year of a secret plan to dramatically expand covert operations inside Iran as part of a long-running effort to destabilize the country’s ruling regime, according to a report published yesterday.
    320,000 Graves To Be Dug For Enemies
    (Washington Times)…Agence France-Presse
    Iran is to dig 320,000 graves in border districts to allow for the burial of enemy soldiers in the event of any attack on its territory, a top commander said on Sunday.
    Tehran Reportedly Reviewing Incentives
    (Baltimore Sun)…Unattributed
    Iran’s official IRNA news agency is reporting that officials are still reviewing an international package of economic incentives designed to get Tehran to curb its nuclear program.

Afghanistan: Trends ….

    U.S. Sounds Afghan Alarm, (Wall Street Journal)…Yochi Dreazen, In a remarkable shift, Afghanistan, where U.S. officials were once confident of victory, is now rivaling Iraq as the biggest cause of concern for American policymakers.
    Pentagon Report Anticipates Rising Violence In Afghanistan, (Washington Post)…Josh White
    …Attacks in Afghanistan have shown a dramatic upturn in recent weeks, appearing to validate the findings in the report, the first of its kind regarding the country.
    Pentagon Paints A Bleak Picture For Afghan South
    (Los Angeles Times)…Peter Spiegel and Julian E. Barnes
    …Any extension of the Marines’ tour is likely to be controversial. Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said they will not stay more than seven months. And Gen. James T. Conway, commandant of the Marine Corps, has said any deployment past October would put unacceptable stress on his ground forces.
    New Deadly Attack Raises Coalition Toll
    (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)…Unattributed
    One member of the U.S.-led military coalition in Afghanistan was killed and five more wounded in the country’s increasingly turbulent west, the military said Friday.

N. Korea: First steps

Korean Nukes: Don’t Get Giddy, (New York Post)…Peter Brookes, June 27, 2008

NORTH Korea gave the world some good news this week – finally handing over a declaration about its nuclear program and promising to blow up the cooling tower at its Yongbyon nuclear facility. But don’t break out the best bubbly just yet.

These moves are only a first step in what is likely to be a drawn-out, slippery, pot-hole-filled road in a (possibly futile) attempt to roll back Kim Jong Il’s membership in the nuclear-weapons club.

But a welcome initial step. Pyongyang is six months late in handing over what’s supposed to be a complete and correct accounting of its nuclear programs – and you can bet we’re not going to get anything close to the Full Monty.

* It won’t have anything about the regime’s clandestine, uranium-based nuclear-weapons program.

* The declaration also won’t have any info on the regime’s nuclear-proliferation activities, such as its work with Damascus on a nuclear reactor at al Kibar in northern Syria (the one targeted in last September’s Israeli air raid).

* Finally, it won’t have the scoop on the size of the North Korean nuclear-weapons arsenal.

N.Korea: Incremental Strategy

Bush Rebuffs Hard-Liners To Ease North Korean Curbs
(New York Times)…Helene Cooper, June 27, 2008

…In the internal Bush administration war between the State Department and Mr. Cheney’s office over North Korea, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her top North Korea envoy, Christopher R. Hill, won a major battle against the Cheney camp when President Bush announced Thursday that he was taking the country he once described as part of the “axis of evil” off the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism.

But the declaration falls short of the full accounting that the administration had sought, since it omits any information about North Korea’s suspected efforts to enrich uranium, or the extent of any of the North’s sharing of technology around the world.

Removing N. Korea from the terrorism blacklist is significant.

Army FCS: Accelerated Delivery

High-Tech Combat Equipment Expedited For Use In Iraq, (Washington Post)…Donna Borak, Associated Press, June 27, 2008, Pg. D4

The Army will deliver some key technologies to ground forces in war zones three years ahead of schedule as part of its $160 billion combat modernization program led by Boeing and SAIC.

Senior Army officials said Thursday that changes to the Future Combat Systems program will expedite the use of high-tech equipment, including unmanned sensors and robotics, to infantry brigades fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan by 2011.

Army: Support for FCS Restructure

Gates Believes FCS Restructure ‘Deserves Support’
(InsideDefense.com)…Daniel Wasserbly, June 26, 2008

The Army today announced its new plan for fielding the first iteration of Future Combat Systems equipment to infantry brigade combat teams, garnering support from Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee.

FCS is the Army’s premier modernization program — it encompasses various manned and unmanned platforms, sensors and battle-command and high-speed networking tools, which it will provide to soldiers through three technology insertions, or “spin outs.”

China EMP Technology

Inside The Ring, China EMP arms, Washington Times, June 26, 2008 Pg. B1 By Bill Gertz

China’s significant military buildup includes strategic weapons designed to counter U.S. military advantages, including electric pulse weapons, a senior Pentagon official told Congress Wednesday.

James J. Shinn, assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs also said during House testimony that China’s arms buildup is increasing the danger of a future conflict over Taiwan.

He disclosed that China’s military is working on exotic electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapons that can devastate electronic systems using a burst of energy similar to that produced by a nuclear blast.

 The recent election of Ma Ying-jeou as Taiwan’s president and the renewal of China-Taiwan discussions “at least, appears to have reduced the threat and the probability of the use of force.”

Air Force Maj. Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, vice director of the Joint Staff for strategic plans and policy, said he agreed with Mr. Shinn and warned that the increase in Chinese air defense and other war-fighting capabilities in the strait “make it militarily a more challenging area.”

Gen. Breedlove said it is hoped that increased military dialogue with China will diffuse the danger of “possible incidents across the strait.”