DEFENSE SPENDING
Budget Agreement Reached!
Gordon Adams, Foreign Policy – November 27, 2012
Think tanks are often the canary in the coal mine when it comes to change in Washington, and their perspective on defense has changed dramatically since the election. Over the past few weeks, think tanks right, left, and center have issued reports that lay out the road to a disciplined defense drawdown, in which they rethink strategy, military force, weapons buying, and management.
IRAN
Iran nuclear chief: Enrichment to move ahead with ‘intensity’
AP – November 28, 2012
Iran’s nuclear chief says uranium enrichment will move ahead with “intensity” with a sharp increase in the number of centrifuges used to make the nuclear fuel.
Iran’s nuclear stockpile grows but not yet in “danger zone”
Fredrik Dahl, Reuters – November 27, 2012
An increase in Iran’s higher-grade uranium stockpile is worrying but may arise from a bottleneck in making reactor fuel rather than a bid to quickly accumulate material that could be used for nuclear weapons, diplomats and experts say.
NORTH KOREA
S. Korean, Chinese nuclear envoys to hold talks on N. Korea this week
Yonhap News – November 28, 2012
South Korea’s top nuclear envoy will visit China this week to discuss the situation of the Korean Peninsula and North Korean issues, Seoul’s foreign ministry said Wednesday, amid reports the communist country appears to prepare for another ballistic missile test.
HOMELAND SECURITY
MCCAUL: Correcting Homeland Security corruption
Rep. Michael T. McCaul, Washington Times – November 28, 2012
With these same sound business principles in mind, it is necessary to conduct an independent, top-to-bottom examination of deficiencies in Department of Homeland Security (DHS) leadership and management structure.
AFGHANISTAN
Review: Kabul Bank sent hundreds of millions of dollars out of Afghanistan
AP, Washington Post – November 28, 2012
Hundreds of millions of dollars from Kabul Bank were spirited out of Afghanistan — some smuggled in airline food trays — to bank accounts in more than two dozen countries, according to an independent review released on Wednesday about massive fraud that led to the collapse of the nation’s largest financial institution.
SYRIA
Syrian rebels, civilians brace for long civil war
Khalil Hamra, CBS News – November 28, 2012
A dark realization is spreading across northern Syria that despite 20 months of violence and recent rebel gains, an end to the war to topple President Bashar Assad is nowhere in sight.As a result, civilians and rebel fighters are digging in, building an infrastructure to secure rebel towns, care for the wounded and escalate the fight against Assad’s forces.
On Syria border, Turkey faces challenge of removing its own land mines, a legacy of the 1950s
AP, Washington Post – November 28, 2012
Turkey says it plans to clear anti-personnel mines on the Syria border by 2016, missing a March 2014 deadline required by the international Mine Ban Treaty. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines, a Geneva-based group that won the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, has criticized Turkey for its slow progress.
CYBER THREATS
Taipei’s Cyberwarfare Gambit
Paul Nash, Diplomat Courier – November 28, 2012
When it comes to questions of territorial sovereignty, Taiwan has never been shy about making bold, even antagonistic accusations against the Chinese mainland. Cyber territory is no exception. According to a report lately published by Taiwan’s National Security Bureau, the PRC is behind a growing number of cyberintrusions targeting its government and corporate networks—more than a million during the first half of this year alone.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
Reducing the Role of Nuclear Weapons: What the NPDI Can Do
George Perkovich, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace – November 28, 2012
If the NPDI states are to accomplish their laudable objectives, they will need to blend realism with idealism. Seven of the ten states live under the U.S. nuclear umbrella, and among the seven, there are divergent perceptions of threat from nuclear-armed competitors. Agreeing on where to put the threshold for potential nuclear use will be difficult.
