Wings Over Iraq

The V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor is set to see 100 export orders over the next nine years, the program manager predicted at the Paris Air Show on Monday. – Defense News

The Pentagon said on Monday it will spend $572 million to buy 30 Russian-built military helicopters that will be used by Afghan security forces. – Reuters

Air Force scientists want to beef up bunker-buster type munitions such as the current GBU-28 to go after deeper, more fortified enemy targets. – DOD Buzz

United Technologies Corp. (UTX)’s Pratt & Whitney unit and its subcontractors will pay the entire cost of grounding the Pentagon’s F-35B fighters in January because of a propulsion-system flaw, the unit’s top official said. – Bloomberg

The top U.S. combat commander for nuclear arms last week said he would like to see the Navy buy more than its planned complement of 12 new ballistic missile submarines, despite mounting indications that even that number might be unaffordable. – Global Security Newswire

Women may be able to start training as Army Rangers by mid-2015 and as Navy SEALs a year later under plans set to be announced by the Pentagon that would slowly bring women into thousands of combat jobs, including those in elite special operations forces. – Associated Press

Foreign Armies East

Most European allies are “hollowing out” their armies as they slash Defense spending, casting doubt on whether Europe can remain a viable military partner of the United States, the outgoing U.S. ambassador to NATO said on Monday. – Reuters

Security in Congo’s copper-mining heartland of Katanga is a “very serious concern” that must be tackled politically and militarily, the outgoing head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission said on Monday. – Reuters

The ups-and-downs of US-China military relations, the history of China’s military modernization effort, and Wortzel’s frustration with American academia’s continuing efforts to downplay China’s military capabilities as nothing more than a “nuisance,” are all illustrated in his new book, “The Dragon Extends its Reach: Chinese Military Power Goes Global.” – Defense News

This summer is shaping up as a lesson in tough love from American military mentors to demonstrate whether the Afghan forces really can become self-sufficient by the withdrawal deadline for Western forces in 2014. – New York Times

Seeking to regain lost momentum, Syrian rebels mounted what appeared to be one of the deadliest strikes against government forces to date on Monday, sending a suicide bomber to detonate what they said was six tons of explosives in a truck. – New York Times

Al Qaeda’s affiliate inside Syria is now the best-equipped arm of the terror group in existence today, according to informal assessments by U.S. and Middle East intelligence agencies, a private sector analyst directly familiar with the information told CNN. – CNN’s Security Clearance

The Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement on Monday urged Lebanese militant group Hezbollah to withdraw its forces from Syria, where they are battling for President Bashar al-Assad, and focus on fighting Israel instead. – Reuters

Saudi Arabia, a staunch opponent of President Bashar al-Assad since early in Syria’s conflict, began supplying anti-aircraft missiles to rebels “on a small scale” about two months ago, a Gulf source said on Monday. – Reuters

NSA

44 defended his authorization of recently revealed domestic and international surveillance programs in comments broadcast Monday night but rejected the suggestion that his policies were basically a warmed-over version of those of the last White House. – New York Times

Watch the President’s interview – Charlie Rose

Edward J. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who has confessed to disclosing troves of highly classified documents detailing American surveillance at home and abroad, said on Monday that he had not given any classified materials to the government of China. – New York Times

Although Snowden has repeatedly insisted that the documents he revealed are the story and that his life is of no interest, questions about his motives and rationale inevitably colored the debate over his decision to violate his oath. – Washington Post

Edward Snowden, the man who publicly exposed several controversial National Security Agency programs, said Monday that he was inspired to leak the secrets because of spy agency leaders’ “lies” to Congress, and because congressional leaders did nothing about it. – Roll Call

Sen. Dan Coats (R-IN) writes: The government’s interest in carrying out these programs is the most compelling imaginable: an enduring defense against terrorist attacks that could take thousands of innocent lives. I have no doubt that returning to a pre-9/11 security posture will make this country less safe. A majority of Americans agree, and their support is likely to grow as sensationalism and fear are replaced with facts. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)

Intelligence

Government investigators are reviewing 375 cases of “unauthorized disclosures” by members of the various intelligence agencies, according to a top secret report by the Office of the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community (ICIG). – DEFCON Hill

The FBI is investigating whether the highly protected and segregated computer systems that store the secret court warrants authorizing electronic surveillance inside the United States have been breached, according to current and former U.S. intelligence officials. – The Daily Beast

Cybersecurity

The United States and Russia have signed a landmark agreement to reduce the risk of conflict in cyberspace through real-time communications about incidents of national security concern. – Washington Post

Perhaps lost in all the coverage involving the leaking of classified documents by former Booz Allen Hamilton employee Edward Snowden this month was one development that outlines an exceedingly complex undertaking of the administration: trying to define and guide military operations in cyberspace. – Defense News

U.S. cyber-vulnerabilities are serious, but equating the impact of nuclear war and cyberwar to justify a new nuclear deterrence policy and excessive Cold War-era nuclear capabilities goes too far. – Washington Post

The War

A new round of pretrial hearings in the military commission case against five men accused of planning the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks opened Monday at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, two months after a military judge ordered a delay in proceedings because of defense concerns about the security of their communications. – Washington Post

A lawsuit filed by the Miami Herald has prompted the administration to reveal publicly for the first time the identities of four-dozen Guantánamo prisoners who are “indefinite detainees.” – DEFCON Hill

The White House is appointing Clifford Sloan, a veteran Washington attorney and civil servant, as the State Department’s new envoy focused on shuttering the Guantánamo Bay prison, according to administration officials. – The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room

Nuclear Weapons/Nonproliferation

The House last week voted to restrict implementation of the 2010 New START arms treaty with Russia until the administration outlines its plans for nuclear cuts. – Washington Free Beacon

The United States is entering into a new agreement with Russia that would continue in some form the Cooperative Threat Reduction program that aims to lock down vulnerable nuclear materials in the former Soviet Union – Global Security Newswire

House appropriators are looking to provide nearly $200 million less than the administration has sought for nuclear weapons programs in fiscal 2014, even as fellow Republicans on other committees argue the administration is not requesting enough. – Global Security Newswire

The Marine Corps and Army have developed quick-reaction forces to respond to attacks such as the one in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador. – USA Today

Pentagon investigators intentionally omitted details of possible disclosures of top-secret information to the makers of “Zero Dark Thirty” in their final review of the department’s involvement in the film. – DEFCON Hill

Ratcheting up the pressure on President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, the United States will keep American warplanes and antimissile batteries in Jordan, officials said Saturday. – New York Times

For now, the American military commanders who are mentoring the Afghan Army say that they are optimistic, and that the Afghan Army has basically done well. That view is not necessarily shared by villagers, farmers, rural elders or even the Afghan Local Police who are the front line in the fight with the Taliban. – New York Times

Senate defense lawmakers balked on several key national security issues in their version of the Pentagon’s fiscal year 2014 budget plan. – DEFCON Hill

The Senate Appropriations Defense subcommittee is bringing in two service chiefs and the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer to testify on the F-35 program next week. – DEFCON Hill

Boeing Co., the world’s largest planemaker, is in talks with several potential buyers for its KC-46A aerial refueling tanker as it aims to make the aircraft available for export one year ahead of its 2018 target. – Bloomberg

The Army has half a million M4 carbines, the lightweight version of the Vietnam-vintage M16. So if the service was going to invest in a replacement, it wanted a “leap ahead” that would, among other things, cut in half the number of times the weapon jammed – a criterion the Army has not made clear until today. – Breaking Defense

[T]he JSF is at a “tipping point”, says Steve O’Brien, Lockheed Martin’s vice-president of business development for the F-35. Ever the optimist, Mr O’Brien may be right this time. – Financial Times

The House overwhelmingly passed a sweeping, $638 billion defense bill on Friday that imposes new punishments on members of the armed services found guilty of rape or sexual assault as outrage over the crisis in the military has galvanized Congress. – Associated Press

Foreign Armies East

Al Qaeda’s North African wing (AQIM) on Sunday confirmed the death of two of its senior commanders in Mali earlier this year, veteran jihadist Abdelhamid Abou Zeid and brigade commander Abdallah Al Chinguetti, Mauritania’s ANI news agency said. – Reuters

Six soldiers were killed early Saturday in attacks believed to be retaliation for the expulsion of a major militia from the city last weekend, raising fears of an imminent showdown between the formal army units and rival militia brigades over control of eastern Libya. – New York Times

Rebel brigades fought Hezbollah-backed forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad in and around Syria’s commercial hub of Aleppo on Sunday, trying to claw back territory lost to an assault that threatens the opposition’s grip on the city, activists said. – Reuters

A mild-mannered Syrian general who taught at a military academy before he defected last year is poised to play a key role in shaping the outcome of Syria’s war now that the United States has said it will provide direct military assistance to the rebels. – Washington Post

With most NATO troops expected to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014, the Afghans are learning how to fight the Taliban without relying on the biggest advantage NATO brings to the table: close-air support. – Military Times

NSA

British and American spy agencies monitored the e-mails and phone calls of foreign dignitaries at two major international summits in London, according to a new trove of documents supplied by Edward J. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor turned whistleblower, and disclosed by the Guardian newspaper. – Washington Post

The government last year searched for the phone records of fewer than 300 people in a database containing tens of millions of Americans’ phone records, intelligence officials said Saturday in a statement to Congress. – Washington Post

A week and a half ago, U.S. officials acknowledged for the first time that the NSA since 2006 has been amassing a database of metadata on the phone-call records of tens of millions of U.S. customers. And, according to new documents obtained by The Washington Post, the NSA until 2011 gathered e-mail and other digital metadata from major Internet data links, presumably to detect and thwart terrorist plots. – Washington Post

With Edward Snowden in Hong Kong dribbling out morsels on U.S. cyber surveillance activities to the press, Chinese authorities have several choices for dealing with him. – Los Angeles Times

The chairman of the House intelligence committee strongly asserted Sunday that the National Security Agency is not recording Americans’ phone calls under U.S. surveillance programs, and any statements suggesting differently amount to “misinformation.” – CNN’s Security Clearance

Edward Snowden, who illegally leaked classified information about a National Security Agency intelligence gathering program to a British newspaper last week, had ample legal channels to report what he felt were illegal or improper activities. – Washington Free Beacon

44 has been lucky that his predecessors, including 16, 32, 33, 40 and 43, protected the wartime powers of the Presidency. This has provided him with the tools to protect Americans from the deadly combination of Islamist fanaticism and modern technology. He now has an obligation to explain and defend those tools, lest he leave America more vulnerable and the Presidency weaker than he found them. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)

The Guardian has called his leak “the spy story of the age.” But the mere impulse to martyrdom is not in and of itself evidence of wisdom. Nor is it evidence of the righteousness of the martyr’s cause. – Washington Post

Because America is at war with al Qaeda—that is, a body of men has been levying war against us—we are in a season when treason is possible. And those who flirt with it are likely to be judged against the standard that was set by John Marshall and has endured for two centuries. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)

The War

44 has chosen a high-powered Washington lawyer with extensive experience in all three branches of the government to be the State Department’s special envoy for closing down the military-run prison at Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. – Associated Press

The experience of a former detainee demonstrates that a hunger strike at Guantanamo can be as indefinite as the open-ended detention that is at the heart of essentially every conflict at the military prison. – Associated Press

Missile Defense

The former head of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency says the rising threats posed by Iran and North Korea justify accelerating work on a proposed East Coast missile interceptor site. – Global Security Newswire

U.S.-Russian cooperation on missile defense could fundamentally change the bilateral relationship. It would shift the paradigm of U.S.-Russian strategic relations from ensuring the ability to destroy one another to jointly protecting the two countries from common ballistic missile threats. – Foreign Policy

Cybersecurity

Yet as Booz Allen profits handsomely from its worldwide expansion, Mr. McConnell and other executives of the government contractor — which sells itself as the gold standard in protecting classified computer systems and boasts that half its 25,000 employees have Top Secret clearances — have a lot of questions to answer. – New York Times

Certainly, this leak must have pained the White House. But on balance, it is a good sign that the imponderables of fighting a cyberwar are being examined and clarified. Better now, before trouble arrives, than in the midst of crisis or after conflict has broken out. – Washington Post

The War

A U.S. military proposal for arming Syrian rebels also calls for a limited no-fly zone inside Syria that would be enforced from Jordanian territory to protect Syrian refugees and rebels who would train there, according to U.S. officials. – Wall Street Journal

Read the White House’s statement on Syria – WSJ’s Middle East Real Time

Some of the administration’s intel problems in Syria are of its own making, or at least exacerbated by choices the administration made. A more activist policy earlier would have likely improved information gathering inside Syria — a safe-haven zone, for instance, would have been an intelligence bonanza. Most of the problem, however, is inherent in the business and should not be blamed on the administration. – Shadow Government

Analysts are eyeing a potential worst-case scenario in which al-Qaida by 2018 gains “effective control” over one or more nations that hold unconventional arms, if political stability slides in regions where the terrorist network already exhibits strength. – Global Security Newswire

A new lawsuit brought by a current CIA officer hints at the existence of a secret overseas paramilitary operation that triggered war crimes allegations, The Cable has learned. – The Cable

Russians would likely have killed Tamerlan Tsarnaev if the U.S. had given them a heads-up about him returning to the country last year, according to Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.). – The Hill’s Global Affairs

Foreign Armies East

A top Japanese government panel has recommended the country begin widespread monitoring of Internet-based communications, establish a Cyber Defense Corps within Japan’s Defense Ministry to protect infrastructure, and ultimately set up a Cyber Security Center, a Japanese equivalent of the US National Security Agency (NSA) – Defense News

With regime-backed Hezbollah fighters advancing on the rebel stronghold of Aleppo following a swift victory over anti-government forces in Qusair last week, Brigadier General Salmi Idris, leader of the rebels’ Supreme Military Council, placed an urgent phone call with Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) on Wednesday. – The Cable

Beginning in 2016, South Korea plans to outfit its Aegis antimissile warships with Standard Missile 6 systems as a countermeasure to future threats from North Korea – Global Security Newswire

Pakistan’s new government announced Wednesday a 10 percent increase in defense spending a week after taking office, despite a crippling budget deficit of 8.8 percent. – AFP

Afghan officials warned recently that terrorists from Pakistan are infiltrating into Wardak Province near Kabul as security deteriorates amid suicide bombings and insider attacks by the Taliban. – Washington Free Beacon

A planned leadership change that could see Qatar’s U.S.-allied Emir eventually ceding power to his son is unlikely to change the Gulf state’s taste for bold investments overseas and assertive support for Arab Spring revolts. – Reuters

NDAA

The US Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday approved a Pentagon authorization bill that matches the White House’s nearly $527 billion 2014 military budget request. – Defense News

An amendment to reduce the statutory requirement that the U.S. Navy keep 11 aircraft carriers in service was defeated by voice vote Thursday afternoon, although the motion remains active in the U.S. House of Representatives pending a recorded vote. – Defense News

The House passed several hot-button amendments as part of the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act on Thursday night. – The Hill’s Floor Action Blog

The House approved language late Thursday that would prevent the Department of Defense from engaging in any “collaborative cyber-security activities” with the People’s Republic of China. – The Hill’s Floor Action Blog

The House voted Thursday to ensure active U.S. servicemembers have free Internet access while serving in zones of combat. – The Hill’s Floor Action Blog

The House voted Thursday evening to put limits on President Obama’s power to indefinitely detain U.S. citizens who are terrorist suspects, but rejected a proposal to eliminate the authority altogether. – The Hill’s Floor Action Blog

The House has approved language that would prevent the Defense Department from using any taxpayer funds to add or upgrade recreational facilities at detention facilities in Guantanamo Bay. – The Hill’s Floor Action Blog

The House on late Thursday approved several Defense Department policy proposals, including language saying Congress approves of high-level meetings in the United States with Taiwan officials – The Hill’s Floor Action Blog

Defense Budget, Systems, and Platforms

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has reaffirmed an Air Force decision to award the Afghan light air support (LAS) contract to contractors Sierra Nevada Corp and Embraer. – Defense News

Sequestration spending reductions will cut $15.8 billion from the US Defense Department’s 2013 budget, according to a Pentagon report. – Defense News

The Pentagon’s top procurement official said the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program is on track to significantly increase production rates in the fiscal 2015 budget. – Defense News

A key Republican said Thursday he’ll propose cutting cost-of-living adjustments for Social Security recipients and military and federal civilian retirees in an effort to find more money for defense programs. – Military Times

The Pentagon has finally signed a $6.5 billion, five-year deal with Bell-Boeing for the next 99 V-22 tiltrotors — 92 MV-22s used by the Marine Corps and seven CV-22s for U.S. Air Force special operations forces. – Aviation Week

“Everybody loses, go home”: That’s what the US Army told the six gunmakers competing to build a new Individual Carbine to replace the widely used M4, itself a derivative of the venerable M16 – Breaking Defense

In these uncertain economic times, the President and Congress must strike a better balance between arming our military with the latest cutting-edge capabilities and wide-ranging benefits ranging from bases to compensation. – Breaking Defense

While proponents of reducing or eliminating U.S. military presence in Europe often cloak their arguments in fiscal responsibility, their proposals are short-sighted and potentially strategically costly in the long term. – Foreign Policy Initiative

NSA

A broad assessment of the damage caused by disclosure of documents on classified intelligence programs has concluded that the former National Security Agency contractor who claimed responsibility for the leaks probably obtained dozens of other sensitive files, U.S. officials said Thursday. – Washington Post

The National Security Agency’s controversial data program, which seeks to stockpile records on all calls made in the U.S., doesn’t collect information directly from T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless, in part because of their foreign ownership ties, people familiar with the matter said. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)

A small group of lawmakers who have consistently but obliquely warned about the collection of Americans’ telephone data remains troubled by other aspects of the government’s surveillance programs that remain secret. – Washington Post

U.S. lawmakers briefed Thursday on the recently revealed NSA surveillance programs trained their fire on the self-described source of the leaks, Edward Snowden, suggesting he may be cooperating with the Chinese government. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)

For days the reaction in mainland China to the presence in this city of Edward Snowden, who has confessed to leaking information about secret U.S. surveillance programs, was almost total indifference. Now, with his claim that the U.S. government has been hacking Chinese institutions for years, he has the country’s attention. – Washington Post

Congress is unlikely to overhaul the US intelligence community after a Booz Allen Hamilton employee disclosed several highly classified national security programs, says one key senator. – Defense News

Lawmakers plan to draft legislation that would limit the access that federal contractors have to highly classified information, the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence panel said Thursday. – DEFCON Hill

Data-mining is justified to the extent it wards off far more illiberal and anti-democratic measures that might be imposed following another attack with mass casualties. Recall that the entire city of Boston was shut down for a day after the marathon bombs. In that sense the security advanced by surveillance enhances liberty.– Wall Street Journal

We should want to assess PRISM’s capacities thoroughly and critically. It may be a great technology—or it may be an overpriced dream whose promise was just too appealing. What we shouldn’t do is throw it away over unwarranted fears of snooping. – TWS

Skeptics of the programs raise legitimate concerns about privacy and overreach. It’s precisely because these are difficult questions that the president owes the country a detailed explanation of his decision to continue the programs and a robust defense of them. – TWS

But if the tide of war is receding, why this vast, ever-expanding NSA dragnet whose only justification is an outside threat — that 44 assures us is receding? Tell it straight, 44.  – Washington Post

Foreign Aid

If ever there was an issue on which big-hearted humanitarians and tightfisted fiscal hawks should find common purpose, food-aid reform is it. Millions around the world are counting on us. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)

State Sponsored Terror

There has indeed been a “marked resurgence” of Iranian state sponsorship of terrorism over the past 18 months. But as the new Nisman report drives home, here’s an even more disturbing fact — Iran has run intelligence networks in the United States’ backyard to “sponsor, foster and execute terrorist attacks” for decades. – Foreign Policy

Hyperpuissance

Senate confirmation hearings can shed valuable light on America’s role in the world—as the 44th administration sees it, and as it ought to be. To that end, senators might ask Ms. Power – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)

The U.S. is sending F-16s to Jordan for an exercise, but they could stay longer to safeguard Jordan from violence in neighboring Syria. – Military Times

The Defense Department will create at least five defense budgets this year as a result of the Strategic Choices and Management Review, Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter said today, and some of those alternative plans “could entail significant risk.” – Breaking Defense

The United States stands to lose its leadership role in the world if it fails to resolve the nation’s fiscal troubles and develop a leaner and more agile military, according to national defense experts at a security conference Wednesday. – Washington Free Beacon

Republicans and Democrats sparred for hours Wednesday over deep cuts to planned Pentagon spending before approving a nearly $513 billion military spending bill. – Defense News

House Appropriations Committee Democrats on Wednesday took aim at several national security policy issues, but each time, panel Republicans turned them back. – Defense News

Instead of trying to cram a $500 billion force into a $450 billion budget and hoping Congress passes sequester relief, the Defense Department needs to go back to the drawing board. That’s the consensus of two top defense experts from either side of the government-industry gap — former 44 and 42 appointee Michele Flournoy and Northrop Grumman CEO Wes Bush — speaking at the Center for a New American Security’s annual conference. – Breaking Defense

44 is pushing back on a House ban on funding for the Pentagon’s new intelligence directorate. – DEFCON Hill

In September, America’s top special operator plans to sit down with US geographic combatant commanders to finally lay out plans for what he has been calling the “global SOF network.” – Defense News

The US Defense Department’s industrial policy chief, Brett Lambert, will step down from his position at the end of the summer, according to sources. – Defense News

The U.S. must resolve how it tackles national defense on its own. Otherwise, a crisis of someone else’s choosing will force the nation to solve these problems. Failure is not an option in getting national defense right. – Real Clear Defense

The U.S. special operations team in Libya were never ordered to stand down during last September’s deadly terrorist attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi. – DEFCON Hill

Foreign Armies East

British Defence Secretary Philip Hammond discussed strengthening military and security ties with Saudi Arabia with top defense officials in the kingdom on Wednesday, the state-run SPA news agency reported. – AFP

Georgia said Wednesday that the country has closed two of its bases in Afghanistan after 10 of its soldiers were killed by militant attacks within the last four weeks, but it will not reduce the number of troops serving there. – Associated Press

Syrian troops and rebels are recruiting children to fight in the country’s civil war and some have been tortured by government forces for having links to the opposition, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said in a report on Wednesday. – Reuters

Top American national security advisers met Wednesday to air their reservations about arming Syria’s rebels, with officials acknowledging that the growing alarm over the Assad regime’s rapid military advance is unlikely to translate into any U.S. policy shift toward deeper involvement in the conflict. – Associated Press

United Nations secretary general said Wednesday that he was urgently seeking hundreds of new troops for the peacekeeping force in the disputed Golan Heights, where clashes from Syria’s civil war, cease-fire violations by both Israel and Syria, and an abrupt withdrawal of the force’s Austrian contingent are threatening four decades of relative calm. – New York Times

The forces of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria have substantially stepped up their air attacks, exploiting a crucial offensive advantage against Syrian rebels, according to American intelligence reports. – New York Times

Missile Defense

If the United States is to successfully compete and protect against Iran’s growing nuclear and missile threats, then it must move proactively—not reactively—to mitigate them.  The President and Congress should therefore not only fund and quickly deploy an X-band radar on the East Coast that will boost the reliability of America’s current ground-based and sea-based anti-missile interceptors, but also advance efforts to build a third site for homeland missile defense on the East Coast. – Foreign Policy Initiative

Nuclear Weapons

The head of US Strategic Command made the case [yesterday] morning that STRATCOM cannot be viewed simply as the nuclear arm of the Pentagon. – Defense News

The four-star head of U.S. Strategic Command on Wednesday said he is not worried that Russia’s efforts to develop a next-generation missile interceptor system will weaken the credibility of Washington’s nuclear deterrent force. – Global Security Newswire

Intelligence

The CIA’s deputy director plans to retire and will be replaced by White House lawyer and agency outsider Avril D. Haines, Director John O. Brennan said Wednesday. – Washington Post

NSA

The director of the National Security Agency told Congress on Wednesday that “dozens” of terrorism threats had been halted by the agency’s huge database of the logs of nearly every domestic phone call made by Americans, while a senator briefed on the program disclosed that the telephone records are destroyed after five years. – New York Times

Edward J. Snowden, the former National Security Agency computer technician who has acknowledged leaking highly classified documents about the United States government’s monitoring of Internet and telephone communications, told a Hong Kong newspaper on Wednesday that he planned to stay in the city and fight extradition. – New York Times

Mr. Hoekstra, of Michigan, is one of several Republicans who are defending President Obama’s reliance on Internet and telephone surveil lance, such as Prism, to keep up with a cunning enemy. – Washington Times

The Pentagon is concerned that a former National Security Agency contractor who is now in Hong Kong will compromise top-secret electronic intelligence programs targeted against China, according to a defense official. – Washington Free Beacon

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper sought to reassure the nation’s private contractors, calling them an “integral part” of the intelligence community in the wake of leaks revealing the National Security Agency’s (NSA) surveillance programs. – DEFCON Hill

The United States went security-mad after Sept. 11, 2001, in ways that harmed the country. But these excesses led Congress to restructure surveillance programs so that they were lawful and controlled. These lawful programs were the ones Snowden unilaterally disclosed – Washington Post

Pentagon’s top leaders went to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to urge an end to the budget standoff that is likely to intensify the military’s money crunch in 2014. – Military Times

The Pentagon has notified Congress it wants to sell Libya two C-130J Super Hercules cargo planes, strengthening military ties between America and the burgeoning post-Gadhafi government. – Defense News

Seven weeks after arriving at Singapore, the littoral combat ship USS Freedom (LCS 1) left Changi Naval Base on June 11 to begin a series of regional exercises with navies of friendly nations. – Military Times

The Marine Corps’ presence in Australia will increase fivefold next year as military officials there look to the U.S. for guidance in developing their amphibious capabilities, a Marine general with oversight of operations in the Pacific said Tuesday. – Military Times

The Pentagon sent to Congress today a report that provides new details about the effects of $37 billion in sequestration cuts through Sept. 30. – Bloomberg

A US House panel has put forth language that would cut $3.4 billion from the Pentagon’s 2014 base budget request, while increasing funding by $5.3 billion for the war effort in Afghanistan. – Defense News

The White House threatened Tuesday to veto House’s version of the Defense authorization bill that is on the floor this week. – DEFCON Hill

44 is pushing back on efforts by Congress to increase war funding for U.S. forces in Afghanistan. – DEFCON Hill

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Tuesday that the Pentagon has no plans to request additional funds for the war in Afghanistan in order to cover budget shortfalls this year. – DEFCON Hill

The Navy has reached a $6.5 billion deal with a joint venture of Textron Inc.‘s Bell Helicopter unit and Boeing Co. for 99 V-22 Ospreys that likely cements the long-term future of the tilt-rotor aircraft as part of the military’s air inventory. – DOD Buzz

A new task force stood up in May to develop a comprehensive plan of actions and milestones for integrating enlisted women on ballistic-missile, guided-missile and Virginia-class attack submarines. – Military Times

A Senate panel on Tuesday approved legislation rejecting the Defense Department’s request to shutter installations and facilities in the United States that are no longer needed as the military branches cut the number of troops in uniform. – Associated Press

Missile Defense

The nation’s two top military officers leading the US missile defense enterprise replied to a letter from Sen. Carl Levin today, telling him that there is “no validated military requirement” for a proposed East Coast missile defense site as some on Capitol Hill have proposed. – Defense News

The War

Retribution against Hezbollah for helping the Syrian government fight rebels intensified on Tuesday, as the United States blacklisted four fund-raising operatives and warned of further steps to choke the group’s financing. – New York Times

U.S. intelligence operatives covertly sabotaged a prominent al-Qaeda online magazine last month in an apparent attempt to sow confusion among the group’s followers, according to officials. – Washington Post

Google on Tuesday asked the government for permission to reveal details about the classified requests the technology company receives for the personal information of foreign users. – New York Times

Foreign Armies East

South Korea anticipates activating its indigenous missile defense system no later than 2020 in order to meet the rising nuclear and missile threat from its neighbor to the north, the Yonhap News Agency reported on Tuesday. – Global Security Newswire

Pakistan’s new leader came to office with a mission to establish civilian control of foreign affairs and defense, matters long held in the grip of the nation’s powerful military. In recent days, he began that effort by putting both of those ministry portfolios in the hands of Pakistan’s most powerful civilian: himself. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)

As fighters with Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement wage the battles that are helping Syria’s regime survive, their chief sponsor, Iran, is emerging as the biggest victor in the wider regional struggle for influence that the Syrian conflict has become. – Washington Post

The new head of Libya’s military on Tuesday called on armed groups to put themselves under the command of the national army, after clashes in which 31 people were killed, adding that patience was running out with the independent militias. – Reuters

The head of U.N. peacekeeping operations has asked Austria for more time to line up replacements for Austrian troops due to be withdrawn from a Golan Heights buffer zone between Syria and Israel within weeks. – Reuters

NSA

The consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton said Tuesday that it had formally terminated Edward J. Snowden, the self-confessed source of leaked, classified National Security Agency documents about secret U.S. surveillance programs. – Washington Post

In the span of three years, the United States has developed two gaping holes in its national security hull, punctures caused by leakers who worked at the lowest levels of the nation’s intelligence ranks but gained access to large caches of classified material. – Washington Post

Lawmakers concerns over the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs were not alleviated after the full House received a briefing on the programs Tuesday. – DEFCON Hill

A key US senator on Tuesday slammed senior intelligence and Pentagon officials, suggesting they knowingly lied to Congress about domestic spying efforts by a military agency. – Defense News

A bipartisan effort to declassify key federal court opinions justifying domestic surveillance of American citizens is dead on arrival, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat said Tuesday. – The Hill

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) is preparing to call hearings on explore how whistle-blower Edward Snowden was able to access reams of data on top secret domestic intelligence programs at the National Security Agency. – DEFCON Hill

US intelligence agencies and defense contractors should adopt more stringent hiring procedures to prevent future disclosures of classified anti-terrorism programs, lawmakers said Tuesday. – Defense News

44’s administration is considering whether to charge a government contractor with leaking classified surveillance secrets while it defends the broad U.S. spy program that it says keeps America safe from terrorists. – Associated Press

Former top NSA officials interviewed by The Daily Beast Tuesday, however, say Snowden’s claim that systems administrators like himself could eavesdrop on U.S. citizens is incorrect, and that any NSA employee that targeted even a foreign source for personal reasons would be stripped of clearances and fired on the spot. – The Daily Beast

It’s time for a national debate about whether the Patriot Act, in fact, justifies this mass surveillance; and if so, whether that act is consistent with the Fourth Amendment. The only way to have that debate is for the administration to release the legal analysis that it believes justifies its actions in the first place. – The New Republic

Nuclear Weapons

In the posture statements and national security strategy documents of the U.S. government, nuclear deterrence was mentioned in the margins, old doctrine was not updated and the proverbial “nuclear policy can was kicked down the road” repeatedly. As a result, the general points out, at least four prevailing myths about nuclear deterrence have become mainstream. – USNWR’s World Report

NSA

In choosing Hong Kong as an initial place to take refuge from the United States government, the National Security Agency contractor who has acknowledged leaking documents has selected a jurisdiction where it may be possible to delay extradition but not avoid it, legal and law enforcement experts here said. – New York Times

Russia would consider a request for asylum from Edward Snowden, the National Security Administration contractor who has admitted leaking details of top-secret government surveillance programs, the Kremlin’s chief spokesman said Tuesday. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)

As Justice Department officials began the process Monday to charge Edward J. Snowden, a 29-year-old former C.I.A. computer technician, with disclosing classified information, he checked out of a hotel in Hong Kong where he had been holed up for several weeks, according to two American officials. It was not clear where he went. – New York Times

The legal and political obstacles to such a debate, whether in Congress or more broadly, are formidable. They only begin with the facts that the programs at issue are highly classified and that Mr. Snowden is now a hunted man, potentially facing a prison sentence for disclosing the very secrets that started the discussion that Mr. Obama welcomed. – New York Times

Counterintelligence investigators are scrutinizing how a 29-year-old contractor who said he leaked top-secret National Security Agency documents was able to gain access to what should be highly compartmentalized information, according to current and former administration and intelligence officials. – Washington Post

The leaks by Edward Snowden reveal a vulnerability in U.S. intelligence since 9/11, triggered by a surge of information collected on people around the world and the proliferation of private government contractors to store, sift and manage it. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)

Senior administration officials will brief House and Senate lawmakers on details of the National Security Agency’s recently disclosed domestic surveillance programs. – DEFCON Hill

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on Monday said the 29-year-old man who leaked information about two national security programs is guilty of treason. – DEFCON Hill

Edward Snowden, the 29-year-old defense contractor who leaked details on the National Security Agency’s phone and data surveillance programs, faces numerous calls from powerful members of Congress for his prosecution. But a few not-so-powerful members think he should go free — and more are calling for changes in the law. – Roll Call

Even before last week’s revelations by The Guardian newspaper that the National Security Agency (NSA) was collecting call records from telecommunications companies and had the ability to mine user data from major U.S. Internet companies, the NSA was already on the trail of the leaker, according to two former U.S. intelligence officers with close ties to the agency. – The Daily Beast

As for NSA, its main offense so far seems to be the quality of those it trusts with security clearances. Though a recently hired consultant, Mr. Snowden evidently had wide access to sensitive documents including Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court rulings. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)

Just as it is important not to exaggerate the national security risks of transparency, it is also important not to give into the anti-government paranoia of grandstanding politicians such as Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who on Sunday invoked the tyranny of King George III to criticize programs that are the result of a checked, deliberative process across three branches of government. – Washington Post

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) writes: If this is the new normal in America, then Big Brother certainly is watching and it’s not hyperbolic or extreme to say so. Nor is it unreasonable to fear which parts of the Constitution this government will next consider negotiable or negligible. – Wall Street Journal

The system in the United States, based on the principle of limiting the gathering of intelligence on Americans by statute, by the decisions and supervision of an independent judiciary, and by an inquisitive and independent press, is a model for balancing the responsibility of a government to protect its citizens with their rights to privacy and liberty. – Freedom House’s Freedom at Issue

Defense

“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer,” said retired US Navy Adm. Timothy Keating…The adage is often mistakenly attributed to Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu, but is actually a quintessentially American quote from the movie “The Godfather.” Either way, it was obvious the Americans were struggling with the advice as they sought better ties with China while reassuring allies in the region that they would help protect them against Chinese aggression. – Defense News

As US Adm. William McRaven works to expand the reach of his Special Operations Command to include broad intelligence sharing globally among deployed SOF and foreign partners, one key SOF mission of the past decade could soon start winding down. – Defense News

Pro-military House Republicans and 44, with whom they so often are at odds, have something in common after all. Neither side appears interested in voiding deep cuts to planned Pentagon spending in fiscal 2014. – Defense News

A powerful US House oversight panel has rejected a Pentagon request to shift more than $442 million within its 2013 budget. – Defense News

Inserted into the annual defense bill passed last week by the House Armed Services Committee was a call for the Defense Department to reduce the total number of officers wearing stars by 14 positions, or less than 2 percent of the total. – Military Times

Though much additional work remains for the single-engine, stealthy fighter’s software and helmet system, the services each take different approaches to just what constitutes “ready” and when that will happen. – Aviation Week

Deloitte LLP’s 2013 “Global Defense Outlook,” released today, is basically all bad news. Even the silver linings turned to lead when we talked them over [yesterday] morning with the chief of the defense practice at the giant consulting firm, retired Air Force Gen. Charles Wald. – Breaking Defense

A U.S. Navy assessment warns the service might be unable to afford a planned complement of 12 new nuclear-armed submarines if it is to maintain a 300-vessel fleet of surface ships, Arms Control Today reported in its June edition. – Global Security Newswire

The War

44 and Congress need to rethink the broad authority for the use of military force in the war on terror, a law written when many U.S. troops now on the battlefield were on playgrounds, a House Democrat who wants the law repealed said Monday. – Associated Press

An Iraqi prisoner identified as a senior al Qaeda commander has been charged in the Guantanamo war crimes tribunal with firing on a medical evacuation helicopter and using unlawful tactics to wage war on U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan. – Reuters

Foreign Armies East

Former Japanese Defense Minister Satoshi Morimoto, the architect of Japan’s decision to purchase F-35 joint strike fighters to boost Japan’s deterrence against China, now believes cost pressures caused by the recent plummeting value of the yen could delay the rate of annual purchases for the country’s planned buy of 42 fighters. – Defense News

Interview: Foreign Policy sat down with Morimoto in Tokyo to discuss China’s aggressive posture, Japan’s historical record during World War II, and whether or not North Korea’s president, Kim Jong Un, is just a puppet leader. – Foreign Policy

A series of high-profile attacks across Afghanistan Monday was intended to showcase the insurgency’s strength, but instead ended up illustrating a growing competence among Afghan security forces. – Wall Street Journal

Yemeni troops detained a local al Qaeda leader in a raid on his hideout in eastern Yemen on Monday, only days after a military operation to foil plans to set up an Islamist state in the area, state news agency Saba said. – Reuters

Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad are massing around Aleppo in preparation for an offensive to retake the city and build on battlefield gains that have swung the momentum of Syria’s war to Assad and his Hezbollah allies. – Reuters

Cybersecurity

44’s internal directive on cyber warfare was disclosed in public last week, showing for the first time details of U.S. policies for waging both offensive and defensive digital operations by military forces and intelligence agencies. – Washington Free Beacon

Missile Defense

As missile defense capacities mature, it is common sense in a world where ballistic missile threats are proliferating in number and expanding in reach for the U.S. to leverage its web of global partnerships to break down national barriers, increase the geographic reach of multilateral cooperation, and create a serious dialogue about the potentials and requirements of a global missile defense architecture. – RealClearDefense

Foreign Aid

44 on Monday revealed his choice to take over as inspector general of the U.S. aid agency, filling a two-year void in oversight of the $20 billion a year foreign aid budget. – The Hill’s Global Affairs

Reps. Ander Crenshaw (R-FL) and Adam Smith (D-WA) write: It is gratifying to see the initiatives and pioneering efforts on accountability and transparency in our foreign assistance programs. This is good government. We look forward to continuing to work with our colleagues in Congress to expand and strengthen these efforts even further. There is agreement across the political spectrum that foreign assistance is an essential part of America’s leadership. – Politico

NSA

It is that kind of success that 44 seemed to be referring to on Friday in California when he defended the National Security Agency’s stockpiling of telephone call logs of Americans and gaining access to foreigners’ e-mail and other data from Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and other companies. – New York Times

The director of national intelligence on Saturday stepped up his public defense of a top-secret government data surveillance program as technology companies began privately explaining the mechanics of its use. – Washington Post

A 29-year-old man publicly identified himself Sunday as the source of recent disclosures about government national-security programs that collect data from phone and Internet companies. – Wall Street Journal

Edward Snowden, the 29-year-old National Security Agency contractor who admitted that he was behind recent leaks of classified intelligence, has vaulted from obscurity to international notoriety, joining the ranks of high-profile leakers such as Daniel Ellsberg of Pentagon Papers fame. – Washington Post

Edward Joseph Snowden, 29, knew full well the risks he had undertaken and the awesome powers that would soon be arrayed to hunt for him. Pseudonyms were the least of his precautions as we corresponded from afar. Snowden was spilling some of the most sensitive secrets of a surveillance apparatus he had grown to detest. By late last month, he believed he was already “on the X” — exposure imminent. – Washington Post

The unprecedented leak of National Security Agency secrets by an intelligence contractor, including bombshells about top-secret programs to collect telephone records, e-mail and other personal data, was probably an inevitable consequence of the massive growth of the U.S. security-industrial complex. – Washington Post

Today, a revolution in software technology that allows for the highly automated and instantaneous analysis of enormous volumes of digital information has transformed the N.S.A., turning it into the virtual landlord of the digital assets of Americans and foreigners alike. – New York Times

This past week’s disclosures punctured that veil, adding new pressure on 44 to defend his administration’s counterterrorism policies and the secrecy surrounding them. It is a position that in some ways resembles the second-term posture of his predecessor, 43. – Washington Post

Because the system is premised on trust, the government would have a stronger case, and the debate might be less slapdash, if it revealed more. – Washington Post

Practices like data-mining save lives, and in doing so they protect against far greater intrusions on individual freedom. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)

If the current imbroglio opens an honest discussion of the legitimate need for secrecy in a fight against seventh-century primitives equipped with 21st-century technology, it may eventually prove to have been worth the cost, but I’m not laying down any bets. – Wall Street Journal

No intelligence effort can ever keep us 100% safe, but to stop or scale back the NSA’s special intelligence efforts would amount to unilateral disarmament in a war against terrorism that is far from over. – Los Angeles Times

The latest administration controversy will not prove as bad as it first seems. Apparently, the administration has been asking Verizon for all of the “metadata” on all of its customers’ calling — the phone numbers called and received, but not the content of the calls themselves. – National Review Online’s The Corner

Cybersecurity

44 called on national security leaders to develop destructive cyberwarfare capabilities that could be triggered with “little or no warning” against adversaries around the world, according to a top-secret document obtained by The Washington Post. – Washington Post

Defense

U.S. troops equipped with Patriot missiles and fighter jets began military exercises in Jordan that have drawn condemnation from Russia, which accuses the West of fanning the conflict in neighboring Syria. – Reuters

A U.S. Air Force general on Friday said the appearance of nuclear-capable B-2 and B-52 bombers in military exercises with South Korea earlier this spring had the intended effect of easing tensions with North Korea. – Global Security Newswire

It’s been a tough week for critics of the F-35. Concurrency costs dropped an impressive half billion dollars and the Air Force version launched an air to air missile for the first time. – Breaking Defense

A congressman says a Republican-led defense panel in Congress this week ignored the “elephant in the room” in rejecting his proposal to give the Pentagon more flexibility to deal with automatic budget cuts. – DoD Buzz

Recent Navy history vividly demonstrates that the first ship of every class faced obstacles. We should maintain perspective: every new class of warship debuts to a chorus of critics – Breaking Defense

The War

The State Department said late Friday that it turned over 97 pages of documents to congressional investigators examining the administration’s response to the Sept. 11 terror attack in Benghazi. – The Hill’s Global Affairs

CNAS report argues that a decent outcome is still possible in Afghanistan, but that the United States would risk “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory” if it accelerates its disengagement or fails to make an adequate commitment of resources after 2014. Mr. Obama needs to be clearer, and soon, about the mission he will support. – Washington Post

The Army general who commanded the war against homemade bombs that have killed and maimed thousands of Americans in Afghanistan has left the Pentagon knowing he scored a major victory. – Washington Times

A suspected U.S. drone strike killed seven people Friday night in northwest Pakistan, two days after the country’s new prime minister vowed to stop such attacks. – Washington Post

White House chief of staff Denis McDonough and two leading senators on national security reaffirmed their support for closing the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after visiting the facility on Friday. – Associated Press

What is required now is a renewed effort to counter and truly defeat al-Qaida and associated forces by denying them safe haven, uprooting their state sponsors and – most important of all – preventing them from getting their hands on the world’s most destructive weapons. – USNWR’s World Report

Foreign Armies East

Russia conducted the first flight test of a new inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) that Russian officials say is designed to defeat U.S. missile defenses. – Washington Free Beacon

As part of its policy to strengthen defense ties with countries in the Asia Pacific Region, India plans to improve relations with Australia and Thailand. – Defense News

Yemen’s president said Saturday that al-Qaida militants in his country are trying to retake areas they once controlled in the south, but that a military offensive this week helped thwart those plans. – Associated Press

The U.N. Security Council struggled [Friday] evening to prevent the collapse of a beleaguered mission that has helped maintain peace between Israel and Syria along the Golan Heights for nearly 40 years. – Turtle Bay

44 and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel must report to Congress details of the administration’s postwar plans for Afghanistan, including troop numbers and specific missions after the U.S. withdrawal in 2014. – DEFCON Hill

The top commander of U.S. Special Operations forces expressed frustration on Thursday over his inability to speak honestly about deep defense spending cuts that are gutting the U.S. military. – Washington Free Beacon

The Pentagon is not following the key requirements of laws designed to cut down on improper payments made to contractors, according to a Government Accountability Office report. – DEFCON Hill

Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA) writes: Make no mistake. This funding is still too low. To reap a peace dividend, you first need peace. Wars are not won nor is peace achieved through half-measures. We have passed 51 straight annual defense bills, all with the express purpose of providing the American people the peace they deserve. We’ll do it again this year, but not without a firm warning: If we do not change course soon, it is our bravest who will pay the price. – Washington Post

David Barno and Nora Benashel, et al. write: These reforms may be painful and will almost certainly be unpopular. But the alternative is to let inefficient and wasteful business processes and runaway personnel expenses continue unabated while cutting the capabilities that the U.S. military needs in order to react to crises, deter enemies, and rapidly defeat a wide range of potential adversaries. – Foreign Policy

The War

The National Security Agency and the FBI are tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies, extracting audio and video chats, photographs, e-mails, documents, and connection logs that enable analysts to track one target or trace a whole network of associates, according to a top-secret document obtained by The Washington Post. – Washington Post

The federal government has been secretly collecting information on foreigners overseas for nearly six years from the nation’s largest Internet companies like Google, Facebook and, most recently, Apple, in search of national security threats, the director of national intelligence confirmed Thursday night. – New York Times

Growing evidence of far-reaching federal surveillance of the phone records and Internet activity of millions of Americans reignited the debate Thursday about how aggressively the federal government uses its surveillance powers to protect against terrorist attacks. – Washington Post

The disclosure of a broad government effort to collect phone records of millions of U.S. consumers has rekindled a debate about 44′s commitment to civil liberties, with some lawmakers and advocacy groups saying he has broken a campaign pledge to combat terrorism in ways that protect basic freedoms. – Wall Street Journal

Charged primarily with electronic spying around the globe, the NSA collects billions of pieces of intelligence from foreign phone calls, e-mail and other communications. But in the past two days, the focus has shifted to its role in compiling massive amounts of the same information on millions of ordinary Americans. – Washington Post

The number of hunger strikers being force-fed by the U.S. military at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has risen to 41, with the protest showing no signs of abating more than a week after 44 renewed his commitment to close the detention facility. – Washington Post

The top U.S. intelligence official denounced the disclosure of highly secret documents Thursday and sought to set the record straight about how the government collects intelligence about people’s telephone and Internet use. He said he was declassifying some aspects of the monitoring to help Americans understand it better. – CBS News

A longtime expert on the National Security Agency calls its practice of vacuuming up millions of American phone records nothing short of “insane.” – Politico

Weeks before the National Security Agency (NSA) began a massive phone sweeping operation on U.S. cellular provider Verizon, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told Congress the agency does not conduct intelligence on American citizens. – DEFCON Hill

At least one foreign government has gained access to sensitive data collected by the National Security Agency from U.S. telecommunications companies in dragnet court warrants demanding the secret transfer of U.S. customers’ calling records. – The Daily Beast

Some Democrats and civil-liberties groups were quick to denounce news that the administration has secretly collected personal telecommunications data from millions of U.S. customers of Verizon. But the news should come as little surprise. 44 has supported the authority of the National Security Agency to collect such records since he was a candidate for office in 2008. – The Daily Beast

Editorial: Amid many real abuses of power, the political temptation will be to tie data-mining into a narrative about a government out of control. Such opportunism can only weaken our counterterror defenses and endanger the country. – Wall Street Journal

Editorial: The legitimate values of liberty and safety often compete. But for the public to be able to make a reasonable assessment of whether these programs are worth the security benefits, it needs more explanation. – Washington Post

Foreign Armies East

Mali’s army appears to be moving towards a showdown with Tuareg separatists after retaking a remote village in the northern region of Kidal. In Anefis on Wednesday, government troops clashed with the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and forced out the rebels. – Financial Times

The U.K. has left itself vulnerable to cyberattacks and state-sponsored spying by allowing a Chinese company, Huawei Technologies Co., to become a major player in Britain’s telecommunications industry without adequate security checks, a parliamentary committee said Thursday. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)

Britain has launched a push to revive relations with Myanmar’s military, with the UK’s Chief of Defence Staff visiting the country and offers of help with security reforms. – Financial Times

The United States and Japan appear set to send a political signal of military solidarity to China, just as Beijing has in the past signaled Washington about its military buildup. – Washington Times’ Inside the Ring

Over the last few years, China’s maritime conflict with its neighbors has taken the shape of such minor but contained skirmishes: standoffs between ships, boat collisions, arrests of fishermen, cat-and-mouse games between aircraft over disputed territory. But the quickening pace of these encounters points to what experts see as China’s fundamental strategy — using the seas as the stage on which to prove itself as Asia’s dominant power. – Washington Post

South and North Korea restored a cross-border hot line on Friday, with the South proposing that logistical talks be held on the border on Sunday to arrange the two Koreas’ first cabinet minister-level meeting in six years. – New York Times

China has been quietly taking steps to encircle the United States by arming western hemisphere states, seeking closer military, economic, and diplomatic ties to U.S. neighbors, and sailing warships into U.S. maritime zones – Washington Free Beacon

India and Pakistan see their pursuit of better precision-strike tactical missiles as protecting them from coercion by the other side, but in reality they are creating more possibilities for dangerous strategic miscalculation, a U.S. intelligence official said on Wednesday. – Global Security Newswire

Fearful that the Syrian civil war, jihadist terrorists or Lebanese Hezbollah fighters will spill into Israel, the country’s military engineers are rushing to complete their latest “smart fence,” this one in the occupied Golan Heights. – Washington Post

The Russians know how to send messages. And the one from Qusair is this. You’re fighting for your life. You have your choice of allies: 44 bearing “international legitimacy” and a risible White House statement that “Hezbollah and Iran should immediately withdraw their fighters from Syria” or Putin bearing Russian naval protection, Iranian arms shipments and thousands of Hezbollah fighters. Which do you choose? – Washington Post

As Syrian rebel commanders assess their defeat this week in Qusair, a strategic crossroads near the Lebanese border, they see a painful new demonstration of the need for a strong command-and-control structure to coordinate weapons and fighters. – Washington Post

Jordan threatened on Thursday to expel Syria’s ambassador after he warned the kingdom that Syrian missiles could be used against Patriot batteries due to be deployed soon along their border. – Reuters

Russia announced on Thursday that it will keep a fleet of about dozen navy ships in the Mediterranean Sea, a move President Vladimir Putin said is needed to protect his country’s national security. – Associated Press

Austria said on Thursday it would pull out of a U.N. force on the Golan Heights after battles between Syrian troops and rebels there, in a blow to a mission that has kept the Israeli-Syrian war front quiet for 40 years. – Reuters

Pentagon officials in the coming weeks will examine how to modify the US Defense Department’s 2014 budget proposal if sequestration spending caps remain in place. – Defense News

U.S. intelligence agencies have identified three Russian amphibious warships in the eastern Mediterranean that are believed to be carrying weapons shipments that might be used to resupply the Syrian regime, according to a Pentagon official. – CNN’s Security Clearance

The U.S. will oppose moves by any country to seize control of disputed areas in the South China Sea by force, the top American military commander in the Pacific said Wednesday, adding that rival claimants might need to seek compromises to resolve the feud over potentially oil-rich territories. – Associated Press

The House Armed Services Committee passed its sweeping Defense authorization early Thursday morning, authorizing $638 billion in defense spending. – DEFCON Hill

Center for American Progress on Thursday proposed a new way to replace part of the nine years of automatic spending cuts enforced by sequestration, which started March 1. – DEFCON Hill

A key House panel on Wednesday gave a needed endorsement to the embattled F-35 fighter program, killing a measure that would have slapped restrictions on its budget. – Defense News

The US House Armed Services Committee is pressing the Air Force to spell out how it intends to replace the National Guard’s MQ-1 Predator aircraft with newer MQ-9 Reapers. – Defense News

A House committee is unwilling to cut the generous package of pay and benefits for service members and veterans — and is also unwilling to cede the power to make the cuts to an independent commission. – Military Times

The US House Armed Services Committee is raising new concerns about the Littoral Combat Ship program and is urging the Navy to spend more annually on new ships. – Defense News

The War

The  administration is secretly carrying out a domestic surveillance program under which it is collecting business communications records involving Americans under a hotly debated section of the Patriot Act, according to a highly classified court order disclosed on Wednesday night. – New York Times

House Democrats on the Armed Services Committee attempted Wednesday to lift the restriction on transferring detainees from Guantánamo Bay to the United States, but they were rebuffed by the committee’s Republican majority. – DEFCON Hill

Lawyers for Guantanamo Bay detainees urged a U.S. judge Wednesday to stop what they describe as new “genital searches” for detainees who want to meet with their lawyers. – Associated Press

Missile Defense

A Republican-controlled House panel on Wednesday evening voted to give the Pentagon the green light to erect a missile defense system on the East Coast of the United States, moving the controversial site one step closer to becoming reality. – Defense News

The House Armed Services Committee fired a shot against a controversial missile defense program on Wednesday after it failed to stop the program from being funded last year. – DEFCON Hill

Cybersecurity

The bottom line is that we are vulnerable and will continue to suffer cyberattacks. Many will fail, but some will succeed. If we ask the wrong questions and seek the wrong solutions, things will get worse. So let’s all take a deep breath and think strategically about what to do next. – Roll Call

Foreign Armies East

Jordan has asked the United States to keep a Patriot missile battery there after an upcoming military exercise as part of a U.S.-backed effort to bolster Jordanian military defenses. – CNN’s Security Clearance

Syrian troops and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters pushed toward villages near Qusair on Thursday, a day after driving rebels from the border town shattered in weeks of combat. – Reuters

Russia is training Syrian military officers on anti-aircraft missile systems but not yet on the advanced S-300 system, Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday, citing a Russian military source. – Reuters

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization Wednesday laid out its most detailed plan yet for a mission to train, advise and assist Afghanistan’s security forces after 2014, calling for restricting coalition trainers to five locations in the country and for assisting only high-level commands. – Wall Street Journal

Germany and Italy will join the United States as “lead nations” in regions of Afghanistan after NATO transitions into a noncombat mission there after 2014, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Wednesday. – Associated Press

Taiwan has deployed a powerful multiple-launch rocket system on an offshore island to guard against any amphibious landing by China, local media reported Wednesday. – AFP

The Polish Ministry of Defense is aiming to purchase middle-range anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems, the ministry’s Armament Inspectorate said in a statement. The procurement is part of Poland’s plans to overhaul its missile defense system from 2014 to 2023. – Defense News

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Wednesday it was unacceptable for Russian forces to put up a fence on the border of Georgia’s breakaway province of South Ossetia, believing it could further inflame tensions in the region. – Reuters

Malian troops seized a village after heavy fighting with Tuareg separatists on Wednesday and are advancing towards the town of Kidal, the last rebel stronghold, the army said. – Reuters

The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said it will likely be the fall before he is ready to recommend how many troops the U.S. and its allies should keep in Afghanistan after combat troops leave in 2014 and what exactly their missions will be. – Associated Press

Congress is set to intervene for the first time in how the Army is developing its prized battlefield intelligence processor, which soldiers and the Pentagon’s top operational tester have deemed ineffective. – Washington Times

A US House panel dominated by pro-military Republicans has approved a 2014 spending bill that would give the Pentagon more than $3 billion less than 44 is seeking. – Defense News

The US House Armed Services Committee wants to boost Pentagon war funding for 2014 by $5 billion, aiming to boost military readiness. – Defense News

The Pentagon pushed back against Capitol Hill critics saying a major military strategy review is not delayed, but proceeding on its original time line. – Defense News

A formerly obscure naval exercise involving China and the United States is coming under increased scrutiny ahead of 44′s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday. – The Cable

The first public meeting of a commission on the future structure of the US Air Force picked up right where Congress and state leaders left off last year, with claims that the Air Force has disproportionately targeted the Guard in budget decisions, has not taken the full mission of that component into account and needs to involve state leaders more. – Defense News

Congress will take a close look at the Pentagon’s $34 billion Littoral Combat Ship program and may consider restrictions on the Navy’s $2 billion request to buy four vessels in fiscal 2014, Representative Randy Forbes said. – Bloomberg

Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc beat out General Dynamics Corp for a larger share of a $6.1 billion U.S. Navy order for nine new DDG 51 destroyers, scoring a $3.33 billion deal for five ships that carries a 14 percent profit. – Reuters

The War

44′s decision to shift potions of the administration’s armed drone program to the Pentagon is a clear sign of the White House’s dedication to its new counter terrorism strategy. – DEFCON Hill

44′s plan to revise and ultimately repeal the 9/11-era rules governing counterterrorism missions puts the country on a slippery slope, eventually compromising U.S. national security interests, Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) said. – DEFCON Hill

The House on Tuesday evening defeated a Democratic attempt to let the government spend money to expand U.S. prisons so they can house terrorist suspects now held in Guantanamo Bay. – The Hill’s Floor Action Blog

Missile Defense

The House Armed Services Committee is likely to approve an amendment Wednesday to build a third missile defense site on the East Coast by 2018. – DEFCON Hill

MDA should be given the direction and funding this year to promptly conduct site evaluations on the East Coast of the United States to deploy a third missile site. The site should include the upgrade and relocation of the X-band radar currently at Kwajalien Atoll in the Pacific. – Breaking Defense

Nuclear Weapons

Draft legislation the House Armed Services Committee will mark up on Wednesday includes potentially controversial provisions that would limit federal oversight of the U.S. nuclear weapons complex and hold back funds for compliance with a key arms control pact, sources say. – Global Security Newswire

Officers with a finger on the trigger of the Air Force’s most powerful nuclear missiles are complaining of a wide array of morale-sapping pressures, according to internal emails obtained by The Associated Press. – Associated Press

Foreign Armies East

Afghan military and security forces have suffered heavy losses in recent weeks as they take the lead in all ground combat operations against insurgents, the U.S. military commander in Afghanistan said Tuesday. – LA Times’ World Now

For the first time, two Persian Gulf nations will participate in a major U.S.-led multinational antimissile exercise — a small sign of progress  efforts to persuade the region to form a joint shield against a perceived rising threat from Iran. – Global Security Newswire

NATO is sending a team of experts to Libya to assess how the alliance can provide security assistance, notably military training, to help the turbulent North African nation combat Islamist militants claiming allegiance to Al Qaeda and other threats. – New York Times

The Revolutionary Guards, a military force over 100,000 strong which also controls swathes of Iran’s economy, is widely assumed to have fixed the vote last time around, silenced those who protested and to be preparing to anoint a favored candidate this year, having already narrowed down the field. – Reuters

Syrian government forces and Hezbollah guerrillas took control of most of the strategic crossroads town of Qusayr early on Wednesday, in a painful defeat for outgunned rebels that gave new momentum to the forces of President Bashar al-Assad and was likely to further dampen prospects for peace negotiations planned for this month. – New York Times

China’s top Internet security official says he has “mountains of data” pointing to extensive U.S. hacking aimed at China, but it would be irresponsible to blame Washington for such attacks, and called for greater cooperation to fight hacking. – Reuters

China and Russia joined four Western powers in pressing Iran on Wednesday to cooperate with a stalled investigation by the U.N. nuclear agency into suspected atomic research by the Islamic state. – Reuters

Hyperpuissance

The U.S. may be content to leave the Middle East and its troubles behind, but that feeling will be short-lived if the legacy of its Syria policy is a region dominated by an aggressive Russian-Iranian axis. – Bloomberg