Defense
The likelihood of a deal to avoid $500 billion in Pentagon spending cuts before Election Day are wafer thin, with Republicans and Democrats still far apart on a range of fiscal issues. – Defense News
The U.S. Air Force might have to cancel its contract with Boeing to buy refueling tankers if Congress fails to modify a law mandating federal spending cuts before January, according to a senior service official. – Defense News
Defense contractor Northrop Grumman says that budget pressures at the Pentagon are behind a reduction of nearly 600 aerospace workers. – DEFCON Hill
The Air Force is going back to the basics, Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh III said Tuesday. Speaking at the Air Force Association’s Air and Space Conference here, Welsh outlined several missions that are “foundational” to airpower. – Defense News
U.S. Army planners are not shy about admitting that they don’t know where or when the next fight will be. But until now, they have been less forthcoming about a related problem: How they’ll move troops and material to the next conflict. – Defense News
As the US shifts its focus from low-tech Taliban “cavemen” to an aggressively modernizing China, the Air Force has launched an urgent effort to find near-term countermeasures against a foe that can jam sensors, hack networks, disrupt communications, and shut down GPS. – AOL Defense
The War
The attack on the United States mission in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens has set off a new debate here and across the Middle East about whether Al Qaeda has been reinvigorated amid the chaos of the Arab Spring or instead merely lives on as a kind of useful boogeyman, scapegoat or foil. – New York Times
The State Department fears that terrorists are moving to exploit the wave of anti-American anger sweeping the Muslim world after a group linked to al Qaeda called for more attacks on U.S. diplomats and a suicide bomber killed 12 foreign workers in Afghanistan on Tuesday. – Washington Times
A high-profile ruling by a federal trial judge last week blocking enforcement of a law authorizing the indefinite detention of terrorism suspects is on hold for now. – New York Times
Cybersecurity
Cyberattacks can amount to armed attacks triggering the right of self-defense and are subject to international laws of war, the State Department’s top lawyer said Tuesday. – Washington Post
