Defense
The Army is looking to get leaner, more lethal and more agile after having fought two ground wars over the past decade and now facing budget constraints, a Pentagon official says. – Washington Times
Before the end of the year, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta wants the lame duck Congress to act on four critical items: avert mandatory defense spending cuts, pass Pentagon policy and appropriations bills, pass cybersecurity legislation, and confirm generals nominated for two top military posts. – Defense News
Lockheed Martin’s decision not to send out layoff notices ahead of the election was unconnected to politics, company CEO Bob Stevens said Wednesday. – DEFCON Hill
This is one of those videos we’ll put up occasionally just for the record. It’s the only way most folks are going to know that Air Force Chief of Staff Mark Welsh visited the F-35 plant in Fort Worth and voiced strong support for the plane. – AOL Defense
The U.S. Navy’s long-term shipbuilding plans — normally of little interest outside the Pentagon and beltway — have taken national center stage. – Aviation Week
It may sound ambitious, even hubristic, that the Army wants to fold all its modernization programs into a single 30-year plan. But the long-range look is all about living within limits. – AOL Defense
Lockheed Martin on Wednesday said it was making “great progress” on the F-35 fighter jet program, with F-35 deliveries exceeding those of F-16 fighters and C-130J transport planes combined for the first time in the third quarter. – Reuters
Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) writes: When Congress reconvenes after the election, I will do everything I can to stop the additional $500 billion in defense cuts. Because so much has already been taken from the U.S. military, I will oppose any deal that cuts one dollar more from our national defense. America’s security cannot afford it. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
The War
A suicide bomber struck in northern Afghanistan on Friday morning just as worshipers were emerging from special prayers on the first day of Id al-Adha, the most important Muslim holiday of the year. – New York Times
Two attacks in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday and Thursday killed four international service members, and in both cases there are continuing investigations into whether they were insider attacks, with members of the Afghan security forces responsible, officials said. – New York Times
Taliban infiltration of U.S. and Afghan forces will only increase as the Pentagon and White House prepare to pull all American forces from the country in 2014, according to the group’s leader. – DEFCON Hill
Camp Lemonnier, a sun-baked Third World outpost established by the French Foreign Legion, began as a temporary staging ground for U.S. Marines looking for a foothold in the region a decade ago. Over the past two years, the U.S. military has clandestinely transformed it into the busiest Predator drone base outside the Afghan war zone, a model for fighting a new generation of terrorist groups. – Washington Post
An independent U.N. human rights researcher on Thursday announced plans to launch an investigation into the use of drone attacks and other targeted assassinations by the United States and other governments that result in civilian deaths or injuries. – Washington Post
He was Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, a Qaeda leader in East Africa and, it turns out, the author of an autobiography that is now playing a role in a terrorism case in Federal District Court in Manhattan. – New York Times
A UK court case exploring links between British intelligence and U.S-led drone strikes in Pakistan could further undermine the already strained relationship between London and Washington on counterterrorism operations worldwide. – DEFCON Hill
The Middle East desperately needs economic development, better education, the rule of law and gender equality, as Mr. Romney says. And 44 was right to take the side of citizens against dictators—especially in Libya, where Moammar Gadhafi ran one of the most thoroughly repressive police states in the world, and in Syria, where Bashar Assad has turned the country he inherited into a prison spattered with blood. But both presidential candidates are kidding themselves if they think anti-Americanism and the appeal of radical Islam will vanish any time soon. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Allies
The British government rejected U.S. requests to use military bases in the United Kingdom as part of a build-up in the Gulf, citing legal concerns that a pre-emptive strike on Iran would violate international law, The Guardian reported. – DEFCON Hill
An upcoming large-scale wargame between the United States and Israel is not intended as warning shot against Iran, according to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey. – DEFCON Hill
Masked gunmen shot dead a counter-terrorism official south of Sanaa on Wednesday, a security source said, the latest in a series of assassinations as the U.S.-allied government battles al Qaeda militants. – Reuters
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said Thursday that he and top military commanders “felt very strongly” that deploying American forces to defend against the fatal attack last month on the United States diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, was too risky because they did not have a clear picture of what was happening on the ground. – New York Times
Cybersecurity
Five U.S. technology companies, including top weapons maker Lockheed Martin Corp and chip maker Intel, plan to team up to tackle “grand challenges” in cyberspace amid growing concerns about computer security. – Reuters
