Defense
Navy leaders are putting the piece in place to expand its missions in the Mideast and Asia-Pacific to counter potential threats in those regions, according to new guidance by issued by Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert. – DEFCON Hill
Brig. Gen. Eric Wendt began his tenure as the new head of U.S. special forces in South Korea, officially taking the reins from outgoing commander Brig. Gen. Neil Tolley on Tuesday, according to recent reports. – DEFCON Hill
Japan and the United States will hold a biennial joint military exercise in Japan in November in a move likely to further anger China amid heightened tensions between the two Asian giants over disputed islets in the East China Sea. – Reuters
Allies
The European Union is considering sending about 200 troops to train Mali’s army to retake the Islamist-held north, but is not willing to deploy them in battle, EU officials said on Tuesday. – Reuters
Intelligence
The U.S. military’s intelligence spending fell $2.5 billion in 2012, continuing its decline as operations in Iraq finished and operations in Afghanistan wind down. – Defense News
Iranian naval commanders met Tuesday with their counterparts in Sudan to discuss joint training exercises, in the wake of explosions at a weapons factory that Sudan blamed on Israeli jets. – Wall Street Journal
A senior Iranian military commander said Monday that Iran needs a new strategy to protect its infrastructure from computer attacks, state-affiliated Fars News Agency reports. – Global Security Newswire
Suspicions among some in Poland that a 2010 plane crash that killed President Lech Kaczynski and much of the country’s senior leadership was not an accident were revived on Tuesday by a disputed newspaper report suggesting that traces of explosives may have been found in the wreckage in western Russia. – New York Times
The War
Top 44th administration officials have told the United Kingdom that the country’s last remaining resident still at Guantanamo Bay could be set free under the new defense spending bill, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Tuesday. – The Hill’s Global Affairs
For Pakistan’s military the Americans in Afghanistan will continue to remain a threat not an ally – Financial Times
The war has finally found Bamian, a remote corner of Afghanistan that for a decade had enjoyed near immunity to Taliban violence. – New York Times
