Defense
For the past month, the U.S. military has experienced something not seen for five years in Afghanistan: No combat deaths. – CNN’s Security Clearance
The Navy plans to shut down four of its active aircraft carriers in one of the worst-case scenarios presented to Congress by the service since the debate on budget cuts heated up this winter. – Washington Times
The U.S. Defense Department Wednesday will furlough almost 800,000 employees — essentially its entire civilian workforce — beginning in late April. – Defense News
A pro-military U.S. House Republican wants lawmakers to examine whether Pentagon officials, while warning about dire consequences of pending spending cuts, will undermine military operations and training to protect underperforming, unnecessary programs. – Defense News
As senior congressional Republicans and President Barack Obama continue trading barbs over pending defense spending cuts, a prominent Washington think tank is offering what it dubs a “moderate” plan for $200 billion in Pentagon spending reductions. – Defense News
The U.S. Army’s chief of doctrine development and future plans outlined the service’s top priorities as it looks to again becoming an “Army of preparation,” as opposed to the forward-deployed war-fighting force that is transitioning home after 12 years of combat. – Defense News
Despite the threat of additional spending cuts, Army leaders are not backing away from a plan to add more firepower to its brigade combat teams. – DOD Buzz
The next defense secretary will likely have to decide on a series of Army base closings to meet the challenge of looming military spending cuts, a top Army budget official said Wednesday here at the Association of the U.S. Army Winter Symposium. – DOD Buzz
Impending budget cuts could delay the move of nearly 3,000 sailors in the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group from Norfolk, Va., to Mayport, Fla. – Defense News
The U.S. Military Academy at West Point will take the biggest hit from planned Army budget cuts in New York. – Gannett Washington Bureau
The Defense Department’s new internal intelligence agency is now operational — at least virtually. – DEFCON Hill
But even as they raise the alarm about everything from layoffs to reduced flying hours, defense officials are trying to assess how much flexibility they have to protect their most vital missions from the worst effects of the cuts. – Reuters
Foreign Aid
The U.S. initiative to fight AIDS around the world should scale up its programs, better target resources and direct more focus toward prevention, according to a new assessment. – The Hill’s Healthwatch
Josh Rogin reports: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry used his first major speech since taking office to argue that the State Department and its activities serve U.S. communities here at home, an effort to defend the budgets for diplomacy and development against an axe-wielding Congress. – The Cable
Rogin also reports: Forty international humanitarian organizations are warning that the impending arbitrary budget cuts known as the “sequester” will have dire consequences for people in crisis situations in the world’s most conflict-affected areas. – The Cable
The War
The White House is refusing to share fully with Congress the legal opinions that justify targeted killings, while maneuvering to make sure its stance does not do anything to endanger the confirmation of John O. Brennan as C.I.A. director. – New York Times
American-led unmanned drone strikes have killed roughly 4,700 individuals worldwide, since the beginning of those counterterrorism operations in 2007, according to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). – DEFCON Hill
Cybersecurity
The White House threatened China and other countries with trade and diplomatic action over corporate espionage as it cataloged more than a dozen cases of cyberattacks and commercial thefts at some of the U.S.’s biggest companies. – Wall Street Journal
Unveiling a strategy Wednesday to respond to the theft of U.S. trade secrets, administration officials seemed to go out of their way to downplay the notion that the policy is aimed at troublesome China. – Washington Times
A new White House strategy designed to protect trade secrets from economic espionage limits United States government action to diplomatic and law enforcement measures. – Washington Free Beacon
Nuclear Weapons
One of the United States’ most prominent nuclear weapons experts on Wednesday urged the government to develop nuclear weapons that could be used to short-circuit enemies’ electrical infrastructure, to counter similar capabilities possessed by Russia and China. – Global Security Newswire
For 21st century deterrence, the value of first-strike stability is now at least equally important as maintaining an assured retaliation capability. Those of us in the new generation of strategic thinkers have liberated our minds from Cold War thinking to make sure that today, nuclear weapons are never used. – AOL Defense
Missile Defense
While the last of six Patriot anti-missile batteries are deployed in Turkey, ostensibly to protect Turkish airspace from a potential missile strike from neighboring Syria, some officials claim the primary purpose is to protect a radar that would track Iranian missile launches. – Defense News
Foreign Armies East
New military aircraft will soon begin filling Taiwan’s skies as it takes delivery of new fixed-wing maritime patrol aircraft along with attack and utility helicopters. – Defense News
Taiwan’s Air Force plans to overhaul 16 T56-A14 single-shaft turboprop engines for its new fleet of Lockheed Martin P-3C Orion Maritime/Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) aircraft. The $10.6 million contract was awarded to Texas-based StandardAero-San Antonio Inc. – Defense News
NATO is considering holding a summit in mid-2013 to mark a milestone in the handover of security responsibilities in Afghanistan to local forces, alliance Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Wednesday. – Reuters
