Archive for 'National Security'
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
Brought to U.S., Man Is Charged With Aiding Somali Terrorists – New York Times
This past Monday, Nigerian authorities sent Mohamed Ibrahim Ahmed to the United States to face charges that he provided material support to al-Shabaab, the terrorist insurgent group fighting to overthrow the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in Somalia. Ahmed is alleged to have [...]
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Posted in: National Security, Somalia, Terrorism
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
While experts do not believe Iran has the intellectual capacity to manufacture the fuel rods required for its research reactor in Tehran as it claims is its aim, it is capable of making enough enriched uranium for a weapon “within six months or less,” states a March 3rd report from the Institute for Science and [...]
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Posted in: Iran, National Security, Non-Proliferation
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
McChrystal eyes securing Kandahar – CNN.com
The top U.S. general in Afghanistan vowed that coalition forces “are absolutely going to secure Kandahar,” as security efforts expand in the country’s south.….The push to secure Kandahar from what McChrystal calls a “menacing Taliban presence” is part of a larger counterinsurgency effort in the country’s south, started last month [...]
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Posted in: Afghanistan, National Security
Monday, March 8th, 2010
Opinion: It’s Still George Bush’s World – AOL News
Even more than a year after his inauguration, President Barack Obama’s foreign policy agenda is still largely devoted to fixing the messes he inherited from Bush. And that’s likely to continue to be the case for quite some time to come, unless Obama makes a more fundamental [...]
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Posted in: Afghanistan, Civil-Military Relations, Guantanamo Bay, National Security, Terrorism, Torture
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
As Reuters reported late last month, it was about two years ago that a Department of Homeland Security official first brought “’the most significant development in the criminal exploitation of aircraft since 9/11’” to the attention of his supervisors. Yet since this time, the U.S. government has taken little to no action to abate the [...]
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Posted in: National Security, Terrorism
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
I keep harping on our lack of strategic thinking in the United States. I know many people consider this an academic exercise, as in (paraphrasing): “Ivory toward academic Bernard Finel keeps suggesting we consider ’strategy’ explicitly, but the reality is that we have a complex threat environment and receive plenty of guidance from senior leaders [...]
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Posted in: National Security, Terrorism
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
U.S. Envoy’s Cables Show Deep Concerns on Afghan Strategy – NYTimes.com
The ambassador, who left the military last April to become Mr. Obama’s emissary, also complained about an inadequate civilian counterpart organization to the NATO military command in Afghanistan. Nearly three months later, he is still expressing concerns about too few civilian experts in Afghanistan.
He also [...]
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Posted in: Afghanistan, National Security, Pakistan
Friday, January 22nd, 2010
Google, in an attempt to live up to their corporate credo “don’t be evil,” has taken a stand and reversed its controversial decision to censor results China’s Google search engine. In their announcement, Google’s Chief Legal Officer David Drummond stated that the cyber attacks on more than 20 companies were part of a coordinated attempt [...]
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Posted in: China, Homeland Security, National Security, Public Diplomacy
Thursday, January 21st, 2010
U.S. ambassador puts brakes on plan to utilize Afghan militias against Taliban – washingtonpost.com
Afghan officials and Eikenberry have also expressed concern that unless there is a detailed plan to connect these village security forces to Ministry of Interior oversight, they could fuel the rise of warlords and undermine the already fragile government in Kabul. Another [...]
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Posted in: Afghanistan, National Security
Thursday, January 21st, 2010
Groups under Al-Qaeda’s ‘syndicate’ in Afghanistan and Pakistan are trying ‘to destabilise not just Afghanistan, not just Pakistan, but potentially the whole region by provoking a conflict perhaps between India and Pakistan through some provocative act.’
– Secretary Robert Gates, New Delhi, January 20, 2010
It was just over a year ago that India demonstrated its [...]
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Posted in: National Security, Pakistan, Terrorism