US Navy – An excellent overview of the military options available to the US.

• Economist: An alliance of old and new
  

Background – Wargaming – An essay by William Arkin on how recent wargames have helped to define US strategy for how the war on terrorism will proceed.

• Washington Post:
  A New Mindset for Warfare

Background – Afghanistan – An essay on how the Taliban came to power, and how due to their behavior they are no longer appreciated by the average Afghan.

• New Yorker: Across the Divide

Background – Afghanistan – Why all the Taliban’s neighbors in Central Asia are willing to work with the US to see them removed from power.

• Economist: The perpetual vortex
  

US Navy – How an old technology – the Fresnel lens – is being used today to help avoid ship collisions.

• Science Daily: Seeing The Light: Old-Fashioned Fresnel Lenses Keep Modern Ships On Course

Background – Afghanistan – The soon-to-come Afghan winter will be a deterrent to any military operations.

• Jane’s: Onset of winter will provide harsh backdrop for Afghan operations
  

Background – Afghanistan – Bin Laden’s real goal is to overthrow the House of Saud.

• Daily Telegraph: Bin Laden’s secret goal is to overthrow the House of Saud

Russian Navy – Work continues on raising the Kursk.

• Associated Press: Kursk to be raised by Monday

Background – Afghanistan – What combat in Afghanistan would be like, from an SAS trooper who trained the Afghanis in the 1980s and served with them in-country.

• The Sunday Times: My life with the mujaheddin

Background – Afghanistan – What life is like today inside Afghanistan, by two BBC correspondents.

• BBC: Life plods on in opposition Afghanistan
  

• BBC: Afghanistan veers towards chaos
  

Royal Marines – All of 3 Commando Brigade ( 40, 42, and 45 Commando) are in the Persian Gulf.

• Daily Telegraph:
  Forces are ready if war games become real

Chinese Navy – The Chinese Navy has successfully tested its recently acquired SSN-22 Sunburn antiship cruise missiles.

• Washington Times: China tests supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles

Sri Lankan Navy – More fighting between the Sri Lankan Navy and the Tamil Sea Tigers.

• BBC: Sri Lanka rebels clash with navy
  

US Navy – Onboard USNS Comfort.

• Fox: USNS Comfort Lives Up to Its Name
  

Royal Marines – The Royal Marines are procuring a new beach recovery vehicle.

• Jane’s:
  Royal Marines receive new beach recovery vehicle
  

Background – Pakistan – Why we must be careful in dealing with Pakistan.

• Jane’s: Overt assistance from Pakistan may bring dire consequences
  

Royal Navy – HMS Illustrious and escorts passed through the Suez Canal Monday.

• Associated Press:
  British aircraft carrier to meet other Royal Navy ships now in Persian Gulf waters

US Navy – The USS Essex amphibious ready group has sailed from Japan.

• Sunday Times: SAS troops clash with Taliban unit deep inside Afghanistan

Background – The US will use former Soviet bases in the former Soviet republics of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

• Daily Telegraph: Americans tighten the noose

Background – Is Iraq the true target?

• Stratfor: U.S. May Be Refocusing on Iraq

Background – History – Thoughts from military history John Keegan on how the Taliban can be defeated.

• Daily Telegraph: If America decides to take on the Afghans, this is how to do it

Background – Looks like there is strategic as well as tactical thinking going on???

• The Times: Secret plans for 10-year war

Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force – The Japanese Prime Minister has pledged the assistance of the JMSDF in any military operation against terrorists.

• New York Times (registration required): Japan Says Its Armed Forces Will Actively Back the U.S.

US Navy – The USS Kitty Hawk has set sail; presumeably for the Gulf. That makes for 4 carriers either in the Persian Gulf or on their way towards it.

• Associated Press: U.S. Carrier Leaves Base in Japan

Background – Heavy weekend reading on the difficulties of gathering intelligence on asymetric threats.

• Jane’s: Intelligence gathering asymmetric threats – PART ONE
  

NOSI is taking the weekend off and will be updated again on Monday.

US Navy – Possible scenarios for the deployment of US special forces troops that would rely heavily on US Navy support. Meanwhile, USAF aircraft are on the move.

• Washington Post: U.S. Develops Options for Military Action
• Washington Post: Warplanes Begin Deploying to Gulf, Central Asia

US Coast Guard – A look at port security in the Hampton Roads area.

• Virginian Pilot: Coast Guard on duty to keep port of Hampton Roads safe
  

US Navy – The USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier battle group and USS Bataan amphibious ready group have set sail.

• Virginian Pilot: Roosevelt, Bataan crews ”determined” for deployment
  

• Virginian Pilot: Ships leaving with the Roosevelt and Bataan
• BBC: Carrier sets sail for unknown war
  

Royal Navy – A very large naval taskforce, including HMS Illustrious, HMS Ocean, HMS Fearless, HMS Trafalgar and 3 Commando Brigade are steaming towards an exercise off Oman and would be available for operations against Afghanistan if required.

• BBC: The UK’s military options

US Navy – Aboard the USNS Comfort.

• Associated Press: USNS Comfort: Navy ship provides bed and showers for workers involved in recovery effort
  

US Coast Guard – The Coast Guard continues to heighten security around Navy ships on both coasts.

• Honolulu Star Bulletin: Buffer zone created to
  protect Navy ships

Royal Australian Navy – The RAN still cannot convince the refugees aboard HMAS Manoora to disembark at Nauru.

• The Times of London: Australia tells refugees to land on Nauru

US Navy – US military preparations for retaliation continue.

• Daily Telegraph: World’s largest military machine gears up for action

US Navy – The USS Cole has been relaunched.

• CNN: USS Cole relaunched with little fanfare

Royal Australian Navy – The frigate HMAS Anzac has been asked to stay in the Persian Gulf.

• News Interactive: HMAS Anzac remains in Gulf
  

US Navy – Is it time to reconsider the role of VSTOL and STOVL aircraft on conventional aircraft carriers?

• US Naval Institute Proceedings: Up, Up and Away

US Coast Guard – The Coast Guard has called up reserves to beef up security at US naval bases.

• Virginian Pilot: Coast Guard activates reservists to protect Navy vessels
  

US Marines – US Marines in the USS Peleliu amphibious ready group are exercising off East Timor.

• Reuters: Marines Practise Landings Off Timor

US Marines – Have US troops already landed in Pakistan?

• Times of India: US marines land in Pak for surveillance

Sri Lankan Navy – The Tamil Sea Tigers unsuccessfully attacked a Sri Lankan Navy troop ship.

• Japan Today: Sri Lankan troop ship fights off rebelattack

US Navy – The USNS Comfort docked at Pier 92 in New York City Friday, and will serve as a lodging facility for disaster recovery personnel. The ship will provide housing, laundry, food, medical and other services to volunteers and rescue personnel.

• Virginian Pilot: Navy hospital ship sails into N.Y. with a new mission
• US Navy: Navy, Marine Corps respond to terrorism
  with heroic acts
  

US Navy – Possible military options are beginning to emerge, including cruise missile attacks followed by saturation bombing followed by special operations raids.

• Daily Telegraph: SAS to join American special forces
• The Sunday Times: War plan: the West’s military options

Background – The Taliban – Dealing with Pakistan, the Taliban, and Bin Laden will be extremely complex; all three are deeply intertwingled as shown in these excellent lengthy essays. Required reading for understanding the complexity of the challenges the US faces.

This New Yorker essay is an excellent biography of Bin Laden.

• The New Yorker: The Real bin Laden

This Atlantic essay, from Robert Kaplan, gives tremendous insight into the ungovernable state of Pakistan today.

• The Atlantic: The Lawless Frontier

A Pakistani journalist who has covered the Taliban for years gives his insight into them.

• The Atlantic: Inside the Jihad

An essay from Janes’ on how this all came to be???

• Janes’: Why? An attempt to explain the unexplainable

An essay from a senior BBC correspondent on how the Taliban may act.

• BBC: What now for the Taleban?
  

Background – Possible military strategies for the US. Excellent essays by Col Ralph Peters, USA (ret) who advocates hunting the terrorists down and killing them, the military historian John Keegan who points out there is much to be learned from Lords Roberts’ march against the Afghans in 1878, and The Economist.

• Ralph Peters: Will Our Resolve Last?
• John Keegan: How America can wreak vengeance
• Economist – The coming battle

US Navy – The hospital ship USS Comfort has arrived off of New York City.

• US Navy: USNS Comfort arrives in NYC

US Navy – The US is calling up a large number of reservists.

• BBC: US calls up 50,000 reservists

???coming tomorrow an in-depth look at the Taliban???

US Navy – The USS Comfort should arrive off New York City today.

• Defenselink: Navy Hospital Ship Underway to Aid New York Rescue Effort
  

• US Navy: Forty-three Navy personnel unaccounted for
  in wake of terrorist attack on the Pentagon

Israeli Navy – The Israeli Navy will be selling its used Gal-class submarines to Thailand.

• Jerusalem Post: Israel to sell used submarines to Thailand

US Navy – While the Navy has deployed itself, it has yet to receive orders to participate in any rescue mission or salvage efforts.

• Virginian Pilot: Navy crews anxiously await orders to aid in the disaster

Royal Australian Navy – A new group of 237 illegal immigrants has been intercepted on their way towards Australia and have been placed aboard HMAS Manoora.

• BBC: Australia talks tough on migrants

Chinese Navy – An essay from the journal Parameters, on how China could launch a surprise attack on Taiwan.

• Washington Post: War College Details New Taiwan Attack Scenario
• Taipei Times: US expert warns of early Taiwan Strait war
• Parameters: What if . . . “China Attacks Taiwan!”

US Navy – Here is the latest involving the US Navy. The carriers USS John F. Kennedy and USS George Washington are steaming towards New York City and Washington DC. The USS Theodore Roosevelt is heading out to sea from Norfolk. The hospital ship USS Comfort is preparing to sail from Baltimore. On the West Coast, the USS John Stennis battlegroup is at sea. In the Persian Gulf, the USS Enterprise has been told to hold on station to assist the USS Carl Vinson if action is needed.

• Washington Post: U.S. Deploys Air Defenses on Coasts
• Baltimore Sun: Navy hospital ship ready to sail for N.Y.
• Virginian Pilot: Navy carriers sent to patrol off New York, D.C.
• US Navy: Pentagon hit by apparent hijacked aircraft

Background – The views of military historian John Keegan???

• Daily Telegraph: One step nearer a Middle East bloodbath

???in other news???

Royal Australian Navy – Australia’s courts have ruled that the refugees currently on HMAS Manoora which is steaming toward Nauru, have the right to land in Australia instead.

• BBC: Australia appeals against ship ruling
  

US Navy – The US Navy has rescued the crew of a burning tanker smuggling oil in the Persian Gulf.

• BBC: Oil tanker ablaze in Gulf
  

US Navy – The Atlantic fleet is sailing from Norfolk. The Navy has activated the hospital ship USS Comfort this morning, and the Commander in Chief, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, has dispatched the aircraft carriers USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67) and USS George Washington (CVN 73) to New York City and Washington DC to provide air defense and humanitarian relief.

• US Navy: Pentagon hit by apparent hijacked aircraft

Flash traffic – multiple terrorist attacks have occured against the World Trade Center and Pentagon – see the BBC and CNN for breaking news

US Navy – The USS Constellation’s returns from her latest cruise which included enforcing the southern no-fly zone over Iraq and exercising in the Taiwan Straits with the USS Carl Vinson.

• Honolulu Star Bulletin: Life aboard the
  USS Constellation

US Navy – Senator Kennedy, chairman of the Armed Services Committees sea power subcommittee, believes the US Navy needs to build more ships.

• Boston Globe: Kennedy pushing for larger fleet as defense review goes on

US Navy – US Navy aircraft from the USS Carl Vinson have attacked surface-to-air missile sites in Iraq again.

• Reuters: US jets attack southern Iraq, Pentagon says

Royal Navy – HMS Ark Royal’s recently completed refit was substantial, and will allow her to operate Merlin and Sea King helicopters as well as Sea Harriers and RAF Harriers.

• Times of London: Updated Ark Royal returns home

US Navy – The USS Greenville was slightly damaged during docking maneuvers in Saipan harbor.

• Stars and Stripes: USS Greeneville checked for possible
  damage after rough arrival at Saipan
  

US Navy – Will the DD-21 program suffer the same fate of the Seawolf program and put the destroyer ship building infrastructure in danger?

• US Naval Institute Proceedings: DD-21: Another Seawolf?
  

Royal Navy – The Royal Navy is engaged in anti-drug patrol in the Caribbean.

• Daily Telegraph: Royal Navy foils £40m drugs run

US Navy – The USS Boxer rescued crewman from a sinking fishing trawler.

• San Diego Union Tribune: Navy ship Boxer saves 8 in Pacific

US Navy – An essay arguing that engagement is the best policy for dealing with the Chinese military today and in the future.

• US Naval Institute Proceedings; Military Contact Is Lynchpin in Sino-U.S. Relations

Chinese Navy – The former Russian aircraft carrier Varyg has received permission to transit the Bosporus Strait and be towed to China. What use will the Chinese Navy make of it?

• Daily Telegraph: China wins carrier battle of the
  Bosporus

US Marine Corps – What the Commandant of the Marine Corps thinks the defense review should mean to the Marine Corps.

• Washington Post: For Jones, Marines, time for a change

Russian Navy – A detailed look at the plans for raising the Kursk.

• New York Times (registration required): For the Nuclear Submarine Kursk, Plans for a Risky Resurrection

Royal Navy – The Royal Navy task force in exercise Argonaut 2001 will use Internet technology to aid communications.

• Times of London: Navy chiefs to plan tactics on Web

Chinese Navy – The Chinese Navy is practicing coordinated air, sea, and subsurface attacks against US aircraft carriers.

• Washington Times: Carrier exercises behind the facade

Canadian Navy – The transfer of the Upholder-class conventionally powered attack submarines from the Royal Navy to Canada is taking longer than planned.

• Halifax Herald: Delays keep submariners and families ocean apart

US Navy – Defense contractors and their lobbyists play a tremendous role in shaping our military force.

• New York Times (registration required):Dogfight for Dollars on Capitol Hill
  

Royal Australian Navy – The asylum seekers have been transferred from the Norwegian freighter to the troop carrier HMAS Manoora which will take them to Papau New Guinea from where they will fly to their final destinations in New Zealand and Nauru.

• BBC: Refugees moved to troop carrier
  

• ITN: Navy ship set to pick up immigrants
  

Royal Australian Navy – Meanwhile, Australia vows to more aggressively patrol its territorial waters, to halt future such incursions.

• The Australian: Boats to patrol waters off Java
  

Background – US Defense Reform – Maybe the defense review is going exactly as planned???

• Washington Times: Savaging Donald Rumsfeld

Nigerian Navy – The Nigerian Navy is actively pursuing pirates in the Niger Delta.

• Reuters: Nigerian navy blows up pirate boats

Background – Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) – How Silicon Valley companies hope to influence RMA

• Red Herring: New technologies may revolutionize war
  

US Navy – It is time to move past Vieques.

• US Naval Institute Proceedings: Vieques: Get Over It