Iraqi Coast Guard – A look at the embryonic Iraqi Coast Guard, being trained by the US.

• Richmond Times Dispatch: Keeping Iraq secure, from ‘coast’ to ‘coast’

US Navy – The Navy stands up the Fleet Anti-submarine Warfare Command, to focus on ASW.

• Copley News Service: Waickwicz named San Diego ASW commander

US Navy – A look at the relationship between enlisted sailors and midshipmen at the US Naval Academy.

• Washington Post: 2 Navies Separated By a Gulf Of Wisdom

US Navy – Sun Tzu’s adage of “bearing down on the enemy” seems to encapsulate the current approaches of both the United States and China to their space programs. China does not have to be an enemy of the United States, but it is certainly destined to be a competitor, if the United States continues to exploit the obvious military advantages of space and China feels compelled to respond.

• US Naval War College Review: China’s Manned Space Program: Sun Tzu or Apollo Redux?

US Navy – The USS Saipan amphibious ready group is ready to go to Haiti, if needed.

• Virginian Pilot: Three Hampton Roads Navy ships could be sent to Haiti

Background – History – The Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal spelled the difference between victory and defeat for the United States in the Pacific war.

• World War II: Turning Point in the Pacific

Background – Conflicts Around the World – James F. Dunnigan’s top 10 wars to currently worry about.

• StrategyPage: There are Ten Wars You Should Worry About

Royal Australian Navy – Australia and the US sign a naval cooperation package; Australia’s new air defense destroyers will be built around the Aegis system.

• AAP: US tech for Aussie destroyer

US Coast Guard – The Coast Guard stop Haitians fleeing unrest in their country from landing in the US.

• BBC: US agents arrest Haitians on ship

US Navy – The USS John F Kennedy battlegroup is exercising in the Gulf of Mexico.

• Associated Press: First carrier group heading for gulf under new Navy training plan

US Navy – Three carrier battlegroups are participating in a virtual exercise this week.

• Associated Press: Three carrier strike groups engage in nationwide virtual exercise

Background – Intelligence – John Keegan on why gentlemen do read each other’s mail..

• Daily Telegraph: Of course we eavesdrop. Doesn’t everybody else?

US Navy – The US Navy has plans to base a mobile ship repair unit in Kochi.

• Kerala: US Navy plans mobile ship repair unit in Kochi

Royal Navy – Was the trawler Gaul sunk by a UK nuclear submarine?

• The Guardian: Gaul ‘sunk by nuclear submarine’

US Navy – The USS Enterprise battlegroup returns to port.

• Virginian Pilot: Enterprise group trickles back to home ports

Royal New Zealand Navy – The frigate Canterbury returns to sea.

• ABC: Warship back at sea after repairs to fire damage

Royal Navy – The cost of the UK’s new aircraft carriers continues to increase.

• Reuters: UK carrier pricetag may jump by 30 pct

US Marines – When the enemy is all around us, it is important to understand the complexities involved in countering these universal threats. In this penetrating article, the author takes us to a new level of understanding of the global war on terrorism.

• Marine Corps Gazette: The Global War on Terrorism and the U.S. Constitution

US Marines – The Fleet Anti Terrorism Support Team has deployed to Haiti to protect the US Embassy there.

• CNN: U.S. Marines arrive in Haiti

US Marines – While the opportunity presents itself, letís reorganize our infantry units to better support both MEU(SOC) and the UDP.

• Marine Corps Gazette: Itís DÈj‡ Vu All Over Again

Background – Special Forces – William Arkin says the special forces are overstretched.

• Los Angeles Times: Not a Magic Bullet

Background – Wargaming – The US builds SimEarth for training.

• BBC: US military creates second Earth

Background – Force Structure – James Fallows on how the U.S. military is stretched to the breaking pointóand one more crisis could break it???

• The Atlantic: The Hollow Army

Royal Marines – More problems with basic kit in the British military.

• BBC: MoD hit with more Army kit claims

US Navy – Judged against the expectations created by President Bush and his defense team, the Navy’s transformation enterprise falls short. However, no compelling strategic rationale for military transformation has yet been articulated. A revolution in military affairs is not required for the maintenance of U.S. military dominance specifically or American primacy generally, or for fighting and winning the global war on terror.

• US Naval War College Review: Transforming the Navy: Punching a Feather Bed?

US Navy – Many questions need to be answered about the new littoral combat ships.

• Virginian Pilot: Report says proposed ship needs more tests

US Marines – Disbursing services during wartime range from contracting to ensuring that Marines receive their pay in the combat zone.

• Marine Corps Gazette: Disbursing Goes to War

Background – History – Like weary boxers, the opposing forces slugged it out with one another in Ironbottom Sound.

• World War II: First Naval Battle of Guadalcanal

US Navy – The USS Eisenhower nears completion of an extensive overhaul.

• Virginian Pilot: Ike sailors yearning for more time at sea

Background – Iraq – Long before the actual invasion, Iraqi forces were taking a ferocious beating from the air.

• Air Force: The ìWarî Before the War

Background – History – John Keegan reviews the importance of Dunkirk in World War II.

• Daily Telegraph: BBC gets the historical drama of Dunkirk absolutely right

US Navy– The USS George Washington battlegroup heads towards the Persian Gulf.

• Agence France Presse: US aircraft carrier group heads into Suez Canal

Russian Navy – In a pre-election bid to demonstrate the might of the Russian Navy, President Putin again heads to sea on a ballistic missile submarine to oversee a missile launch. Unfortunately, it all turns out to be a bit of a popped-cork fiasco that shows the true state of Russia’s Navy???

• Agence France Presse: Russia’s Putin sets sail in nuclear submarine on eve of election
• Associated Press: Putin Watches As Missile Launch Fails
• Daily Telegraph: Putin’s nuclear show blows up in his face

US Navy – The USS Wasp Expeditionary Strike Group heads to sea.

• Virginian Pilot: Ships train for new type of mission

Canadian Navy – Canada is part of the Proliferation Security Initiative, which encourages its 16 member countries to intercept any ships suspected of carrying missiles or nuclear material — even if those ships are outside the member countries’ home waters.

• Toronto Globe and Mail: Canada part of ship-intercept plan

US Marines – Major combat operations ended in Iraq during April 2003. Marine and coalition forces, however, were just entering into Phase IV of the operation. This phaseósecurity and stabilization operationsóhas received little attention. Following is the first of a three-part series providing details about 1st Marine Divisionís Phase IV operations.

• Marine Corps Gazette: Tikrit, South to Babylon

Al Qaeda – Is Al Qaeda acquiring a navy to use for terrorist attacks against England?

• Jerusalem Post: Al Qaida boats to attack British targets

US Navy – U.S. Navy sailors may board thousands of commercial ships in international waters to search for weapons of mass destruction under a landmark pact between the United States and Liberia, the world’s No. 2 shipping registry.

• Associated Press: Pact With Liberia Lets U.S. Search Ships

US Marines – Current commander of the 1st Marine Division, Major General Mattis, on the importance of professional reading for the warrior.

• Marine Corps Gazette: The Professional Edge

Background – Fourth Generation Warfare – More ideas from William Lind on how to confront 4GW in Iraq.

• Defense in the National Interest: The January Seminar

NOSI is taking a break for a few days and will next be updated Wednesday February 18th. Until then, here is your weekend reading:

Background – History – How the Royal Navy helped the US Navy improve its gunnery at the turn of the century.

• Sea Power: The Royal Navy’s Tutorial on the Fine Points of Firing

US Navy – The abrupt collapse of the U.S.-North Korea Agreed Framework has triggered mounting international concern over the longer-term consequences for the global nonproliferation regime.
It has also exacerbated the most serious tensions in the fifty-year history of the U.S.-Republic of Korea alliance, quite possibly laying the groundwork for a major regional crisis unparalleled since the Korean War. How and why did this major policy breakdown occur?

• US Naval War College Review: The United States, North Korea, and the End of the Agreed Framework

Royal Navy – HMS Ark Royal is exercising off of Scotland.

• The Scotsman: Royal Navy Warship Returns to Scotland

US Navy – A cruise aboard the high speed vessel HSV 2 Swift.

• Virginian Pilot: New ship sails through Navyís early testing

US Navy – The Peleliu Expeditionary Strike Group is hunting down drug runners in the Persian Gulf.

• San Diego Union Tribune: U.S. warships pinching Persian Gulf drug trade

Background – Afghanistan – A first person account of patroling with US airborne troops in the Afghan countryside.

• Daily Telegraph: US brings the Great Game up to date with helicopters in the Afghan hills

Background – Iraq – John Keegan compares the conflict in Iraq to the conflict in Ireland.

• Daily Telegraph: Murderous tactics echo the IRA’s war on Irish police

US Navy – Mentorship programs cannot be successful if they are foisted upon us. True leadership requires individual commitment.

• US Naval Institute Proceedings: True Mentorship Is Never Scripted

Royal Navy – The Royal Navy and French Navy will build their new aircraft carriers to a common design.

• The Guardian: Aircraft carrier deal will help heal Anglo-French rift

US Marines – Being ready and capable of taking the fight to the enemy is something all Marines are trained to do, regardless of gender.

• Leatherneck: Gender-Integrated Training at the School of Infantry

US Navy – To remain relevent to operators, naval intelligence officers must support todayís demand for precision strike.

• US Naval Institute Proceedings: Naval Intel Must (Re)Acquire Core Skills

Background – Fourth Generation Warfare – How the global war on terror is like – and not like – the Cold War.

• Defense in the National Interest: Changing the Paradigm of the War

Royal Australian Navy – Warships will take on a greater policing role to counter escalating threats to shipping and national security such as piracy, kidnappings and smuggling, navy chief Chris Ritchie said. In a speech to a maritime conference in Sydney on the role of the navy post-September 11, Rear Admiral Ritchie said the service was being called on to perform a wider range of tasks beyond traditional warfare. These included intercepting illegal cargos, smugglers, fishermen and traffickers in missiles and weapons of mass destruction.

• The Australian: Navy to shift focus from battles to piracy
  

Background – Iraq – In his March/April 2002 Foreign Affairs article Next Stop Baghdad?, Kenneth Pollack laid out the case for why an invasion of Iraq was both necessary and possible. Nine months after the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s regime, he provides an update on the situation there.

• Foreign Affairs: After Saddam: Assessing the Reconstruction of Iraq

Royal Navy – Environmentalists will begin prospectively monitoring naval exercises to detect whether low frequency active sonars are in use.

• The Scotsman: Fears that NATO sonar exercise will harm whales

Singaporean Navy – Singapore’s submarine fleet is now at it’s full strength of 4 submarines.

• The Straits Times: Singapore subs all home

US Navy – A look at the current status of the DD(X).

• Washington Post: Radical Warship Takes Shape

US Marines – Thomas Ricks looks at how the military is trying to pass Iraq lessons learned from the troops leaving the country to those entering.

• Washington Post: Soldiers Record Lessons From Iraq

Background – US National Security Strategy – By Colin Powell: Pundits claim that U.S. foreign policy is too focused on unilateral preemption. But George W. Bush’s vision — enshrined in his 2002 National Security Strategy — is far broader and deeper than that. The president has promoted bold and effective policies to combat terrorism, intervened decisively to prevent regional conflicts, and embraced other major powers such as Russia, China, and India. Above all, he has committed the United States to a strategy of partnerships, which affirms the vital role of international alliances while advancing American interests and principles.

• Foreign Affairs: A Strategy of Partnerships

US Navy – The 6th Fleet may move its headquarters from Naples to Rota, Spain.

• The Guardian: Sixth Fleet may move to Spain

Background – Fifth Generation Warfare – William Lind describes warfare’s *fifth* generation.

• Defense in the National Interest: Fifth Generation Warfare?

Background – History – In recognition of the Centennial of Flight observations planned for Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, this month, a retired aviator and aviation historian takes us through the history of naval aviation.

• US Naval Institute Proceedings: Heroes by Any Definition

Royal Australian Navy – Australia commits to purchasing a squadron of Global Hawk UAVs.

• BBC: Australia to buy drone squadron

Background – Intelligence – John Keegan weighs in on what could be learned from an inquiry over how the US and UK intelligence services got it so wrong regarding weapons of mass destruction.

• Daily Telegraph: Inquiry is pointless ñ intelligence is always open to interpretation

Background – History – An attempt is to be made to raise the German pocket battleship Graf Spee, sunk off of Uruguay in 1939.

• The Scotsman: Graf Spee to rise from her grave

US Navy – Is the US Navy about to expand in size?

• Virginian Pilot: Bush budget forecasts dramatic growth in Navy

Background – Nation Building – The chief threats to us and to world order come from weak, collapsed, or failed states. Learning how to fix such statesóand building necessary political support at homeówill be a defining issue for America in the century ahead.

• The Atlantic: Nation Building 101

Royal Australian Navy – Australia continues to protect its territorial waters from poachers.

• Townsville Bulletin: Ship seized in high-seas drama

US Navy – More on the effects of sonar on whales.

• Associated Press: Experimental sonar sparks debate over how to protect whales

Background – Conflict – James F. Dunnigan on 10 current wars relavent to Americans.

• StrategyPage: There are Ten Wars You Should Worry About