Aviation Week – The General Accountability Office explains in a new report how the Navy’s Advanced SEAL Delivery System program got so messed up that the service had to cancel its orders last year in favor of an ASDS improvement program. GAO says the Navy paid $885 million over 13 years for the first and only ASDS which is so flawed that it’s only available for limited operational use, prompting Congress to ask for a detailed investigation.
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Iraq – Iraqi tribes shift from hurdle to help
Navy Times – Sean Naylor reports that tribes that once resisted the coalition are now volunteering to become police???a potentially extremely positive development???a very interesting analysis of the current situation on ground in Iraq.
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Chinese Navy – China intent on aircraft carrier
Washington Times – The new commander of U.S. military forces in the Pacific and Asia says he found Chinese military leaders intensely interested in acquiring aircraft carriers during a recent visit to that country.
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Geopolitics – U.S. Africa Command Brings New Concerns
Washington Post – The creation of the Defense Department Africa Command, with responsibilities to promote security and government stability in the region, has heightened concerns among African countries and in the U.S. government over the militarization of U.S. foreign policy.
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Information Warfare – War Fears Turn to Cyberspace in Estonia
New York Times – Another look at the cyberwar between Estonia and Russia.
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Geopolitics / Russia – Reviving the evil empire
Los Angeles Times – Niall Ferguson documents how the Soviet Union is being recreated.
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Editorial Note – NOSI will be on break until Tuesday May 29
NOSI is taking a short break and will next update on Tuesday May 29. See you then!
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Information Warfare – Newly nasty
Economist – Defences against cyberwarfare are still rudimentary. That’s scary.
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Information Warfare – Cyber War! – An Interview With John Arquilla
PBS Frontline – A fascinating interview from 2003 to read with the man who coined the term cyber war, especially in light of this month’s events in Estonia.
I also recommend the fictional account he wrote in 1998 of the first cyber war???very insightful fiction:
Wired – The Great Cyberwar of 2002.
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Royal Navy – Chagos Island exiles win right to return home
Daily Telegraph – Families expelled from the Chagos Islands by Britain to make way for an American airbase won their legal battle to return home yesterday. The only island that they will not be able to resettle under original High Court orders allowing their return will be Diego Garcia, where the airbase is situated.
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US Navy – Oldest U.S. carrier makes last voyage
Seattle Times – The USS Kitty Hawk, the U.S. Navy’s oldest ship in full active service, embarked on its last major deployment Wednesday before being decommissioned next year.
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US Navy – Eisenhower strike group returns after long deployment
Virginian Pilot – Several thousand sailors from the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower and three smaller ships arrived in Norfolk Naval Station on Wednesday, weary from an extended, nearly eight-month deployment fighting wars and securing seas in the Middle East.
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Information Warfare – CyberWar I – What the Attacks on Estonia Have Taught Us About Online Combat
Slate – An early lessons-learned article on the Russian-Estonia cyberwar.
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Royal Navy – Nimrods exceeded planned flying hours for 2 years before fatal crash
The Scotsman – The RAF’s Nimrods are worn out???
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Information Warfare – Estonia Computers Blitzed, Possibly by the Russians
New York Times – Russia wages the first country-on-country cyberwar, against Estonia.
Washington Post – Cyber Assaults on Estonia Typify a New Battle Tactic.
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Geopolitics / Economics – The End of National Currency
Foreign Affairs – Global financial instability has sparked a surge in “monetary nationalism” — the idea that countries must make and control their own currencies. But globalization and monetary nationalism are a dangerous combination, a cause of financial crises and geopolitical tension. The world needs to abandon unwanted currencies, replacing them with dollars, euros, and multinational currencies as yet unborn.
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US Navy – Not-Quite-Secret Radar
Aviation Week – A look at a new AESA radar for the P-3 Orion.
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Miscellaneous – NATO eyes naval patrols to secure oil facilities
Reuters – NATO is talking to oil and gas producing companies and countries about how it could help combat security threats to energy infrastructure???the likely measures would involve providing sea-borne rapid reaction forces to combat attacks on facilities, hostage taking and piracy in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
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Iraq – The Flight From Iraq
New York Times Magazine – War has displaced millions in Iraq, creating the largest refugee problem in the Middle East since 1948. As they flee their country, are they taking the war with them?
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Canadian Navy – Ottawa to proceed with plan to acquire six Arctic patrol ships
Canadian Press – A key federal cabinet committee has given the go-ahead for a plan to construct six corvette-sized Arctic patrol vessels. The patrol vessels, which are almost as large as the navy’s frigates, are a step down from the armed Arctic icebreakers that the Conservatives promised in the last election campaign and will likely not be in service before 2015.
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Geopolitics / Civil-Military Relations – Bush and the Generals
Foreign Affairs – The rift between U.S. military and civilian leaders did not start with George W. Bush, but his administration’s meddling and disregard for military expertise have made it worse. The new defense secretary must restore a division of labor that gives soldiers authority over tactics and civilians authority over strategy — or risk discrediting civilian control of the military even further.
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Iraq – Gen. Petraeus Warns Against Using Torture
Washington Post – The top U.S. commander in Iraq admonished his troops regarding the results of an Army survey that found that many U.S military personnel there are willing to tolerate some torture of suspects and unwilling to report abuse by comrades.
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French Navy – Aboard the Mistral
Defense Technology International – A cruise aboard the French Navy’s landing helicopter dock ship Mistral.
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Royal Navy – Navy's stealth submarine will rule the oceans
Daily Telegraph – A new £1.2 billion Royal Navy submarine which from the Channel is able to detect the QE2 cruise liner leaving New York harbour was unveiled yesterday. The Astute, the first attack submarine to be built in almost two decades, is the “most stealthy in the world” and will put the Navy at the “top of the premiership”, commanders said.
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US Marines – 69 Afghans' Families Get a U.S. Apology
Washington Post – A U.S. Army brigade commander in Afghanistan yesterday told the families of 69 civilians who were killed or wounded by members of an elite Marine Special Forces unit in March that he is “deeply, deeply ashamed” about the incident, describing the series of shootings along a civilian thoroughfare as a “terrible, terrible mistake.”
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