Sea Power – Gen. Michael W. Hagee is walking point as the Corps bolsters its force, fosters intelligence sharing and improves the reach of its aviation units
US Navy – Ships deploy Friday with 6,300 to support war
Associated Press – The USS Kearsarge Expeditionary Strike group is about to deploy with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit onboard.
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Miscellaneous – New Online Courses
MIT Open Courseware – Six new course syllabi from the MIT Department of Political Science and the MIT Security Studies Program:
17.423 Causes and Prevention of War
17.484 Comparative Grand Strategy and Military Doctrine
17.471 American National Security Policy
17.952 Great Power Military Intervention
Indian Navy – Submarine deal in choppy waters
The Telegraph – India is trying to acquire French Scorpene-class submarines.
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US Navy – Recent Conflicts Mark Turning Point for SEALs, Other Special Ops Forces
Sea Power – As the Navy builds up its SEAL force dramatically, the integration of special operations and conventional forces is still a work in progress, drawing heavily from experience in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.
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Transformation – Pentagon Strategy Aims to Block Internal Threats to Foreign Forces
Washington Post – A new national defense strategy issued by the Pentagon calls for greater U.S. military efforts to keep foreign nations from becoming havens for terrorism or being undermined internally by such additional threats as insurgency, drugs and organized crime.
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Iraq – Two Years Later, Iraq War Drains Military
Washington Post – An analysis of the effect that the war in Iraq is having on the US military, on the second anniversary of its commencement.
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Iraq – Twists Make Predictions A Dubious Bet in Iraq War
Washington Post – An analysis of the situation in Iraq on the second anniversary of the beginning of the war.
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Geopolitics / North Korea – Did North Korea Cheat?
Foreign Affairs – Two years ago, Washington accused Pyongyang of running a secret nuclear weapons program. But how much evidence was there to back up the charge? A review of the facts shows that the Bush administration misrepresented and distorted the data–while ignoring the one real threat North Korea actually poses.
Russian Navy – Soviet navy left 20 nuclear warheads in Bay of Naples
The Independent – Italy has an unwanted legacy from the Cold War in the form of 20 nuclear warheads on the seabed in the Bay of Naples, left there by the Soviet navy 25 years ago, it has been claimed.
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US Navy – Navy Plans to Sink America
Associated Press – The Navy plans to send the retired carrier USS America to the bottom of the Atlantic in explosive tests this spring, an end that is difficult to swallow for some who served on board.
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History – Race for the Decisive Weapon: British, American and Japanese Carrier Fleets, 1942-1943
Naval War College Review – It is popularly understood that after the spectacular American victory at the battle of Midway the aircraft carrier reigned supreme. However, it was not until 1944 that in fact carriers ruled the waves. Why the delay?
US Navy – Kennedy should be retired, Navy leader says
Virginian Pilot – The aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy has only ‘marginal capability’ and will soak up about $300 million a year the Navy should invest in new and better ships, Navy Secretary Gordon R. England said Wednesday.
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US Navy – Mercy leaves tsunami area, ending military's relief effort
Associated Press – The U.S. military ended its tsunami relief in Aceh province on Wednesday when the medical ship USNS Mercy steamed out of the Indonesian region most devastated by the Dec. 26 disaster. The ship took away the last of the U.S. servicemen and women helping tsunami survivors in the province. The ship planned to stop in eastern Indonesia, at the other end of the countryís vast archipelago, to treat patients there on its way home.
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Military Space – Pentagon Has Far-Reaching Defense Spacecraft in Works
Washingtion Post – A succinct description of the Pentagon’s plans for space over the next 5 years.
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Ground Warfare – The Soldier's Heart
Frontline – The military teaches soldiers how to fight, how to kill, how to survive. But who teaches them how to live with themselves? An examination of an underreported story of the Iraq war: the psychological cost on those who fight it. You can start by reading the complete transcript.
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US Navy – Officers blamed for sub's accident
New York Times – U.S. Navy investigators have found that the officers on a nuclear submarine failed to take into account a variety of danger signs before the vessel smashed into an undersea mountain in January.
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Piracy – Growing threat of 'maritime muggers'
BBC – In children’s storybooks, they are daring rogues or fearless adventurers???In real life, pirates are dangerous criminals that many fear have become increasingly brazen and violent.
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Piracy – Japan seeks help against pirates
Reuters – Japan has called on the governments of three Southeast Asian nations for help after armed pirates kidnapped three crew members from a Japanese tugboat they attacked in the Malacca Strait
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Piracy – Pirates storm Indonesian tanker
BBC – Pirates have attacked a gas tanker in the Malacca Strait, kidnapping its captain and chief engineer for ransom.
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Indian Navy – UPI Intelligence Watch
United Press International – India still cannot persuade Russia to lease Akula-class nuclear powered submarines to it.
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Geopolitics / Empire – Our Currency, Your Problem
New York Times Magazine – Niall Ferguson on why Asian banks finance the U.S. way of life???and the power these banks therefore hold over US foreign policy.
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Editorial Note – NOSI on break until March 14
NOSI is taking a break and will next be updated on Monday March 14th.
In the meantime, I have provided background reading for the next three weekends. Enjoy!
US Marines – In Fallujah's wake, marines go west
Christian Science Monitor – US and Iraqi forces have launched Operation River Blitz, targeting insurgents in cities along the Euphrates.
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Piracy – The pirates will be back
New York Times – An unsuspected bit of good news related to the Indian Ocean tsunami was revealed recently when the International Maritime Bureau released its annual report on pirate attacks against international shipping. The new figures showed a 27 percent decline in 2004, to 325 incidents from 445 in 2003, and noted that there had not been single attack in the pirate-infested waters off Sumatra since the earthquake. Now, while these figures show an improvement, the positive trend should not distract us from the huge threat that piracy, and its connection to terrorism, poses to the global economy.
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NOSI - Naval Open Source Intelligence™ 
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