Operations

An American Warship In Israel

By Christopher P. Cavas in Intercepts, International, Israel, Marine Corps, Navy, Operations No Comments

Tourism Trumps Terror in the Gulf of Aqaba, Where Israel and Jordan Vie for Visits from US Warships

The amphibious assault ship USS KEARSARGE berthed at the commercial port in Eilat, Israel on May 15. The Jordanian shore is visible across the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba. (photo by Barbara Opall-Rome)

By BARBARA OPALL-ROME

EILAT, Israel — Old Glory waves alongside Harrier jump jets on the aft deck of the USS Kearsarge docked just a short distance below my rooftop apartment in the Red Sea port town of Eilat. On the other side of this flagship of the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group, hosting the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit on an 8-month deployment in the region, the zoom on my Iphone can make out a squadron of MV-22 Ospreys and a few other rotary wing aircraft.

I tried to get a closer look by driving down to the dock, but security guards quickly waved me away. Turns out my rooftop vantage offers one of the best views not only of the first visit of a U.S. warship here in 14 years, but of the dynamics at play in the Gulf of Aqaba between Israel and Jordan, its precarious peace partner of nearly 19 years.

Across these inviting aquamarine waters, Israel and its Hashemite neighbor strive on multiple fronts to shield bilateral relations from the spillover of escalating regional tensions. Here, in the Gulf of Aqaba, tourism and commerce trumps the war on terror as the two nations vie for revenue from merchant vessels, travel agencies and the right to host the U.S. 5th Fleet for rest, relaxation, maintenance and repair services.  More

Photo of the Day: May 16, 2013

By John T. Bennett in Afghanistan, International, Operations No Comments

Georgian honor guards carry coffins of three soldiers killed in Afghanistan this week during a ceremony at an airport near the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, on Thursday. Three Georgian soldiers were killed in the Afghanistan's Helmand Province earlier this week when a suicide bomber detonated a vehicle laden with explosives. Georgian soldiers have been deployed in Afghanistan since 2004, the largest non-NATO combat troop commitment in the war-torn country. (AFP PHOTO/VANO SHLAMOV/Getty Images)

F-22s Parked Less Than Six-Minute Flight from Iran

By Marcus Weisgerber in Air Force, DoD, Intercepts, International, Iran, Israel, Operations, Policy

Five US Air Force F-22 Raptors on the ramp at Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates. (Google Earth)

At a dinner in downtown Washington Thursday, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel touted the Pentagon’s deployment of advanced weaponry, including the Air Force F-22 Raptor, to the Middle East.

The stealthy fighters, as well other “high-end air, missile defense, and naval assets,” have been positioned in the region “to deter Iranian aggression and respond to other contingencies,” Hagel said during his remarks to The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

It just so happens that satellite imagery of those F-22s in the Middle East has popped up on Google Earth. More

A Turf War Over Obama’s Drone War

By John T. Bennett in Afghanistan, Capitol Hill, CIA, DoD, Drones, Industry, Intelligence, Intercepts, International, Obama, Operations, Policy

A U.S. Predator drone in Kandahar, Afghanistan, one of the hubs of the Obama administration's aggressive targeted-killing war against al-Qaida. (Veronique de Viguerie/Getty Images)

As the Obama administration carries out its drone war on al-Qaida operatives in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia and Yemen, a senior lawmaker on Thursday fired the latest shot in a simmering Capitol Hill turf war over which committees will oversee the program.

House Armed Services Committee Vice Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, is pushing legislation that would require the executive branch to notify the congressional defense oversight and appropriations committees “of any overseas lethal or capture operations outside Afghanistan,” according to a statement issued by his office. No where in the statement are the congressional intelligence panels mentioned, signalling the increasing efforts of pro-military lawmakers and Obama administration officials to move the controversial drone program under the control of the Pentagon. More

Army Readiness “is degrading significantly” Chief Warns

By Paul McLeary in Budget, DoD, Intercepts, International, Operations, Policy, Sequestration, Syria

A day before heading back to Capitol Hill to discuss the 2014 budget with House appropriators, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno warned on Tuesday that even if the Department of Defense were to be spared the worst of sequestration, “we already start [20]14 with a hole because we haven’t done the training we wanted to do in ’13.”

The only units going through full, previously scheduled training rotations are those heading to Afghanistan and rotating into South Korea, a move the Army was forced to take in order to keep its frontline troops ready. Service leaders have said previously that they’re being forced to accept some risk elsewhere by only performing squad-level training exercises for the rest of the force.

“Our readiness is okay right now, but it is degrading significantly” as the months tick by, Odierno said.

Speaking at a Defense Writers Group meeting in Washington, Odierno said that even with the drawdown in Afghanistan, the capability to put boots on the ground elsewhere remains critical—and it’s that capability that he’s worried about.

If action were required in Syria, “the next three to four months, we’d probably have the capability to do it,” he said. “Next year it becomes a little more risky because our readiness is lower.”

Despite readiness concerns, the chief still thinks that the US Army would have the capability to put boots on the ground if asked to by the president. “If you ask me today, we have forces that can go,” he said, but warned that this readiness won’t last long since units aren’t going through normal training exercises. More

CORRECTED: The Road to Military Intervention in Syria Runs Through…the CVC?

By John T. Bennett in CIA, DoD, Intelligence, International, Operations, Policy, Syria

U.S. Air Force B-2 bombers. Officials and lawmakers have said any American military mission in Syria would include neutralizing Bashar al-Assad's air defense systems and setting up a no-fly zone. (U.S. Air Force photo)

The Obama administration is sending two senior officials to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to brief Senate Armed Services Committee members in a classified session on the situation in Syria. Notably, the briefers are both senior Pentagon officials.

Undersecretary of Defense for Policy James Miller and Army Lt. Gen. Terry Wolf, director of the Joint Staff’s strategic plans and policy directorate (J-5) are scheduled to brief SASC members on May 14 in a secure room in the Capitol Visitors Center. There are no senior State Department, intelligence or National Security Council officials slated to brief lawmakers, according to a hearing notice posted on the SASC website. Which is, as we say in the news business, notable. More

Photo of the Day II — Happy Hour Edition: May 1, 2013

By John T. Bennett in CIA, DoD, Intelligence, Intercepts, International, Operations, Policy Tags: ,

10TH ANNIVERSARY: This photo shows U.S. President George W. Bush addressing the nation on May 1, 2003, about the Iraq war beneath a banner reading 'Mission Accomplished' aboard the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. A 2013 Brown University report concluded nearly 190,000 people died during the Iraq conflict, including 4,488 U.S. military personnel and 3,400 security contractors. Most of the remaining dead were Iraqis. The Congressional Budget Office projects the total U.S. cost of the war will approach $2 trillion. National security experts say the United States gained very little strategically from the war. (STEPHEN JAFFE/AFP/Getty Images)

Deciphering Obama: The President’s Complicating Syntax

By John T. Bennett in Budget, Capitol Hill, DoD, Industry, Intelligence, Intercepts, International, Obama, Operations, Policy, Sequestration, Syria Tags: , ,

U.S. President Barack Obama address reporters at the White House on Tuesday. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

ESSAY

Barack Obama ran once for the U.S. presidency promising hope and change, then once mostly appealing for more time to allow his policies to work. But increasingly, it appears likely his legacy will be more about “red lines” and something called “permission structures.”

The 44th president has taken plenty of heat over his rhetorical gyrations on both sides of the very “red line” he set last year on Syria’s bloody civil war. And political pundits and those with a stake in overturning the much-maligned sequestration cuts are still scratching their heads over the the newest Obama turn-of-phrase: “permission structures.”

The problem for Obama — and by extension, stakeholders in the quest for a “grand bargain” fiscal deal that would undo the defense and domestic sequestration cuts (and by further extension, the entire country) — is his syntax has become complicated. And, as a result, it is complicating the work of getting things done, maintaining a sense of presidential authority in Washington and transmitting consistent leadership on the world stage. More

Red Line? Obama Remains Unconvinced Syria’s Assad Ordered Chemical Attack

By John T. Bennett in Capitol Hill, CIA, DIA, DoD, Intelligence, Intercepts, International, Operations, Policy, Syria

US President Barack Obama listens during a press conference in the White House Briefing Room on Tuesday. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

Did Syrian President Bashar al-Assad order his forces to use chemical weapons? U.S. President Barack Obama doesn’t know. And until he’s sure, it’s unlikely American forces will intervene in that nation’s civil war.

When it comes to chemical weapons, Obama told reporters during a White House briefing, that because those arms can kill so many people, “we don’t want that genie out of the bottle.”

Obama is feeling pressure from Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill after the White House last week informed lawmakers that U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded chemical weapons were used in Syria’s civil war. Obama months ago said that would constitute a “red line,” that if crossed by Assad, would bring U.S. intervention.

But instead of acting last week, Obama asked the United Nations to verify the intel assessment. The White House — including the commander in chief — appears unsure whether Assad ordered the alleged chemical attack. More

CRS: Military Likely to Get Some Intel Community Tools, Missions

By John T. Bennett in Capitol Hill, CIA, DoD, Drones, Intelligence, International, Operations, Policy

The Defense Department stands to benefit from changes at the Central Intelligence Agency that likely will be driven by budget cuts and operational needs, says the Congressional Research Service.

In a report dated April 23 and released by the Federation of American Scientists, CRS predicts “a new set of intelligence challenges resulting from budgetary realities and from second-order effects stemming from post-9/11 changes.” More

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