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Defense Policy / Programs
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News Reports

Current Operations

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 19 Jun 2008 [PDF]
• Transcript: DoD News Briefing with Col. Ferrell from Iraq 19 Jun 2008 -- Presenter: Commander, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division Col. Terry Ferrell and Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team Leader John Smith
• U.S., Iraqi Troops Detain 35 in Northern Iraq AFPS 19 Jun 2008 -- U.S. and Iraqi troops detained 35 suspected terrorists during recent operations in northern Iraq, military officials said.
• Last Surge Brigade to Return After 'Successful' 13-Month Deployment AFPS 19 Jun 2008 -- The last of the five Army brigades to deploy with the "troop surge" in Iraq will return in July after a 13-month deployment, during which soldiers detained more than 800 terrorist suspects and helped foster Iraqi self-governance.
• Army Turning Trash into Energy in Iraq Army News 19 Jun 2008 -- Getting rid of garbage is a problem anywhere, but particularly at forward operating bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• Afghan Officials Says Offensive Against Taliban Successful VOA 19 Jun 2008 -- Top officials in Afghanistan say local and NATO-led forces have driven Taliban militants from a troubled southern district, one day after a joint anti-insurgent offensive was launched
• Afghanistan: Officials Say Operation Cleared Villages Of Taliban RFE/RL 19 Jun 2008 -- Afghan officials say that hundreds of Taliban have been killed and wounded in a military operation to clear insurgents from a valley northwest of Kandahar city.
• AFGHANISTAN: Returnees may become refugees again - ministry IRIN 19 Jun 2008 -- The worsening security situation, unemployment, the food crisis, drought, shelter problems and lack of socio-economic opportunities may force some Afghans who have returned to their country in the past six years to cross international borders again in search of a better life, Afghanistan's Ministry of Refugees and Repartition (MoRR) warned.
• AFGHANISTAN-PAKISTAN: Insecurity, uncertainty stop return of Afghan refugees IRIN 19 Jun 2008 -- Ghazala Khan, 17, often has dreams about Kabul, the capital of neighbouring Afghanistan, where her parents grew up.
• Air National Guard works to corral Mississippi AFPN 19 Jun 2008 -- The men and women of the 185th Air Refueling Squadron from Sioux City, Iowa, are teaming with local farmers to maintain the 20 miles of levees, keeping the flooded Mississippi from inundating the 14 thousand acres of homes and farmland here.

Defense Policy / Programs

• Bush, Maliki Agree Talks on Security Deal Going Well VOA 19 Jun 2008 -- The White House says U.S. President George Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki have agreed that talks on a long-term security pact are going well.
• DoD Achieves Major Networking And Spectrum Management Enhancement Event 19 Jun 2008 -- The Department of Defense's integrated Network Enhanced Telemetry (iNET) program office has completed development of the Telemetry Network System (TmNS) network architecture, a major event in the programs's effort to provide the DoD research test and evaluation community with new radio spectrum-enhancing technology.
• Army Launches Recruiter Assistance Program Army News 19 Jun 2008 -- Active-duty enlisted Soldiers and future Soldiers in the Delayed Entry Program can now serve as assistant recruiters and earn extra money in their off-duty hours.
• Gas Prices Hitting Troops Where it Hurts AFPS 19 Jun 2008 -- For the first time since the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff began touring the world talking to troops, the increasing cost of gas is popping up on their list of concerns.
• Irregular Warfare Presents Challenge For U.S. Military, General Says AFPS 19 Jun 2008 -- The U.S. military will be engaged in irregular warfare operations for some time to come, a senior U.S. military officer said here today.
• Continuing Promise Brings Peruvian Minister of Defense to Boxer Navy NewsStand 19 Jun 2008 -- USS Boxer (LHD 4) hosted Peru's Minister of Defense, Antero Flores Araoz; the United States Ambassador to Peru, P. Michael McKinley; and distinguished visitors, June 13, as part of Continuing Promise (CP) 2008.
• Bombers drop sea mines to end deployment AFPN 19 Jun 2008 -- B-52 Stratofortress bombers dropped 162 inert sea mines 80 miles off Guam's south coast during a recent training exercise to finish a four-month rotation to the Pacific island.
• Senior leaders discuss need to control cyber domain, build new command AFPN 19 Jun 2008 -- In separate speeches June 18 during the second annual Air Force Cyberspace Symposium in nearby Marlborough, Mass., two senior leaders explained the critical need for the Air Force to control the cyberspace domain and reasons why a new command is needed to do so.
• New radar facility to open AFPN 19 Jun 2008 -- Officials from the Ellsworth Air Force Base and Minot AFB, N.D., Radar Approach Control Facilities are preparing to open the Dakota Air Traffic Control Facility this summer here.
• Ramstein C-130s participate in NATO airdrop demonstration AFPN 19 Jun 2008 -- Two C-130 Hercules aircraft from Ramstein Air Base recently participated in a NATO-sponsored Precision Airdrop Capabilities demonstration at the Centre d'Essais Lancement de Missiles at Biscarrosee and at Cazaux Air Base, France.
• Ronald Reagan CSG Arrives in Hong Kong Navy NewsStand 19 Jun 2008 -- The six ships and more than 7,000 Sailors of the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group (CSG) arrived in Hong Kong June 19 for a scheduled port visit.
• Thailand Phase of CARAT Closes Navy NewsStand 19 Jun 2008 -- The Thailand phase of Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) 2008, ended with a closing ceremony at Sattahip Naval Base, June 16, following five days of exercises at sea.
• Goats rid NB Kitsap of invasive weeds Navy NewsStand 19 Jun 2008 -- Naval Base (NB) Kitsap, is testing a different approach to ridding itself of weeds growing wildly around the base.
• AF nominates 114 officers for astronaut training AFPN 19 Jun 2008 -- The Air Force Astronaut Nomination Board has forwarded 114 nominations to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for consideration in the pilot and mission specialist categories.
• U.S. denies reports on Kyrgyz base expansion RIA Novosti 19 Jun 2008 -- The United States does not plan to expand its airbase near Kyrgyzstan's capital, a senior U.S. diplomat visiting the Central Asian state said on Thursday.
• Secretary Wynne speaks at cyber symposium AFPN 19 Jun 2008 -- While the Air Force has made great strides in cyberspace during the last three years, it remains an arena that will require the continued efforts and innovation of all Airmen and warfighters, said Secretary of the Air Force Michael W. Wynne to attendees at the second Air Force Cyberspace Symposium June 18.
• Strike Eagles roar above the Pacific AFPN 19 Jun 2008 -- Eighteen F-15E Strike Eagles and more than 400 Airmen from the 389th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, arrived June 4 here to help maintain deterrent capabilities in the Pacific.
• Air Force Adopts New Technology, Confronts Rising Fuel Costs AFPS 19 Jun 2008 -- The Air Force is using more high-tech platforms such as unmanned aerial vehicles to combat extremists overseas while it seeks ways to mitigate the rising cost of fuel, a senior U.S. military officer said here today.
• USS Kitty Hawk, USS George Washington to Conduct Turnover in San Diego Navy NewsStand 19 Jun 2008 -- The USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) and USS George Washington (CVN 73) turnover originally planned for early June in Pearl Harbor will now take place in San Diego in August as a result of the fire that occurred aboard George Washington on May 22.
• EOD Expeditionary Support Unit Marks One-Year Milestone Navy NewsStand 19 Jun 2008 -- Explosive Ordnance Disposal Expeditionary Support Unit (EODESU) 2 celebrated its first anniversary June 17, during an informal cake-cutting ceremony at its headquarters at Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek, Va.
• Press Gaggle by Scott Stanzel, Jim Nussle, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and David Paulison, FEMA Administrator The White House 19 Jun 2008
• Daily Press Briefing US Dept. of State 19 Jun 2008

Defense Industry

• DoD News: Contracts for June 19, 2008
• BAE SYSTEMS RECEIVES $128.6 MILLION CONTRACT FOR MOLLE SYSTEMS AND COMPONENTS FROM DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY BAE Systems 19 Jun 2008 -- BAE Systems has been awarded a $128.6 million contract from the Defense Logistics Agency for production of the Modular Lightweight Load Carrying Equipment (MOLLE) system
• Thales invests in urban combat training centres in cooperation with Saab Thales 19 Jun 2008 -- Thales and Saab have agreed to combine their know-how and experience to design the instrumentation for the future GTIA joint battle group facility at the French Army's CENZUB urban combat training complex in Sissonne, northern France.

Other Conflicts

• DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESPERSON FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL United Nations 19 Jun 2008
• Security Council demands action to end sexual violence as a tactic in war UN News Centre 19 Jun 2008 -- The Security Council today demanded that all sides to armed conflicts around the world stop using violence against women as a tactic of war and take much tougher steps to protect women and girls from such attacks.
• Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Takes Effect in Gaza VOA 19 Jun 2008 -- An Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire has taken effect in the Gaza Strip.
• ISRAEL-OPT: Politics mostly responsible for Palestinian food insecurity - UN IRIN 19 Jun 2008 -- Lower incomes and the increasing cost of food have contributed to higher food insecurity in the West Bank and Gaza Strip
• Gaza Cease-Fire Takes Hold After Year of Hamas Rule VOA 19 Jun 2008 -- A tenuous truce took hold Thursday between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip
• ISRAEL-OPT: Ceasefire begins in Gaza after one year of blockade IRIN 19 Jun 2008 -- After one year of a tight blockade on the Gaza Strip, the residents of the beleaguered enclave have some reason for optimism, after a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel went into effect on 19 June at 6am local time.
• CHAD: Aid resumes as conflict abates IRIN 19 Jun 2008 -- The UN refugee agency, UNHCR resumed its humanitarian operations in all 12 refugee camps along Chad's eastern border with Sudan on 17 June as conflict abated in the east.
• COTE D'IVOIRE: Ex-rebel uprising threatens disarmament process IRIN 19 Jun 2008 -- Former rebels taking part in a demobilisation process in northern Cote d'Ivoire went on the rampage on 18 June in the former rebel stronghold Bouake, demanding that cash and benefits promised to them be expedited.
• Somali Islamist Sees Clear Timetable for Ethiopian Withdrawal in Agreement VOA 19 Jun 2008 -- Somali Islamist opposition leader Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed says his group signed a U.N.-mediated peace agreement with Somalia's interim government last week because the accord provides a specific timetable for an Ethiopian troop withdrawal from Somalia
• DRC: ICC suspension a risk for Ituri stability IRIN 19 Jun 2008 -- The suspension of the landmark war crimes case at the International Criminal Court (ICC) of Thomas Lubanga, who may walk free as a result, could hamper crucial efforts to end impunity in the powder keg Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to humanitarian and human rights officials.
• Caucasus: U.S. Explains Policy On Frozen Conflicts And Closed Borders RFE/RL 19 Jun 2008 -- U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried told lawmakers on June 18 that U.S. foreign policy toward countries of the South Caucasus -- Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia -- is to help them achieve the same freedoms and democracies that their neighbors to the west enjoy.
• Russia warns Georgia detaining peacekeepers may end in bloodshed RIA Novosti 19 Jun 2008 -- A Russian General Staff official warned Georgia on Thursday that the patience of Russian peacekeepers was running out and any further detentions could end in

News Reports

• Escalating violence in Zimbabwe 'unacceptable,' says UN political chief UN News Centre 19 Jun 2008 -- The top United Nations political official today called the escalating violence in Zimbabwe "unacceptable," adding that, should current conditions prevail, it would be difficult for the international community to recognize the outcome of next week's run-off presidential poll.
• US Calls for Stronger International Action on Zimbabwe VOA 19 Jun 2008 -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called for stronger international action against political repression in Zimbabwe during a meeting at the U.N. Thursday
• ZIMBABWE: Government of National Unity mooted amid increasing violence IRIN 19 Jun 2008 -- The upsurge in political violence in Zimbabwe, which has reportedly resulted in the murder of five opposition activists in the past 24 hours, is being attributed to attempts by the ruling ZANU-PF party to achieve the upper hand in deciding who will hold sway in the composition of a proposed government of national unity (GNU).
• Zimbabwe Opposition Says More Activists Killed Ahead of Run-Off VOA 19 Jun 2008 -- Zimbabwe's main opposition party says four of its activists have been killed by supporters of President Robert Mugabe, as violence escalates ahead of the June 27 presidential run-off election.
• EU Leaders Discuss Future After Irish Treaty Rejection VOA 19 Jun 2008 -- European leaders are gathered for a two-day summit in Brussels to search for a way forward for the European Union after Irish voters rejected the EU treaty in a referendum last week
• EU: Summit Discussing Irish Treaty Rejection, Energy Prices RFE/RL 19 Jun 2008 -- Leaders of the 27 nations of the European Union are meeting in Brussels for their regular summer summit, with a number of hot items on the agenda.
• EU: Brussels Looks To Turn The Page With Moscow RFE/RL 19 Jun 2008 -- "Common interests" have become buzzwords for the EU as it attempts to get its relationship with Russia off the ground again after some difficult years.