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Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
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News Reports

Current Operations

• Combined Force Arrests Taliban Facilitator AFPS 26 Apr 2013 -- A combined Afghan and coalition security force arrested a Taliban facilitator and one other insurgent during an operation in the Kandahar district of Afghanistan's Kandahar province today, military officials reported.
• NATO Commander: 'Cautious Optimism' Ahead of Afghanistan Withdrawal VOA 26 Apr 2013 -- The top NATO military commander says, with all the challenges still facing Afghanistan, he is only "cautiously optimistic" that the Afghan government and security forces will be able to maintain security and prevent the country from again becoming a safe haven for terrorists after most foreign forces withdraw at the end of next year. U.S. Navy Admiral James Stavridis spoke about the situation in an interview.
• Lancer Brigade uncases its colors at JBLM Army News 26 Apr 2013 -- The soldiers completed a nine-month deployment to Afghanistan and uncased its colors during a redeployment and uncasing ceremony.
• Northcom Tapped to Support Midwest Flooding Response AFPS 26 Apr 2013 -- At the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Northern Command here today activated the Defense Coordinating Element for FEMA Region VIII in support of response efforts to flooding in the Midwest.

Defense Policy / Programs

• SecAF announces departure AFNS 26 Apr 2013 -- Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley announced his plan April 26 to step down June 21 as the Air Force's top civilian after serving in the position for nearly five years.
• Statement by Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel DoD 26 Apr 2013
• DOD Conducts 'BRAC-like' Review in Europe AFPS 26 Apr 2013 -- While the U.S. continues to reduce its military presence in Europe, the Defense Department is conducting a review to identify more Europe-based installations and training areas to recommend for closure or realignment.
• Army says fiscal year 2014 budget request 'meets future challenges' Army News 26 Apr 2013 -- The fiscal year 2014 budget "meets future challenges, strengthens global engagements, provides for resets, sustains the industrial base and fulfills commitments to Soldiers, civilians and families," the Army's top civilian leader told lawmakers.
• MWSD-24 is official, fully operational USMC News 26 Apr 2013 -- More than 80 Marines conducted an activation ceremony in Hangar 101 to celebrate the addition of Marine Wing Support Detachment 24 to the base, April 24, 2013.
• MCAST Welcomes Home Deployed Teams From Africa and El Salvador NNS 26 Apr 2013 -- Maritime Civil Affairs and Security Training (MCAST) Command welcomes back three Maritime Civil Affairs Teams (MCATs), a Maritime Civil Affairs Unit (MCAU), and Sailors assigned to a Joint Civil Affairs Team (JCAT) April 26 after six-month deployments.
• DOD Officials Detail $1 Billion in Space Program Savings AFPS 26 Apr 2013 -- Senior Defense Department officials testified yesterday before Congress highlighting the activities the department has undertaken to save an estimated $1 billion and provide a balanced national security space program.
• Senior leaders testify on health of personnel programs AFNS 26 Apr 2013 -- Air Force senior leaders, along with counterparts from each of the services, testified about the current state of military personnel programs before the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee April 24.
• Dempsey Discusses Regional Issues With Japanese Leaders AFPS 26 Apr 2013 -- North Korea and China led the list of topics Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, discussed today in a series of meetings with senior Japanese leaders here.
• Chairman Urges More Japan, South Korea Defense Cooperation AFPS 26 Apr 2013 -- During the question-and-answer period following his speech here today at the National Institute for Defense Studies, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey urged Japan and South Korea to collaborate more closely in the face of sustained North Korean provocation.
• Dempsey Emphasizes 'Long Game,' Teamwork in Tokyo Visit AFPS 26 Apr 2013 -- In a speech today at Japan's National Institute for Defense Studies here, the United States' senior military officer talked about America's military, its alliances, its Asia-Pacific strategy and baseball.
• Hagel, Crown Prince Discuss U.S.-U.A.E. Defense Cooperation AFPS 26 Apr 2013 -- Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's first trip to the Middle East included a visit and official dinner with Gen. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi and deputy supreme commander of the United Arab Emirates armed forces.
• Eagle Resolve Promotes Gulf Region Cooperation, Interoperability AFPS 26 Apr 2013 -- The field training segment of U.S. Central Command's three-part Eagle Resolve exercise is slated to kick off this weekend, bringing together participants from 12 nations -- most from the Gulf region -- to promote cooperative regional defense capabilities, the lead planner reported today.
• Readout of Secretary Hagel's Meeting with the United Arab Emirates' Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan DoD 26 Apr 2013
• Chief of Naval Operations Testifies on FY14 Budget Priorities NNS 26 Apr 2013 -- The Chief of Naval Operations, Secretary of the Navy, and Commandant of the Marine Corps testified together April 25 before the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) on the Department of the Navy budget request for fiscal year 2014.
• SPAWAR Leadership on Information Warfare and the Growing Cyber Threat NNS 26 Apr 2013 -- 'Information Dominance will become a recognized warfare area on par with other traditional warfare areas and is becoming one of our most powerful assets,' said Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) Chief Engineer Rear Adm. James Rodman during a panel discussion on information and non-kinetic warfare and the growing cyber security threat.
• Carrier Strike Group 5 Celebrates 69th Anniversary NNS 26 Apr 2013 -- Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 5 honored their 69th anniversary with a celebration in the flag mess aboard the U.S. Navy's forward-deployed aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) April 25.
• U.S., Nigerian Medical Personnel Exchange Best Practices NNS 26 Apr 2013 -- U.S. and Nigerian medical personnel conducted a medically-focused subject matter exchange at the Nigerian Navy Reference Hospital as part of Africa Partnership Station (APS), April 22-26.
• US: Diplomatic, Military Rebalance to Asia No Threat to China VOA 26 Apr 2013 -- U.S. officials say shifting more diplomatic, commercial, and military assets to the Asia-Pacific region is not a threat to China. Stepped-up Chinese naval exercises are partly a response to the Obama administration's diplomatic and military rebalance to Asia. But U.S. officials say it's not about confrontation, it's about stability.
• US, S. Korea conducting joint naval drill Iran Press TV 26 Apr 2013 -- The United States and South Korea are conducting joint naval exercises near the South Korean port city of Pohang, amid tension on the Korean Peninsula.
• Eighth Army commander thanks emergency responders Army News 26 Apr 2013 -- The hospital treated 21 U.S. service members following the hard landing of U.S. Marine Corps CH-53, April 16.
• NATO Inspectors to Fly Over Russia RIA Novosti 26 Apr 2013 -- Military inspectors from Canada and Hungary will carry out a joint monitoring mission over Russian territory under the international Open Skies Treaty on April 26-30, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
• Russia to Join NORAD in Antiterror Drills RIA Novosti 26 Apr 2013 -- A Russian military delegation has arrived in the United States to take part in a series of planning meetings with US and Canadian counterparts ahead of the joint Vigilant Eagle 2013 anti-terrorism drills to be held this summer, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
• British and French troops jump into Joint Warrior UK MOD 26 Apr 2013 -- British and French paratroopers yesterday parachuted into Exercise Joint Warrior in Scotland.
• Iranian Army's Ground Forces to test new equipment: Top Gen. Iran Press TV 26 Apr 2013 -- The Iranian Army Ground Forces' second-in-command says the country will unveil new domestically developed weapons and equipment during the upcoming military exercises in central Iran.
• Russia Launches New GLONASS-M Satellite RIA Novosti 26 Apr 2013 -- Russia has successfully launched a satellite for the GLONASS navigation system from its northern Plesetsk Cosmodrome, the Defense Ministry reported on Friday.
• Jury Clears Two Men in Nerpa Submarine Disaster Retrial RIA Novosti 26 Apr 2013 -- A jury in Russia's Far East acquitted two crew members of a Russian Navy nuclear attack submarine which suffered one of the worst accidents in the fleet in the past decade, at the end of a retrial on Friday.
• Ministry to assess weapons needs from U.S.: spokesman CNA 26 Apr 2013 -- The Ministry of National Defense said Friday that it would assess the country's defensive weapons needs from the United States, after a U.S. congressional subcommittee passed a bill supporting the sale of advanced fighter planes to Taiwan.
• April 26, 2013 - U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing US Dept. of State 26 Apr 2013

Defense Industry

• DoD News: Contracts for April 26, 2013

Other Conflicts

• 26 April 2013 - Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General United Nations 26 Apr 2013
• Ban to meet next week with head of UN probe into chemical weapons use in Syria UN News Centre 26 Apr 2013 -- Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has asked the head of the United Nations probe of the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria to come to New York on Monday for consultations, a spokesperson for the world body said today.
• US to Determine Extent of Chemical Weapons Use by Syria VOA 26 Apr 2013 -- The White House on Friday said the United States will work with international partners, and with Syria's opposition, to determine the extent of chemical weapons use in Syria.
• US hints chemical arms use in Syria under pressure by Israel, Congress Iran Press TV 26 Apr 2013 -- Under Israeli pressure the US military has changed course from an earlier resistance to accepting reports of chemical weapons use in Syria, alleging in a letter to Congress that Damascus "may have used" chemical agents in the country.
• US Says Chemical Weapons Used in Syria RIA Novosti 26 Apr 2013 -- The United States said Thursday it has evidence that chemical weapons have been used by the Syrian government in the civil war there, blaming the increasingly "desperate" regime of President Bashar al-Assad for crossing a "red line" that US President Barack Obama has said could lead to US intervention in the conflict.
• UN Chief Urges Syria to Allow Chemical Weapons Inspectors RIA Novosti 26 Apr 2013 -- UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday reiterated his call on Syrian authorities to allow an international technical expert team to conduct a fact-finding mission in the country over the possible use of chemical weapons.
• White House Says All Options on Table on Syria VOA 26 Apr 2013 -- The White House says U.S. President Barack Obama is awaiting a 'definitive judgment' on the Syrian government's alleged use of chemical weapons before taking action.
• 'Iraq at a crossroads,' UN envoys says, urging country's leaders to diffuse escalating violence UN News Centre 26 Apr 2013 -- The top United Nations official in Iraq today warned that the country could head towards the unknown if decisive measures are not taken immediately to stop escalating violence, following recent clashes that killed and wounded hundreds.
• Iraqi Forces Retake Control of Sunni Town VOA 26 Apr 2013 -- Iraqi security forces have retaken control of a Sunni town north of Baghdad after gunmen who seized it withdrew without a fight, as the death toll from four days of violence in the country reached 150.
• Schools try to play catch-up IRIN 26 Apr 2013 -- Thanks to growing oil revenues in the 1970s, Iraq had, by the early 1980s, developed a generous public services system. It was seen to have the best education system in the region, with near-universal primary school enrolment and an effective literacy programme.
• UN-backed panel on Cameroon-Nigeria border demarcation concludes latest session UN News Centre 26 Apr 2013 -- Representatives from Cameroon and Nigeria wrapped up today their 31st meeting on demarcation of the boundary between the two countries, deciding to resume the pillar emplacement project, according to the United Nations Office for West Africa (UNOWA).
• New UN envoy Robinson heads to Great Lakes region UN News Centre 26 Apr 2013 -- The newly appointed United Nations Envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa is headed to the region this weekend for her first visit to bolster support for a recently agreed UN-mediated accord she has described as 'a framework for hope' aimed at ending decades of conflict and instability in Democratic Republic of the Congo and the wider region.
• Building health systems from scratch in Somalia IRIN 26 Apr 2013 -- Lul Mohamed, director of the paediatric ward at Banadir Hospital in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, treated five children after two bomb attacks killed 30 people on 14 April. 'And they were shooting last night. One died, a bullet in his liver,' she said of an eight-year-old boy.
• Aid Groups Warn of Potential Food Crisis in Northern Mali VOA 26 Apr 2013 -- International aid agencies warned Thursday that food insecurity in northern Mali will reach "emergency levels" within two months if more attention is not given to humanitarian issues. They are now calling for increased food aid distribution and for the full disbursement of requested emergency aid funds.
• ASEAN Summit: Philippines Upbeat on Steps to Resolve Sea Dispute VOA 26 Apr 2013 -- Senior officials from the Philippines say they came away from this week's summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Brunei with a favorable outlook on the group's steps to resolve territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

News Reports

• North Korea Rejects South's Talks Offer RIA Novosti 26 Apr 2013 -- North Korea has rejected a proposal from the South to hold immediate talks over their joint industrial park in the border town of Kaesong, South Korean media reported on Friday, quoting North Korea's National Defense Commission.
• Iran favors interaction with P5+1: Foreign Minister Iran Press TV 26 Apr 2013 -- Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has reiterated Tehran's stance in favor of interaction and against confrontation in talks with the P5+1 group of world powers, stressing that the negotiations should be based on wisdom and logic.
• Iran will answer enemies' threats in battlefield: Iran gen. Iran Press TV 26 Apr 2013 -- Iran Deputy Defense Minister Brigadier General Majid Bokaei says if the enemies of the Islamic Republic make a mistake, they will receive their response in the battlefield.
• Strong participation in election will foil enemies' plots: Mottaki Iran Press TV 26 Apr 2013 -- Iran's presidential hopeful Manouchehr Mottaki says a massive turnout in the upcoming election in June will thwart the enemies' plots against the country.
• H7N9 more lethal than SARS: medical expert CNA 26 Apr 2013 -- The new H7N9 avian flu virus is more lethal than the strain of coronavirus that caused the global outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003, a doctor at National Taiwan University Hospital said Friday.
• Sexagenarian Chinese confirmed with bird flu in Fujian Iran Press TV 26 Apr 2013 -- The deadly outbreak of H7N9 bird flu in China has spread to the country's southeastern province Fujian, the second announcement in two days of a case in a new location.
• A Week After Arrest, More Unknowns Than Knowns In Boston Bombing Case RFE/RL 26 Apr 2013 -- The revelation that two ethnic Chechen brothers were behind the Boston Marathon bombings has evolved into a larger question about the United States and Russia.
• Boston Bombing Suspects Targeted NYC – Officials RIA Novosti 26 Apr 2013 -- The two brothers suspected of carrying out the Boston Marathon bombing last week planned to follow up the attack by detonating as many as six explosive devices in New York City's Times Square, officials said Thursday.
• Boston Bomb Suspect Sent to Federal Medical Detention VOA 26 Apr 2013 -- U.S. officials say Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been transferred to a federal prison medical facility from the hospital where he had been receiving treatment for injuries sustained during his capture last week.
• Freighter Docks With Space Station Despite Antenna Glitch RIA Novosti 26 Apr 2013 -- The Progress M-19M space freighter docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday despite having failed to deploy one of its navigation antennas, Mission Control said.
• China Successfully Sends First Gaofen Satellite Into Space RIA Novosti 26 Apr 2013 -- China has launched its first Gaofen-1 high-resolution remote sensing satellite into orbit, Xinhua news agency reported on Friday.
• Human Rights Trial in Guatemala Could Set Global Precedent VOA 26 Apr 2013 -- The continuing legal complications that threaten to annul the Guatemalan trial of a former military dictator have brought renewed attention to the difficulties of prosecuting high-profile human rights cases in developing countries. The genocide trial of former Guatemalan dictator General Efrain Rios Montt was greeted as a major step forward in accountability when it opened earlier this year, but its procedural problems have led to frustrations.