Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
Defense Industry
Other Conflicts
News Reports

Current Operations

• Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) Casualty Update 24 Jun 2015 [PDF]
• Inherent Resolve Airstrikes Continue in Syria, Iraq AFPS 24 Jun 2015 -- U.S. and coalition military forces have continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.
• 'Unprecedented' Surge Of Militants Plagues Afghanistan, UN Told RFE/RL 24 Jun 2015 -- Afghanistan is under attack from 'an unprecedented convergence' of Taliban insurgents, more than 7,000 foreign fighters, and other violent groups including the Islamic State, Afghanistan's ambassador to the United Nations said.
• Afghan Peace Talks Expose Rifts in Taliban Leadership VOA 24 Jun 2015 -- There are signs of deepening splits among Afghanistan's Taliban after a spokesman denied that peace talks between Afghan officials and senior Taliban leaders are authorized by the group.
• Displaced Pakistanis caught between the Taliban and army IRIN 24 Jun 2015 -- More than a year after a military offensive displaced about a million people from North Waziristan, residents say they are unable to go home because the government requires them to first sign an agreement to "stop the enemies of Pakistan," which would put them at risk of retaliation from both the militants and the army.

Defense Policy / Programs

• Carter Discusses Baltic Sea Exercise, Praises U.S. Troops AFPS 24 Jun 2015 -- The annual Baltic Operations exercise demonstrates the United States' commitment to defend the alliance in light of recent Russian actions in Crimea and eastern Ukraine, Defense Secretary Ash Carter told service members aboard the USS San Antonio in Estonia yesterday.
• Readout of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter's Meeting with Italian Minister of Defense Roberta Pinotti DoD 24 Jun 2015
• NAVIDFOR Ensures Shipboard Systems Interoperate NNS 24 Jun 2015 -- When multi-unit groups deploy, Sailors and Marines can be confident in the interoperability of their computer and communications systems because a Navy Information Dominance Forces (NAVIDFOR) team ensures those systems work and are ready to go to sea.
• U.S. Marines KC-130J Hercules Provide the Power for Northern Edge 2015 NNS 24 Jun 2015 -- High above the Gulf of Alaska and Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex (JPARC), dozens of fighter jets engage in lengthy and complex joint combat missions for Northern Edge 2015.
• Raptors bring intimidation to exercise Northern Edge AFNS 24 Jun 2015 -- Its wide muzzle, short black broad nose with large nostrils and deep-set, dark eyes grimace intimidation across the patch on the right shoulder of the pilot boarding his aircraft while preparing to engage an enemy in the joint interoperability environment that is Northern Edge 2015.
• Alaska's military continues Operation Colony Glacier support AFNS 24 Jun 2015 -- Aboard an Alaska National Guard UH-60 Black Hawk, the team breaks through the clouds and acquires the first glimpse of the beauty Alaskan glaciers offer. For many miles, all that is seen is ice 50 to 100 feet high with crevasses highlighted in a light bluish color. Upon landing on the glacier and exiting the helicopter, it doesn't take long to realize a tragedy occurred in this beautiful place -- mangled aircraft debris spread for hundreds of yards.
• AFSOUTH paves way to increase capabilities in Honduras AFNS 24 Jun 2015 -- A five-member assessment team from 12th Air Force (Air Forces Southern) at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, and the 571st Mobility Support Advisory Squadron at Travis AFB, California, traveled to Honduras June 15-19 to perform a three-day capabilities assessment at several Honduran air bases as part of ongoing partnership operations.
• Readout of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter's Meeting with Canada's Minister of National Defense Jason Kenney DoD 24 Jun 2015
• Readout of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter's Meeting with Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves and Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas DoD 24 Jun 2015
• Navy Installs C4I Aboard Mobile Landing Platform Ships NNS 24 Jun 2015 -- Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division (NSWC PCD) installed the Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) suite aboard the afloat forward staging base variant of the mobile landing platform USNS Lewis B. Puller (MLP 3/AFSB) following recently completed acceptance trials.
• US Destroyer Laboon Holds Black Sea Drills With Romanian Corvette - Navy Sputnik 24 Jun 2015 -- The USS Laboon (DDG 58), a US Navy guided-missile destroyer, has held joint exercises with Romania's Tetal-II class corvette in the Black Sea, the US Naval Forces Europe-Africa/US 6th Fleet said.
• Defence Ministers decide to bolster the NATO Response Force, reinforce collective defence NATO 24 Jun 2015 -- Defence Ministers on Wednesday (24 June 2015) took key decisions on strengthening the Alliance's collective defence, including by increasing the strength and capability of the NATO Response Force. "We have just taken another step forward in adapting NATO to our changed and more challenging security environment," said Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, adding "we are clearly making a lot of progress".
• Bases for Bucharest: Romanian Parliament Approves Two NATO Centers Sputnik 24 Jun 2015 -- The Romanian parliament has unanimously approved the construction of two NATO facilities in the capital Bucharest; they will be built within the framework of the alliance's new defense strategy in Eastern Europe.
• Rozas Airfield in Northern Spain May Become NATO Drone Base Sputnik 24 Jun 2015 -- The Spanish Defense Ministry is using the Rozas airfield in the country's northern province of Lugo for military drone testing and may convert it into a NATO base, Spanish lawmaker Ramon Vazquez Diaz told Sputnik on Wednesday.
• Carter Salutes Estonia for NATO Contributions AFPS 24 Jun 2015 -- Defense Secretary Ash Carter expressed the United States' gratitude to Estonia for its contributions to NATO during his visit to the Baltic nation's capital on its Victory Day yesterday.
• Doorstep statement by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the start of the meetings of NATO Defence Ministers NATO 24 Jun 2015 -- Good afternoon.
• Russian Black Sea Fleet's warship group led by Moskva missile cruiser leaves for Atlantic TASS 24 Jun 2015 -- A group of warships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet led by the missile cruiser Moskva has set off for the Atlantic to perform missions, Fleet spokesman Vyacheslav Trukhachyov said on Wednesday.
• Military Experts Question New Russian Tank Capabilities VOA 24 Jun 2015 -- Russia has been showing off its new combat tank design, which officials claim is 20 years ahead of current Western designs. But military analysts question those assertions, and warn the cost could be too heavy a burden for Russia's struggling economy.
• China ratifies nuclear-weapon-free Central Asia protocol People's Daily 24 Jun 2015 -- China has ratified a protocol to the Treaty on Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone (NWFZ) in Central Asia and will soon hand the ratification paper to Kyrgyzstan through diplomatic channels, a spokesman said.
• Germany's Bundeswehr Receives First New Generation Puma Armored Vehicles Sputnik 24 Jun 2015 -- Germany's unified armed forces received its first production of Puma armored infantry fighting vehicles (AIFV) on Tuesday during a ceremony at the Unterluss Proving Ground.
• Saudi-France sign multi-billion deals Press TV 24 Jun 2015 -- Saudi Arabia has signed a slew of deals with France worth billions of dollars to buy patrol ships, border guard helicopters and planes from the European country, as Saudi warplanes keep bombarding Yemen.
• Press Briefing by Press Secretary Josh Earnest, 6/24/15 The White House 24 Jun 2015

Defense Industry

• DoD News: Contracts for June 24, 2015

Other Conflicts

• 24 June 2015 - Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General United Nations 24 Jun 2015
• UN deputy chief asks stakeholders to consider assessed contribution for peacebuilding UN News 24 Jun 2015 -- The United Nations Peacebuilding Fund is "something positive which works, in a troubled, turbulent and turmoil-driven world," Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said today, while asking its stakeholders to consider devoting a small amount of assessed contributions for peacebuilding purposes.
• Yemen: UN envoy optimistic for humanitarian truce amid 'constructive political engagement' UN News 24 Jun 2015 -- Yemeni stakeholders remain on the path towards reviving a much-needed political transition despite the country's ongoing hostilities, the United Nations Special Envoy for the Gulf state, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, said today as he urged all parties to observe a humanitarian truce aimed at helping the delivery of critical relief aid to Yemeni civilians.
• New Saudi aerial attacks kill 16 in crisis-hit Yemen Press TV 24 Jun 2015 -- At least 16 civilians have lost their lives and 18 others sustained injuries in a new round of airstrikes carried out by Saudi military aircraft against various regions across Yemen.
• U.S. Touts Kurdish Gains Against Islamic State As Model For Iraq RFE/RL 24 Jun 2015 -- The Obama administration June 23 touted Kurdish-led advances against the Islamic State in Syria as a model for efforts in Iraq to retake territory from the militant group.
• Syria forces secure oil field surroundings, kill Takfiris Press TV 24 Jun 2015 -- The Syrian Army and pro-government forces have secured the area surrounding an oil field near the ancient city of Palmyra in the central Syria Homs Province, reports say.
• Hezbollah, Syria forces secure more areas in Qalamoun Press TV 24 Jun 2015 -- Syrian government troops backed by fighters from Lebanon's Hezbollah resistance movement have retaken some new hilltops from Takfiri militants operating in the strategic, mountainous region of Qalamoun.
• Russia Completing Contract on Arms Deliveries to Syria Sputnik 24 Jun 2015 -- According to deputy head of Russia's Security Council, Russia is observing its contractual obligations with Syria in delivering conventional weapons.
• Ukraine Talks Show Little Progress on Cease-fire, Political Deal VOA 24 Jun 2015 -- Overnight talks on the Ukraine conflict ended late in Paris and with little sign of progress on a February peace deal agreed on in Minsk.
• South Sudan children at risk from cholera outbreak, warns UNICEF UN News 24 Jun 2015 -- A cholera outbreak is threatening South Sudan's children in the latest blow to a country already teetering on the brink of all-out crisis amid incessant fighting and mass displacement, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has reported.
• Boko Haram slaughter over 40 villagers in northeast Nigeria Press TV 24 Jun 2015 -- Boko Haram Takfiri militants have shot dead at least 42 people in violent attacks on two villages in northeastern Nigeria's Borno State, security sources say.
• Six killed in Shabab attack on UAE's Somalia mission convoy Press TV 24 Jun 2015 -- At least six people have lost their lives in a bomb attack by the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab militant group targeting a convoy from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) embassy in the Somali capital city of Mogadishu.
• UN Somalia envoy condemns latest terrorist attack in Mogadishu UN News 24 Jun 2015 -- The top United Nations official in Somalia has condemned "in the strongest terms" today's Al-Shabaab terrorist attack against a convoy from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the capital of Mogadishu, resulting in a number of casualties.
• At Security Council, UN political chief warns of precarious situation in Middle East UN News 24 Jun 2015 -- During the past month, the security situation in the Middle East remained tense, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Jeffrey Feltman, today reported to the Security Council.

News Reports

• US Government May Work With Private Sector to Recover Hostages Sputnik 24 Jun 2015 -- According to new hostage policy released by the White House, US government may work with private entities and intermediaries to resolve hostage crises.
• Obama Announces Changes to US Hostage Policy VOA 24 Jun 2015 -- President Barack Obama on Wednesday unveiled an extensive reform of U.S. policies for dealing with hostage-takers, in which he pledged to use 'all instruments of national power' to recover Americans held by terrorists abroad.
• Statement by the President on the U.S. Government's Hostage Policy Review The White House 24 Jun 2015
• FACT SHEET: U.S. Government Hostage Policy The White House 24 Jun 2015
• France's intelligence official due in Washington over leaked files on US spying Press TV 24 Jun 2015 -- Paris is to send the national intelligence coordinator to the United States over leaked reports showing that Washington was involved in extensive espionage activities against high-ranking French officials.
• France summons US envoy over 'spying' Press TV 24 Jun 2015 -- French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has summoned the US ambassador after cable recently released by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks revealed that Washington spied on President Francois Hollande and two of his predecessors.
• NSA surveillance targeted 3 French presidents: WikiLeaks Press TV 24 Jun 2015 -- The US National Security Agency (NSA) spied on the last three presidents of France from 2006 until 2012, according to newly released documents from the WikiLeaks whistleblower website.
• France Vows to Retaliate Following Revelations That NSA Spied on Hollande Sputnik 24 Jun 2015 -- According to WikiLeaks, the leaked files include conversations between French officials about issues such as the international financial crisis, Greece's debt and the future of the European Union.
• Obama Reassures France After 'Unacceptable' Spying VOA 24 Jun 2015 -- U.S. President Barack Obama reaffirmed to his French counterpart the United States' commitment to end spying tactics considered 'unacceptable' by its allies.
• US Spied on 3 French Presidents, WikiLeaks Says VOA 23 Jun 2015 -- The U.S. National Security Agency spied on the last three French presidents, transparency website WikiLeaks said in a press statement Tuesday, citing top secret intelligence reports and technical documents.
• WikiLeaks: US wiretapped French presidents IRNA 24 Jun 2015 -- The United States has wiretapped the last three presidents of France, including current leader Francois Hollande as recently as 2012, according to WikiLeaks documents disclosed on Tuesday.
• French top officials surveilled by NSA: WikiLeaks People's Daily 24 Jun 2015 -- French high-level officials, including French president Francois Hollande, ex-presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac, and French cabinet ministers, were surveilled by the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States, said Tuesday a press release of WikiLeaks.
• Iran Ratifies Ban on Access to Military Sites, Scientists VOA 24 Jun 2015 -- Iran's constitutional watchdog has ratified legislation that requires the government to protect the country's nuclear rights, as Iran and six world powers approach a deadline for reaching a comprehensive nuclear deal.
• Guardian Council approves of Parliament's nuclear bill IRNA 24 Jun 2015 -- The Guardian Council on Wednesday approved of the Parliament's nuclear bill obliging the Government to preserve nuclear achievements.
• Araqchi extends gratitude to Leader for supporting nuclear team IRNA 24 Jun 2015 -- Senior member of the Iranian nuclear negotiating team Abbas Araqchi on Wednesday said words cannot express the degree of gratitude of the members of the Iranian nuclear team for the support they have been given by the Supreme Leader.
• Afkham hails Leader's support for nuclear team IRNA 24 Jun 2015 -- Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham thanked the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei for his support for the Iranian nuclear negotiating team.
• Nuclear deal possible if excessive demands not made: Rouhani ISNA 24 Jun 2015 -- Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said a comprehensive nuclear deal with the G5+1 group of countries is possible should the six world powers not put forward excessive demands.
• Fair nuclear deal must serve Iran interests: Leader ISNA 24 Jun 2015 -- Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said Iran seeks to reach a fair deal with the G5+1 group of countries over Tehran's nuclear program that will serve the country's national interests.
• Supreme Leader Khamenei Claims US Seeking to Destroy Iran Nuclear Industry Sputnik 24 Jun 2015 -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has accused the United States of wanting to dismantle the Islamic Republic's nuclear industry, in a speech on Tuesday.
• US, China Vow to Narrow Differences on Sensitive Issues VOA 24 Jun 2015 -- The United States and China on Wednesday capped talks in Washington with promises to expand work on a range of key regional and global issues and to narrow differences on sensitive matters such as cyber security, China's claim on a disputed, strategic area in the South China Sea and human rights.
• NSA Confident in Ability to Attribute Massive Government Data Breach Sputnik 24 Jun 2015 -- According to NSA Chief and head of US Cyber Command Admiral Mike Rogers, US National Security Agency has a high degree of certainty that the intelligence community will be able to find out who are the perpetrators of the massive hack against the Office of Personnel Management.
• UN envoy on Ebola travels to Guinea Bissau after new cases reported in bordering Guinea UN News 24 Jun 2015 -- The United Nations envoy for Ebola response has begun a visit to take stock of prevention and preparedness efforts in Guinea Bissau, which remains at high risk given its proximity to Guinea where new cases of the virus were reported in an urban area bordering the two countries.
• Bush meat trade roaring again despite Ebola ban IRIN 24 Jun 2015 -- 'Liberia doesn't have Ebola any more so we should be allowed to eat bush meat again.' 'We've been eating it without any problem for generations.' These are common refrains in Liberian markets, where the trade in bush meat, a known source of the Ebola virus, has picked up once again.
• Armenian Protest Enters Third Day RFE/RL 24 Jun 2015 -- A standoff between riot police and demonstrators protesting a hike in electricity prices is blocking the central avenue in the Armenia's capital, Yerevan, for the third day running.
• EU Plans To Step Up Fight Against Russian Propaganda RFE/RL 24 Jun 2015 -- The European Union aims to counter Russian propaganda by boosting support for independent media in 'Eastern Neighborhood' countries and increasing awareness of 'disinformation activities by external actors,' according to a strategic communications action plan seen by RFE/RL.
• Thousands of civilians fleeing 'rule of fear and repression' in Eritrea, say UN experts, warning of gross rights abuses UN News 24 Jun 2015 -- A United Nations-appointed commission of inquiry today warned that the dire situation in Eritrea can no longer be ignored and called on the UN Human Rights Council to maintain close scrutiny on violations committed in the Horn of Africa nation that may constitute crimes against humanity.
• Burundi VP Blasts President's Bid for Third Term as 'Illegal' VOA 24 Jun 2015 -- Burundi's second vice president has fled the country and denounced President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid to extend his stay in power.