Georgetown Security Law Brief

Diplomat says questions over Benghazi led to demotion

05/09/13:  The New York Times reports a veteran diplomat gave a riveting minute-by-minute account on Wednesday of the lethal terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, last Sept. 11 and described its contentious aftermath at a charged Congressional hearing that reflected the weighty political stakes perceived by both parties. During a chaotic night at the American Embassy in Tripoli, hundreds of miles away, the diplomat, Gregory Hicks, got what he called “the saddest phone call I’ve ever had in my life” informing him that Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens was dead and that he was now the highest-ranking American in Libya. For his leadership that night when four Americans were killed, Mr. Hicks said in nearly six hours of testimony, he subsequently received calls from both Secretary of StateHillary Rodham ClintonandPresident Obama. But within days, Mr. Hicks said, after raising questions about the account of what had happened in Benghazi offered in television interviews by Susan E. Rice, the United Nations ambassador, he felt a distinct chill from State Department superiors. “The sense I got was that I needed to stop the line of questioning,” said Mr. Hicks, who has been a Foreign Service officer for 22 years. He was soon given a scathing review of his management style, he said, and was later “effectively demoted” to desk officer at headquarters, in what he believes was retaliation for speaking up. House Republican leaders made the hearing the day’s top priority, postponing floor votes so that the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform could continue without interruption. The Obama administration appeared focused on the testimony, with senior officials at the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon responding through the day to Republican accusations of incompetence and cover-up in campaign war room style.

Kremlin forces out Putin’s former Domestic Policy Adviser

05/08/13:  The New York Times reports the Kremlin on Wednesday announced the resignation of Vladislav Y. Surkov, a longtime domestic policy adviser and architect of Russia’s highly centralized political system, now under strain from protests. Mr. Surkov, a former advertising executive, had coined the phrase “sovereign democracy” to describe the Russian system under President Vladimir V. Putin, a system that preserved popular elections but stripped them of meaning by closely manipulating the process. After waves of protests that began in 2011 by middle-class Muscovites angry about vote rigging, others in the Kremlin elbowed Mr. Surkov aside. “Stabilization devours its own children,” he said then. He was reassigned to a low-key position overseeing innovation in the economy. The Kremlin published a statement saying Mr. Putin had signed a decree removing Mr. Surkov from his position “in accordance with his own wishes” and effective immediately. The Kremlin statement offered no explanation for why Russia’s prime minister, Dmitri A. Medvedev, who was Mr. Surkov’s direct superior, had not issued the decree. It was a peculiarity, one sure to reinforce the impression lately that Mr. Medvedev is being sidelined in Russian politics, despite the loyalty he showed to Mr. Putin last year by declining to run for a second term as president and endorsing Mr. Putin to run instead. A public dispute earlier this week with a powerful law enforcement organization telegraphed Mr. Surkov’s ouster.

Visitors from outer space, real or not, are focus of discussion in Washington

05/04/13:  The New York Times reports six former members of Congress gathered two blocks from the White House to consider what they see as the enforced government secrecy surrounding another kind of visitor: the kind who come from a lot farther away. Every day this week, the former legislators presided over panels made up of academics and — former, of course — government and military officials, who were there to discuss their research or their own eyewitness accounts of unidentified flying objects and the extraterrestrials who presumably would have occupied them. “Something is monitoring the planet, and they are monitoring it very cautiously, because we are a very warlike planet,” said Mike Gravel, a former Democratic senator from Alaska who ran in both the Democratic and Libertarian presidential primaries in 2008. Mr. Gravel and his fellow panelists were assembled by the Paradigm Research Group, which says it is committed to ending the government’s “truth embargo” on the existence of extraterrestrial life. The lawmakers were there in hopes that their presence and political credibility would be enough to persuade Congress to take the issue seriously. Called the Citizen Hearing on Disclosure, the event might have been mistaken as advocacy for government transparency, and some of the panelists had impressive résumés.

US agency is expelled from Bolivia

05/02/13:  The New York Times reports President Evo Morales expelled the United States Agency for International Development from Bolivia on Wednesday, suggesting that it had conspired against his leftist government.  Mr. Morales made the announcement at the start of festivities to commemorate May 1, a holiday in Bolivia and in many other countries that celebrate workers’ movements and organized labor. The agency, which has nine American employees here, had already sharply reduced its presence. The Obama administration had asked for $17 million for the agency’s Bolivia programs this year, a steep drop from its $89 million budget in 2007. A State Department spokesman, Patrick Ventrell, said the United States denied “the baseless allegations made by the Bolivian government,” adding, “Those who will be most hurt by the Bolivian government’s decision are the Bolivian citizens, who have benefited from our collaborative work on education, health and the environment.” The agency said its projects in Bolivia included work to reduce pollution in Lake Titicaca and to support nongovernmental organizations that provide health care for pregnant women, infants and young children. Mr. Morales has often accused Washington of trying to undermine his government. He expelled the American ambassador in 2008 and the Drug Enforcement Administration the following year. He did not give details on Wednesday to back up his assertion that the aid agency was conspiring against him, but he said it manipulated the leaders of social movements in areas where it worked.

Besieged Syrian Leader makes rare public appearance

05/02/13:  The New York Times reports President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, apparently seeking to counter the impression of a leader in hiding after consecutive days of suspected insurgent bombings in his power base, Damascus, made a rare public appearance on Wednesday, visiting workers at an electric station. Mr. Assad mingled with workers at the Umayyad Electrical Station and congratulated them on the occasion of international Labor Day. Photographs showed Mr. Assad dressed in a dark suit as workers showed him the station. “They want us to be afraid,” Mr. Assad said in one television clip. “Well, we won’t be afraid.” As he spoke, loyalists in the background chanted, “May God protect you.” Mr. Assad, whose government is fighting an increasingly violent insurgency that grew out of his repression of peaceful political protests more than two years ago, is not often seen outside his heavily guarded presidential palace these days. His appearance followed an assassination attempt in the form of a car bombing on Monday aimed at his prime minister and a bombing on Tuesday that killed at least 13 people outside a former Interior Ministry building. The attacks were carried out in the heart of Damascus, the capital, which has remained basically under the control of Mr. Assad’s loyalist forces. His visit to the power station coincided with a new set of explosions in central Damascus. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group based in Britain but with a reporting network in Syria, said that rockets hit the neighborhood of Bab Mesalla, an area of shops and a transportation hub, and that a bomb detonated near the police headquarters on nearby Khalid bin Walid Street, a site of previous bomb attacks. SANA later confirmed the attacks, saying at least two people were killed and 28 were wounded. It attributed the attacks to terrorists, the Assad government’s blanket description for armed opponents.

Commentary: Xi's War Drums

05/02/13:  Foreign Policy published an article by John Garnaut: China's new leader is using the military to consolidate his power. But has he unleashed forces beyond his control? Xi has taken charge at a moment when China has been building up its military power as never before, surprising the United States and shocking its neighbors with the speedy development of new hardware and the aggressive manner in which it has deployed those tools to support its expanding ambitions. Top US intelligence analysts and generals have admitted to being caught out by the 2011 flight-testing of China's new J-20 stealth fighter. They were dumbfounded by China's subsequent deployment of the East Wind 21D, the world's first anti-ship ballistic missile, dubbed "the carrier killer" in the West. And now China is on track to nearly triple its fleet of maritime strike aircraft by 2020. China is simultaneously developing and producing seven types of submarine and surface warships. That's after a decade in which it quadrupled its number of modern submarines, including nuclear submarines designed to carry nuclear-armed ballistic missiles. It has massively expanded production of corvettes, frigates, amphibious ships, and destroyers. In September, China launched its first aircraft carrier.  But the specter of war is not the only possible explanation for Xi's saber rattling and demands for combat readiness. For even as Japanese leaders and US officials were publicizing their concerns this winter about a region on the brink of naval conflict, it became clearer that Xi and his close military confidants are squarely focused on domestic politics. Xi, then, has ultimately chosen to defend the Communist Party against internal political threats rather than prepare it to face external military threats. There is little doubt the Communist Party has been sharpening its identity in a post-communist world by defining itself against the West, fanning nationalist fervor, and promising a restoration of China's ancient grandeur. Xi thus has little choice but to keep pumping enormous resources into a war machine if he is to justify his party's continuing monopoly on power.

Commentary: Obama's Syria subtext: I'm not George W. Bush

05/01/13: The Atlantic has this piece arguing that one of the principal goals in President Obama’s discussion yesterday of the use of chemical weapons in Syria was to remind the American people of the dangers inherent in a rush to war, symbolized by the colossal intelligence failure leading up to the Iraq War.  For all the talk of ‘red lines,’ Obama’s remarks served as a reminder that the former Senator from Illinois was one of the staunchest opponents of military action in Iraq and was elected 2008 partially on the platform that that war, launched based on faulty intelligence, was a mistake.  Obama was against a rush to war in Iraq 2002 and 2003, and he’s taking a similarly cautious approach in the complex environment of the Syrian conflict.  A poll released Tuesday found that majorities are across party lines decidedly opposed to American intervention in Syria right now, with 62 percent of the public agreeing that “the United States has no responsibility to do something about the fighting in Syria between government forces and antigovernment groups.”

Obama renews call to close Guantanamo

05/01/13: The Washington Times reports President Obama Tuesday vowed to redouble his efforts to close the US detention facility in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.  “I don’t want these individuals to die,” the President said of detainees currently on a hunger strike.  “Obviously, the Pentagon is trying to manage the situation as best as they can.  All of us should reflect on why exactly are we doing this.  Why are we doing this?”  He decried the US policy of holding the suspects without trial “in a no-man’s land” in perpetuity.  “That is contrary to who we are, it is contrary to our interests, and it needs to stop.”  Congress has blocked efforts to move detainees to the United States, even though the Government has tried and convicted other terrorism suspects on US soil without incident.

United Kingdom opens new embassy in Somali

04/25/13:  The BBC reports Foreign Secretary William Hague has opened a new British embassy in Mogadishu - the first time the UK has had one in Somalia since 1991. The UK is the first European Union country to reopen an embassy in the country since the Federal Government of Somalia was established last year. Mr Hague said Somalia had been through a "dramatic shift", but continues to face "huge challenges". The prime minister will host a Somalia Conference in London on 7 May. The conference, which will be co-hosted by Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, aims to provide co-ordinated international support for the new government as it rebuilds the country after two decades of conflict. He said the opening of the embassy was "testament" to the strength of the UK/Somalia bilateral relationship. "We will continue to work closely with the Somalia government on shared priorities, which include tackling conflict, countering terrorism and piracy, providing humanitarian assistance, and promoting UK interests in Somalia," he added. Accompanied by the president, the foreign secretary opened the core office of the new embassy at Mogadishu International Airport with a short ceremony and flag-raising. British Ambassador Matt Baugh, who had been working from Nairobi in Kenya because of security concerns, will move into the office, but the rest of the embassy compound is not expected to be completed until the end of July. The former British embassy, located close to the port, was closed in January 1991 following the overthrow of the government, and the building is now a ruin.

Tensions flare between China and Japan over islands and shrine

04/23/13: The New York Times reports tensions between Japan and its Asian neighbors rose on Tuesday when a large group of Japanese lawmakers paid a symbolically charged visit to a Tokyo war shrine, while Chinese paramilitary ships and a flotilla of boats carrying Japanese nationalists appeared to converge on disputed islands. The group of 168 mostly low-ranking conservative lawmakers visited the Yasukuni Shrine in central Tokyo in what local news media described as the largest mass visit by Parliament members in recent memory. The shrine of the indigenous Shinto religion honors Japan’s war dead, including several who were executed as war criminals after World War II. This has made Yasukuni, and the political leaders who visit it, a target of criticism by China and South Korea, which suffered under Japan’s early 20th-century empire building. Last year, a group of 81 lawmakers visited the shrine during the same season, when Yasukuni celebrates a three-day spring festival. This year’s mass visit comes at a time when Japan’s relations with both those neighboring countries have frayed because of disputes over territory and history. The shrine is viewed by many in China and South Korea as a symbol of how Japan remains unrepentant for its brutal wartime expansion across Asia. For many Japanese nationalists, visits to the shrine appear have become a way of standing up to what they see as the increasingly insistent demands of China, which has usurped their country as the dominant power in Asia.

Analysis: Palestinian future, peace process uncertain (even more than usual) after Fayyad resignation

04/15/13: The New York Times has this piece discussing the uncertain future in Palestine after Saturday’s resignation of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.  Fayyad, the internationally respected Palestinian politician and economist, is widely credited with ending the chaos in the West Bank and putting things in order in his six years in office.  But his resignation over the weekend, the result of internal power struggles, has left the Palestinian Authority suspended in political ambiguity and confusion.  By accepting Fayyad’s resignation, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has put himself in a political bind just as the Obama Administration has been trying to restart long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, because the vacuum created by Fayyad’s resignation presents an opportunity for renewed reconciliation efforts between Abbas’ Fatah party and its bitter rival Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls Gaza.  Healing the rift would be a popular course of action among Palestinians, but it could complicate peace efforts and cause some Western donor nations to consider withholding much-needed funds, fearing that they could be used by Hamas.  The group is classified as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, and the European Union, and it seeks the ultimate destruction of the Jewish state.

US adds F-22 fighter jets to military exercise in South Korea

04/02/13:  NPR reports the United States has sent two F-22 Raptor fighter jets to take part military drills in South Korea, a move that is meant to show US commitment to the defense of the region from its North Korean neighbor, a Pentagon spokesman told the Associated Press. Also on Monday, South Korean President Park Geun-hye appeared to give her country's military permission to strike back at any attack from the North.  According to the New York Times, Park told the South's generals that she considers the threats from North Korea "very serious." Last week, B-52 and B-2 stealth bombers were sent to South Korea for the annual exercise.

 

Lawmakers close to immigration overhaul bill after business-labor deal, but details remain

04/01/13: The Miami Herald reports optimistic lawmakers on Sunday cautioned they had not finished work on an immigration overhaul that would provide a path to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants.  The AFL-CIO and the pro-business US Chamber of Commerce reached a deal late Friday that would allow tens of thousands of low-skilled workers into the country to fill jobs in construction, restaurants, and hotels, but lawmakers from both parties conceded negotiations are not finished.  The agreement hasn’t taken the form of a bill and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said the “Gang of Eight” Senators searching for a compromise haven’t met about the potential breakthrough.  “There are a few details yet.  But conceptually, we have an agreement between business and labor, between ourselves that has to be drafted,” Graham said.  Still, Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a favorite of the Republican right-wing who functions the group’s emissary to hardcore conservatives, warned he was not ready to lend his name and political clout to a deal.  Rubio called the agreement a starting point but pointed out ninety-two Senators from forty-three States haven’t yet been involved in the process.

Analysis: Hagel facing tough decisions at the Pentagon

04/01/13: The New York Times has a piece discussing the arduous task facing Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel in managing the US military budget.  As President Obama – who has placed some of the military’s long-favored weapons programs in his sights – continues to negotiate with Congress over a spending and revenue deal, the Pentagon is bracing for a protracted period in which they may have to manage even larger budget reductions than anticipated.  “There will be changes, some significant changes,” Secretary Hagel warned at a news conference last week, and he is expected to begin outlining those changes in a major speech this week.  Already, Hagel has directed General Martin E. Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter to conduct a sweeping “Strategic Choices and Management Review” due by the end of May.  Their challenge is to trim the Pentagon while also assuring that the military continues to attract high-quality personnel and can maintain American and allied security around the world.

Pakistani Taliban vows to kill former President Musharraf

03/24/13: CNN reports the Pakistani Taliban vowed Sunday to assassinate former President Pervez Musharraf if he returns to the country as planned.  A spokesman said in a video message that the group will send out a “death squad” to kill him, and Pakistani authorities also seek his arrest on corruption charges.  Since resigning in 2008, Musharraf has spent five years in self-imposed exile in London and Dubai.  He plans to fly on a commercial airline into Karachi on Sunday, then attend a rally that will include Pakistani expatriates from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates.  He plans to lead his political party into Pakistan’s general elections slated for May.  In 1999, Musharraf, the-then chief of Pakistan’s army, became President in a bloodless military coup.  He remained in power until resigning in 2008.

Russian police raid rights group Memorial and other NGOs

03/22/13:  The BBC reports Russian police and tax inspectors have raided the offices of the human rights group Memorial and other civil society groups which get foreign funding. Memorial is famous for documenting human rights abuses in Russia. The US embassy in Moscow has voiced concern and asked the Russian government for an explanation. A new Russian law says foreign-funded non-governmental groups (NGOs) linked to politics must register as "foreign agents" - a term which suggests spying. In the worst repressions of the Soviet period the label "foreign agents" was used to denounce dissidents - or simply political rivals of Joseph Stalin - and could lead to execution. Memorial says inspectors returned to its Moscow offices on Friday, having already seized 600 documents including accounts on Thursday. A statement on the Memorial website said the inspections were directly linked to the new law on NGOs and the targeted groups' compliance with it. Memorial director Arseny Roginsky, quoted by the Russian news website Vesti, said it was "a complete check on everything concerned with our sources of funding". He insisted that the NGO law "will not change our position at all". "We won't refuse foreign donations, nor will we register as a 'foreign agent'," he said.

Yemen begins dialogue over new constitution

03/18/13: Al Jazeera reports Yemen has launched a UN-backed national dialogue aimed at paving the way for a new constitution and elections.  At least 500 representatives of Yemen’s various political groups, including secessionists in the south, Zaidi Shi‘a rebels in the north, and civil society representatives, are taking part in the dialogue in Sanaa.  The participants in the dialogue aim to draft a new constitution and prepare for general elections in February 2014, after a two-year transition led by President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi.  Yemen, the only country where the Arab Spring revolt led to a negotiated settlement, is holding the dialogue as part of a UN-brokered deal that eased former president Ali Abdullah Saleh out of office following an 11-month uprising against his 33-year rule.

New Prime Minister says Bulgaria won't take lead in EU Hezbollah sanctions

03/17/13: Haaretz reports Bulgaria's new interim Prime Minister said Saturday he would not initiate any move to impose EU sanctions on the Islamist group Hezbollah, even though the country had implicated Hezbollah in a bombing at a Black Sea resort.  Marin Raikov did not give a reason for his decision, but it will likely be seen as a concession to Bulgarian opposition groups, who have argued the country could open itself up to more attacks if it takes the lead in blacklisting Hezbollah.  "Bulgaria will not initiate a procedure [for listing Hezbollah as a terrorist organization]," Raikov told state media.  "We will only present the objective facts and circumstances and let our European partners decide."  Last month, then-Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said an investigation had linked Hezbollah to the Black Sea attack.

Republicans blast New York trial for al-Qaeda spokesman

03/10/13: The Hill reports the Obama Administration’s decision to try former al-Qaeda spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, a relative of Osama bin Laden, in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York has sparked criticism from Republicans, who say he should be held at the Guantánamo Bay prison camp and tried by a military tribunal, not an Article III court.  “Gitmo, a naval vessel, Guam, anywhere other than New York, and anything other than a civilian trial,” said Congressman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.).  Gowdy said a military tribunal would offer distinct advantages over a civilian jury trial, namely that military courts are made up of military officers and don’t require unanimous jury verdicts for conviction, although trials of terrorists have had much more success in regular federal courts than military ones.

Angry at public and officials, security forces strike in Egypt

03/08/13:  The New York Times reports thousands of Egyptian security officers went on strike on Thursday in cities around the country to protest conflicting pressures from the government to crack down on street demonstrations and from the public to exercise restraint. The police revolt marks a new tangle in a three-way struggle pitting the security forces against President Mohamed Morsi on one side and emboldened mobs of protesters on the other. Under former President Hosni Mubarak, the police and security forces operated with little training or oversight, using arbitrary force to cow citizens — especially the political opposition, including Islamists like Mr. Morsi — into silence and submission. Now anger at the continued brutality of the police, compounded by impatience with Mr. Morsi’s failure to deliver immediate changes in the security forces, has fueled protests in cities across Egypt, engulfing some in chaos.

 

Brennan confirmed to lead the CIA

03/08/13:  The New York Times reports the Senate on Thursday afternoon approved John O. Brennan’s nomination to lead the Central Intelligence Agency by a vote of 63 to 34. The vote followed a filibuster by Senator Rand Paul, who spent nearly 13 hours on the Senate floor in pursuit of more information about the administration’s domestic drone policy. After receiving a brief letter from Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. assuring him that the president does not have the “authority to use a drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on American soil,” Mr. Paul declared his effort a success, and ultimately voted to end debate (though against the nomination), bringing the total votes in favor of cloture to 81 over 16 against. The final confirmation vote, however, revealed some unusual coalitions.

Cuba bids a sad goodbye to a generous ally

03/07/13: New York Times reports the death of Hugo Chávez sent a ripple of sadness and uncertainty across this island on Wednesday as Cubans mourned the loss of an ideological son and generous ally, and worried about the economic pain that could lie ahead if the new Venezuelan leadership cut off hefty oil subsidies. Granma, the Communist Party newspaper, turned its red masthead to black and white — a gesture Cubans said was rare — and dedicated six of its eight pages to Mr. Chávez’s life, his death on Tuesday, and his legacy. In a statement that covered the front page and was read on national television on Tuesday night, the government hailed Mr. Chávez as a Cuban and pledged its “resolved and unwavering support for the Bolivarian Revolution in these difficult days.”

Hagel scolds Pentagon sequestration cuts

03/03/13: The blog Space War reports new Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel said Friday that new budget cuts will endanger the US military’s ability to conduct its missions.  His comments came hours before President Obama authorized automatic “sequestered” cuts in domestic and defense spending, following the failure of efforts to clinch a deal with Republicans on cutting the deficit.  Hagel, whose budget at the Pentagon is set to be slashed by roughly $46 billion, said, “Let me make it clear that this uncertainty puts at risk our ability to effectively fulfill all of our missions.”  In contrast with his predecessor Leon Panetta, who branded the cuts a “doomsday mechanism” and “fiscal castration,” Hagel was more measured, but he made his thoughts on the military consequences of the sequestration clear nevertheless.

Pressure builds on Senate group to introduce immigration bill

03/03/13: The Hill reports the bipartisan Senate group working on immigration reform plans to set a timeline for unveiling legislation, as it feels subtle pressure from the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee to act.  Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), a lead negotiator of the ad hoc group on immigration reform, says the clock is ticking, and the group hopes to soon have a timeline for unveiling legislation.  “We know time is of the essence.  Sometime in the next few weeks we will have a definite timeline.  We got a couple of very big issues to resolve,” McCain said.  Senator Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), McCain’s negotiating partner, said he expected to have a bipartisan bill sometime in March.  There are only three weeks left until Congress leaves for a two-week Easter recess on March 22.

As Castro era drifts to a close, a new face steps in at No. 2

02/28/13:  The New York Times reports he may have just taken on the toughest job in Cuba. Rivals at home will try to take him down. Enemies abroad will discredit him. Almost anyone with an interest in Cuba — including American spies and Cuban intelligence officers — will dig through his public and private lives, rummaging for secrets or clues about his plans. All the while, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, 52, the top contender to succeed the Castros after more than half a century of their rule, will need to display the authority of a future president while acting as if he does not want the job, maintaining the submissiveness and loyalty that the Castros require. Though a stranger to many Cubans, Mr. Díaz-Canel suddenly became the chosen one when he was promoted to first vice president on Sunday as Raúl Castro, 81, announced he would retire after his current five-year term ended in 2018. Mr. Díaz-Canel replaced José Ramón Machado Ventura, 82, and became one of the youngest members of Cuba’s political hierarchy. His elevation raised the curtain on an epic drama that had been envisioned dozens of times over the decades.

US hackers attacked military websites, says China's defence ministry

02/28/13:  The BBC reports hackers from the US have repeatedly launched attacks on two Chinese military websites, including that of the Defence Ministry, officials say. The sites were subject to about 144,000 hacking attacks each month last year, two thirds of which came from the US, according to China's defence ministry. The issue of cyber hacking has strained relations between the two countries. Earlier this month a US cyber security firm said a secretive Chinese military unit was behind "prolific hacking". Mandiant said that Unit 61398 was believed to have "systematically stolen hundreds of terabytes of data" from at least 141 organisations around the world. The White House has said that it has taken its concerns about cyber-theft to the highest levels of China's government. China denied the allegations, saying it was also the victim of cyber attacks. The US is yet to respond to these latest allegations from China.

Chuck Hagel set for US defence secretary vote

02/26/13:  The BBC reports the US Senate is set to proceed with votes to confirm former Senator Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense. The move on Tuesday comes 12 days after Republicans delayed a vote, questioning his past positions on Israel and Iran and his qualifications. But some critics have since agreed to allow the confirmation to proceed, while pledging to vote against him. Outgoing Defence Secretary Leon Panetta is to remain in his post until Mr Hagel is confirmed. On Tuesday, the US Senate will hold a procedural vote to end debate on the confirmation of Mr Hagel, a former Republican senator from Nebraska nominated by President Barack Obama to lead the Pentagon. Sixty votes are needed on that question; a vote earlier this month garnered only 59. If, as expected, the chamber ends debate, it will move to a simple majority vote for confirmation. Mr Obama's Democratic Party holds a 55-45 edge.

US General John Allen to retire, declining top NATO job

02/19/13:  The BBC reports US General John Allen has decided to retire instead of taking the job of NATO's supreme commander in Europe, President Barack Obama has said.  In a statement, Mr Obama said he had accepted Gen Allen's request to retire from the military in order to "address health issues within his family". Gen Allen is the outgoing commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan. Earlier this year, he was cleared of misconduct in a scandal that brought down CIA director Gen David Petraeus.

Senate Intelligence Committee to vote Thursday on Brennan nomination

02/13/13: The Hill reports the Senate Select Intelligence Committee will decide on Thursday whether to approve White House nominee John Brennan to become the nation’s chief intelligence officer.  Brennan is expected to clear the Committee and be confirmed by the Senate despite the controversy over the Obama Administration’s drone strikes on American terrorist suspects overseas.  Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Cal.) said moves by the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary Committees to explore new court authorities to oversee the drone program will be on hold until her panel weighs in on Brennan.  “We really haven’t put anything together [yet],” Feinstein said Tuesday when asked about the possible creation of a new federal court to oversee armed drone strikes.  “We will look into it, [but] we are trying to get the Brennan nomination done first.”

Divided Senate panel approves Hagel nomination after bitter debate

02/13/13: The New York Times reports the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday approved the nomination of former Senator Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense on a sharply partisan vote after a combative two-hour debate that tested the bounds of Senate collegiality.  The 14-11 vote to send the nomination to the Senate floor with a favorable recommendation was the latest step in a process that has deepened festering hostilities between congressional Republicans and the White House and has exposed stark disagreements over wartime foreign policy.  At times, the meeting slipped into an unusually accusatory and bitter back-and-forth, with Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) suggesting that Hagel had accepted money from North Korea and Senator Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) saying he was “cozy” with Iran.  These remarks were condemned by Democratic Senators such as Bill Nelson (Fla.) and Claire McCaskill (Mo.), as well as Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) a Republican Vietnam veteran like Hagel who opposes his nomination.  The full Senate is likely to vote on the nomination before the end of the week.

Former SecDef Gates backs drones, but supports more oversight

02/11/13: CNN reports former Defense Secretary Robert Gates argued Sunday number of innocent victims of drone strikes remains “extremely small” and doesn’t outweigh the benefits of using drones against al-Qaeda operatives.  But Gates said a better system of checks and balances could be constructive when targeting Americans, aligning himself with lawmakers concerned about unfettered power in the hands of the President.  Gates served under George W. Bush during the beginnings of the drone program and later under President Barack Obama as the use of drones spiked.  Recently lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans, have forcefully questioned the use and oversight of the lethal devices.  “I’m a big advocate of drones,” Gates said, that they can limit collateral damage more effectively than “any other weapons system.”

Defense industry, domestic interest groups ally against sequester

02/11/13: The Hill reports the defense industry is joining forces with health, education, and other domestic sectors for a last-minute push to stop scheduled across-the-board sequestration cuts from taking effect. The new approach from the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) and domestic spending advocates is an attempt to convince lawmakers who care about defense that they should align with lawmakers worried about cuts to domestic programs. AIA and three groups representing health, education, and other domestic programs are holding a joint press conference Monday to present a united front on the danger of sequestration, which would reduce the 2013 discretionary budget by $85 billion. “We’re stronger united than divided,” said Emily Holubowich, executive director of the Coalition for Health Funding and co-chair of NDD United, a group formed to fight the non-defense side of the sequester.

Obama to renew drive for nuclear arms reductions in State of the Union

02/11/13: The New York Times reports President Obama will use his State of the Union Address on Tuesday to reinvigorate one of his signature national security objectives, drastically reducing nuclear arsenals around the world, after securing agreement in recent months with the military that the American nuclear force can be cut in size by roughly a third.  Obama is unlikely to discuss specific numbers in the address, but White House officials are looking at a cut that would take the arsenal of deployed weapons to just above 1,000.  Currently there are about 1,700, and the recently ratified arms reduction treaty with Russia calls for a limit of roughly 1,550 by 2018.  The big question is how to accomplish further reductions, given that Republicans oppose even the modest cuts in the treaty.

GOP Senator to block CIA, Pentagon nominations over Benghazi

02/11/13: The Washington Times reports Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Sunday that he intends block two key Obama Administration appointments until he gets answers about last year’s attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Graham plans to place a hold on the nominations of John Brennan, tapped to be director of the CIA, and Chuck Hagel, the President’s pick to lead the Defense Department. Democrats wasted no time in blasting Graham’s plan, with Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.) calling it “unprecedented [and] unwarranted.” He added, “The men and women of the Department of Defense need a Secretary.” Senator Graham, who may face a primary challenge next year, demanded to know whether President Obama called Libyan authorities while the attacks were taking place.

Analysis: Debating a court to vet drone strikes

02/10/13: The New York Times reports a proposal is gaining steam that would require court approval before targeting American citizens overseas for lethal force.  The idea is to apply the model exemplified by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court – created by Congress so that surveillance had to be justified to a federal judge – to the targeted killing of suspected terrorists, or at least of American suspects.  A drone court would face constitutional, political and practical obstacles, and might well prove unworkable, according to several legal scholars and terrorism experts.  But with the war in Afghanistan winding down, al-Qaeda fragmenting into hard-to-read offshoots, and the 2001 terrorist attacks receding into the past, they said, it is time to consider how to forge a new, trustworthy and transparent system to govern lethal counterterrorism operations.

Departing Afghan war commander saw as much diplomacy as combat

02/07/13:  The New York Times reports after 19 months in Afghanistan, Gen. John R. Allen, the commander of American and coalition forces here, is leaving a war that has become as much about damage control and crisis diplomacy as fighting the Taliban.  Dispatched to begin winding down combat operations, General Allen spent much of his final year here contending with a series of disasters that he now refers to as meteor strikes: a video of Marines urinating on Taliban corpses, the accidental burning of Korans  by American soldiers, civilian deaths in coalition airstrikes, and the massacre of 16 civilians by an American soldier.  Then there was a surge in violence against coalition service members by Afghan soldiers and police officers, known as insider attacks.  But of all the challenges faced by General Allen, who on Sunday will hand his command to Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. and leave Afghanistan, one remains as central today as it was when he landed in Kabul: keeping President Hamid Karzai’s distrust of the United States in check, and keeping the Obama administration committed to an ally who has tested the limits of its patience.

Air base in Saudi Arabia latest drone secret to be revealed

02/07/13:  NPR reports that a clandestine US drone base was built in Saudi Arabia primarily to carry out strikes in neighboring Yemen, a stronghold for an al-Qaida affiliate, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.  The Times and other news organizations say they knew about the base for some time. But the organizations had not revealed its existence at the request of US officials, who wanted to keep it under wraps.  The managing editor of the Times, Dean Baquet, said the paper decided to reveal its existence now because of role played by John Brennan, the nominee to become CIA chief.  Karen DeYoung, who covers national security for The Washington Post, told All Things Considered that the Saudi base was built in 2010 "specifically for the CIA to launch drones both for surveillance and for targeted killing strikes against [al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula]."  She said the Obama administration wanted to keep the base secret "because of sensitivities in Saudi Arabia itself. Because of their internal politics and because of what they see as their position in the Islamic world, they didn't want it published that they were allowing the CIA to actually occupy real estate inside Saudi Arabia."

Analysis: Report on targeted killing spurs desire for less secrecy

02/06/13: The New York Times has this piece discussing yesterday’s big news revealing the “white paper” describing the Obama Administration’s legal justifications for the use of lethal force against American citizens suspected of being unlawful combatants abroad (the paper is here courtesy of NBC News).  This piece discusses the Administration’s having kept its arguments secret, and the fact that its disclosure is fueling greater demand for information.

High level feud bares tensions in Iran

02/05/13:  The New York Times reports President Ahmadinejad escalated a bitter political fight this week with Iran’s most influential political family by disclosing secret film recordings of what he purported were fraudulent business deals.  During a Sunday session of Parliament, broadcast on state radio, Mr. Ahmadinejad singled out the head of the Parliament, Ali Larijani, a political rival with strong links to influential Shiite Muslim clerics and one of several brothers who have held top positions in the Iranian government.  His older brother, Sadegh, 52, heads Iran’s judiciary, while another brother, Mohammad Javad, a Berkeley-educated mathematician, is also a judiciary official.  On Monday, a conservative newspaper, Kayhan, hinted that the nation’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had been forced to step in to prevent both men from giving potentially damaging news conferences, which were both canceled at the last minute.  This was not the first time Ayatollah Khamenei has been forced to intervene in this feud.

Reid: Immigration bill will pass Senate

02/04/13: The Hill reports Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Sunday said that immigration reform was “certainly going to pass” the upper chamber.  “It has to get done.  We have to work hard to get it done,” Reid said.  “It’s really easy to write principles.  To write legislation is much harder.  And once we write the legislation, then you have to get it passed.  But I think things are looking really good.”  Last week a bipartisan group of senators introduced a framework for reform, which includes a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants and calls for tighter border security.  But the plan faces obstacles from GOP lawmakers who are opposed to measures granting illegal immigrants citizenship and want border-security issues addressed first.

Outgoing Pentagon chief Panetta says sequester is biggest concern

02/04/13: CNN reports outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Sunday his “biggest concern” is the uncertainty over budget issues on Capitol Hill.  “If the sequester is allowed to go into effect, I think it could seriously impact … the readiness [of] the United States,” he said.  The US military could face the start of $500 billion in budget cuts in about a month if Congress fails to come up with a budget plan that avoids the so-called sequester, a series of automatic, spending cuts spread out over the next decade.  Panetta in January ordered the military to begin implementing cost-cutting measures aimed at mitigating the effects of significant budget cuts that would occur if Congress fails to reach a deal in coming months to avert or soften them.

Dempsey: "No one has suggested zero" US troops in Afghanistan

02/03/13: The Hill reports Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Martin Dempsey has disputed reports the Obama Administration is considering removing all American troops from Afghanistan by next year, saying “no one has suggested zero to me.”  The US and NATO are slated to hand off security responsibilities to local forces by the end of 2014, but the White House is weighing how many troops to keep in the country past that date to assist in other operations, including training their Afghan counterparts.  Dempsey said Sunday that “the ultimate number will be based on the mission and how deeply we want to be involved with their continued development and also what … the sovereign nation of Afghanistan wants.”

Assassination attempt in Armenia threatens stability

02/02/13:  Reuters reports an assassination attempt on a presidential candidate in Armenia has thrown this month's election into doubt and could threaten stability in the volatile Caucasus region that carries oil and natural gas to Europe. Paruyr Hayrikyan, an outsider in the February 18 presidential vote, was shot in the shoulder on Thursday night close to his home in the capital Yerevan. Doctors removed the bullet on Friday and said his life was not in danger. The motive was not immediately clear but the election, in which President Serzh Sarksyan is widely expected to secure a second five-year term, could be postponed for two weeks under the constitution if Hayrikyan is forced to pull out.

Kerry easily confirmed as Secretary of State

01/30/13: The LA Times reports the Senate voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to confirm Senator John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) as Secretary of State, filling a crucial national security spot in President Obama’s second-term Cabinet.  Kerry, the Democratic nominee for President in 2004, will replace Hillary Clinton, who will step down Friday.  After the 94-3 vote, Kerry submitted a letter of resignation, effective Friday, to give up the Senate seat he has held since 1985.  He will take the oath of office in a private ceremony.  President Obama praised Kerry as “a champion of American global leadership” in a statement.  “John has earned the respect of leaders around the world and the confidence of Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, and I am confident he will make an extraordinary secretary of State,” Obama said.

Senators reach agreement on immigration overhaul

01/28/13: NPR reports a bipartisan group of leading senators has reached agreement on the principles of sweeping legislation to retool the nation’s immigration laws.  The deal covers border security, guest workers and employer verification, as well as a path to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants already in this country.  Although thorny details remain to be negotiated and success is far from certain, the development heralds the start of what could be the most significant effort in years toward overhauling the nation's inefficient patchwork of immigration laws.  The eight senators expected to endorse the new principles Monday are Democrats Charles Schumer (N.Y.), Dick Durbin (Ill.), Robert Menendez (N.J.) and Michael Bennet (Colo.); and Republicans John McCain (Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Jeff Flake (Ariz.)  Several of these lawmakers have worked for years on the issue.  McCain collaborated with the late Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) on comprehensive immigration legislation pushed by then-President George W. Bush in 2007, only to see it collapse in the Senate when it couldn’t get enough GOP support.  Comprehensive immigration reform has not been seriously attempted since.

President Obama announces key White House posts

01/25/13:  The White House released a statement announcing the following individuals will serve in key White House posts:

• Denis McDonough – White House Chief of Staff
• Rob Nabors – Assistant to the President and Deputy White House Chief of Staff for Policy
• Antony Blinken – Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor
• Danielle Gray – Assistant to the President and Cabinet Secretary               
• Katy Kale – Assistant to the President for Management and Administration
• Lisa Monaco – Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism and Deputy National Security Advisor
• Jennifer Palmieri – Assistant to the President and Communications Director
• Dan Pfeiffer – Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor
• Miguel Rodriguez –Assistant to the President and Director of Legislative Affairs
• David Simas – Assistant to the President and Deputy Senior Advisor for Communications and Strategy

Pentagon probe clears General Allen of wrongdoing over Kelley e-mails

01/23/13: BBC News reports General John Allen, the top US commander in Afghanistan, has been cleared of misconduct by the Pentagon for e-mails sent to Florida socialite Jill Kelley.  His nomination to head NATO in Europe had been put on hold amid reports the e-mails were inappropriate.  General Allen is due to relinquish command of his Afghanistan post in February.  Kelley’s complaints of harassment led the FBI to unmask an affair between CIA chief David Petraeus and his biographer Paula Broadwell.  Petraeus later resigned.  Defense Department officials said the White House had not decided whether to go forward with General Allen’s nomination to be Supreme Allied Commander in Europe.

Coup attempt fails in Eritrea

01/22/13: The New York Times reports Eritrea, a sliver of a nation in the Horn of Africa that is one of the most secretive and repressive countries in the world, was cast into confusion on Monday after mutinous soldiers stormed the Ministry of Information and took over the state-run television service, apparently in a coup attempt. According to several people with close contacts inside Eritrea, the coup attempt failed, with government troops quelling the would-be rebellion and no one rising up in the streets. But many analysts said it was only a matter of time before President Isaias Afwerki, Eritrea’s brash and steely leader for the past 20 years, is confronted again — and most likely from within.

Pakistani official refuses order to arrest Prime Minister

01/17/13:  The New York Times reports the country’s top anti-corruption official told the Supreme Court on Thursday that he cannot comply with court orders to arrest Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, raising the prospect of a fresh confrontation between the senior judiciary and the country’s embattled leadership.  On Tuesday the chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, ordered the arrest of Mr. Ashraf and 15 other current and former officials as part of a year-old corruption prosecution relating to Mr. Ashraf’s tenure as minister for water and power between 2008 and 2011.

Hundreds of prisoners released in Iraq

01/15/13:  The BBC reports Iraqi authorities have freed 175 prisoners, in an apparent concession to Sunni protesters demonstrating against the Shia-led government.  Deputy PM Hussein Shahristani said a total of 335 prisoners had been released in the last week.  He apologised "on behalf of the Iraqi state" to those who had suffered prolonged detention.  Across the country, tens of thousands of Sunni Muslims have been complaining of alleged discrimination.  Mr Shahristani heads a committee formed by Prime Minster Nouri Maliki to look into the demands of the protesters.