DTN News: Al-Qaeda Top Stories / Headlines News Dated September 29, 2012

DTN News: Al-Qaeda Top Stories / Headlines News  Dated September 29, 2012
 Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable media

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - September 29, 2012: Comprehensive daily news related to Al-Qaeda Top Stories / Headlines News  for the world of TODAY.

*Comprehensive daily news related on Al-Qaeda Top Stories / Headlines News  for the world of TODAY

Attack on consulate in Libya was act of terrorism, US says
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON — The lethal attack on the U.S. Consulate in eastern Libya was "a deliberate and organized terrorist attack carried out by extremists" linked to Al Qaeda and did not stem from a spontaneous riot as first believed, a spokesman for the ...
See all stories on this topic »

Daniel Markey on US-Pakistan Terrorism Cooperation and Pakistan's Extremist ... Lawfare (blog) Immediately after 9/11, Markey explains, the Musharraf government, the military, and the ISI were helpful in locating and arresting some senior Al Qaeda officials. American cooperation with thePakistanis in those efforts was essential. Pakistani ... See all stories on this topic »

Pakistani al Qaeda 'facilitator' killed in Kunar airstrike Long War Journal Special operations forces killed an al Qaeda "facilitator" from Pakistan in an airstrike in the remote eastern Afghan province of Kunar, which has served as a terrorist safe haven. The al Qaedafacilitator is the seventh senior Pakistani jihadist ... See all stories on this topic »

Is Obama Losing the War on Terror? Lawrence Journal World (blog) If the withdrawal isn't done properly, al Qaeda could use it to claim that terrorism can defeat the U.S. and use it to recruit more terrorists. ... I realize allowing terrorists to use Pakistan as a sanctuary could increase the risk to American forces ... See all stories on this topic »

Osama Bin Laden Was Blind In One Eye, Says Ayman al-Zawahiri Osama Bin Laden was blind in one eye, according to Ayman al-Zawahiri, Bin Laden's successor within Al-Qaida. www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/.../osama-bin-laden-was-blind-in-o...

The last days of Osama Bin Laden the worlds most wanted terrorist... Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden ( /oʊˈsɑːmə bɪn moʊˈhɑːmɨd bɪn əˈwɑːd ... www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4xKD6q63Sg

Terrorist supporter in Pakistan offers $100000 to kill anti Islam filmmaker Examiner.com A Pakistani cabinet minister on Saturday offered a "$100,000 cash reward for the death of the person behind the anti-Islam video made in the United States", (see article:Pakistani Cabinet Minister Offers Al-Qaeda $100,000 to Kill Mohammed Filmmaker ... See all stories on this topic » Examiner.com

Pakistani president fires back at critics over terror fight Washington Times The Obama administration has pressed Pakistan, with limited success, to take a tougher stand against terrorists who operate from safe havens in the tribal border region near Afghanistan. Earlier this month, the State Department added al Qaeda ... See all stories on this topic » Washington Times

2 al Qaeda leaders reported killed in Mir Ali drone strike Long War Journal Abu Kasha commands two Pakistanis, Imanullah and Haq Nawaz Dawar, who administer al Qaeda's network in Mir Ali. Abu Kasha also has a working relationship and close communication with the Uzbek terror groups, including the Islamic Jihad Group (or ... See all stories on this topic »

Report Reveals Details of Obama's Drone Program The New American Two al Qaeda commanders are reported to have been killed in Monday's drone strike in the Mir Ali area of Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan. The report of the al Qaedacommanders' deaths has not been confirmed. Abu Kasha al ... See all stories on this topic »

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources 
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*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: The Defense Budget And American Power

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: The Defense Budget And American Power
*Editor's Note: In testimony before the Senate Budget Committee, Michael O'Hanlon discusses cuts to the U.S. defense budget. O'Hanlon identifies changes in force structures, weapons plans and other military programs that could be considered, along with the rough ten-year savings that could result.
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Michael E. O'Hanlon, Director of Research and Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, 21st Century Defense Initiative U.S. Senate Budget Committee (Brookings)
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 7, 2012: Mr. Chairman, Mr. Ranking Member, other Members of the Committee, it is an honor to appear before the committee today. That is especially true for a Congressional Budget Office alum like myself who remembers well working for senators Domenici and Sasser and others some two decades ago, when the Cold War ended and we were collectively trying to reduce defense budgets responsibly. 

That is again our challenge today. As former chairman of the joint chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, has persuasively argued, federal debt and with it the possible erosion of our national economic foundations have become national security threats themselves. I begin from the premises that the right dose of defense budget cutbacks, as part of comprehensive deficit reduction, can strengthen American power and influence over time. Put differently, it can be the least risky option—accepting some near-term, modest, and calculated reductions in military strength now to help shore up our longer-term economic prospects and with them our long-term national security. 

As I argued in my 2011 book, The Wounded Giant, no great power in history has remained great while its economy eroded. Trillion dollar deficits are not compatible with U.S. economic health, as Brookings colleagues such as Alice Rivlin have convincingly shown, and thus they are not compatible with long-term American global leadership. And as another Brookings colleague, Robert Kagan rightly argues in his new book, there is no credible alternative to U.S. leadership at present. Absent such leadership, the general stability among major powers that we take for granted in today’s world would no longer be such a given, and extremist states such as Iran and North Korea might feel further emboldened to assert themselves aggressively in their respective regions as well. The trick is to get the balance right, and to combine defense budget reductions of the right magnitude and character with other measures of fiscal restraint and revenue increases. 

The Obama administration’s new defense strategy and budget plan, building on earlier cuts made by Secretary Gates during his tenure in office, is a good step in the right direction in my eyes. In fact it gets us, responsibly, most of the way towards where we need to go in defense—even if I would submit respectfully that neither the administration nor the Congress has done as well in regard to entitlement spending or tax reform. As a result of this budget, national security spending would decline from current levels of about 4.5% of GDP to just over 3%. (For comparison, norms were 8 to 10 percent of GDP in the 1950s and 1960s, 5 to 6 percent in the 1970s and 1980s, 3 percent by the end of the 1990s, and 4 percent during most of the Bush presidency). Looked at differently, U.S. defense spending as a share of the global total will decline from about 45 percent in recent years to 35 percent or so, and the American military edge over China might decline from roughly 4:1 today (using Pentagon estimates of China’s actual military spending adjusted for purchasing power parity) to 3:1 within half a decade. 

While the above statistics, especially defense spending as a percent of GDP, show that it would be wrong to view the Pentagon’s budget as the main fiscal challenge facing the nation, I believe modest additional cuts are possible and could be helpful. Sequestration would be far too drastic and abrupt, and the law requiring sequestration to begin in January should be overturned sooner rather than later, as my colleague from AEI Mackenzie Eaglen and I have argued in a written article. But some further economies still seem possible (here of course I speak just for myself), beyond those currently proposed. 

Some cuts in programs and forces will be needed, I estimate, simply to comply with the first tranche of cuts mandated by the Budget Control Act (that is, the $487 billion in ten-year savings, or $350 billion when scored against the CBO baseline). I believe the Obama force posture and weapons modernization plan is more expensive than the Pentagon believes, and that sustaining it will require more funding than presently allowed under the Budget Control Act. Like most administrations before it, this one appears to have been optimistic in its assessments of how much its preferred force posture will cost. 

But rather than couch my argument in those terms, I will use the rest of this testimony to identify additional changes in force structures and weapons plans and other military programs that could be considered, along with the rough ten-year savings that could result. One key warning is worth underscoring: I believe they would involve some modest national security risk. .They would not amount simply to cutting waste, fraud, and abuse within the Pentagon budget. There is still fat at DoD, to be sure, but it is so marbled into the military’s muscle that it is very hard to extricate the former without also damaging the latter. As such, cuts should in my view be made only if additional parts of the federal budget that have to date been largely spared are also brought into the deficit reduction efforts, and only if net revenues are also increased. 

My recommended additional defense reforms and reductions are made from the starting point that there are certain irreducible U.S. defense requirements that should not be compromised under any foreseeable circumstances:

• Responsibly ending the nation’s current war, with sustained modest commitments to Afghanistan thereafter for a potentially extended period.
• Deterring an assertive Iran in the broader Persian Gulf and Middle East.
• Helping keep confidence and stability in East Asia in the face of major structural change—notably the rise of China
• Keeping a sufficiently robust NATO alliance to provide some basis for global action by a community of democracies and lower whatever remote risks remain of Russia’s again becoming disruptive.
• Maintaining enough combat capability to wage one substantial and extended regional war while also carrying out up to two smaller operations at a time, perhaps in support of the ongoing struggle against transnational extremism in the turbulent broader Middle East region.
• Retaining a reliable, safe nuclear deterrent that is the equal of Russia’s and superior to China’s, even as the United States pursues lower force levels through arms control.
• Maintaining a strong all-volunteer military.
• Retaining and promoting the world’s best scientific and defense industrial base.
• Maintaining some capacity to help stop genocide as part of a coalition, since America’s values are part of what help it hold together a large network of nations in common strategic cause.

This list of foundations upon which future U.S. defense capabilities should be based leads me to several specific suggestions of where further economies can be considered without jeopardizing the core elements of future American power or international stability. They go beyond those already planned by the administration (changes that are summarized at the end of my testimony): 

Sea Swaps by which the Navy rotates crews using airplanes (having more than one crew share a given ship), allowing for a somewhat smaller Navy to maintain current forward presence requirements in the Western Pacific and Persian Gulf. At present, the Navy assigns a single crew to a single ship for vessels except minesweepers and ballistic missile submarines. But this practice leads to major inefficiencies in terms of time wasted in transit across the oceans. Typically, 5 ships are needed in the fleet to keep 1 on station with this traditional practice. 

Sea swaps, also known as crew swaps, can make a given ship at least 35 percent more efficient (in terms of time on station per vessel), and allow the Navy to cut perhaps 20 to 30 ships from its fleet without a reduction in forward presence in the Pacific or Persian Gulf. I would not apply this concept to large aircraft carriers (or CVNs), at least at first, given their size and complexity, but I would also cut the carrier fleet by one ship (and rely on large-deck amphibious ships rather than the much larger and more expensive CVNs for missions in places like the Mediterranean). 

Modestly Smaller Active-Duty Army and Marine Corps Forces. The Army and Marine Corps are slated to remain larger under President Obama’s new plan than they were in the 1990s. That will be true even once the main phase of the Afghanistan war is over, and even with Iraq no longer a pressing overland threat to its neighbors as it was in the 1990s as well as earlier eras. 

I believe the size of the active Army and Marine Corps can instead be slightly smaller than in that period, rather than slightly larger, with a net reduction of about 40,000 to 50,000 uniformed personnel in the active-duty force structure (and perhaps some modest growth in the National Guard). 

Smaller F35 Fighter Program. A fundamental rethinking of the F35 fighter program is appropriate, in light of the dramatically increased effectiveness of drones and other new technologies and the large size and cost of this manned aircraft program. 

Specifically, I would consider sizing the F35 program primarily to the possible China threat. Imagining a major deployment of F35s to the region around Taiwan, for example, on land bases and on ships, might result in a halving of the program’s size (with refurbishments of planes like F16s making up for the difference). In other words, it is hard to see how we could deploy more than 800 to 1,000 F35s to the vicinity of Taiwan even in such an extreme scenario—yet the F35 program currently envisions buying almost 2,500 planes. 

Dramatically Restructured LCS Program. A rethinking of the troubled Littoral Combat Ship program is also sensible. This was supposed to be an inexpensive ship but has become in effect a small and rather costly frigate. 

Rather than purchase some 55, I would consider buying only 15 to 20 (perhaps even purchasing the Coast Guard’s National Security Cutter instead of the current LCS designs). This smaller number of vessels could serve as “mother ships” within flotillas that included “swarms” of less expensive ships such as the Sea Hawk (which captures its own wake, rides high in the water, goes up to 60 knots, and costs less than $20 million) for purposes such as mine warfare and countering irregular maritime threats by countries such as Iran. 

A More Economical Nuclear Force. It is important to keep strategic nuclear parity with Russia, in my judgment, as well as a reliable, safe, and dependable inventory of nuclear warheads in the post-nuclear-testing era. But these goals can be achieved more economically. 

Adequate warheads can be deployed on 8 SSBN submarines rather than 14, and on 250 ICBMs rather than 450. The bomber fleet, useful for conventional missions and thus almost cost-free as a complement for ICBMs and SLBMs, can be tasked with a higher proportion of the nuclear mission. 

Within the Department of Energy, Livermore laboratory can, in my eyes, be reoriented increasingly around civilian energy as its central mission, with only Los Alamos remaining principally a nuclear design and stewardship laboratory (in addition to associated work at places like Sandia and the Nevada Test Site). A conservatively designed nuclear warhead, not requiring testing, can someday be added to the portfolio of warheads in the decades ahead to ensure a reliable and safe deterrent even without any future nuclear tests. 

An End to Commissaries and Exchanges. On the benefits and compensation side of things, an end to military commissaries and exchanges should be seriously considered. These provide benefits unequally and somewhat anachronistically to military service members and their families, and it makes more sense to eliminate them than to consider further cuts in other forms of military compensation. 

In rough terms, savings from the above ideas would be as follows. The adoption of sea swaps as standard practice within the major surface combatant fleet combined with the reduction in the carrier fleet could save about $4 billion to $5 billion annually. The further reductions of the ground forces would save about $10 billion a year once phased in. Cutbacks in the F35 and LCS programs would yield net savings of $5 billion a year and $1 billion a year. Elimination of exchanges and commissaries could save $1.5 billion annually. Certain other ideas not discussed here could save money too, such as a scaling back of the V-22 Osprey and missile defense programs, to the tune of another $2 billion a year. Altogether, as discussed in greater depth in my book, further savings of up to $25 billion a year (eventually) could be found responsibly—though again, I hasten to add that some of these dollar savings could be needed simply to comply with the first tranche of Budget Control Act budget reductions, as the current Obama defense program will likely cost a good deal more than those caps will permit. 

The United States is hardly yet in serious and inevitable decline. Not only does it remain the most competitive large economy in the world according to the World Economic Forum, not only does it have a diversified and gradually growing “melting pot” population, not only does it retain the world’s best scientific and high-technology manufacturing base, not only does it possess far and away the best military in the history of the planet. But it also leads the largest system of alliances and security partnerships ever seen, with some 70 countries collectively representing ¾ of global GDP and military spending formally or loosely aligned with it. It is a giant, even if a wounded giant, and its long-term future prospects are at least as good as China’s. 

Yet America is at a crossroads. Trillion dollar a year deficits are not only bad for our economy, if not fixed they portend doom for our role as the world’s key leader—and with it the prospects for a generally stable international system, as there is no clear alternative to American leadership. But with comprehensive deficit reduction, in which defense plays a key though not disproportionate part, the nation’s long-term economic pillars of power can be repaired and the country’s security protected. Defense cuts are not without costs and dangers. But if undertaken at the right size and pace, and as part of comprehensive fiscal reform, they represent the best way to minimize overall risks to American security and enhance the country’s future prospects and possibilities. 

APPENDIX: SUMMARY OF OBAMA DEFENSE CHANGES, 2012The Obama strategy and budget has a number of key features and provisions: 

• Reducing the respective sizes of the active-duty Army and Marine Corps to 490,000 and 180,000 uniformed personnel, roughly—down about 12 to 15 percent from their recent highs but still greater than typical 1990s levels
• Modifying the “two-ground-war” planning framework to something more like a “one-war plus” capability. Any second simultaneous land conflict would be fought with less ambitious goals, a longer time horizon, and more use of the Guard/reserves 
• Focusing much less on large-scale counterinsurgency missions for planning and training
• Deferring a number of procurement programs to save money in the near-term budget, as with the F35 joint strike fighter
• Making targeted cancellations of certain generally smaller military systems (advanced versions of the Global Hawk unmanned aircraft, a new weather satellite, the C-27 passenger aircraft) but leaving most large programs unscathed 
• Eliminating some older ships and airlifters from the force but in modest numbers
• Scaling back Air Force combat aircraft units by roughly 10 percent
• Making modest changes in military compensation, especially for retirees (in regards to health care and pensions), but targeting military compensation for only 1/9 of overall spending cuts even though it constitutes 1/3 of the defense budget, all told
• Carrying out further rounds of base closures if possible 
• Bringing two of four Army brigades home from Europe, and relocating several thousand Marines now on Okinawa to Guam and Australia (and perhaps also stateside locations)

Not all changes would consist of cutbacks. Specifically, the administration is: 

• Underscoring that the Western Pacific and Persian Gulf/Middle East are the top two areas of military interest and priority for the United States
• Making no cuts in the aircraft carrier fleet, large-deck amphibious fleet, attack submarine fleet, long-range bombers, nuclear forces, or missile defenses (beyond those made in previous years), and adding more special forces
• Making no near-term reductions in planned military pay raises
• And making no cuts whatsoever in Veterans Administration budgets (which are separate from defense budgets, and expected to rise from $124 billion in 2012 to $169 billion in 2017) or in any other benefits for deployed or wounded personnel

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Michael E. O'Hanlon, Director of Research and Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, 21st Century Defense Initiative U.S. Senate Budget Committee (Brookings)
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*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News: Al-Qaeda Top Stories / Headlines News Dated February 13, 2012

DTN News: Al-Qaeda Top Stories / Headlines News  Dated February 13, 2012
 Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable media

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - February 13, 2012: Comprehensive daily news related to Al-Qaeda Top Stories / Headlines News  for the world of TODAY.

*Comprehensive daily news related on Al-Qaeda Top Stories / Headlines News  for the world of TODAY

Suspected Bali bomber said to be key link to Al-Qaeda Channel News Asia He is a suspected key member of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a Southeast Asian terror network linked toAl-Qaeda. Indonesian Defence Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro has cited intelligence that Patek tried to meet Osama bin Laden in the Pakistani town of ... See all stories on this topic »

Pakistani Taliban decry attacks against military Pakistan Daily Times PESHAWAR: Terrorists have called on fighters to honour an agreement not to attack the Pakistanimilitary in the most important sanctuary for the Taliban and al Qaeda along the Afghan border.Terrorists have long used North Waziristan as a base to ... See all stories on this topic »

Implications of an Al Qaeda Syria ABC Online Claims by US sources that Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama Bin Laden's heir in thePakistani/Afghani-based Al Qaeda prime, personally oversaw the operation against Aleppo also seem out of character for AQI's previous track record. Following the 2001 invasion ... See all stories on this topic » ABC Online

Osama Bin Laden told children to move to the West Daily Mail Zakaria al-Sadah, whose sister is the fifth wife of the Al-Qaeda leader, said Bin Laden did not want his children and grandchildren following in the same path of terrorism like him. 'He told his own children and grandchildren, go to Europe and America ... See all stories on this topic » Daily Mail

Al-Qaeda has no direct terror role in India: Intelligence agencies The Asian Age An elaborate security review by the top intelligence and security establishment conducted over the last one week has not found any credible evidence of the Al Qaeda's direct involvement in sponsoring terror activities in the country. See all stories on this topic » Radical cleric Anwar Awlaki said to have directed underwear bomber terror plot Examiner.com Supplemental Factual Appendix documentation in the Justice Department's memo details Abdulmutallab's interactions with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninusla (AQAP) terrorists in the months leading up to his attack on Northwest Flight 253. See all stories on this topic » Qaeda-linked Patek to stand trial in Indonesia Emirates 24/7 He was extradited to Indonesia after being arrested in January 2011 in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad, where US commandos later killed Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in a raid. Counter-terrorism officials would not confirm whether Patek had met bin ... See all stories on this topic » Al Qaeda terrorist dad sent to jail for 4 1/2 years New York Daily News BY JOHN MARZULLI THE FATHER of Al Qaeda terrorist Najibullah Zazi was sentenced Friday to 4 1/2 years in prison for obstructing the probe of his son's plan to detonate bombs in Manhattan subway trains. Mohammed Wali Zazi was convicted last summer by a ... See all stories on this topic » New York Daily News BOOK REVIEW: 'The Al Qaeda Factor' Washington Times By Joshua Sinai - Special to The Washington Times By Mitchell D. Silber In “The Al Qaeda Factor,” Mitchell D. Silber investigates the extent to which al Qaeda's “core” in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region has been involved in organizing terrorist plots ... See all stories on this topic » Washington Times Al-Shabab, Al Qaeda: Linkup of groups in decline? Fox News NAIROBI, Kenya -- Al Qaeda's decision to formally extend its terror franchise to what once was a nationalist movement in Somalia may only be a desperate joining of hands to prop up two militant groups that are both losing popular support and facing ... See all stories on this topic » Drones will not rid Pakistan of the terrorists The Voice of Russia Within al-Qaeda Badr Mansoor as well as Ilyas Kashmiri before him was responsible for the military training of extremists in Pakistan, who were later transferred to Afghanistan for terrorist attacks against the NATO forces. Among the terrorists killed... See all stories on this topic » The Voice of Russia Britons jailed over terrorist plots Sydney Morning Herald A BRITISH judge has sent nine men to prison for al-Qaeda-inspired plots to bomb the London Stock Exchange and to set up a terrorist training camp. The Britons all pleaded guilty last week as their trial was due to begin at London's Woolwich Crown Court ... See all stories on this topic » Sydney Morning Herald Abu Qatada: the evil let loose on our streets Telegraph.co.uk In reality, Qatada is listed on the consolidated United Nations list of internationalterrorists under “Al-Qaeda Associates”. Although British judges decided he could be deported to Jordan, they were overruled by their counterparts in Strasbourg. See all stories on this topic » Telegraph.co.uk Umar Patek Bali bombings accused on trial Monday Channel News Asia Umar was captured only in January last year in Abbotabad, Pakistan - the same city where Al Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, was killed by US soldiers. But terrorism experts following Umar Pateks' trial are looking beyond what took place in Bali more ... See all stories on this topic » The LWOT: Chicago cab driver pleads guilty to material support charge - by ... Foreign Policy (blog) BY JENNIFER ROWLAND | FEBRUARY 10, 2012 A Pakistani-American Chicago cab driver, Raja Lahrasib Khan, pleaded guilty on February 6 to one count of attempting to provide material support toterrorism for attempting to send money to Pakistan-based ... See all stories on this topic » Feds release new details on 'underwear bomber' and top Al Qaeda figure ... Fox News DETROIT – A Nigerian who pleaded guilty to trying to blow up a Detroit-bound plane began his path to terrorism with a text message from a top Al Qaeda figure in Yemen, the US government said Friday in a court filing that discloses new details about ... See all stories on this topic » U.S. Officials: Al Qaeda in Iraq Behind Deadly Bombings in Damascus and Aleppo ... RedState However, the expansion of al Qaeda in Iraq beyond that state's borders – evidently for the first time – demonstrates AQI's strength in Iraq's post-America phase. Despite years of hunting terror cells and individuals within AQI, the US was not only ... See all stories on this topic »

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable media sources 

*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 

*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 

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