Today's Headlines and Commentary
We're back! Although we took a short holiday break, the national security world certainly did not, so we begin with the week's international news:
The United States is sending drones and equipment to Iraq in an effort to combat the recent gains made by Al Qaeda there.
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We're back! Although we took a short holiday break, the national security world certainly did not, so we begin with the week's international news:
The United States is sending drones and equipment to Iraq in an effort to combat the recent gains made by Al Qaeda there. According to the New York Times, the group has caused "the deaths of more than 8,000 Iraqis this year, 952 of them Iraqi security force members." The move comes after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki visited President Obama last month.
Christmas Day bombs killed at least 26 people in southern Baghdad, and injured 38 more. Iraqi journalists were also targeted this week---suicide bombers launched an attack on the headquarters of a local TV station in Tikrit, killing five reporters.
The Associated Press reports on attacks in Kabul, Afghanistan on Christmas Day. Thankfully, no one was injured.
Clashes in South Sudan between the military and civilians escalated this week, fueling ethnic tensions in the world's youngest country and prompting the United Nations to double its peacekeeping force on Tuesday. The Times has more. The Washington Post also tells us about the "extrajudicial killings, rapes, beatings and mass graves" that are raising fears that the crisis could spiral into a civil war. CNN has this primer on the situation.
The Post says that 150 U.S. Marines, with transport equipment in tow, have been stationed in Djibouti to aid in possible evacuation missions in South Sudan.
BBC reports that the leaders of Kenya and Ethiopia have held talks with the President of South Sudan about stemming the conflict. And Reuters says that China has sent a special envoy to the country to help with peace talks.
In other news, American contractor Warren Weinstein, who worked for USAID in Lahore, Pakistan, and was kidnapped by Al Qaeda on August 20, 2011, released a video appealing directly to President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry to negotiate his release.
One Mikhail Kalashnikov has died. His legacy? The AK-47. The Los Angeles Times has an obituary.
An American drone strike has killed three militants in North Waziristan, reports the AP. Dawn put the number at four.
Mohsin Ali tells us about the rise of the Pakistani Taliban's new leader, Mullah Maulana Fazlullah, who is referred to as "Radio Mullah" because of his fiery rhetoric.
Tahmima Anam discusses Pakistan's "state of denial" about its war crimes and abuses in Bangladesh's 1971 War of Independence in an op-ed in the Times.
Bangladesh is holding elections in early January; the BBC informs us that the military has been deployed in many provinces to prevent political violence ahead of the day.
Edward Snowden sent us Christmas greetings in a televised message in which he invoked Orwell, and warned of the dangers of mass surveillance and the necessity of privacy.
Barton Gellman writes about almost 14 hours of interviews with Snowden, who reflects on the information he leaked this summer and the repercussions that followed.
In domestic developments, Ellen Nakashima of the Post discusses resistance to one of the recommendations put forth by the President's surveillance review board---that phone companies should store data for the NSA.
The New York Times editorial board writes about the challenges awaiting Jeh Johnson, who was recently confirmed by the Senate to lead the Department of Homeland Security:
Every year the Government Accountability Office publishes a “high-risk list” of federal agencies and departments that it considers “most in need of transformation.” Homeland security has appeared on that list, year after year, for failing to become “a single, cohesive and effective department that is greater than the sum of its parts.” It has many parts: 22 agencies were folded into homeland security in 2003; today the department has more than 240,000 employees handling terrorism prevention, disaster response, immigration (legal and illegal) and many other things. Staffing vacancies are high. Morale is low.And, as Raffaela noted, the D.C. Circuit dismissed habeas petitions brought by five detainees held at Parwan Detention Facility in Afghanistan. Jeremy Herb of the Hill has the story.
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Ritika Singh was a project coordinator at the Brookings Institution where she focused on national security law and policy. She graduated with majors in International Affairs and Government from Skidmore College in 2011, and wrote her thesis on Russia’s energy agenda in Europe and its strategic implications for America.
