Carter SecDef Nomination on Fast Track
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Ash Carter “could be in the Pentagon by Monday morning,” reports DefenseOne, following a unanimous vote by the Senate Armed Services Committee Wednesday to send his defense secretary nomination to the full Senate.
The devil is in the details of President Obama’s request to Congress that asks for a three-year authorization of war against ISIL and would restrict the U.S. military from engaging in “enduring offensive ground combat operations,” Politico reports. The word “enduring” is causing heartburn on both sides of the aisle.
As French, American and British diplomats streamed to the airport in Sanaa, Yemen, rebels who had taken the city stole the cars — some containing weapons — the diplomats were leaving at the airport. The U.S. has suspended operations at the Yemen embassy. Germany has urged its citizens to leave. Many Gulf Arab states have closed their embassies, the Associated Press reports.
The main task of the new Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center (CTIIC), whose creation was announced Tuesday, will be to pool cybersecurity information from the NSA, Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and the CIA to better thwart hackers, DefenceTalk reports. However, some on Capitol Hill are complaining they weren’t briefed before the new agency was announced, and found out about it only by reading news reports Wednesday, Government Executive reports.
Federal IT projects have such a dismal record of success that Wednesday the GAO added information technology acquisition to its high-profile list of “high-risk” federal programs, NextGov reports. Veterans health care made the list, too.
A Rand Corp. report pinpoints weaknesses in China’s military preparedness, pointing to institutional weaknesses (weak command structure and corruption) and inadequate combat capabilities, Breaking Defense reports.
Following requested purchases of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Predator/Reaper-series unmanned air vehicles by France and the Netherlands in recent weeks, the USA’s backing of an export license for India but a rejection for Jordan have raised questions over how much potential the UAVs really have outside of NATO, FlightGlobal reports.
On the third try, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched Wednesday evening, propelling the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) deeper into space than the company had ever ventured before. The Southern-California-based company now launches regular missions to resupply the International Space Station. SpaceX abandoned one aspect of the launch on Wednesday, the rocket recovery, because of unfavorable weather, CBS/Los Angeles reported.
