The Iranians will welcome our departure from Afghanistan,said Lieutenant General James R. Clapper,Jr.,US Air Force retired,Director of National Intelligence.Their interest is in maintaining their interests in Iraq and Afghanistan,although they have not been as successful in the latter.They are providing explosives to Western Afghanistan,General Clapper told the Senate Armed Forces Committee.
The Afghan National Security Forces need continuing military intelligence and counterintelligence advice and assistance.
We had a general idea of the situation in Eastern Libya,the lack of control over the militias by the central government.The April and June 2012 attacks on the Benghazi consulate before the deadly September 11 attack were reported by the Directorate of National Intelligence.One of the lessons of Benghazi was the need of providing tactical level intelligence to the facilities.
It was a three-phase attack on the Benghazi consulate which took the lives of Ambassador Chris Stevens and two other Americans.Some of it was more vandalism and looting.The FBI has made some progress in id-ing the terrorists who made the attack.
I did not have any conversations with the Secretary of State or the President during the seven and a half hours of the 2012 Benghazi consulate attack.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is driven by his need to consolidate his power.The generals pretty much tell him what he wants to hear.The Chinese are certainly rethinking their relationship with North Korea.The Iranians are a little wary of North Korea.
North Korea has the basic ingredients for a nuclear armed missile.They've never launched their intercontinental missiles,so we don't know if they would work.The Defense Intelligence Agency has a higher level of confidence in North Korea's capability than the other agencies.
I agree that reduced intelligence for our leaders because of sequestration will threaten our national security.We had to cut four billion dollars in seven months,and it is substantial.We don't start to get better until 2022 or 2023,General Clapper,the senior US intelligence official,warned the Senate Armed Forces Committee.
Following his US Air Force career from 1963-95,General Clapper,72,was Director of the Defense Intelligence and National Geospatial-Intelligence agencies,and was also Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence.
Showing posts with label North Korea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label North Korea. Show all posts
Friday, April 26, 2013
Monday, April 8, 2013
Asia This Day:Xi Jinping Addresses Forum;After Hours Futures Trading Begins
A major bilateral conference,the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2013,has been taking place in the coastal town of Boao on South China's Hainan Island Province.It started Saturday and concludes today,Monday,April 8.The theme of the conference is "Asia Seeking Development for All:Restructuring,Responsibility and Cooperation."
New Chinese President Xi Jinping made a keynote address at the gathering.He said it has become an important forum with growing global influence and a new starting point.He hopes it will scale an ever greater height.
It is Mr.Xi's first multilateral diplomatic meeting in China since his election in March.He recently completed his first foreign trip to Russia,Tanzania,South Africa and Congo.He also attended the fifth BRICS Summit in Durban,South Africa,portraying China as unswervingly following a path of peaceful development.
At the Boao Forum,Mr.Xi warned that no one should be allowed to throw a region into chaos for selfish gains.Although growing interaction inevitably leads to friction,it is important that countries resolve differences through dialogue-remarks taken to be references to North Korea's recent barrage of bellicose rhetoric and military moves aimed at South Korea and its US ally.
The more China grows,the more development opportunities it will create for Asia and the world.In the next five years,China's imports will reach around 10 billion dollars,and its outbound investment will reach 500 billion,Mr.Xi predicted.Its outbound tourists may exceed 400 million.
China will continue to properly handle differences and frictions with relevant nations,while upholding its sovereignty,security and territorial integrity-i.e.,Taiwan belonging to China,as well as disputed islands in the South China sea.
The real challenge is to broaden and deepen the cooperation we've seen happen in Asia,said Stephen Groff,Vice President of the Asia Development Bank.The ADP has stepped up its presence in Myanmar,which has been on a course of liberalisation of late.Myanmar may become a middle income nation.
We're quite confident that we're gonna see strong economic growth in the Philippines.It needs a lot of work to build the manufacturing sector to provide the kind of jobs that the people need there,Mr.Groff observed.
The Hong Kong Stock Exchange has introduced after hours futures trading.This will be from 5pm to 11pm local time.That way,traders can adjust their positions to late-breaking developments.Small brokers are complaining the change could put them out of business.The exchange replied that they are not in the business of increasing everyone's profits.
The MSCI Asia-Pacific index was flat in early Monday trading,but Japan's Nikkei average rose 2.3% on the Bank of Japan announcing another round of bond-buying.
New Chinese President Xi Jinping made a keynote address at the gathering.He said it has become an important forum with growing global influence and a new starting point.He hopes it will scale an ever greater height.
It is Mr.Xi's first multilateral diplomatic meeting in China since his election in March.He recently completed his first foreign trip to Russia,Tanzania,South Africa and Congo.He also attended the fifth BRICS Summit in Durban,South Africa,portraying China as unswervingly following a path of peaceful development.
At the Boao Forum,Mr.Xi warned that no one should be allowed to throw a region into chaos for selfish gains.Although growing interaction inevitably leads to friction,it is important that countries resolve differences through dialogue-remarks taken to be references to North Korea's recent barrage of bellicose rhetoric and military moves aimed at South Korea and its US ally.
The more China grows,the more development opportunities it will create for Asia and the world.In the next five years,China's imports will reach around 10 billion dollars,and its outbound investment will reach 500 billion,Mr.Xi predicted.Its outbound tourists may exceed 400 million.
China will continue to properly handle differences and frictions with relevant nations,while upholding its sovereignty,security and territorial integrity-i.e.,Taiwan belonging to China,as well as disputed islands in the South China sea.
The real challenge is to broaden and deepen the cooperation we've seen happen in Asia,said Stephen Groff,Vice President of the Asia Development Bank.The ADP has stepped up its presence in Myanmar,which has been on a course of liberalisation of late.Myanmar may become a middle income nation.
We're quite confident that we're gonna see strong economic growth in the Philippines.It needs a lot of work to build the manufacturing sector to provide the kind of jobs that the people need there,Mr.Groff observed.
The Hong Kong Stock Exchange has introduced after hours futures trading.This will be from 5pm to 11pm local time.That way,traders can adjust their positions to late-breaking developments.Small brokers are complaining the change could put them out of business.The exchange replied that they are not in the business of increasing everyone's profits.
The MSCI Asia-Pacific index was flat in early Monday trading,but Japan's Nikkei average rose 2.3% on the Bank of Japan announcing another round of bond-buying.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
US Strategic and Cyber Commands:Facing the Range of Threats
General Robert Kehler,US Air Force,Commander,US Strategic Command,made a joint appearance with General Keith Alexander,US Army,Commander,US Cyber Command and Director,National Security Agency,before the Senate Armed Forces Committee on Tuesday.Uncertainty and complexity continue to dominate the national security landscape,General Kehler said,citing Iran's nuclear ambitions;North Korea's ballistic missile launch;civil war in Syria;with the fiscal uncertainty adding additional steep challenges.Our enemies and potential enemies are watching.
Our STRATCOM men and women wield an array of complimentary capabilities.While our heritage is nuclear,today's STRATCOM is far more diverse than ever before.I'm most concerned with the impact fiscal concerns are having on our people.Civilians are 60% of our staff.I believe they will cope with it in the near term;but they may eventually retire early.
Overall,the fiscal concern is like an avalanche.In the longer term,it will affect our sustainment needs.Our responsibilities have not changed,but the pathway we're on is posing growing risk.
For his part,General Alexander said we need cyber legislation.We can both protect civil liberties and privacy and protect our nation in cyber space.Cyber effects are growing.There have been over 140 attacks on Wall Street in the past six months.There was a destructive attack on Saudi Aramco last summer.
We are ahead of developing the teams that we need,our cyber cadre.It is an offensive team DOD would use to defend the nation if attacked in cyber space.We face two issues:1.Command and Control-how will the joint cyber centers work with Cyber Command;2.situational awareness-an attack on Wall Street will be seen by the private sector first.We have to see it in real time,building the operational picture we would share with the Combatant Commands,the FBI and others.This is a new area for many of our folks.
From my perspective,no one actor is to blame for our current lack of preparedness.The US government has made significant strides in the cyber realm.
On nuclear Command and Control,General Kehler added we are very concerned with a cyber-related attack on Command and Control and our nuclear weapons themselves.I am confident today that the Command and Control system and nuclear platforms themselves do not have such a vulnerability.We have looked at that.We need to do better at exercising and detecting such threats.We have a way to go there until we can put an exclamation mark at the end of the sentence.
I'm confident in the deployed weapons and the stockpile.Every year,I and my predecessors have been responsible for assessing the stockpile.
With regard to our ballistic missile defense,I am satisfied that our 30 interceptors can defend against a limited North Korean attack on the West Coast.We are not in an optimal position against Iran.I am cautiously confident we can defend the East Coast from an Iranian attack.It doesn't provide a complete defence against Iran.It would depend on the azimuth of the Iranian missile.
An additional interceptor site is being considered for East Coast defence.
When does the DOD step in to defend the nation from cyber attack,General Alexander asked.The distributed denial of service attacks on Wall Street are best addressed by the Internet service providers,or ISPs.What we're seeing with the banks today I am concerned we're going to see grow throughout the year.
Our STRATCOM men and women wield an array of complimentary capabilities.While our heritage is nuclear,today's STRATCOM is far more diverse than ever before.I'm most concerned with the impact fiscal concerns are having on our people.Civilians are 60% of our staff.I believe they will cope with it in the near term;but they may eventually retire early.
Overall,the fiscal concern is like an avalanche.In the longer term,it will affect our sustainment needs.Our responsibilities have not changed,but the pathway we're on is posing growing risk.
For his part,General Alexander said we need cyber legislation.We can both protect civil liberties and privacy and protect our nation in cyber space.Cyber effects are growing.There have been over 140 attacks on Wall Street in the past six months.There was a destructive attack on Saudi Aramco last summer.
We are ahead of developing the teams that we need,our cyber cadre.It is an offensive team DOD would use to defend the nation if attacked in cyber space.We face two issues:1.Command and Control-how will the joint cyber centers work with Cyber Command;2.situational awareness-an attack on Wall Street will be seen by the private sector first.We have to see it in real time,building the operational picture we would share with the Combatant Commands,the FBI and others.This is a new area for many of our folks.
From my perspective,no one actor is to blame for our current lack of preparedness.The US government has made significant strides in the cyber realm.
On nuclear Command and Control,General Kehler added we are very concerned with a cyber-related attack on Command and Control and our nuclear weapons themselves.I am confident today that the Command and Control system and nuclear platforms themselves do not have such a vulnerability.We have looked at that.We need to do better at exercising and detecting such threats.We have a way to go there until we can put an exclamation mark at the end of the sentence.
I'm confident in the deployed weapons and the stockpile.Every year,I and my predecessors have been responsible for assessing the stockpile.
With regard to our ballistic missile defense,I am satisfied that our 30 interceptors can defend against a limited North Korean attack on the West Coast.We are not in an optimal position against Iran.I am cautiously confident we can defend the East Coast from an Iranian attack.It doesn't provide a complete defence against Iran.It would depend on the azimuth of the Iranian missile.
An additional interceptor site is being considered for East Coast defence.
When does the DOD step in to defend the nation from cyber attack,General Alexander asked.The distributed denial of service attacks on Wall Street are best addressed by the Internet service providers,or ISPs.What we're seeing with the banks today I am concerned we're going to see grow throughout the year.
Friday, December 14, 2012
Commentary:No Time To Be Cutting Defence
If America goes over the fiscal cliff,a massive 1.2 trillion dollar across the board spending cut will go into force on January 1,along with tax increases.The Department of Defense will take a disproportionate hit of about 500 million dollars,on top of 478 million dollars in cuts it is already sustaining.That's almost a trillion dollars wrung out of the defence budget.
Considering all the threats in the world today,these huge reductions could not be more ill-timed.North Korea's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile this week points this up.Eventually,this could become a nuclear warhead delivery system capable of reaching the Pacific Northwest.The technology may also be shared with Iran,which is developing its own nuclear programme.
An uncertain number of US troops will remain in Afghanistan following the official withdrawal of 2014.
In Africa and in Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula,al-Qaida militants are quite active,holding territory and staging attacks.
Both Iran and al-Qaida are active in Syria,currently wracked by civil war.
China is roiling the waters of the South China Sea with its territorial ambitions and remains a threat to Taiwan.The US has just begun repositioning its forces to be more present in the Pacific,but this new policy would be hindered by the looming budget cuts.
Thus one of the biggest threats to global security is the current inability of Congress and the President to reach a budgetary agreement.
Considering all the threats in the world today,these huge reductions could not be more ill-timed.North Korea's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile this week points this up.Eventually,this could become a nuclear warhead delivery system capable of reaching the Pacific Northwest.The technology may also be shared with Iran,which is developing its own nuclear programme.
An uncertain number of US troops will remain in Afghanistan following the official withdrawal of 2014.
In Africa and in Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula,al-Qaida militants are quite active,holding territory and staging attacks.
Both Iran and al-Qaida are active in Syria,currently wracked by civil war.
China is roiling the waters of the South China Sea with its territorial ambitions and remains a threat to Taiwan.The US has just begun repositioning its forces to be more present in the Pacific,but this new policy would be hindered by the looming budget cuts.
Thus one of the biggest threats to global security is the current inability of Congress and the President to reach a budgetary agreement.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Oversight and Threats
Oversight of the right kind does nothing but good for the intelligence community,Dennis Blair stated.I will be leaning forward on the side of consulting more,rather than consulting less.The greatest threats do lie in that convergence of stateless individuals with weapons of mass destruction.The scientist A.Q. Khan,who shared nuclear secrets with North Korea and others,is restricted by the Pakistani government,Mr.Blair pointed out.He's not the head of a nuclear lab as he was before.Mr.Blair,a retired U.S. Navy admiral,was Commander,U.S. Pacific Command,from 1999-2002.He speaks in a deliberate way and has a military haircut.The members of the House Intelligence Committee seemed to have a lot of respect for him.
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