By Mike Mount
The U.S. Navy detected and tracked a Russian nuclear-powered attack submarine less than 300 miles from the southern U.S. East Coast last month, according to U.S. defense officials.
While the submarine did not enter U.S. territorial waters or follow any U.S. Navy ships, its arrival came while a Navy carrier strike group was training off Florida, according to defense officials who could not speak publicly because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The move by the Russians to put the ship close to the U.S. demonstrates its desire to ramp up deep-water patrolling by its submarine fleet - something the Russian government has said it would do, officials said.
The newer Sierra-2 submarine is thought to be part of the Russian Northern Fleet, and this is the first time this class of sub has been detected this close to the U.S., the officials said.
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An Israeli think tank with close links to the government has simulated what would happen in the Mideast and internationally if Israel attacked Iran's nuclear facilities - and concluded that reaction would be "in the direction of containment and restraint," not the trigger for a larger war.
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As Americans head to the polls on Tuesday, Security Clearance takes one last look at some of the most pressing foreign policy issues facing both of the presidential candidates.
The list of foreign policy challenges facing the U.S. is long and complex – including an awakening in the Arab world with a direction still unknown, a looming nuclear crisis with Iran and an uncertain future in Afghanistan (and neighboring Pakistan) once U.S. troops withdraw in 2014.
It is not clear how or if the U.S. may proceed with the ongoing war inside Syria - where the fate of thousands of biological and chemical weapons also hang in the balance, and there is the existing financial dramas, from debt crises plaguing Europe to economic and geo-political challenges posed by a rising China.
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