Wednesday’s CNN/Arizona Republican Party debate dealt with a number of topics involving national security. The presidential hopefuls spoke about the role women play in the military, force modernization and Iran’s nuclear program.
Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House, went after President Obama on the president’s handling of national security issues:
Everybody needs to understand - and by the way, we live in an age when we have to genuinely worry about nuclear weapons going off in our own cities. So everybody who serves in the fire department, in the police department, not just the first responders, but our National Guard, whoever is going to respond, all of us are more at risk today, men and women, boys and girls, than at any time in the history of this country… I think this is a very sober period, and I believe this is the most dangerous president on national security grounds in American history.
By Barbara Starr
The U.S. military has calculated it could take more than 75,000 ground troops to secure Syria's chemical warfare facilities if they were at risk of being looted or left unguarded, CNN has learned.
The conclusion comes from a military analysis of options for Syria that the Department of Defense is preparing for president should he request it, according to a senior U.S. official.
Securing Syria's chemical sites would be "extraordinarily difficult" given the scope of the problem, a Department of Defense official told CNN. FULL POST
From Paula Broadwell, Special to CNN
Editor's Note: Paula Broadwell is the author of “All In: The Education of General David Petraeus”
The Department of Defense announced last week that 14,000 combat-related positions in front-line support units and combat battalions would soon be open to women. In part, that simply recognizes what women have been doing for the last decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan .
The announcement is a small step in the right direction, but female military leaders need more opportunities – now. The Pentagon needs to expand experimental programs for women to gain leadership experience because most current openings are filled by candidates who have experience leading combat brigades and battalions, e.g., male officers. Women are qualified to serve as officers in combat units that will prepare them for senior levels of leadership, and they want to. Without that experience, however, the pathway to the top is a very narrow one. FULL POST
Washington (CNN) - Two Western journalists were killed Wednesday in the Syrian city of Homs amidst heavy shelling from government forces, opposition activists said.
The Sunday Times of London said one of the journalists reportedly killed was staffer Marie Colvin - the only British newspaper journalist inside the besieged Syrian enclave of Baba Amr.
Colvin was on air with CNN on Tuesday night, recalling how she watched a young boy die after his house was struck by shelling.
FULL STORYBy Adam Levine
The Obama administration seemed to nudge open the door Tuesday for arming Syrian rebels. The hint came as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton prepares to attend a Friday meeting in Tunisia to discuss solutions for Syria.
Both White House spokesman Jay Carney and State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland suggested that "additional measures" could be considered if President Bashar al-Assad's regime assault on civilians continues.
Nuland said that the United States is still seeking a "political solution" for al-Assad to step aside. Asked about suggestions that the United States needs to arm the rebels, Nuland said it still isn't the preference.
"We don't believe that it makes sense to contribute now to the further militarization of Syria. What we don't want to see is the spiral of violence increase," Nuland said in a Tuesday press briefing. "That said, if we can't get Assad to yield to the pressure that we are all bringing to bear, we may have to consider additional measures."
With a lot of attention given to the New York Times' dissection of Israel's capabilities to strike Iran, Time's Battleland blog looks at another possibility – could the U.S. effectively disable Iran's nuclear infrastructure?
As former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst tells Time's Mark Thompson, the biggest differentiator between the U.S. and Israel is "the ability to keep going." FULL POST
By Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, Masoud Popalzai in Kabul and Sarah Jones in Atlanta
Qurans and other Islamic religious materials gathered for disposal from a detention facility at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan were inadvertently given to troops for burning, the commander of the International Security Assistance Force said Tuesday.
"This was not a decision that was made because they were religious materials," Gen. John Allen said. "It was not a decision that was made with respect to the faith of Islam. It was a mistake. It was an error. The moment we found out about it, we immediately stopped and we intervened."
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the airfield Tuesday, furious over reports of the burning. FULL POST
By Adam Levine
Our good friend at Time's Battleland blog got word from some readers that Battleland and apparently our Security Clearance page are no longer visible on Marines' work computers.
Battlelander Mark Thompson investigated, noting that other blogs are still viewable. As one Marine wrote to Thompson:
"Marines are encouraged to understand the world we serve in, and it comes across as clumsy and heavy-handed censorship when a site is blocked just a few days after an article like “What’s Wrong with the Marines?” is posted [on Battleland]."
Perhaps a coincidence. Marine Captain Kevin Schultz insisted late Sunday to Battleland that there was no blocking of the site and "I don’t know if this was a system glitch or something else."
Hopefully it it a glitch. If not, and you are trying to read Battleland and Security Clearance on your computer, request a waiver.
Read more about this on Time's Battleland blog.
By Jamie Crawford
The Pentagon is currently analyzing U.S. nuclear options under the Nuclear Posture Review Implementation Study - a process that could result in significant cuts in the number of warheads. And one senior Republican senator is sounding a warning.
"Obviously this is going to create a huge stir in Congress," Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Arizona, said during a keynote address Thursday at a nuclear deterrence summit in Arlington, Virginia. "We will have a battle royal in Congress if the president moves forward with these kinds of plans."
As recently as last month, the Defense Department did not discount the possibility of further cuts to its arsenal eventually.
By Barbara Starr and Jennifer Rizzo
"Hey my man! My man! How you doing? "What's up brother?"
A jumble of voices, emotions, hugs and tears fill the hospital room of Marine Cpl. Christian Brown as fellow Marines from his Bravo Company enter. They haven't seen Brown since December when he stepped on an improvised explosive device in southern Afghanistan and was evacuated by helicopter under fire.
CNN was given exclusive access to this reunion of the Marines of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Marines Regimental Combat Team at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center outside Washington.
Some 170 Marines from the company returned from a seven-month tour of duty last month. During the tour, one Marine was killed and 16 Marines were seriously wounded. Capt. Paul Tremblay, the company commander, organized the reunion because he thought it would help his men, and himself, heal from the trauma of seeing so many injured.
FULL POST
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