By Larry Shaughnessy

The results of a more-than-year-long Senate investigation into counterfeit parts being used in U.S. military equipment were released Monday and - as they had from the start - investigators are putting most of the blame on China.

"Our report outlines how this flood of counterfeit parts, overwhelmingly from China, threatens national security, the safety of our troops and American jobs," said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which launched the investigation.

The probe began in March of 2011. But it was not easy for the committee staffers to conduct because the Chinese government refused to grant visas to committee staff to travel to mainland China as part of the investigation.

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It’s amazing that a country without money can consider building a missile shield against a threat that doesn’t exist, writes Mark Thompson on Time's Battleland blog.

The House has approved a $643 billion defense-spending bill for 2013 that’s $3.7 billion more than the Obama Administration, and its Pentagon, is seeking. That’s just about the same amount the Congressional Budget Office estimates the House bill’s push for an East Coast missile shield will cost over the next five years.

As Thompson writes, while the U.S. has already invested billions building such a West Coast system against the threat of a North Korean missile attack, so why shouldn’t we build a mirror system on the other side of the country to protect its denizens from attack by the Iranians: FULL POST

Editor's note: Read all of Security Clearance's coverage of the 2012 NATO summit in Chicago.  Follow our reporting and other key NATO tweets with our NATO summit Twitter list.

By Elise Labott

NATO has raised more than $1 billion toward the $4.3 annual cost needed to fund the Afghan National Security Forces after 2014, two senior U.S. officials tell Security Clearance.

"But we're over $1 billion, heading for the $1.3 goal, earlier than we dared hope," one of the officials said.

NATO was asked to come up with $1.3 billion in annual costs, with Afghanistan paying $500 million and the U.S. paying the rest.

More announcements are expected by NATO allies and members of the ISAF coalition at Monday's session on Afghanistan.

The current target for the Afghan force is around 352,000 army and police. After 2014 that number is expected to dip to about 250,000.

Editor's note: Read all of Security Clearance's coverage of the 2012 NATO summit in Chicago.  Follow our reporting and other key NATO tweets with our NATO summit Twitter list.

NATO must be willing to be involved in conflict away from the immediate geography of the member nations, the group's secretary general told CNN's Candy Crowley on Sunday.

Rasmussen was responding to a Security Clearance article by CNN Foreign Affairs Reporter Elise Labott which reported that the decade-long NATO involvement in Afghanistan has produced what some have described as collective fatigue among European allies and questions about whether NATO should be involved in conflicts outside of Europe's backyard.

"In today's world all allies realize that territorial defense of our populations and our countries may very well start beyond our borders," NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen responded in an interview that aired on CNN's State of the Union.

Recommended: U.S., Pakistan fail to reach deal on supply routes ahead of NATO meetings

In regards to Afghanistan, Rasmussen said NATO members are starting to pledge the money needed to support Afghanistan, an issue that the U.S. is raising with other countries.  Rasmussen described himself as "optimistic" the necessary funds to support Afghanistan's forces will be achieved. FULL POST

By Arielle Hawkins

The identities of the Navy SEALs who raided Osama bin Laden's compound remain a mystery, but one man who helped get them there is getting his due financially.

An employee with the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, has won a Presidential Distinguished Rank Award for analysis of satellite imagery of the terrorist's compound in Pakistan.

The staffer "oversaw and validated trade craft and methodologies applied in the final pursuit of and successful raid on the Osama bin Laden compound in Abbottabad," according to an announcement about the financial reward from the Senior Executives Association, a non-profit group which runs the award ceremony. FULL POST

By Jennifer Rizzo

The U.S. believes that China's radar-evading fighter jet will be operational in six years, a Pentagon official said Friday.

China is expected to have sufficient numbers of its J-20 fighter and enough pilots trained to conduct missions with the stealthy jet by 2018 but not any earlier, according to David Helvey, acting deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia and Asia Pacific affairs.

Chinese officials have said they expect the J-20 to be operational between 2017 and 2019.

Helvey spoke about the Defense Department's annual report to Congress regarding China's military developments.

Analysts believe that the J-20 will have the radar-evading capability of fifth-generation fighters produced by the United States, like the F-22 and F-35.

The report cited the J-20 as an example of China's emphasis on military modernization programs.

In March, China announced an estimated 11% jump in its military budget, to roughly $106 billion. The actual figure, which is probably much larger, is difficult to estimate due to the non-transparent nature of China's budget.
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Editor's note: Read all of Security Clearance's coverage of the 2012 NATO summit in Chicago

By Shaan Khan and Reza Sayah reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan

Four trucks containing supplies for the U.S. Embassy in Kabul drove from Pakistan into Afghanistan on Friday, the first time Pakistan has allowed such a border crossing since closing the routes six months ago, a U.S. official said.

The source noted that officially, there had never been a suspension of the movement of diplomatic supplies through Pakistan, only military supplies, and this did not mean the NATO supply routes had been reopened. But this was the first time diplomatic materials were allowed through in six months. FULL POST

Editor's note: Read all of Security Clearance's coverage of the 2012 NATO summit in Chicago

By Elise Labott

As 60 world leaders descend upon Chicago for the NATO summit, the future of NATO's mission in Afghanistan will be center stage - but NATO's members also will be confronted with a bigger issue of whether the organization can remain relevant.

The challenges going forward are much different and far more complicated than the ones that faced the founders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization 60 years ago. Then, the premise was simple: an attack in Europe or North America against any member is an attack against all. The Soviet Union was the common enemy that created a shared sense of purpose among NATO allies.
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By Jennifer Rizzo

The United States will provide an additional $70 million to support Israel's short-range missile defense system, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said Thursday.

Panetta issued a statement saying he was directed by President Barack Obama to fill Israel's request for the cash needed to run the Iron Dome system.

The United States has already provided Israel with $205 million for the system, in addition to the roughly $3 billion given to Israel annually for security assistance. The Defense Department plans to request extra funding for Iron Dome over the next three years. An exact figure of additional assistance was not given.

Israel's Iron Dome is a portable anti-rocket system built to take down short-range missiles. First deployed in April 2011, the system targets incoming rockets it identifies as possible threats to city centers and fires an interceptor missile to destroy them in the air.

In March, Iron Dome was responsible for taking down 80% of the several hundred rockets directed toward Israel, Pentagon spokesman George Little said at a Thursday news conference.

"It's a proven system," Little said. "Missile defense is important to Israel and we're committed to supporting the Israelis."

The announcement came after a meeting at the Pentagon between Panetta and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

By Mike Mount

Video surveillance provided by a U.S. drone and given to the Turkish military was used in a Turkish airstrike that killed 34 civilians late last year, according to Pentagon officials.

The airstrike, meant to hit rebel fighters, sent shockwaves and ignited protests throughout Turkey, which is a NATO ally of the U.S.

The airstrike also raises questions on how U.S. partners use information given to them by U.S. drones.

During a routine air patrol over northern Iraq last December, a U.S. military team monitoring a Predator drone video feed identified a number of people and pack animals moving suspiciously toward the Turkish border with Iraq where Turkey has been battling the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

The U.S. team, working jointly with Turkish military in Ankara, passed the information over to the Turkish officials for analysis, according to Pentagon officials.
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