National Defense Briefs

By W. Thomas Smith Jr.
March 10, 2014

Tenth in the series, NATIONAL DEFENSE BRIEFS. Each week we are bringing toreaders of MidlandsBiz.com updates aimed at informing with timelymilitary and homeland-security news briefs, trends, definitions, andshort commentaries. Defense issues are inextricably connected tobusiness. In that, we present the “National Defense Briefs” that matter.

• Mexican Marines have reportedly killed Nazario Moreno Gonzalez, leader of thenotorious Knights Templar drug cartel in a gun-battle, early Sunday.According to the Associated Press, “The Mexican military had beentracking Moreno and Marines confronted him in Timbuscatio, a town in the remote mountains of the western farming state of Michoacan, hiscartel’s home base.” Morena had been reportedly killed in 2010.
• The crisis in the Ukraine is said to be “the worst in Europe since thecollapse of the USSR and the Yugoslav war.” Simply stated by theHeritage Foundation, “Russia has violated international law by occupying the Crimea, which belongs to Ukraine, and threatening the country’sEastern and Southern territories.” In the wake of Russian forces havingseized control of key areas in the Crimea, “a pro-Russian governmentthere plans to hold a referendum” next Sunday deciding whether or notthe region should secede from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation.The slated referendum has been denounced by both European leaders andthe U.S., and has resulted in widespread protests and violence in theregion.
• As of 1:34 p.m. (ET) Monday, Mar. 10, Reuters isreporting, “Unidentified armed men fired in the air as they moved into a Ukrainian naval post in Crimea … in the latest confrontation sinceRussian military groups seized control of the Black Sea peninsula.” Thereport adds, “Russia said the United States had spurned an invitation to hold new talks on resolving the crisis, the worst East-West standoffsince the Cold War.”
• “Russia accused far-right groups Monday of‘conniving’ with the new authorities in Ukraine, as pro-Moscow forcesconsolidated their hold on their neighbor’s Black Sea peninsula,” CNNreports. “In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry condemned‘lawlessness’ in eastern Ukraine and accused the West of being silentover violence and detentions taking place against Russian citizens, such as one incident last week when it said masked gunmen fired on andinjured peaceful protesters.” Meanwhile, the White House and ChinesePresident Xi Jinping have reportedly agreed on the importance ofupholding principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity, both inthe context of Ukraine and also for the broader functioning of theinternational system.
• How big will the U.S. Army be in fiveyears? DefenseNews reports, The original 2015 budget, along with theforward-looking future years defense plan (FYDP) for 2016-2019, calledfor the Army to fall to 420,000 soldiers by 2019, a significant cut from the 490,000 soldiers the Army is slated to field by the end of 2015.According to reports, the Army would be able to maintain 440,000-450,000 soldiers if Congress voids sequestration in 2016. If not, the 420,000number would be implemented. … The problem is that there is no moneybudgeted to pay for that larger projected force, even if Congresssomehow avoids sequestration in 2016 and beyond. This does not includethe U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force.
• USS Gerald R. Ford,the U.S. Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, has entered the testing phase(of its various systems) before entering service in 2016. The warship,which will deploy with unmanned aerial vehicles – or UAVs (inaccuratelybut widely referred to as drones) – was christened in Nov. 2013.Ford-class carriers are designed to replace the fleet’s agingNimitz-class carriers.

– W. Thomas Smith Jr. is a military analyst and partner with
NATIONAL DEFENSE CONSULTANTS, LLC. Visit him at http://uswriter.com.