National Defense Briefs – March 24, 2014

By W. Thomas Smith Jr.
March 24, 2014

Eleventh in the series, NATIONAL DEFENSE BRIEFS. Each week we are bringing to readers of LowcountryBizSC.com updates aimed at informing with timely military and homeland-security news briefs, trends, definitions, and short commentaries. Defense issues are inextricably connected to business. In that, we present the “National Defense Briefs” that matter.

•    U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip M. Breedlove – U.S. European Command Commander and NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe – said Sunday, The [Russian] force that is at the Ukrainian border now to the east is very, very sizable and very, very ready. He added, There is absolutely sufficient force postured on the eastern border of Ukraine to run to Trans-Dniester if the decision was made to do that, and that is very worrisome.

As of 12:29 p.m. (ET) Monday, Mar. 24, CNN is reporting, “Interim Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov ordered the withdrawal of armed forces from Crimea Monday, citing Russian threats to the lives of military staff and their families. Russian troops have seized most of Ukraine’s bases in the peninsula, including a naval base at Feodosia on Monday. Russia annexed Crimea last week after a controversial referendum that Ukraine and the West say was illegal.”

•    According to Reuters, “Ukrainian troops and their families began evacuating from Crimea on Monday, as Kiev effectively acknowledged defeat by Russian forces who stormed one of the last of their remaining bases on the peninsula.”

•    U.S. special operations forces and aircraft are enroute to the East African nation of Uganda this week to assist African Union troops who are fighting the so-called Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The LRA is led by the notorious warlord Joe Kony. The American special operators – approximately 150 men – will reinforce the already approximately 100 Americans who are supporting the 5,000-strong African Union regional task force. U.S. National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said, “The deployment of these aircraft and personnel does not signify a change in the nature of the U.S. military advisory role in this effort. African Union-led regional forces remain in the lead, with U.S. forces supporting and advising their efforts.”

•    According to The (UK) Guardian, LRA fighters, who emerged in northern Uganda in the late 1980s, are known for using extreme violence, including chopping off limbs as a form of punishment, as well as raping young girls and abducting them for use as sex slaves.

•    Last week, U.S. Navy SEALs – elements of U.S. Special Operations Command Europe – seized the commercial freighter Morning Glory in international waters southeast of Cyprus. The ship was a stateless vessel seized earlier this month by three armed Libyans. Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said No one was hurt … when U.S. forces, at the request of both the Libyan and Cypriot governments, boarded and took control of the ship, Mar. 16. The SEAL team was launched from and supported by USS Roosevelt (DDG-80).

•    “The Special Operations Forces Operating Concept [as published this week by journalist Daniel Pipes following a briefing by the U.S. Special Operations Command] captures the essence of the SOF heritage as it could be – as it should be in the year 2020 and beyond. The concept moves beyond the first decade of the 21st Century, when SOF primarily supported large-scale contingency operations by conducting counterterrorism operations to find, capture, or kill our adversaries. Although of great value to the Nation, these operations were never intended to be decisive. Operating through the Global SOF Network in support of our Geographic Combatant Commanders and Chiefs of Mission, SOF now have the opportunity to achieve strategic outcomes by working with and through interagency and foreign partners to understand and influence relevant populations.”

•    During the Marine Corps University Foundation’s 2014 Semper Fidelis Award Dinner, Feb. 22, Gen. Jim “Mad Dog” Mattis, USMC (Ret.), said “Because every Marine, if he was in a tough spot — whether a bar fight, or tonight in Helmand River Valley, our fellow Marines would get to us, or die trying.” He added, “Now from a distance I look back on what the Corps taught me: To think like men of action, and to act like men of thought! To live life with intensity, and a passion for excellence.”


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