Americas

President Obama’s Statement on Libya

By Barack Obama, the White House

From Barack Obama, the White House:  Good afternoon, everybody.  I just completed a call with my National Security Council on the situation in Libya.

National Composition of NATO Strike Sorties in Libya

By Jorge Benitez

Eight nations participated in strike sorties in NATO’s Operation Unified Protector (OUP) in Libya. These nations are the US, France, Great Britain, Canada, Italy, Denmark, Belgium, and Norway.  However, there are now only seven nations conducting strike sorties because Norway withdrew its aircraft as of August 1. Britain contributed four additional fighters to help offset the loss […]

NATO Proves Critics Wrong

By Barry Pavel, the New Atlanticist

From Barry Pavel, the New Atlanticist:  The naysayers were proven wrong last night, as the Libyan rebels, much more quickly than even the closest observers predicted, took the Libyan capital from its dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, who had ruled with an iron fist for over 40 years.

President Obama’s Statement on the Collapsing Gaddafi Regime

By the AP

From the AP:  Tonight, the momentum against the Gadhafi regime has reached a tipping point. Tripoli is slipping from the grasp of a tyrant. The Gadhafi regime is showing signs of collapsing.

Pentagon may expand cyber-security program

By Ellen Nakashima, the Washington Post

From Ellen Nakashima, the Washington Post:  The Pentagon is exploring whether to expand a pilot program that protects the networks of defense contractors to include other companies, and even those in industries that serve mainly civilians.

In The Arctic Race, The U.S. Lags Behind

By Martin Kaste, NPR

From Martin Kaste, NPR:  Seattle is the home of the U.S. Coast Guard’s entire fleet of polar-class icebreakers.  Both of them.

Walt: “Transatlantic security cooperation will decline”

By Stephen Walt, Foreign Policy

From Stephen Walt, Foreign Policy:  I argued that the glory days of transatlantic security cooperation also lie in the past, and we will see less cooperative and intimate security partnership between Europe and America in the future.

Planning for Libya 2.0

By Daniel Serwer, Foreign Policy

America’s lost ally

By George Will, the Washington Post

From George Will, the Washington Post:  NATO’s secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, recently warned that “at the current pace of cuts,” it is hard to see how in the future “Europe could maintain enough military capabilities to sustain” operations such as those under way in Libya.

Panetta: Bigger defense cuts would ‘weaken’ US

By Robert Burns, the AP

From Robert Burns, the AP:  Large new cuts in defense spending would "terribly weaken" U.S. national security, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Tuesday as he and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton used a rare joint interview to argue that the nation cannot afford to keep playing partisan chicken with its finances.