National Security Online Resource Center

Following intense pressure from the international community, the Pakistani government finally admitted that at least part of the Mumbai terror attacks of last November were planned on its soil. Additionally, Pakistan has also arrested several suspects including many named by India as the architects of the plot that killed 164 people.

Indians have called the move ‘positive’ but it is yet to determined whether this effort is the first step towards on a path to ending the sixty-year-old conflict or a momentary halt in the ongoing saber rattling. Indian officials are looking for Pakistan to dismantle its ‘network of terror’, but are prepared to take matters into their hands if they perceive collusion between the terrorists and the Pakistani government. According to the Indian army chief, surgical strikes (either by air or artillery) are a feasible option.

Given its position as an emerging economic and geopolitical power, its doubtful that India will engage Pakistan militarily unless there is another serious attack on Indian soil. However, Pakistan’s instability makes such an attack a definite possibility. If India and Pakistan enter another armed conflict, it could have devastating implications for the United States in Afghanistan.

Small Wars Journal, a site I plug pretty routinely around here, has a very interesting transcript of a speech by Senator Lieberman to the Brooking’s Institution outlining the overarching plan he is advocating to handle the War in Afghanistan.  The top section of the page have some choice quotes from the speech, though I strongly recommend reading through the whole thing if you have the time; it goes into a good deal more detail and provides some very important context for some of this thoughts.   more

General Wesley Clark is a senior fellow at the Burkle Center here at UCLA and I had the good fortune to see him speak this afternoon at a luncheon.  The talk was really focused on business, but he had a few rather fascinating comments that are worth reading. More after the jump… more

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The Washington Post has kept up it’s excellent Iraq coverage for the past couple days, bringing a follow-up article from the Odierno story of a couple days ago that focuses on GEN Petraeus’ challenges going forward and a retrospective on the extent to which The Surge could be considered a success.  Both are by Thomas Ricks, of Fiasco fame, so there are definitely no punches pulled in his analysis of the war.  He falls a bit on the pessimistic side of likely outcomes, though it is interesting to read his thoughts (which tend to be quite objective) and analysis.  While I may not agree with all his conclusions, he is unquestionably an expert in his field and it goes without saying that it is vital to read analysis from all different positions.

Ricks also has a new book coming out, The General’s Insurgency, which looks like it will be an extremely interesting read.  It’s advocated by Small Wars Journal which is a good reason to read it in and of itself.

The Obama Administration is considering scaling back the ban on photographing coffins of fallen US servicemen, which was enforced during the Bush Administration.  President Obama is considering allowing the families to decide whether the coffins of their their fallen loved ones should be photographed, giving the next-of-kin the choice to private or more public grief.

Honestly, the issue isn’t a terribly simple one, and I’m rather conflicted on it.  On the one hand, the coffins have a propaganda value that can be capitalized on by our enemies and by anti-war factions in the US to undermine the very effort our soldiers died supporting.  On the other hand, families should have the right to decide how the remains of their loved ones are treated, and, in some regards, photos of the handling of the coffins are important to show the tremendous dignity and respect with which the armed forces treat their dead.

We’ll be watching this one closely, so stay tuned for updates on which tack the administration chooses…

To round out the night, here’s a story that warms the heart of a future tanker: the Army has successfully tested the XM1111 Mid-Range Munition(MRM) round for the M1 Abrams’ M256 120mm main gun.  Long story short, the MRM is a long-developed round for the Abrams’ gun that can guide itself to a target, making it a “smart weapon” fired from a tank gun.  The round has two methods by which it can find its target; either it can hit a target that is “painted” with a laser (much like laser-guided bombs) or it can seek out targets by locking onto their infrared (IR) signatures. 

Previous tests have been conducted succesfully with the MRM, but this is the first time a target has been successfully killed by a projectile using the IR targetting system.  The successful development of the MRM will give the Abrams the ability to hit targets beyond line-of-sight (BLOS, ie you can hit something that you can’t even see) and, given concerns about tank survivability on the modern battlefield, is a step forward in maximizing tank survivability. more

One other interesting story from Time, about one of the last soldiers in the Army to have entered the service as a draftee.

GEN Ray Odierno, current commander of Multinational Force-Iraq (MNF-Iraq)*, has been appearing in an increasing number of interviews of late, all of which are very fascinating.  First up is this WaPo article, which is an interesting study of how the strategy for The Surge came about and about Odierno’s involvement in the process.  Next is an interview of GEN Odierno that I blatantly stole from the oustanding blog Ace of Spades, which dates to late 2008, but which is still very relevent.  Lastly, here is a rather interesting Washington Times article that, while more about Iraq and the results of the election in general, give great credit to Odierno for his work in ensuring security. more

by Edesha Basa

This study seeks to determine the top ten al Qaeda targets in the Los Angeles Metropolitan area. Through careful investigation of current widely accepted assessment methodologies and case studies of al Qaeda attack trends, the CESAT (C=Casualties, E=Economic damage, S=Symbolic effect, A=Accessibility, and T=Threat history) assessment is developed to determine the top ten targets. The study finds that the University of California, Los Angeles is the number one target for al Qaeda in the Los Angeles Metropolitan area because it is one of the softest targets with great potential for a large amount of casualties. The outcome of the study does not align with the results of current widely accepted assessment methodologies. The study finds that the current widely accepted assessment methodologies focus primarily on critical infrastructures rather than terrorist target preferences.

Read the complete paper by clicking here.

Edesha Basa is a Polictical Science and North African Studies major at the University of California, Los Angeles.