The Insider

U.S. and NATO forces have made little progress eliminating the safe havens that violent extremists have maintained in Pakistan, said Gen. Joseph Dunford, President Obama's nominee to be the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan.

The problem needs to be addressed over time, Dunford said this morning during questioning at his confirmation hearing.

Dunford, the Marine Corps assistant commandant, said corruption is the most significant strategic challenge in Afghanistan. Asked if U.S. and NATO forces are winning the war in Afghanistan, Dunford said progress is being made.

But Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said if the Obama administration decides to draw down troop levels below 68,000, the war may not be worth continuing. "If we can't accomplish the mission, I'm not sure why we should stay," McCain said.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), the chairman of the committee, and McCain voiced support for Gen. John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, whose nomination to lead U.S. European Command is on hold.

Also during the hearing, Dunford praised section 841 of the fiscal year 2012 Defense Authorization Act, which gave U.S. Central Command new authorities to avoid contracting with the enemy.

The United States and Australia have stepped up their space ties, the Defense Department announced today, agreeing to "advance the bi-lateral long-term international partnership on space situational awareness by placing two key U.S. space systems in Australia."

The two militaries have agreed that Australia will operate a U.S. Air Force C-band ground-based radar system in Australia. The system will provide a critical dedicated sensor for the U.S. Space Surveillance Network (SSN), which is the principal system that the U.S. and its partners rely on to detect, track, and identify objects in space.

The U.S. and Australia have also decided to work towards the establishment of the Space Surveillance Telescope (SST) on Australian soil. The SST is a state of the art optical telescope designed and built by the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) that provides deep space surveillance.

The C-Band radar will be operated from the Harold E. Holt Naval Communications Station at North West Cape in Western Australia; the Australians are in the process of selecting a site for the SST. The United States and Australia will share relocation and operational costs for the systems. The C-Band radar will be delivered in 2014. Together, these complimentary platforms will provide highly accurate tracking and identification of objects in space, such as satellites and debris, in order to improve overall spaceflight safety. Data from these platforms will also improve the operational perspective for senior leaders to select and execute appropriate courses of action in response to space events and scenarios.

In addition, the U.S. and Australia are in discussions on the establishment of a Combined Communications Gateway in Western Australia. The Gateway would provide both U.S. and Australia operators access to Wideband Global Satellite communications satellites currently on orbit.

The actions taken today are the result of close collaboration from both nations on “New Frontiers” projects -- including space and cyberspace -- during the last two AUSMIN sessions. At the Melbourne AUSMIN 2010 conference, leaders signed the Space Situational Awareness Partnership. At the San Francisco AUSMIN 2011, leaders discussed the goal of placing U.S. space systems in Australia and signed a landmark agreement on cyberspace.

The U.S. National Security Space Strategy emphasizes that shared awareness of spaceflight activity must improve in order to foster global spaceflight safety and help prevent mishaps, misperceptions, and mistrust. Locating the C-Band radar and the SST telescope in Australia demonstrates progress towards these goals and the benefits of the re-balance towards the Asia-Pacific across domains.

Additional information on the collaboration efforts are in the full press release.

As the Pentagon fights a Senate provision that would cut back Navy alternative fuels efforts, a business group has compiled a report claiming the military could generate major economic activity and jobs -- $10 billion or more of the former and 14,000 of the latter, to be specific:

The military’s biofuels initiatives could do more than just power jet planes, aircraft carriers and armored vehicles – they could also help power the economy, according to a new report from Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2).

The E2 report will be unveiled during a live, phone-based news conference at 11 a.m. EST Wednesday (Nov. 14, 2012), on the heels of Veteran’s Day.

Environmental Entrepeneurs bills itself as "a national community of business leaders who promote sound environmental policy that builds economic prosperity."

Among the speakers at Wednesday's event will be retired Vice Adm. Dennis McGinn, president of the American Council on Renewable Energy.

More from the group's statement:

Congress is about to take up the National Defense Authorization Act, which in current versions would prohibit the DoD from moving forward with its plans and desires to increase its use of biofuels. Citing national security concerns, the Navy and Air Force want to replace 50 percent of their fuel supplies with non-petroleum biofuels by 2020.

Just as military innovation and leadership transformed our nation’s economy in sectors ranging from aviation to communication to computers, the military’s biofuels expansion could provide a major boost to the economy and job creation, and help transform the nation’s energy, airline and agriculture industries.

A State Department advisory group that focuses on defense trade issues plans to hold a meeting late this month, according to a notice published in this morning's Federal Register:

The Defense Trade Advisory Group (DTAG) will meet in open session from 1:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 28, 2012, in the East Auditorium, U.S. Department of State, Harry S. Truman Building, Washington, DC. Entry and registration will begin at 12:00 p.m. Please use the building entrance located at 21st Street NW., Washington, DC, between C & D Streets.

The membership of this advisory committee consists of private sector defense trade representatives, appointed by the Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs, who advise the Department on policies, regulations, and technical issues affecting defense trade. The purpose of the meeting will be to discuss current defense trade issues and topics for further study. Specific agenda topics will be posted on the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls' Web site, at www.pmddtc.state.gov approximately 10 days prior to the meeting.

Members of the public may attend this open session and will be permitted to participate in the discussion in accordance with the Chair's instructions. Members of the public may, if they wish, submit a brief statement to the committee in writing.

Click here to view the full notice.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense has helped launch a "3D printing" additive manufacturing program, according to the Pentagon's industrial policy shop.

OSD's Manufacturing Technology program "recently led an interagency effort to launch a $69 million public-private partnership in additive manufacturing," a post on the Defense Department's manufacturing and industrial base policy website states:

Participants include the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Science Foundation, and the Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology. The private partner team is led by the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining, a not-for-profit 501(c)3 company. The interagency investment of $30 million has been matched by a $39 million cost share from non-federal sources.

More commonly known as "3D Printing," additive manufacturing is an enabling manufacturing technology for our military platforms. The National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMII) officially opened on September 27, 2012, and will serve as a training and collaboration center to bridge the gap between basic research and technology adoption. NAMII will also serve as an example for the proposed National Network for Manufacturing Innovation and has a goal to be self-sufficient within three years.

Inside U.S. Trade today published an analysis of the effect of President Obama's re-election on a variety of international trade issues, among them export controls and their effect on the U.S. Munitions List and Commerce Control List. An excerpt:

On export controls, the major question now facing Obama in his second term is how aggressive a stance he will take when it comes to pushing forward his reform initiative. The administration put the political aspects of the initiative on hold in the months leading up the election, partly because pushing ahead could have had adverse ramifications in Congress or provided fodder for criticism on the campaign trail.

Obama must decide whether to start the implementation process by notifying Congress that the administration is moving items in the categories of aircraft and aircraft engines from the U.S. Munitions List (USML) to the less stringent Commerce Control List (CCL), or whether to continue to seek an accommodation with Congress on the extent of the details that need to be included in those notifications.

Under the Arms Export Control Act, a formal notification of moving an item from the USML to the CCL triggers a 30-day layover in which both chambers must pass a joint resolution of disapproval if they want to voice opposition to the proposed change. But one observer said that a successful political strategy for proceeding with notification depends on reaching an accommodation with Congress.

Congressional critics have already moved to alter the notification requirements for the export control reform initiative, which would move a very large number of items off the USML. For instance, the House has already approved a specific provision in its version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would require the administration to enumerate all of the items that it wants to transfer, to the extent possible.

This is a direct reaction to the administration’s favored approach of notifying the items to be removed with fewer details in large, "catch-all" categories. The Senate is expected to take up its version of the NDAA in a lame-duck session of Congress, and it is unclear to what extent it will approve the same provisions on notification that the House put forward. Administration officials have criticized the House language as undermining their ability to make far reaching reforms.

It is unclear if the Obama administration will initiate the notification of USML changes in the lame-duck session, which in the House starts on Nov. 13. Some private-sector sources said they expect the notification process may be delayed until next year.

The administration may also choose to wait until the next Congress comes into power because the leadership of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which has jurisdiction over export control policy, will be completely different.

Current Chairman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), a vocal critic of the administration's reform plan, will relinquish her position under Republican House rules limiting a committee leadership position to six years. Ranking Member Howard Berman (D-CA) is also leaving Congress after losing his race against Democratic rival and fellow committee member Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA).

As a result of these changes, the administration may hold off until the views of the new committee leadership on the notification process become more clear. Foreign Affairs is the primary committee of jurisdiction for export controls in the House, and the administration must notify the committee of any transfers. . . .

Some believe that the effort has already lost some steam due to personnel changes; while Defense Department officials have said that Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta supports the initiative as strongly as his predecessor, Robert Gates, there seems to be little public evidence of that.

Similarly, the departure of Ellen Tauscher, who served as the State Department's undersecretary for arms control and international security, for health reasons has slowed progress on export control reform issues. Sources said that Tauscher had the export control knowledge and the political stature to advance export control reform issues within State and that the same combination does not exist in either her successor, Acting Undersecretary Rose Gottemoeller, or in Assistant Secretary for Political and Military Affairs Andrew Shapiro and his deputy, Beth McCormick.

Some sources said the delay in the reform process that was put in place in the months leading up the election occurred despite the fact that the two regulations needed to proceed to notification have been completed in terms of the technical work. One is a regulation that would put forward a definition of what constitutes an item "specially designed" for military applications, and the other governs the transition of items from the USML to the CCL.

According to one private-sector source, the administration has made it clear that the latest version of the "specially designed" rule has been significantly reworked from a revised proposed rule. If that is accurate, it would likely require another round of public comments, which would further delay congressional notification.

The National Guard Association of the United States is touting the use of a pair of aircraft in hurricane relief efforts in New York that the Pentagon says it doesn't need in the future.

In a statement released this afternoon, NGAUS said a Florida Army National Guard C-23 Sherpa had delivered emergency supplies from the mid-Atlantic to New York and New Jersey, while Maryland, Mississippi and Ohio Air National Guard C-27J Spartan aircraft had flown personnel and equipment to New York:

The C-23 and C-27J are small fixed-wing cargo planes capable of landing on runways that may prohibit other military aircraft. The C-23 has been in the Guard for more than 20 years; the C-27J for two years. Both also have seen duty overseas, where they have been praised for their flexibility, reliability and cost-efficiency.

Yet both are on the Pentagon chopping block.

The Army is scheduled this month to take both of the Florida Army Guard’s C-23s and two aircraft from the Texas Army Guard. And the Air Force planned to divest the C-27J in its fiscal 2013 budget request.

Congress thought it put those plans on hold in the continuing resolution that currently funds the federal government through the end of March, but the Army is moving forward with its plans.

"This is a case where the Pentagon simply doesn't like small cargo aircraft, even if they demonstrate their value to the nation every time out," said retired Maj. Gen. Gus L. Hargett Jr., the president of the National Guard Association of the United States.

"The Army and the Air Force say these planes are unneeded, but there are thousands of ground troops who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan who would disagree, and now, so would tens of thousands of people in New Jersey and New York," he added. "But the Pentagon remains determined."

The Army's determination has caught the attention of the governors of Florida and Texas and some lawmakers.

Gov. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas, wrote President Barack Obama on Oct. 11 asking him to intervene.

In Congress, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., is asking colleagues to sign a letter to Army Secretary John McHugh requesting his "commitment to ensure that the C-23 fleet remains operational until a viable alternative is identified."

Hunter, a member of the House Armed Services Committee and co-chair of the House National Guard and Reserve Components Caucus, is asking that the letter be signed and delivered to McHugh this week.

For some more background, check out this May 21 Inside the Army story.