The Insider

National Security Adviser Jim Jones is traveling to the Middle East this week to meet with key leaders in Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the Palestinian Authority, according to a White House statement released this afternoon. Jones, a retired four-star Marine Corps general, will "discuss the full range of regional challenges and opportunities at this critical time in the Middle East," according to the the statement.

In 2008, Jones told Inside the Pentagon “nothing is more important” in the Middle East than peacefully resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center in Warren, MI, announced today that it has established a center intended to expand its capabilities and streamline operations.

The Center for Ground Vehicle Development and Integration will "align and expand research and development (R&D) activities and establish a new military nucleus for public-private ground vehicle systems collaborative partnerships," the announcement reads.

It cites roughly $14 billion in fiscal year 2010 Defense Department funding targeted at Michigan's defense industry and says the center will play a key role in ensuring that money is "effectively leveraged."

More specifically, the new vehicle center will incorporate work from TARDEC's Ground Vehicle Integration Center -- which provides technology assessment and systems integration for the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle and Joint Light Tactical Vehicle programs, among others -- and its Prototype Integration Facility -- which provides "hands-on design, metallurgy testing, physical prototyping and electronics integration for military ground vehicles systems."

Army Gen. Raymond Odierno, the head of U.S. forces in Iraq, has issued new rules for the proper behavior of Defense Department personnel in Iraq. The General Order Number 1, dated Jan. 1, comes as U.S. forces prepare to draw down from the country in large numbers this year.

Naturally, the possession of drugs and alcohol of any kind are prohibited, according to the document. There are also tight restrictions on when U.S. personnel are allowed to set foot into mosques or other Islamic religious sites.

In addition, troops may not adopt local animals as pets or mascots, attempt to convert others to their faith and point with weapons at others "in jest" or as part of "quick draw" or "trust" games, the document reads.

The order also spells out under what circumstances U.S. personnel are allowed to take "war souvenirs" home.

U.S. Strategic Command and Air Force Space Command want to improve the Global Positioning System (GPS) constellation's satellite coverage, according to a STRATCOM statement released today.

"The need to support U.S. and allied military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, where terrain in geographically challenging areas can degrade complete coverage of GPS signals, drove a look for ways to improve signal coverage," the STRATCOM statement reads. Specifically, the command "approved an Air Force-developed approach that benefits not only military operations but all GPS users by taking advantage of the largest on-orbit GPS constellation in its history."

That new approach would do the following:

The current GPS constellation will be optimized to provide enhanced capability for all GPS users and provide better support to military forces operating in Afghanistan. Essentially, this plan will take advantage of today's constellation size and reposition satellites to improve coverage.

The existing constellation replenishment strategy positions new GPS satellites close to older satellites. This strategy protects against possible failing satellite vehicles. The current strength of the constellation will allow the constellation to be spread out and improve GPS
access worldwide.

The initiative will take up to 24 months to fully implement as satellites are repositioned within the constellation based on constellation health. The beneficial impact to all GPS users, including civilian users, will be slowly realized during that time period. Over the next two years, the number of GPS satellites in view from any point on earth will increase, potentially increasing accuracy of GPS receivers.

The STRATCOM and AFSPC team seeks to continually enhance GPS capability and is committed to meeting and exceeding civilian and military user requirements for worldwide, 24/7, positioning, navigation, and timing service.

InsideDefense.com reported last month that a program to produce a new generation of hybrid GPS receivers escaped termination in December, as House appropriators reversed their push to block the $60 million Pentagon officials wanted for the project:

House Appropriations Committee members opposed funding for the "High-Integrity GPS" program in their version of the fiscal year 2010 defense appropriations bill this summer. However, they yielded to their Senate counterparts’ position on the project’s funds, according to a Dec. 15 conference agreement on the legislation.

House lawmakers initially voted not to fund HIGPS because they believed the effort was “duplicative of other activities within the GPS program,” House Appropriations defense subcommittee spokesman Matthew Mazonkey told InsideDefense.com in an e-mail today. He did not address the question of what ultimately swayed lawmakers.

The HIGPS program is focused on developing handheld receivers fed with the signals from GPS satellites plus those emitted by the constellation of commercial Iridium communication satellites in low-Earth orbit. The result of this combination, advocates have said, is greater accuracy and resistance to enemy jamming.

Funding is executed through the Naval Research Laboratory, in part because the technology is destined as a navigation tool for dismounted Marine Corps forces and Navy SEALs.

As of Jan. 5, the Pentagon has fielded 164 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected All-Terrain Vehicles to Afghanistan, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said today.

Nearly 240 of the trucks have been delivered, he added.

"And then there are obviously many more vehicles than that that have been produced," Morrell told reporters during a Pentagon briefing. "And as they vie for space for airlift and absorption in Afghanistan, they are being used, many of them, for training purposes domestically."

But he stressed that the military faces a "herculean effort" in trying to get 30,000 additional forces -- and their equipment -- to theater.

"So this is going to be . . . a real test of our ((U.S. Transportation Command)) folks, as well as ((U.S. Central Command))," he said. "And they have a priority list based, you know, in terms of space available, what has the top priority to flow in at what time."

But, Morrell added, the Defense Department hopes to send over 500 M-ATVs a month by the spring. He said the military is not yet sealifting the trucks.

Last month, Oshkosh announced that it had again exceeded the monthly delivery requirement for M-ATV by meeting its 1,000-vehicle total on Dec. 18.

December was the first month in which the company was set to ramp up to 1,000 vehicles, a rate at which it expects to stay through May 2010 to deliver more than 6,600 of the trucks.

As InsideDefense.com reported in November, the Pentagon has overhauled the Defense Science Board's roster.

The DSB will get 39 new members, who "join the previously announced DSB Chairman, Paul G. Kaminski and Vice Chairman, Retired Air Force Gen. Lester L. Lyles, and 12 DSB senior fellows," a Defense Department statement reads.

According to a list released today, the new members include former Pentagon acquisition chief Jacques Gansler and former Deputy Defense Secretary John Deutsch as well as retired Adm. William Fallon, former head of U.S. Central and Pacific commands; and retired Marine Corps Gen. Michael Hagee, a former Marine commandant.

Retired Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Larry Welch and former Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Director Craig Fields are among the new DSB senior fellows included in today's list.

According to the DOD statement:

"Secretary of Defense Gates believes the DSB needs to be a professional board representing the best scientific and expert advice available to the Department of Defense," said Ashton B. Carter, under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics. "We are grateful to these superb individuals for their willingness to serve."

The DSB was established in 1956 as a standing committee to advise top Pentagon leadership on "the needs and opportunities presented by new scientific knowledge for radically new weapons systems" and has evolved to develop and strengthen the department's research and development strategies for the 21st Century though their reports.

Kaminski told InsideDefense.com in November that the new roster would be a "whole, newly composed board." Further:

Kaminski said the board is drafting proposals for as many as three new task force studies. The DSB also is beginning to outline ideas for a 2010 summer study, an undertaking that is often larger in scope than a task force study, he said.

A leading candidate for a new DSB task force deals with missile defense, specifically the issue of early intercept, a study effort that Kaminski said would deal with the challenge of hitting a ballistic missile “sometime between launch and apogee.”

Earlier this fall, the White House announced that it has advised all federal departments that “federally registered lobbyists ((should)) not be appointed to agency advisory boards and commissions.”

“Keeping these advisory boards free of individuals who currently are registered federal lobbyists represents a dramatic change in the way business is done in Washington,” Norm Eisen, special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform, wrote in a Sept. 23 announcement of the policy posted on the White House Web site.

New DSB members were vetted in alignment with this policy, Kaminski said.

“That's been a factor in their approval of membership,” he said.

Defense officials should use the Northern Distribution Network as a springboard to create an even larger web of trade routes across Asia, according to a recent report penned by researchers at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Dubbed the "Modern Silk Road," this network of travel lanes would help foster urgently needed economic development in Afghanistan and its neighbors, the authors argue in their Dec. 17, 2009, report.

For example, administration officials should work toward new routes through Iran, China and India, the report suggests.

While the challenges associated with these routes are apparent, the United States should put forth a concerted effort to gain access to them. (After all, who could have predicted that U.S. military supplies would be traversing Russia and Uzbekistan?)

During the last year Pentagon officials readied a vast network of supply routes used for shipping military supplies from Europe to the war in Afghanistan.

At the same time, defense leaders have waived U.S. policies that would normally prohibit the Pentagon from doing business with many Central Asian countries allowing NDN shipments through their territories.