Al Qaeda Leader Hopes to Provoke MORE US Security Spending to ‘Bleed America Economically’

William Maclean / Business Insider

“Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri urged small-scale attacks inside the United States to “bleed America economically”, adding he hoped eventually to see a more significant strike, according to the SITE monitoring service.”

“Keeping America in such a state of tension and anticipation only required a few disparate attacks ”here and there,” he said.”

Richard Stengel Leaving Time for State Department

Joe Pompeo and Dylan Byers / Politico

Richard Stengel is leaving Time magazine to work at the U.S. Depart of State as the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs.

Nation’s Bloated Nuclear Spending Comes Under Fire

Jeri Clausing and Matthew Daly / Associated Press

Even though improvements have been made, a new security system that protects nuclear bombs in Los Alamos is still insecure.  The facilities are still capable of collapsing and releasing radiation.

NASA Confirms That Voyager 1 Has Left The Solar System

Dina Spector / Business Insider

“NASA confirmed on Thursday that Voyager 1 has finally reached interstellar space, the cold, dark region between solar systems.”
Going to Mars via Fusion Power?

Michael D. Lemonick / TIME Science & Space

 Princeton Satellite Systems engineers and scientists believe they know how to capture nuclear fusion power as a viable energy source.

DARPA’s Plan to Flood the Sea with Drones, Carrying More Droves

Allen Mcduffee / Wired

“DARPA, the Pentagon’s research agency, has recently revealed its plans to boost the Navy’s response to threats in international waters by developing submerged unmanned platforms that can be deployed at a moment’s notice.”

On Our Flashpoint Blog

R Episode VIII: A Tale of “Time” | Public Diplomacy

Matthew Wallin

News has broken that the new nominee for the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs at the State Department will be Richard Stengel, who is leaving his position as Editor of Time Magazine. If confirmed, he will be the 8th Under Secretary since the creation of the position in 1999.

Public Diplomacy Highlighted in TED Talks

Cara Doglione

These TED talks are an example of how public diplomacy can take a sensitive topic and neutralize it.

CSIS: Ground Forces Dialogue event – Operational Energy in the Next Decade

Aaron Haubert

On September 9, the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) hosted the latest round of their Ground Forces Dialogue. The afternoon’s topic was operational energy in the next decade; featured speakers were the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Operational Energy Plans and Programs, Sharon Burke, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff Director of Logistics, Lieutenant General Robert Ruark. The discussion focused on two main areas: the changing global energy portfolio’s impact on national security and the increasing demand to cut the logistics tether caused by energy needs.

Backdoor Nordic Diplomacy in Syria

Derek Bolton

The plan to place Syria’s chemical weapons under international control was originally floated to President Obama during a dinner with the prime ministers of Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark and Finland during Obama’s trip to Stockholm last week.

Could the Syrian Conflict be a Symptom of Climate Change?

Farhad Mirzadeh

A lot has been said about the role of climate change in the Arab Spring; however the Syria conflict provides an in-depth look at the potential effects that climate change has had that led to the civil war. According to William Polk, the global warming induced droughts brought about tensions and wars in Syria starting…

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