Key Reads
U.S. Markets Rise After Wild Seesaw Trading in China
Emily Rauhala, Jonnelle Marte / The Washington Post
U.S. stocks rallied in early morning trading Wednesday, following a volatile day in China. Both the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock- index jumped by more than 2 percent at the open. The rebound came after the Dow closed down 200 points Tuesday in a late sell-off.
Suspect Arrested in ’96 Bombing That Killed 19 US Service-Members
Ken Dilanian / Stars and Stripes
A man suspected in the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers residence at a U.S. military base in Saudi Arabia has been captured, a U.S. official said Wednesday.
American Competitiveness
Signs Long Unheeded, Now Point to Risk in U.S.
Landon Thomas / The New York Times
As investors scramble to make sense of the wild market swings in recent days, a number of financial experts argue that, for more than a year now, signs pointing to an equity crisis were there for all to see.
For Most of Us, the ‘Real’ Economy Matters More Than Markets
Marilyn Geewax / NPR
This huge summer sell-off must mean the U.S. economy is sinking, right? Well, so far at least, that’s not right. In fact, the economy has been improving, and Tuesday brought yet more evidence of that.
National Security & Strategy
Oshkosh Wins $6.75 Billion Deal to Replace U.S. Army, Marine Humvees
Reuters
U.S. specialty truck maker Oshkosh Corp (OSK.N) has won a $6.75 billion contract to build 17,000 light tactical vehicles to replace the aging Humvees used by the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, the U.S. Army announced on Tuesday.
Asymmetric Operations
The U.S. Backed War in Yemen Is Strengthening Al-Qaeda
Nancy A. Youssef / The Daily Beast
The U.S.-backed war in Yemen has strengthened al Qaeda there, American defense officials concede, posing a serious threat to U.S. security.
Taliban Captures Key Helmand District of Musa Qala
BBC
A suicide car bomber targeting foreign troops killed three Afghan civilians on Friday, while a dozen people on their way to a wedding were killed in a separate roadside blast, officials said.
Inquiry Weighs Whether ISIS Analysis Was Distorted
Mark Mazzetti, Matt Apuzzo / The New York Times
The Pentagon’s inspector general is investigating allegations that military officials have skewed intelligence assessments about the United States-led campaign in Iraq against the Islamic State to provide a more optimistic account of progress, according to several officials familiar with the inquiry.
Climate Security
Tutu, Klein, and Chomsky Call for Mass Climate Action Ahead of Paris Conference
Emma Howard / The Guardian
Desmond Tutu, Vivienne Westwood, Naomi Klein and Noam Chomsky are among a group of high-profile figures who will issue a mass call to action on Thursday ahead of the UN’s crunch climate change conference in Paris in December.
NASA Science Zeros in on Ocean Rise: How Much? How Soon?
Steve Cole / NASA
Seas around the world have risen an average of nearly 3 inches since 1992, with some locations rising more than 9 inches due to natural variation, according to the latest satellite measurements from NASA and its partners. An intensive research effort now underway, aided by NASA observations and analysis, points to an unavoidable rise of several feet in the future.
Energy Security
Schlumberger to Buy Oilfield Gear Maker Cameron in $14.8 Billion Deal
Sneha Banerjee, Shubhankar Chakravorty / Reuters
Schlumberger Ltd (SLB.N) will buy oilfield equipment maker Cameron International Corp (CAM.N) in a deal valued at $14.8 billion to streamline supply chains and offer cost-effective services to oil and gas customers who have slashed budgets. The deal is the latest in a line of mergers in the energy industry as companies struggle to cope with a 60 percent plunge in global crude oil prices LCOc1 since June last year.
North Dakota’s Big Oil Boom in a Man’s Land: ‘It’s Like Capitalism on Steroids’
Henrietta Norton, Dan Dennison / The Guardian
The Bakken region has been at the heart of the latest oil boom since the early 2000s, when new technology enabled horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing to access minerals found in the layers of rock beneath the ground. It occupies 200,000 square miles, and stretches from Montana and North Dakota across into Saskatchewan and Manitoba in Canada.
Nuclear Security
Report finds Serious Defects at Hanford Nuclear Waste Treatment Plant
Ralph Vartabedian / Los Angeles Times
A team of nuclear waste experts has found hundreds of serious defects at an Energy Department plant designed to turn millions of gallons of highly radioactive sludge into more stable solid glass at the former weapons facility in Hanford, Wash.
On Our Flashpoint Blog
Drought Threatens Food Security
Philip Rossetti
Food security is one of the most basic forms of security that a state needs to survive. Climate change presents a threat to global food security, and a recent study has shown that the U.S.’ food security is already being negatively impacted by climate change. The study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, concluded that 8-27% of the California drought is attributable to climate change. This marks one of the rare times where climate change can be said to have a directly contributed to a climate event, rather than merely increasing its probability.
TFTA: Africa’s Crucial Inflection Point
Maggie Feldman-Piltch
On August 10th, the following post by BCAS Chairperson Dante Disparte and Junior Adjunct Fellow John Bugnacki appeared on International Policy Digest. On June 10, 2015, at the 25th African Union Summit in Cairo, Egypt, African leaders signed the Tripartite Free Trade Agreement (TFTA). Prior to its signing, the agreement had been in negotiations for seven years.
Upcoming Events
Conference – Cyber Security: Risk, Recovery, Resilience
September 16 @ 12:00pm – 5:00pm
ASP will host a half day conference to discuss the issues surrounding cyber security and challenges we will face moving forward.
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