Key Reads
Kerry: U.S. will take in more refugees, but number of Syrians is uncertain
Carol Morello / The Washington Post
Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Wednesday that the United States will open its doors to more refugees over the next year but would not say how many might be Syrians fleeing war and chaos.
Senate Republicans Plan Vote on Iran Nuclear Deal
Jennifer Steinhauer / The New York Times
Senate leaders have set a showdown vote for Thursday around 3:45 p.m. that could definitively end Republican efforts to derail President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, with the fate of the bill hanging by a handful of Democratic votes.
American Competitiveness
US economy: statistics at a glance
Sam Fleming, Emily Cadman, Steven Bernard and Tom Pearson / Financial Times
The FT’s one-stop overview of key US economic data and trends, including GDP, inflation, unemployment, consumer indicators, and the outlook for US interest rates and ,mortgage rates.
The U.S. Economy Is Just Starting to Tap Into a Big Source of Dry Powder
Luke Kawa / Bloomberg Business
There’s a big reason to believe that the U.S. economy will be able to withstand the start of the Fed tightening cycle: There’s still plenty of pent up activity in the housing sector. And it’s hard to see the U.S. economy running out of steam with this much upside left in residential investment, according to some economists and analysts.
Global recession in next two years is ‘most likely’ scenario, says economist
Heather Stewart / The Guardian
A “hard landing” for China is likely to plunge the world economy into recession in the next two years, Willem Buiter, chief global economist at Citigroup and a former Bank of England policymaker, has said.
National Security & Strategy
Afghans See American General as Crucial to Country’s Defense
Rod Nordland / The New York Times
Gen. John F. Campbell holds several titles: top NATO commander in Afghanistan, commander of the Resolute Support Mission coalition, commander of United States Forces-Afghanistan. Lately, Afghans are inclined to describe the American commander by yet another: minister of defense of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
US, NATO Express Concern About Russian Military in Syria
VOA News
The United States and NATO have reacted with concern to reports of increased Russian military presence in Syria. A senior U.S. defense official told VOA that Russia has been airlifting military supplies to Syria, calling such activities “unhelpful.”
US facing increasing pressure from allies to change its Syria strategy
W.J. Hennigan, Brian Bennett / Tribune Washington Bureau (TNS)
The Obama administration is under increasing pressure from allied leaders to expand military action in Syria, as Russia funnels in more arms and troops, Islamic State militants seize new ground and waves of Syrian refugees fleeing the bloody conflict head toward European cities.
Report: Russia Building Major Military Base Near Ukraine Border
Anton Zverev / Reuters
Russia has started to build a huge military base housing ammunition depots and barracks for several thousand soldiers near the Ukrainian border, a project that suggests the Kremlin is digging in for a prolonged stand-off with Kiev.
What Concerns Americans Most About China
Victor Beattie / VOA News
Ahead of the first state visit to the United States by Chinese President Xi Jinping this month, a new poll finds a majority of Americans troubled by the size of U.S. debt held by China and the perception that China benefits from U.S. job losses. Not far behind are concerns over China’s involvement in cyberattacks and its growing military power.
Europe Seeks U.N. Blessing to Use Military to Halt Smugglers at Sea
Somni Sengupta / The New York Times
European countries are pushing for a United Nations Security Council resolution to allow their military forces to apprehend human-smuggling vessels in the international waters of the Mediterranean Sea, diplomats here said.
E.U. Nations Urged to Accept 160,000 Migrants
James Kanter / The New York Times
The European Union’s top executive proposed a plan on Wednesday to distribute 160,000 migrants throughout the member nations, even while acknowledging that this measure alone was inadequate to the depth of the crisis.
Top spy bemoans loss of key information-gathering program
Ellen Nakashima / The Washington Post
One of the disclosures based on documents leaked by Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor, prompted the shutdown of a key intelligence program in Afghanistan, the nation’s top spy said Wednesday.
Cybersecurity’s Human Factor: Lessons from the Pentagon
James A. Winnefeld Jr, Christopher Kirchhoff, David M. Upton / Harvard Business Review
The vast majority of companies are more exposed to cyberattacks than they have to be. To close the gaps in their security, CEOs can take a cue from the U.S. military.
Asymmetric Operations
Exclusive: 50 Spies Say ISIS Intelligence Was Cooked
The Daily Beast
It’s being called a ‘revolt’ by intelligence pros who are paid to give their honest assessment of the ISIS war—but are instead seeing their reports turned into happy talk.
Is Al Qaeda Winning in Saudi-Iran Proxy War in Yemen?
Yaroslav Trofimov / The Wall Street Journal
To what extent is al Qaeda reaping the rewards of the Saudi-led war in Yemen? That is an important question for the future of Yemen and for U.S. counterterrorism efforts against the Yemeni branch of the global terror network. The answer depends on who you ask.
Al Qaeda Leader Al-Zawahiri Declares War on ISIS ‘Caliph’ Al-Baghdadi
James Gordon Meek / ABC News
Just ahead of the fourteenth anniversary of al Qaeda’s 9/11 attacks on the U.S., the leader of the terrorist group took aim in an angry speech at a mortal enemy — but not American “crusaders” this time. Rather, the object of his tirade was the leader of ISIS in a declaration of war that will “irreconcilably” divide the two terror groups in a way the U.S. may be able to exploit, experts say.
Climate Security
ADB: S. Asia on ‘Front Lines’ of Mounting Climate Costs
Amantha Perera / Reuters
South Asian economies stand to lose around 1.3 percent of their collective annual GDP by 2050 even if global temperature increases are kept to 2 degrees Celsius, experts and public officials warn.
Gas reduction dropped from California climate change bill
Chris Megerian / Los Angeles Times
Gov. Jerry Brown faced a cascade of setbacks Wednesday as climate change legislation was stripped of his targets for reducing gasoline use…
Energy Security
China’s Energy Security Achilles Heel: Middle Eastern Oil
Owen Daniels, Chris Brown / The Diplomat
China’s outsized and growing reliance on crude oil imports from this increasingly turbulent region leave the world’s largest crude importer highly exposed to the adverse effects of a major supply disruption.
A Perplexing Signal on Iran’s South Asia Energy Policy
Micha’el Tanchum / The Diplomat
As high-ranking Indian officials continue to beat a path to Tehran to bolster Indo-Iranian energy cooperation and secure Iranian natural gas imports to India, one of Iran’s senior diplomats in South Asia sent a perplexing signal about the future delivery of Iranian gas to the Subcontinent.
Oil’s downward spiral is spooking renewable energy investors
Varun Sivaram / Fortune Magazine
Even though there is little fundamental linkage between oil prices and the competitiveness of solar or wind power across the developed world, newly risk-averse investors in renewable energy Yieldcos are dumping investments they suddenly consider overvalued.
Nuclear Security
Hillary: I’ll take military action to enforce Iran nuclear deal
Marisa Schultz / New York Post
Clinton sounded a tougher tone than President Obama, branding Iran a “ruthless, brutal regime that has the blood of Americans . . . on its hands,” but also taking credit for opening the back channels for the Iran talks while secretary of state.
On Our Flashpoint Blog
Admiral Fallon Testifies Before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs
Sam Hickey / American Security Project
On September 09, ASP Board Member Admiral William Fallon testified on the Implications of a Nuclear Agreement with Iran before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. He was joined in testifying before members of Congress by General Charles Wald, Vice Admiral John Bird, and Leon Wieseltier who is the Isaiah Berlin Senior Fellow in Culture and Policy at the Brookings Institute.
Brigadier General Stephen A. Cheney interviewed on Climate Change
Ngoe H. Le / American Security Project
Brigadier General Stephen Cheny, USMC (Ret.) CEO of the American Security Project talked about climate change in an exclusive Climate TV interview for The Climate Group.
Understanding the Importance of Iraqi Unity
American Security Project
In DC, policy critics are overwhelmingly fixated on the Obama Administration’s alleged lack of strategy, but actions in Iraq by Iraqis will be the deciding factor in this fight.
Upcoming Events
Conference – Cyber Security: Risk, Recovery, and Resilience
September 16 @ 12:00pm – 5:00pm
In the wake of major security breaches, including OPM, Sony, and Target, cyber security has taken center stage in talks of national security and defense. As the United States continues to rely on technology for government and military operations, cyber security is needed more than ever before. Over the course of the conference, our expert panelists will discuss the issues surrounding cyber security and challenges we will face moving forward.
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