Key Reads

 

Paris Attacks: Two Die in Hunt for ‘Mastermind’
BBC
A woman has blown herself up and a suspect was shot dead during a police raid on a flat in a Paris suburb, while seven arrests were made.

 

Russia Allies with France Against ISIS, Saying Jet That Crashed in Sinai Was Bombed
Neil MacFarquhar / The New York Times
Russia on Tuesday said that it was coordinating with the French military in sharply ratcheting up attacks on Syrian territory, especially areas held by the Islamic State, as the government for the first time acknowledged that a bomb had destroyed a Russian charter jet that crashed more than two weeks ago in Egypt.

 

 

American Competitiveness

 

U.S. Eyes Last-Minute Changes over Crisis Against J.P. Morgan, RBS Execs
Aruna Vishwanathan, Devlin Barrett, Christopher M. Matthews / Marketwatch
Federal prosecutors are actively pursuing criminal cases against executives from Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. for allegedly selling flawed mortgage securities, people familiar with the probes said, as the clock ticks down for bringing cases from the 2008 financial crisis.

 

Businesses Are Stocking More Than They’re Selling. What Does It Mean?
Jeffrey Sparshott / The Wall Street Journal
U.S. businesses are filling warehouses, lots and shelves with more goods, a welcome development for one measure of third-quarter economic growth but a potential drag if consumers don’t start snapping up more merchandise.

 

 

National Security & Strategy

 

Iran’s Cyberattacks are Likely to Increase. Here’s Why.
Dina Esfandiary, Ariane Tabatabai / The Washington Post
There has been a recent wave of Iranian cyberattacks targeting U.S. citizens and institutions. Most seem to believe the attacks only serve to undermine and target the United States, revealing Iran’s growing cyber capabilities as yet another weapon in Iran’s arsenal to counter the United States.

 

 

Asymmetric Operations

 

Here’s How al-Qaeda Could Also Benefit from the Paris Terror Attacks
Jeremy Bender / Business Insider
The fact that international attention is so focused on ISIS actually means that al Qaeda could emerge with the better position globally. The fight against ISIS has attracted global intelligence and security resources while making Al Qaeda appear to be the less urgent threat. The politics of the fight against ISIS — in which rival jihadist groups have sometimes limited ISIS’s ground-level spread — may also favor Al Qaeda in the long run.

 

Russia Steps Up Attacks Against IS with Missile Bombardment
BBC
Russian officials say the country’s air force has flown 2,300 missions over Syria in the past 48 days.

 

Fear of New Terrorist Plots Spreads; German Stadium Evacuated After Threat
Missy Ryan, Anthony Faiola, Souad Mekhennet / The Washington Post
Security fears intensified in Europe on Tuesday as German authorities scrambled to respond to a reported bomb plot and French investigators uncovered clues suggesting the Islamic State cell that launched last week’s devastating assaults in Paris was larger than previously known.

 

 

Climate Security

 

Senate Votes to Block Obama’s Climate Change Rules
Coral Davenport / The New York Times
The Senate voted on Tuesday to block President Obama’s tough new climate change regulations, hoping to undermine his negotiating authority before a major international climate summit meeting in Paris this month.

 

Climate Change Stickers Mandatory on North Vancouver Gas Pumps
Tamara Baluja / CBCNews
North Vancouver Mayor Darrell Mussatto said the city hopes to implement the stickers by early next year and will make it mandatory for pumps to have them as part of a business license.

 

 

Energy Security

 

Iraq is Flooding America with Lots of Oil
CNNMoney
The U.S. more than doubled its imports of oil from Iraq between August and September, according to a Platts analysis of U.S. Energy Information Administration statistics.

 

Could the Tide Be Turning Against North American Natural Gas?
Dave Forest / OilPrice
A lot of hope has been pinned on liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports as an outlet for surging North American gas supply. But a couple of events the past week show that getting LNG exports off the ground may be more difficult than most observers have predicted.

 

UK to Close All Coal Power Plants in Switch to Gas and Nuclear
Rowena Mason / The Guardian
The UK will close all coal-fired power plants by 2025, the first major country to do so, but will fill the capacity gap largely with new gas and nuclear plants rather than cleaner alternatives.

 

 

Nuclear Security

 

Nuclear Agreement with Iran is a Done Deal, at Least for Now
Joe Barnes / The Hill
Even if the accord is fully implemented, it could still fail. Were the IAEA at any point to certify that Iran is in significant noncompliance with the JCPOA, the United States would almost certainly re-impose sanctions, pressure the EU to do so as well and invoke the deal’s “snap back” mechanism to reinstate United Nations sanctions.

 

 

On Our Flashpoint Blog

 

The Weekly Fusion: A Look at Current Advancements in Fusion Energy
Ricky Gandhi
The future of fusion is constantly being unfolded in front of our eyes, as every week there is some breakthrough in new technologies and designs in the nuclear fusion sector of energy. Since there is such a wealth of information, I have gathered and consolidated a list of articles geared toward the advancement of making fusion energy a reality, from within the past week.

 

Developing an Effective Anti-ISIS Strategy
Matthew Wallin
The recent terror attacks in Paris have created renewed demand to develop a real strategy for defeating ISIS. From Beirut to the Metrojet bombing over the Sinai, these attacks show spillover from the Syrian Civil War that threatens the livelihood of people far beyond Syria’s borders.

 

The Relationship Between Climate Change and Terrorism: Reigniting the Debate
Anil Powers
E&E published an article about the relationship between climate change and terrorism. In it, E&E reporter Jean Chemnick discussed the “rekindling of an old feud” regarding the dangers of climate change, renewed partisan pushback, and policy strategies.

 

BGen. Cheney Featured in National Defense Magazine
Ricky Gandhi
ASP CEO, BGen. Stephen A. Cheney was featured in National Defense Magazine. In it, he gave his thoughts regarding Russia’s military expansion in the Arctic, arguing that the actions serve more as defensive measures rather than offensive.

 

Climate Change, Paris, the Rise of ISIS, and What “Causes” Terrorism
Andrew Holland
Over the past few days, there have been a number of discussion in the press around the country and around the world on the links between climate change and terrorism. Let us be clear – no act of terror is due to climate change, but climate change has helped to create the conditions from which terrorist groups can plot and plan.

 

 

Upcoming Events

 

TPP: Implications of the Trans-Pacific Partnership for Global and Regional Stability
November 19 @ 12:30pm – 2:00pm
This event will include a panel discussion featuring key leaders well versed in the economic and security impact of free trade from several TPP nations. The event will conclude with a keynote address from Representative Don Beyer (D, VA-8), former Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

 

 

ASP Recently Published

 

Climate Diplomacy: A Strategy for American Leadership
American Security Project
In December, 2015, the world will gather in Paris in an attempt to finally address the challenge of climate change. The stakes are high: failure would only make addressing climate change more costly and difficult and could have repercussions on broader national security goals. But “Climate Diplomacy” is not just about a single conference in Paris: it must be a bipartisan, long-standing priority for the U.S. government.

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