Key Reads
Why Turkey Joined the U.S.-Led Mission to ‘Degrade and Defeat ISIS’
Menekse Tokyay / Al Arabiya News
After much hesitation to get involved in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) over concerns of blowback, Turkey on Friday carried out its first airstrikes against ISIS as part of the U.S.-led coalition.
Migrant Crisis: Merkel Warns of EU ‘Failure’
BBC
German Chancellor Angela Merkel says “Europe as a whole needs to move” on how to deal with refugees and migrants arriving in the EU. “If Europe fails on the question of refugees, then it won’t be the Europe we wished for,” she said.
American Competitiveness
Stocks Tumble on Weak Chinese Data
Josie Cox, Corrie Driebusch / The Wall Street Journal
U.S. stocks tumbled Tuesday after weak manufacturing data in China fueled investors’ worries about the world’s second-largest economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 369 points, or 2.2%, to 16159 in early trade. The S&P 500 declined 2.2% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.8%. Shares in Europe and Asia posted losses. The price of oil, which had rallied in recent days, slumped.
National Security & Strategy
U.S. Developing Sanctions Against China Over Cyberthefts
Ellen Nakashima / The Washington Post
The Obama administration is developing a package of unprecedented economic sanctions against Chinese companies and individuals who have benefited from their government’s cybertheft of valuable U.S. trade secrets.
Air Force Official Predicts Private Launches for Military Satellites
Andy Pasztor / The Wall Street Journal
Budget pressures increasingly are pushing Pentagon planners to consider outsourcing satellite launches, routine military communication links and even some space-based surveillance operations to industry, a senior Air Force official said Monday.
Asymmetric Operations
Turkey Arrests 3 Vice News Journalists on Terrorism Charges
Ceylan Yeginsu / The New York Times
Three journalists for Vice News have been formally arrested in southeast Turkey and charged with aiding a terrorist organization, four days after they were detained while covering the conflict between Kurdish separatists and the Turkish state.
Bangkok Bomb: Second Foreign Suspect Arrested
BBC
A second foreign suspect has been arrested in connection with the deadly bombing at a Bangkok shrine in August, the Thai prime minister has said. The male suspect was arrested in Sa Kaeo province, east of Bangkok on the border with Cambodia, Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters.
Petraeus: Use Al-Qaeda Fighters to Beat ISIS
Shane Harris, Nancy Youssef / The Daily Beast
The former commander of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan has been quietly urging U.S. officials to consider using so-called moderate members of al Qaeda’s Nusra Front to fight ISIS in Syria, four sources familiar with the conversations, including one person who spoke to Petraeus directly, told The Daily Beast.
Climate Security
Obama Makes Urgent Appeal in Alaska for Climate Change
Julie Hirschfeld Davis, Steven Lee Myers / The New York Times
President Obama on Monday issued a global call for urgent action to address climate change, declaring that the United States was partly to blame for what he called the defining challenge of the century and would rally the world to counter it.
Energy Security
The Surprising Way That Birds and Wind Turbines Can Coexist
Joby Warrick / The Washington Post
It has long been the tarnish on one of the cleanest forms of energy: Wind turbines, a rapidly growing source of electricity around the world, can be deadly to birds, including rare and threatened species. At a single wind farm near Altamont, Calif., more than 75 golden eagles die each year from collisions with the farm’s thousands of spinning blades.
Japan Nuclear Power Outlook Bleak Despite First Reactor Start
Kentaro Hamada, Aaron Sheldrick / Yahoo! News
The number of Japanese nuclear reactors likely to restart in the next few years has halved, hit by legal challenges and worries about meeting tougher safety standards imposed in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, a Reuters analysis shows.
Nuclear Security
Poll Shows Majority Wants Congress to Approve Iran Deal
Julian Hattem / The Hill
A new survey shows that a majority of Americans wants Congress to uphold the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran. According to the survey from the University of Maryland, 55 percent of respondents said that Congress should get behind the agreement, despite some concerns.
On Our Flashpoint Blog
Risks of Arming Syrian Opposition Group Against ISIS
Anil Powers
One group that has surfaced as a potential ally is Ahrar al-Sham, a large opposition force in Syria. Although the group is more than willing to fight ISIS, the US government remains skeptical when it comes to providing monetary aid and weaponry because of the group’s Islamist affiliations.
Iranian Human Rights Defenders Coming Out Massively in Support of Iran Deal
American Security Project
The Obama administration is clearly winning the battle over the Iran deal. Momentum is so strong in its favor that Obama may even be able to prevent a resolution rejecting the deal from coming to a vote in the Senate.
Cyber Escalation: A Military Planner’s Blank Slate
Adin Dobkin
As has already been seen in everything from headlines following the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) breach to the Air-Sea Battle (ASB) Concept Document of the Department of Defense, attacks stemming from the cyberspace can threaten a range of critical U.S. systems including national economic levers, military infrastructure, and the privacy that protects everyday citizens.
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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