The D Brief: Turkey loosens up; Navy civilians deny a secret "silencer" op; Sam Power to the Defense One Summit; Debating a "principled resignation" and a bit more.

Turkey is loosening up a little, agreeing to allow Iraqi Kurdish forces to cross its border with Syria to help fight militants in Kobani. The NYT's Kareen Fahim and Karam Shoumali: "…The decision represents an important shift by the Turkish government, which has angered Kurdish leaders and frustrated Washington for weeks by refusing to allow fighters or weapons to cross its border in support of the Kurdish fighters defending the town…

"The announcement, along with an American decision to use military aircraft to drop ammunition and small arms to resupply Kobani, reflected escalating international pressure to push back Islamic State militants. As the United States-led coalition has increased its airstrikes as well as its coordination with the Kurdish fighters, who have provided targeting information, the militants have lost momentum after appearing close to overrunning the town." Read the rest here.

But meantime, the Islamic State seized two Yazidi villages on Mount Sinjar as fighters plead for more U.S.-led airstrikes in a turn that points up the limits of those strikes. The WaPo's Loveday Morris and Mustafa Salim: "…The extremist gains around Mount Sinjar strike an embarrassing blow to the international campaign against the Islamic State… airstrikes have shown a limited ability to turn the tide against the extremists. In the western province of Anbar, the Sunni militants have seized territory and army bases, and they have the provincial capital in their sights. Overrunning Anbar would give the Islamic State a valuable perch from which to increasingly target Baghdad and Shiite areas to the south, which were shaken by multiple bombings Monday." More here.

This just in from Defense One: Pentagon arms sales to Iraq are approaching $10 billion this year alone. Defense One’s Marcus Weisgerber checks in on U.S. weapons sales to Baghdad’s struggling military now that State has given its okay for the sale of almost 50k armor-piercing tank rounds to Iraq on Monday: “The possible sale announced on Monday includes 10,000 M831 120-millimeter high-explosive anti-tank munitions (HEAT), 10,000 M865 120-millimeter kinetic energy (KEW) warheads, 10,000 M865 120-millimeterKEW-A1 and 16,000 M830 120-millimeter HEAT-MP-T tank ammunition.”

Also in the WaPo, on Page One: the costs one tribe paid in Syria when it tried to turn against the Islamic State, by Liz Sly, here.

The Islamic State's spread to Lebanon, Page One in the WSJ, here.

Welcome to Tuesday's edition of The D Brief, Defense One's new, first-read national security newsletter. We hope you'll stay with us, and if you like what you see and you want us to subscribe a friend or colleague, we're very happy to do that. Subscribe here or send us a holler at glubold@defenseone.com and we'll put you on the list. Whatever you do, follow us @glubold and @natsecwatson.

Defense One just added Samantha Power to its big summit next month. UN Ambassador Samantha Power joins a number of brass for November 19th’s Defense One Summit at the Renaissance Hotel in D.C. The growing roster already includes Generals Dempsey, Odierno and John Campbell joining by VTC from Kabul and Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work. Deets here.

Who's doing what today: Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL John Allen and Deputy Special Presidential Envoy Brett McGurk begin their 11-day trip to talk ISIS with the UK, France, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Oman… Chuck Hagel welcomes Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon with an honor cordon just outside the Pentagon’s River Entrance at 10:45 a.m.

While the world slept—or focused on Iraq and Syria—Houthi militias took control the streets of Yemen’s capital Sana’a—and electricity, water and traffic all improved. Nasim al Sanani in Defense One: “The Houthis single-handedly managed to accomplish what nine months of Yemen’s National Dialogue (post-revolution peace talks) could not: the ouster of old powers, and rise of new. They are now Yemen’s Kingmaker: one with enough political support, fighting force, and financial backing (whom detractors say comes from Iran) to lift anyone they please up to power… For now, the Houthis’ main opposition is Al Qaeda. What began as a tribal quarrel for revenge and the return of ideology, has quickly gained sectarian elements... Yet what is still unclear is whether they will help build Yemen for the better, or bring the country to ruin.”

It's Ellyn, not Ellen. We misspelled Gen. Joe Dunford's wife's name, Ellyn, in Monday's edition. We knew better. Apologies for the sloppiness.

And we had another little brain cramp: Yesterday we listed Vandenberg Air Force Base as in Nebraska. The base is located in California. At 747 Nebraska Avenue. Sorry for our confusion.

No secret operation here: The "Navy Silencer" trial began yesterday in the intriguing tale of three Navy civilians thought to have authorized a $1.6 million for a secret operation to buy rifle silencers for Navy SEALs. The WaPo's Craig Whitlock reporting on Day One: "Three senior Navy civilian officials testified Monday that they never authorized $1.6 million for a secret operation to buy hundreds of rifle silencers for the Navy SEALs and were instead told the money would be used to pay for intelligence studies and consultants. The testimony, in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, came on the opening day of the trial of Lee M. Hall, a civilian intelligence director for the Navy who is charged with theft and conspiracy in one of the more bizarre contracting scandals to emerge from the Pentagon in recent years." More here.

The dynamic duo of Josh Rogin and Eli Lake are leaving the Daily Beast and heading to … Bloomberg View. The two Daily Beast national security reporters, Rogin formerly for FP and Lake formerly for the Washington Times, worked together closely. But their move to Bloomberg View, which does opinion, suggests a yearning to express more of themselves.

HuffPo's Michael Calderone, quoting the Daily Beast's Noah Shachtman (our boss in a former life): "We’re sad to be parting ways with Josh and Eli. They’re great reporters and great guys… But it makes sense for everyone involved. We wish them luck at their new gig."

Someday, maybe we'll be "represented": Keith Urbahn, president of the firm Javelin [and a spox for Don Rumsfeld] which represents Lake and Rogin, declined to comment." Read the rest here.

“Alcohol was a factor” in this wet willy that landed an airman in a Minnesota jail. Mankato, Minnesota’s Dan Nienaber for The Free Press: “Riley Louis Swearingen, 24, of Goldsboro, N.C., was getting on the 'drunk bus' after the downtown bars closed early Saturday morning when he allegedly licked a finger on each hand and stuck them into the ears of a police sergeant… When Swearingen apologized and asked why he was being taken to jail, the officer asked him what would happen if he gave a wet Willy to a higher ranking person in the Air Force. At that point Swearingen allegedly said it would be a big deal and that he wouldn't do that while on duty in the military.” More here.

INSA is having a big dinner Nov. 13, with Army Lt. Gen. Mary Legere delivering the keynote. Honorees of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance or INSA who are being recognized for "rising leaders and mentors" of the intel and nat-sec communities include include Craig Wiener, from the National Nuclear Security Administration, David Wilson of the NSA, Tyler Sherman, of the Coast Guard, Joshua Markow of Northrop Grumman, Amy Pittman of the FBI and Lt. William Fox of the Office of Naval Intelligence. Deets on the event here.

Terrorism fears rise in Canada after a military car is targeted. The NYT's Ian Austen: "… A sedan struck the two people, one of them apparently in uniform, as they walked in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, a city south of Montreal that is home to several military facilities. The local police chased the car for a few miles before it veered into a ditch and overturned. The driver, the police said, climbed out and confronted officers before being shot." More here.

Think paratroopers are a largely 20th century force deterrent? Think again. The Huffington Post’s David Wood has this one about an ‘ominously familiar' narrative running through an exercise at the Army’s Fort Polk training center: “With his troops probing across this training center's 200,000 acres of western Louisiana pine woods and fields, [Col. Joseph A. Ryan, who commands the 82nd Airborne Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team] has to figure out how to manage a series of crises that erupt in this fictional territory his brigade has been ordered to secure and stabilize. The scenario was scripted months ago, and it sounds ominously familiar… In reality, if the brigade is launched as the spearhead of the Global Response Force, the president could send larger, more heavily armed forces after them, using the airfield the paratroopers seized.” Read the rest here.

America sends B-52 bombers to Europe for a NATO exercise over the Atlantic and the Med to welcome Spain’s role as the alliance’s maritime response force. From Oriana Pawlyk for Air Force Times, here.

The Ukrainians used cluster bombs—banned in many places, says the NYT. "…Sites where rockets fell in the city on Oct. 2 and Oct. 5 showed clear signs that cluster munitions had been fired from the direction of army-held territory, where misfired artillery rockets still containing cluster bomblets were found by villagers in farm fields."

More here.

For your ears only: War on the Rocks interviewed Bryan McGrath of the Hudson Institute, Adm. Chris Parry, formerly of the Royal Navy, and Evan Montgomery of CSBA on seapower and naval strategy. Take a listen on this podcast that went up just this morning, here.

Is "principled resignation" right? Sometimes, senior officers should vote with their feet and put their stars on the table. Other times, when the chiefs and others are at odds with an administration's military policy, they shouldn't. It's a relevant debate today as the strategy in Iraq and Syria unfolds. But Jim Dubik, the retired Army three-star, argues "the criteria for resignation" is not yet present.

"Principled resignation" must meet two criteria, Dubik writes for Tom Ricks in Ricks' Best Defense: "One, the matter must be more than just 'disagreement with the final decision' or 'feeling one's advice is being ignored' or 'not getting one's way.' It must cross the threshold into illegality or immorality…

"The second necessary criterion is that principled resignation cannot threaten civil control of the military—one of the bedrocks of a democracy. Resignation must be a private affair over principle, not a public affair over primacy." Read the rest of Dubik's bit on Best Defense, here.

Artificial dog noses to sniff out bombs? NextGov’s Rebecca Carroll has this strange development from the 3D printing research front: “The researchers began 3-D printing anatomically correct artificial noses modeled after a female Labrador retriever. The devices expel strong airjets away from the nostrils—as real dogs do, when exhaling—which helps pull in new smelly air “from impressive distances,“ according to NIST scientist Matthew Staymates. The process repeats up to five times a second.”

How Panetta's talk of torture in his new book helps reignite the "torture debate." The WaPo's Walter Pincus: "Why bring up Panetta’s take on this running dispute over harsh interrogation vs. torture when most stories have focused on his criticism of the Obama presidency?

One reason: The Senate Intelligence Committee may soon be releasing its 6,300-page report sharply criticizing the CIA’s interrogation and detention programs during the Bush administration. That’s guaranteed to restart the torture debate and raise more resentment among CIA officers fearing retribution for carrying out policies approved 11 years ago by leaders of both political parties." More here.

Life is not so great for USIS, the massive defense contractor, after the GAO upheld a protest by a competitor. The WaPo's Christian Davenport: "USIS, the embattled major federal contractor, suffered another blow Monday after government lawyers determined that the Department of Homeland Security recently issued the company a lucrative contract without taking into account allegations of fraud against the company.

"The decision by the Government Accountability Office comes a month after the Office of Personnel Management said it would not renew any of its contracts with the Falls Church-based company, which was the victim of a recent cyberattack that left thousands of government workers vulnerable to the theft of some of their personal information." More here.

What does a battle-tested “smaller footprint” look like for U.S. forces in a counterterrorism fight abroad? CNA Corporation’s Patricio Asfura-Heim examines the risks—and proven rewards—of U.S.-trained, local “civil defense” forces for stopping asymmetric threats like ISIS in the future, here.

Texas Governor Rick Perry just got a significant bump in his natsec credentials. The Atlantic’s David Frum in Defense One: “The market niche Perry is eyeing will be a crowded one in 2016. Yet he starts with two big advantages in this contest—and, during his European tour, he hinted at the potential for one more. The first advantage is that unlike many Washington-based competitors for the foreign-policy-hawk vote, Perry has not left any fingerprints on the budget plans that are cutting the Army and Marines to their smallest size since 1940…"

The campaign trail is feeling a bit lonely for candidates with military experience. Leo Shane III for Army Times: “According to an analysis from the nonpartisan Veterans Campaign, only 183 of the 865 major-party candidates up for election to Congress this year boast military experience. It’s the first time in recent memory that fewer than 200 veterans were on the campaign trail in the congressional races... The current Congress has only 106 lawmakers with military experience, and Veterans Campaign Executive Director Seth Lynn said he expects that number to drop by up to 10 percent next year. 'We’re used to seeing this steady decrease every two years, but this could be an even steeper drop than we normally expect,' he said. 'This is going to be the election that puts us below earlier levels.'” More here.