Russia forges anti-ISIS deal with Iraq, Syria, Iran; China, US make cyber pact; UN’s packed agenda; USAF fesses up to A-10 video; and a bit more...
Russia agrees to share info on ISIS — with Iraq, Syria, and Iran. “For the second time this month, Russia moved to expand its political and military influence in the Syria conflict and left the United States scrambling,” writes the New York Times.
It’s a bigger problem than simple deconfliction: “The Obama administration and the Kremlin do not appear to agree even on the main reason for the conflict.” Read on, here.
Meanwhile, the U.S. seeks its own ISIS dialogue with Iran. NYT again, here.
How’s that, again? Two U.S. senators want more explanation from Obama administration officials who have begun saying that the war-on-terror authorizations don’t cover defending U.S.-trained Syrians against Assad. The argument goes that the Constitution gives the president the authority, in certain circumstances, to order action against Assad’s forces. Defense One Politics Reporter Molly O’Toole has the story.
France joins the fight, launching its first airstrikes in Syria as part of the anti-ISIS coalition. “The deepening of France’s involvement in the fractious Syrian conflict shows how concerns over Islamic State have begun to outweigh Western opposition to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad,” reports the Wall Street Journal, here.
And ISIS recruiting rolls on. NYT: “Nearly 30,000 foreign recruits have now poured into Syria, many to join the Islamic State, a doubling of volunteers in just the past 12 months and stark evidence that an international effort to tighten borders, share intelligence and enforce antiterrorism laws is not diminishing the ranks of new militant fighters.” Full story, here.
Obama, Xi reach agreement over Chinese data thefts. On Friday, the two presidents announced the cybersecurity pact on the south lawn of the White House. “The two leaders agreed that neither government would conduct or knowingly support web-enabled theft of intellectual property,” National Journal, here.
Can the U.S. trust China to stop stealing business secrets? Even as Obama announced the deal, he seemed to question whether China will stick to its word. “The question now is, are words followed by actions?” the U.S. president said. “We will be watching carefully to make an assessment as to whether progress has been made in this area.” Obama threatened sanctions, but proving responsibility for a cyberattack will be difficult. National Journal reports.
Meanwhile, China completes a runway on one of its artificial islands. The airfield at Fiery Cross Reef “will enable China to accelerate construction of infrastructure and potentially start air patrols over the Spratly Islands, which are claimed and occupied by a number of countries.” IHS Janes reports.
And is Beijing building an indigenous aircraft carrier? Satellite photos appear to show “an unidentified hull in an advanced state of construction at Dalian shipyard” in northeastern China. Janes again, here.
From Defense One
Pentagon: Brace for shutdown, people. On Friday, DepSecDef Bob Work sent a memo warning 1.3 million U.S. troops and 742,000 workers they could be forced to work without pay or furloughed in less than one week if Congress doesn’t pass a budget or a stopgap by Sept. 30. And if that happens, “the military must still report to work, but their paychecks will be withheld until the government reopens,” writes Defense One Global Business Reporter Marcus Weisgerber. More details, here.
DOD can help small defense contractors fight off online attacks — but its Office of Small Business Programs didn’t know it. That was the finding of a Government Accountability Office audit released Thursday. NextGov has the story, and some hints about getting help, here.
Welcome to Monday’s edition of The D Brief, from Bradley Peniston and Defense One. Want to share The D Brief with a friend? Here’s our subscribe link. And please tell us what you like, don’t like, or want to drop on our radar right here at the-d-brief@defenseone.com.
“The greatest political show on earth” is how The Guardian raises the curtain on this week’s UN General Assembly, which this morning will see “within the space of two hours” Presidents Obama, Xi, Putin, Iran’s Hassan Rouhani, and France’s François Hollande “take their turn to speak.”
Here’s the agenda, broadly speaking: Sunday: climate change and global development goals. Monday: UN peacekeeping, “with several countries pledging troops to the task.” Tuesday: ISIS and violent extremism. Read the whole thing, here.
In Egypt, a “ferocious war” against terrorists threatens to send some countries “sliding into failure,” President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi tells the Associated Press ahead of the UN meeting.
In Yemen, an airstrike gone bad? “Residents and medics said air strikes by helicopters flying from Saudi Arabia killed 30 civilians in a Yemeni village on Sunday, but Saudi authorities dismissed the accounts as ‘totally false,’” Reuters reports. If true, the misplaced strike is just the latest by the Saudi-led anti-Houthi coalition, which keeps undermining its efforts by accidentally killing Yemeni civilians.
Europe gathers a flotilla to fight smugglers of humans. “A fleet of European warships now forming in the Mediterranean to confront people smugglers is due to grow from four to nine or 10 vessels in coming weeks and will start operations on Oct. 7, officials involved in the coalition have said,” Defense News writes.
Confused about whether U.S.-trained Syrians actually defected to ISIS? The Pentagon will try to set things straight today, the Daily Beast reports.
U.S. struggling to build Afghan air force. After 10 years, among other things, both sides think the other is isn’t listening. The NYT tells the story through the MD-530 attack helicopter, which Afghan commanders call insufficient and their U.S. trainers call the best solution to a knotty, global problem. Read on, here.
First flight for next USAF tanker. The first “fully provisioned” Boeing KC-46 lifted off the ground in Washington state on Friday, IHS Janes reports.
Meanwhile, ‘everyone who wanted more F-22s is being proven right,’ argues Foxtrot Alpha’s Tyler Rogoway, who notes that the F-35’s cost and performance woes make the F-22 — whose own price tag was set to decline as production kept rolling — look like a good deal. That, here.
And finally: Why did the USAF make and then hide an “A-10 is awesome” video? The John Q. Public blog, which first brought the video to light, now gets a half-explanation from service officials. That, here.