All things war for the first week of February, 2015.
North America
Ashton (“Ash”) Carter admitted in his confirmation hearings that al Nusra front and ISIS wanted to strike us here at the homeland. That we may have a cyber Pearl Harbor. You get the idea of the overall takeaway message from the hearings – hunker in your basements because Al-Baghdadi’s cousin probably lives next door.
And while most respectable media reported about Jordan striking ISIS targets in Syria and Iraq, a significant escalation in a war that could engulf the region, American media like CNN were debating a more pertinent question: Was Brian Williams aboard that helicopter in Iraq downed by RPG fire over ten years ago?
The commander of U.S. Forces-Afghanistan backtracked from a decision that would have classified data on U.S. security and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan that has been publicly available for the previous six years after objections from the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction(SIGAR). Gen. John Campbell had claimed the information could harm Afghan security forces operations. The SIGAR argued that the information is a vital tool for the American public to evaluate the outcome of American reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan. Genuine concern for OPSEC or coverup? Let your politics guide you.
Spies of New York: Jeffrey Sterling, a CIA officer during in the 1990s involved in a deception plan to pass Iran false nuclear plans through a Russian scientist, was found guilty of violating the Espionage Act by passing secrets to the New York Times. Also in New York, a Russian citizen working in the financial sector was charged with attempting to collect economic intelligence on the U.S. for Russian intelligence. The man admitted he was disappointed by the lack of exciting espionage, cool cover names, or dangerous gadgets.
South America
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has promised major restructuring of the nation’s intelligence service after the apparent murder of a prosecutor, Alberto Nisman, who had accused the President of purposely slowing his investigation into the bombing of a Jewish center in 1994. Nisman was due to present his findings in court in the coming days. The President has claimed the prosecutor was being fed false information by the intelligence service in an attempt to undermine her. It has been reported that a draft of an arrest warrant for the President was found in Nismans home.
Europe
Heavy fighting returned to the eastern Ukrainian cities of Mariupol and around the Donetsk Airport. Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to point fingers at NATO, which he claims is giving major support to Ukrainian forces, while denying apparent Russian support for pro-Russia separatists. There has been renewed discussion in the Obama administration of increasing efforts to arm, train, and support Ukrainian forces. The United States and some E