New Year Eve

CIA won’t endorse new calendar showing agents stealing secrets, killing enemies and being killed

Far Side cartoons, Ansel Adams landscapes, underwater dogs – so cliche. Why settle for a humdrum wall calendar in 2017 when you can track your days with CIA paintings showing agency operatives stealing secrets, killing off enemies or even getting killed themselves?

January features a painting of a CIA contractor firing an AK-47 out of an Air America chopper at a North Vietnamese biplane. Flip to April for “The First Sting,” depicting a CIA-trained Afghan mujahideen fighter striking a Soviet helicopter with a Stinger missile. End 2017 on a high note: December features the famous Glomar Explorer in 1974 recovering a portion of a Soviet submarine teeming with secrets from the depths of the Pacific Ocean.

The inaugural “Secret Ops of the CIA” calendar was produced by the nephew of an agency contractor killed in the line of duty and features reproductions of the actual paintings that have hung for years in the hallways of CIA headquarters in Northern Virginia. Yes, the CIA has an official art collection, although you can’t just drive up to the agency to check it out.

Cyberwars

Russia and America's Cyber Deterrence Dilemma

U.S. sanctions are unlikely to deter future Russian cyber attacks not only because of Washington’s limited ability to impose adequate costs on the senior Russian officials it believes have ordered the hacking, but because neither side appears prepared to accept mutual deterrence in the cyber domain. In the early 2000’s, the Russian side proposed negotiations towards a cyber arms control treaty, but at the time U.S. officials had little interest in constraining capabilities in which they expected to enjoy unrivaled dominance. Now, the Kremlin may view cyber attacks as an indispensable counterweight to U.S. and NATO dominance in the conventional military sphere, and thus the Russians may be less inclined to negotiate.

The simple truth is that if either side believes it can gain more by using cyber weapons than by preventing their use, deterrence will fail. So far, U.S. sanctions have underscored the urgency of the cyber threat, but they are not likely to reduce it.

Cybersecurity

'We will watch you': Bilderberg website hacked

Hackers have taken down the website of the Bilderberg Club, replacing the shadowy organization's page with a warning that the Atlanticist elites have a year to work for the benefit of humanity or their assets will be hacked next.

...The Bilderberg Club is a group of European and American leaders from the fields of politics, industry, finance, media and academia who have met annually since 1954. Their meetings are notoriously closed to the public and blacked out to press coverage.

The most recent Bilderberg conference, the group’s 64th, was held in Dresden, Germany in June 2016.

READ MORE: Bilderberg 2016: World’s top brass meets in Dresden to talk migrants, Brexit and US elections

A cryptic note at the end of the hackers’ statement praises Phineas Fisher as the “greatest human alive.” Fisher is a self-described hacktivist who claimed responsibility for hacking the British-German surveillance company Gamma International in 2014 and cracking the Hacking Team in 2015. He also took credit for taking more than 300,000 emails and documents from Turkey’s ruling AKP party in June 2016; the documents were subsequently published by WikiLeaks.

Navy

Did Sweden Make America's Nuclear Submarines Obsolete?

In the 1990s, submarines powered by Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) technology entered operational use. Though the concept dated back to the 19th century and had been tested in a few prototype vessels, it was left to Sweden to deploy the first operational AIP-powered submarine, the Gotland-class, which proved to be stealthy and relatively long enduring. The 60-meter long Gotlands are powered by a Stirling-cycle engine, a heat engine consuming a combination of liquid oxygen and diesel fuel.

Since then, AIP powered-submarines have proliferated across the world using three different types of engines, with nearly 60 operational today in fifteen countries. Around fifty more are on order or being constructed.

Election security

FBI-DHS Report on Alleged Russian Hacking Does Not Even Claim to Be Accurate

The joint report by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued on Thursday to support accusations of cyberattacks by Russia against the United States lacks any serious substance and does not even claim to be accurate, former US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Chas Freeman told Sputnik.

The report contains a disclaimer and states it is being presented "as is," adding the DHS does not provide warranties of any kind about the information presented in it.

"It doesn’t claim that it’s accurate," Freeman stated. "It doesn’t mention WikiLeaks … not even once. In other words, the report does not allege that the Russians gave any Democratic Party or [Democratic National Committee chairman Leon] Podesta emails to WikiLeaks." Freeman also identified what he called "weasel words" in the report, by which he meant qualifying terms to cover the fact that the authors of the report knew they were making allegations that could not be supported by hard evidence or proof. "The report starts with a disclaimer, and uses weasel words like ‘as is,’ and ‘does not provide any warranties of any kind regarding any information’." These are terms that someone who is selling something that is useless uses when he does not want to talk about the fact the blasted thing will not work.

Korea

This is what North Korea's military arsenal looks like

North Korea's military escapades were back in the headlines in December, after state media in the secretive country reported news of two large-scale military drills involving rocket launchers and fighter jets.

Some analysts believe that King Jong Un, the country's despotic leader, is gearing up for war against South Korea — pictures accompanying one report even showed a mock-up of the Blue House, South Korea's presidential residence, being used as a target by artillery. Others, however, say the drills are the latest in a long line of "sabre-rattling" manoeuvres designed to intimidate neighbours.

In either case, the country's missile development and huge artillery stocks pose a significant danger to South Korea and the rest of the world.

Air defense

Say Hello to My S-300 Friend! Iranian Military Tests Its New Anti-Air Weapons

Iranian political analyst and security expert Abouzar Bagheri pointed out that the contract to supply S-300 air defense systems to Iran was signed between Tehran and Moscow many years ago; and now that it has finally been fulfilled, Iran was able to fill a vacuum in its air defenses.

"In recent years, with all the turmoil in the Middle East, Iran has proven time and again that it does not pursue a policy of aggression and military expansion. The country requires weapons only in order to defend its borders, not for invading other nations. Therefore, Iran employs the S-300 surface-to-air missile systems purely to bolster its air defense capabilities and to preserve the nation’s aerial borders," he explained. Bagheri also added that S-300 anti-air systems will now be routinely employed during military exercises conducted by the Iranian army and will be displayed at military parades.

Innovations & technology

Keep the French in the dark: Thatcher's secret push for US military technology

Keep the French “in the dark” and raise “three cheers!” to our American allies emerge as recurrent themes in top secret documents debating how to secure advanced military technology during the 1980s.

Files released to the National Archives in Kew on Friday show how UK ministers favoured the US shuttle launch system for military satellites over Ariane rockets.

A 1983 memo from the Ministry of Defence to the prime minister warns there is “French pressure on us to be ‘European’ and go for Ariane”.

Margaret Thatcher agreed that it was better to go with the American shuttle, which was cheaper and had a better safety record.

Military

Study shows strain on force, civilian-military disconnect

In a nation where less than a half-percent of the population wears the uniform, those who do, and their families, are feeling the strain after more than 15 years of war.

That's the findings of a report released in December by Blue Star Families, a Washington-based non-profit supporting men and woman in uniform and their families.

The study, conducted in April and May 2016, contacted more than 8,300 respondents, including military spouses, active-duty service members, veterans and their immediate family members.

Among the key findings:

• 72 percent of active-duty and military spouse respondents said they feel too much stress for a healthy work-life balance and 37 percent said they have experienced relationship challenges because of worry over future deployments...

Predictions

Will It Be a Happy New Year? Global Predictions for 2017

As 2016 comes to an end, many pundits have spelled out the challenges that the next president of the United States will face in 2017 and beyond. Though the U.S. remains the center of the world politically, economically and militarily, there are many long-term shifts that will fundamentally challenge Washington’s ability to influence events globally.

While the U.S. remains the most powerful nation on the planet, its ability to influence global events will wane next year, as political and economic discord beyond North America consume governments in nationalist fury. This change has long been coming as the post-Cold War era began unraveling in the 2008 economic crisis, although it is often chalked up to the current rising tide of populism.

The changes taking place around the globe are not confined to any single cause. Instead, there are a number of influences at work.

National security threats

US Risks National Security If Fails to Reset Relations With Russia - Carter Page

Attempts by a number of US congressmen to prevent a new administration’s reset in relations with Russia, including a call to set up a special panel to investigate Russia's alleged interference in the US presidential campaign, may bring about national security threats, former advisor to Donald Trump’s campaign Carter Page wrote in a letter to Senator John McCain, seen by Sputnik.

"Any efforts by members of Congress now to undercut potential new approaches to Russia would risk U.S. national security and innumerable service members lives," Page said in a letter to McCain, who serves as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, sent late on Tuesday. "American citizens are largely tired of failed interventionist policies. … The number of proxy wars involving Washington and Moscow across the globe still put countless lives at risk today," Page wrote.

National security strategy

US National Security Strategy Under President Donald Trump

Trump’s plan to defeat Daesh has become one of the most widely-discussed topics of the 2016 presidential race. In the beginning, Trump refused to provide any details of his plan, claiming that he did not want terrorists to learn about US intentions.

In September, however, Trump outlined his approach to fighting Daesh in a national security speech. "Immediately after taking office, I will ask my generals to present to me a plan within 30 days to defeat and destroy ISIS [Daesh]," he said. "We should work with any country that shares our goal of destroying ISIS and defeating Radical Islamic terrorism, and form new friendships and partnerships based on this mission." Trump has called for cooperation with "our Arab allies and friends in the Middle East" in the fight against the terrorists, and said he would weigh an alliance with Russia for that purpose as well. The United States will undertake "aggressive joint and coalition military operations" against Daesh, according to Trump’s plan. The country will also look to boost intelligence sharing and cyberwarfare in order to disrupt terrorists’ propaganda and recruiting campaigns.

Statecraft

Putin Outfoxes Obama, Lies in Wait for Trump
...Judo blackbelt Putin pulled one of the most spectacular jiujitsu moves of his political career, announcing that Russia would not be punishing any American children or closing any American dachas. In a move that echoed Michelle Obama’s incantatory “they go low, we go high,” Putin announced: “We will not create problems for U.S. diplomats. We will not expel anyone. We will not prohibit their families and children to use their usual vacation spots in the New Year’s holidays. Moreover, I am inviting all children of the U.S. diplomats accredited in Russia to the New Year’s and Christmas celebration in the Kremlin.”

Sanctions

Russia sanctions ‘childish, petulant & pointless revenge for Clinton loss’ – UK’s ex-Syria envoy

Imposing new anti-Russian measures is a sore loser reaction by the outgoing administration to their candidate’s loss in the race to the White House, and reeks of hypocrisy as the US meddles in other countries’ affairs all the time, former UK diplomat Peter Ford told RT.

Ford served as British Ambassador to Bahrain in 1999-2003 and then as Ambassador to Syria, until he retired from UK’s diplomatic service in 2006. In recent years, he has become known as a vocal critic of UK policy in Syria. 

“What really strikes me is the hypocrisy of the American reaction, it’s so childish, it’s obvious sour grapes for having lost, for Clinton’s having lost the election,” Ford told RT, commenting on the array of anti-Russian sanctions announced by US President Barack Obama on Thursday in retaliation to the alleged hacking of US institutions and individuals which Washington attributes to the Russian government.  

Foreign policy 

Putin: Russia will not expel anyone in response to US sanctions

The Russian president has rejected a suggestion of the foreign ministry to expel 35 American diplomats in response to a similar move by the US. He said Obama’s act was designed to provoke a reaction, but Russia would not take the bait.

“We reserve the right to retaliate, but we will not sink to the level of this irresponsible ‘kitchen’ diplomacy. We will take further moves on restoring Russian-American relations based on the policies that the administration of President-elect Donald Trump adopts,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a statement published by the Kremlin website.

Putin said he regretted that US President Barack Obama is ending his term “in such a way,” but that he extended his New Year’s congratulations to the outgoing US president and his family nevertheless.

“I congratulate President-elect Donald Trump and the entire American people!” he concluded.

Foreign policy

Russia moves to expel US diplomats in response to sanctions

The Russian foreign ministry has called for the expulsion of 35 US diplomats in response to a similar move by Washington.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the request had been made to President Vladimir Putin.

The Obama administration expelled 35 Russian diplomats and their families over alleged Russian hacking during the US election campaign.

Russia denies any involvement and calls the US action "ungrounded".

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev accused the outgoing administration of President Barack Obama of ending in "anti-Russian death throes".

Innovations & technologies

The 5 coolest military innovations of 2016

Remember those speeder bikes in “Return of the Jedi” that raced through the air? The US military may get to zoom around the battlespace on a type of real-life version in the not-so-distant future.

Malloy Aeronautics and SURVICE Engineering Company teamed up to further develop Malloy’s Hoverbike for the U.S. Army Research Laboratory. The craft is called the Joint Tactical Aerial Resupply Vehicle, or JTARV.

Capable of potentially reaching speeds of 110 mph, JTARV could carry teams rapidly and nimbly– it could even fly around a war zone delivering about 300 pounds of supplies by itself.

Weather security

Coldest January in 3 Years - Couple of Subzero Smacks Brewing

We don't know what we don't know. Science is never "settled" - it's a process. Connect the dots. What does it mean and why should we care?

Last week temperatures rose to 32F at the North Pole; nearly 50F warmer than average. It's still emerging science but some researchers speculate that rapid warming of the Arctic is displacing the coldest air southward - and impacting jet stream steering winds, increasing the potential for bitter outbreaks at lower latitudes.

Wait, arctic warming may increase the risk of Siberian air here at home? Go figure. But big swings in weather are increasing.

With that rambling preamble in mind I'm predicting the coldest January in 3 years. Subzero weather is likely the middle of next week; again mid-January. Each outbreak may bring 2-4 days below 0F. More character-building cold.

Sanctions

BREAKING: Obama Orders New Sanctions Against Russian Officials In Retaliation For Various Hacks

President Barack Obama has ordered new sanctions against Russian officials and intelligence services in retaliation for the various hacks of officials leading up to the presidential election. Additionally, the U.S. expelled 35 Russian diplomats from D.C. and San Francisco, and shut down two Russian compounds. The expelled diplomats now have three days to leave the country.

There is, of course, no evidence that Russian hackers actually meddled with the results of the election to swing it to President-elect Donald Trump. The "hacks" are referring to the DNC as well as the phishing of John Podesta's emails, both of which certainly influenced the election.

Health security

Rossiyskaya Gazeta: Breakthrough skin cancer medicine undergoes clinical testing in Russia

The global fight against cancer has gotten some new firepower. Russia is working to tackle cancer by focusing on biopharmaceuticals with a brand new mechanism other than traditional chemotherapy, the country’s specialists have been testing a breakthrough medicine to treat melanoma for two months already, Rossiyskaya Gazeta writes with reference to Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova. According to the Minister, the medicine has been demonstrating exceptional results even for advanced cancers with metastatic lesions.

A source that is involved in clinical testing told the newspaper that "the new medicine is twice as efficient as conventional therapy." "The majority of patients with metastatic melanoma virtually face a death-warrant as today’s cancer therapy usually uses chemotherapy, which can only retain metastases in 10-20% of cases," company representative said. The new medicine may be widely used for treating cancer by 2018 as clinical tests have been successful so far, he added.

Information security

SPOOKED: HOW THE CIA MANIPULATES THE MEDIA, PART 2

On December 23, 2013, in response to a pair of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, the Central Intelligence Agency released 574 pages of emails between various national security reporters and the agency’s public affairs office. The massive trove of material remained out of the public eye for a year, but in late 2014, it finally surfaced in a series of articles published by the online investigative magazine, The Intercept.

The articles landed like a bombshell, revealing how some of America’s most prominent national security reporters were functioning essentially as unpaid CIA assets, sending the agency detailed story notes and, in at least one case, entire drafts of articles prior to publication.

Election security

FBI and Homeland Security detail Russian hacking campaign in new report

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and FBI have released an analysis of the allegedly Russian government-sponsored hacking groups blamed for breaching several different parts of the Democratic party during the 2016 elections.

The 13-page document, released on Thursday and meant for information technology professionals, came as Barack Obama announced sanctions against Russia for interfering in the 2016 elections. The report was criticized by security experts, who said it lacked depth and came too late.

Nuclear security

No, the U.S. Doesn’t Need to Expand Its Nuclear Weapons Program

On December 23, President-elect Donald Trump tweeted that the United States must “expand its nuclear capability.” Had he written modernize, upgrade, update or renew, no one would have paid much attention. But he seemed to call for a quantitative increase, something Matthew Kroenig endorsed in a December 23 Politico Magazine article.

They are both wrong. The U.S. military currently fields a safe, secure and effective nuclear force that provides a robust deterrent, and it has plans to modernize that force. It does not need a numerical increase or new nuclear weapons in Europe.

Weapons

How Russia's most advanced military equipment stacks up against NATO hardware

Despite Russia's saber-rattling towards NATO allies and its aggressive intervention in the Syrian civil war, 2016 has seen the country do the unthinkable and cut its defence budget for the first time in decades.

Half of the country's government revenues come from oil and gas exports, and its economy has taken a big hit since crude prices collapsed in 2014. Military spending fell by 5.6% in 2016 to £39.8 billion ($49.2 billion) from £42 billion ($51.5 billion) last year.

Despite that, Russia's military spending as a percentage of its GDP continues to outstrip that of countries within NATO by a considerable distance. It currently spends 5.4% of its annual GDP on defence — the closest a NATO country comes by comparison is the United States, which spends just 3.3%.

Defense spending

British military secretly planning budget cuts, despite NATO spending pledge

Britain’s armed forces are secretly preparing for further budget cuts, despite government pledges to meet NATO’s symbolic target of spending two percent of gross domestic product (GDP) on defense.

A senior source told the Telegraph the military faces “very tough” savings to meet the new spending commitments.

The fall in the value of the pound sterling against the dollar has also impacted Britain’s military budget, making orders placed with American arms firms significantly more expensive.

Former Prime Minister David Cameron promised to increase the defense budget in line with NATO’s minimum spending recommendations in July.

Airport security

19 of the weirdest weapons people have tried to take through airport security

People traveling through US airports have a number of things to worry about during the holiday season.

For TSA agents, there's also a variety of things to worry about — knives, fake grenades, swords hidden in canes, knives hidden in guns, throwing stars, and all sorts of other contraband.

The TSA documents some of the weapons and other prohibited items it encounters at security checkpoints, posting them on the agency's Instagram account, which has accumulated more than 630,000 followers.

Terror threat

Trucks as weapons - hard to stop

After the terror attack at a Christmas market in Berlin, many people were asking themselves if sensitive in-vehicle security systems could not prevent such catastrophes.

Now, it appears, the security features in the truck did indeed prevent the worst from happening. A joint investigation  of the German public broadcasters NDR and WDR, together with the daily "Süddeutsche Zeitung" came to the conclusion that the trucks automatic breaks stopped the attacker from killing many more people.

The incident showed that, in principle, it is possible to use a truck or a car as a weapon and to kill people. But it also revealed that active security systems pay off: They work, and they can save lives.

Syrian war

Syrian intelligence officers conduct major weapons bust in western Hama

Syrian Air Force Intelligence officers raided a major weapons depot in the Al-Ghaab Plains region of western Hama on Thursday, confiscating a large cache of ammunition, tank shells, and anti-aircraft missiles that were destined for jihadist-held territory.

According to a military source in Hama, the AFI officers were given a tip by a local resident regarding the large build-up of weapons at this warehouse in the Al-Ghaab Plains.

Next subjects for Obama's sanctions

Final 2016 Election Voting Predictions: 'Psychic' Monkey, Shark And Dogs Choose Trump Over Clinton

At this point, nobody knows who's going to win the United States presidential election on Tuesday. Except, maybe, the animal kingdom.

Geda, a monkey at Shiyan Lake Ecological Park in Changsha County, China, predicted Thursday that Republican Donald Trump will end up in the White House, Agence France-Presse reported. Geda chose a bunch of bananas next to a picture of the billionaire over a bunch near an image of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Then the monkey, who has been called "the king of prophets," went a little further with his forecast — he kissed Trump's photo, according to AFP.

Drug smuggling

Finland jails police chief Aarnio for drug-smuggling

A Finnish court has sentenced the former head of Helsinki's anti-drugs police to 10 years in prison for drug-smuggling and other offences.

Jari Aarnio was found to have helped a gang to import nearly 800kg (1,764lb) of hashish from the Netherlands and sell it in Finland in 2011-2012.

Aarnio, 59, was found guilty of five drug crimes and 17 other offences.

These included trying to frame an innocent man for being in charge of the drug ring.

An accomplice of the former senior policeman, described as a top local criminal, was also sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Aarnio spent 30 years in the anti-drugs force and was arrested in 2013.

Election security

Evidence-free Intelligence Accusations?

The U.S. media circus orchestra, conducted by maestro John Brennan, made a herculean effort to divert attention from the content of the emails, by confecting a successful story line that diverted attention to "the Russians," blaming them for "hacking" highly embarrassing (albeit authentic) emails depicting the screwing of Sanders...

Have we seen this before? Informed by the same intelligence officials of ill repute who were responsible for the fraudulent evidence concocted to explain the need for war on Iraq, the U.S. is preparing to "retaliate" against Russia for leveraging Donald Trump into the presidency.

The difference this time around is that the deluge of evidence-free, pre-retaliation propaganda has been so effective that those lusting for "retaliation" are getting a totally free pass in virtually all U.S. media. The government is not required (or even asked) to provide ANY evidence -- real or fraudulent -- beyond what anonymous CIA officials whisper to tame media stenographers.

The supreme irony: Yes, there was gross interference in the U.S. electoral process -- but the culprits were Hillary Clinton and functionaries in the Democratic National Committee who stole the nomination from Bernie Sanders. Chapter and verse describing that theft is found in the content of the emails leaked to WikiLeaks -- by some insider who could not stomach the corruption is my best guess.

Immigration security

Germany’s far-right party seizes on Berlin truck attack, says Angela Merkel ‘complicit’

 Germany’s surging far-right party has wasted no time seizing on the political impact of the country’s latest terrorist assault, moving quickly to politicize the grief and outrage after a radicalized Tunisian asylum seeker hijacked a truck and drove it into a Berlin Christmas market.

Two days after the Dec. 19 attack that left 12 dead and more than 50 injured, members of the Alternative for Germany party marched on the Chancellery to honor the victims — and to protest Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision last year to permit roughly 1 million refugees to enter the country.

With Bach playing on loudspeakers, the demonstrators waved German flags and held up placards reading, “Merkel must go.”

Politics

Why the West's Betrayal of Democratic Russia Brought Us Putin

We failed to help the Russians adequately. Our aid in the Nineties was pathetic. We poured billions of dollars into Western consultancies, but little trickled down to the people who needed it. Russians were left with the very worst impression of both capitalism and democracy — poverty for millions, oligarchs with their snouts in the trough, and fraudulent elections that kept Yeltsin in power in 1996 when he had no popularity at all. 

The West ignored Russia’s attempts to recover any semblance of influence in the world. While patronizing Yeltsin as a “democrat,” it rejected him as a partner in world affairs, and caused puzzlement among democratically-minded, westward-looking Russians by casting them as NATO’s “enemy.” 

Middle East

Syria conflict: Ceasefire agreed for midnight, backed by Russia and Turkey

The Syrian government and rebel groups have agreed to a ceasefire from midnight (22:00 GMT) across the country, followed by peace talks.

The deal was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin and confirmed by the Turkish foreign ministry.

Russia and Turkey, which back opposing sides in the bitter conflict, will act as guarantors.

Turkey said all fighting including air strikes would be halted. However, some jihadist groups are excluded.

The Syrian army said in a statement that so-called Islamic State (IS) and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (formerly the Nusra Front) "and the groups affiliated to them" were excluded.

An opposition spokesman confirmed the agreement but a rebel source quoted by Reuters news agency said only IS areas were not covered by the truce.

Climate security

Warning of 'collapse' of buildings in Siberia's permafrost cities in next 35 years

A major new academic study has warned of the risk to buildings in urban areas across Russia's permafrost zone caused by climate change. The Russian-US analysis says a worst-case scenario could lead to a 75-95% 'reduction in bearing capacity throughout the permafrost region by 2050'.

The authors conclude: 'This can have a devastating effect on cities built on permafrost.' Thawing of permafrost 'can potentially lead to deformation and collapse of structures'.

The study examined four Siberian towns and cities in detail, all within the 63% of Russian territory that is underpinned by permafrost. 

National security threats

Russia Removed from US Top Threats List

President-elect Donald Trump’s top «defense priorities» list does not include Russia.

The memo dated December 1 was obtained by Foreign Policy. It was written by Brian McKeon, the acting Undersecretary of Defense for Policy. The priorities were reportedly conveyed to him by Mira Ricardel, a co-leader of Trump’s Defense Department transition team.

The memo focuses on the fight against the Islamic State, boosting the efficiency of defense policy, eliminating caps from the Budget Control Act, improving force strength, size, and readiness of the armed forces as well as working on a new cyber strategy.

Until now, Russia has been listed as number one threat by US officials, including Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper emphasized that Russia was a special threat.

Defense procurement

Defense in 2017: Disruption Is the Operative Word

The defense industry is buckling up for the roller-coaster ride that is likely to be the Trump administration. 

The sector has been stumped by President-elect Donald Trump’s morsels of policy stances revealed in tweets over the past month. Shots fired against the F-35 and defense contractors in general — suggesting a broader campaign may be waged against big-ticket military procurements and Pentagon contracting practices — are hard to square with his rhetoric in favor of a bigger Navy, a modernized nuclear arsenal and a stronger military overall. The guessing continues on whether he will be a Reaganesque hawk, a slash-and-burn reformer, or if he will back off from past rhetoric once he is in the Oval Office and must deal with Congress and the world at large. Or all of the above.

An apparent lack of consistency in the incoming president’s defense and foreign policy positions so far is creating both anticipation and dread.