ISIS

Despite Iraqi PM’s call, US troops won’t likely leave Iraq anytime soon: Analysts

Days after the US killed a suspected militant leader in Baghdad, Iraq's prime minister called for a "quick" timeline for US and coalition forces to leave.

Russian jet launches flares at MQ-9 Reaper in Syria, ‘severely damaging’ propeller: US

US Air Forces Central released video footage of the “reckless, unprovoked, and unprofessional behavior” after a Russian official seemed to attempt to blame American forces.

As Russia intercepts another US drone over Syria, official warns ‘triumvirate’ with Iran to force US out

“My assessment, and we have some evidence to support this, is that as Russia and Iran have pulled themselves closer together, that there is interest on both sides to push us out of Syria, to put a pressure campaign on us to have us leave,” a senior defense official said today.

ISIS leader’s death ‘significant blow’ to terror group, McKenzie says

Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi had led the insurgent group since ISIS's founder, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed in a similar US raid in Syria in October 2019.

The Evolution of Terror Groups Since 9/11: From Tech to Politics

Terrorist groups have evolved in the past two decades, some growing powerful enough that they are now seeking to transform into political actors.

Pentagon ‘Expects’ More Attacks After 12 Americans Killed In Kabul

American leaders have reached “out to the Taliban who are actually providing the outer security cordon around the airfield, to make sure they know what we expect them to do to protect us and we will continue to coordinate with them as they go forward,”

Israelis Worry Beijing Will Increase Syrian Presence

While Israeli sources fear China has military ambitions in Syria, the issue of Chinese intentions there is a subject of intense debate among experts.

Counterterror Mission Blends Into Competition With China, Russia: How SOCOM Copes

''As we look at the lethality, precision and mobility requirements as examples, we absolutely have to develop them so that they can compete and win with Russia and China,” SOCOM commander Gen. Richard Clarke says.

Esper Presses Hard For New Civilian Casualty Policy

“The US is doing far more than its allies in coming to grips with causing civilian harm,” a human rights NGO representative who has met with Pentagon leaders said. Still, the gap between government estimates and those from groups on the ground is often wide. 

Intel Community Grapples With Key Open Source Intel

“In our defeat-ISIS activities, we’ve had a struggle and presently continue to struggle with the challenge of open source and publicly available information, and how we leverage that to make it truly useful for the warfighter,” Jospeh Votel, former head of both Special Operations Command and Central Command.

North Korea STILL Not Going To Give Up Nukes, Says ODNI; Sen. McConnell Rises Against Isolationism

WASHINGTON: The Intelligence Community does not agree with President Trump that North Korea is “no longer a nuclear threat.” We know that because Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told the Senate Intelligence Community today that Kim Il Sung’s country is “not likely to give up” all its nuclear weapons. Here’s our story two years […]

Budget Busters: What to Look For in 2019 and Beyond

The release of the 2020 defense budget is still over a month away, and it's already been a wild ride. A look at what has happened, and what might happen next.

White House, Pentagon Remain In Dark Over Syria Withdrawal

Republican Senators erupted in outrage, and there are some indications that Turkey pushed Trump to withdraw support from its traditional foes, the Kurds. The British government issued an equivocal statement, while the Kremlin applauded the move.

Russia’s Strategy, ISIS’ Future & Countering China: CJCS Dunford Speaks

  Gen. Joe Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Staff, spoke last week with a small group of traveling reporters after attending a conference of NATO Military Chiefs in Warsaw, including Breaking Defense contributor James Kitfield. Dunford described Russia’s strategy for pulling NATO apart and reiterated that Moscow poses the single greatest global threat to the UnIted […]