The following is the April 13, 2016 Congressional Research Service report, Arms Control and Nonproliferation: A Catalog of Treaties and Agreements. Read More
Category Archives: Russia
New Navy Long Range Shipbuilding Plan Will Have Short Shelf Life
Ralph Johnson (DDG-114) launching at the Huntington Ingalls Industries shipyard on Dec. 12, 2015. HII Photo
An ongoing force structure assessment and the goals of the next presidential administration will likely give the service’s latest long-range shipbuilding plan an unusually short shelf life. Read More
Opinion: Russian Tank Deal With Nicaragua ‘Back to the Future’ Moment for U.S.
Russian T-72B Main Battle Tank in 2013. Russian Ministry of Defence Photo
In late April Russia shipped the first 20 of 50 T-72B tanks ordered by Nicaragua—causing a Cold War Back to the Future moment for Latin America watchers. Read More
Analysis: Baltic Sea Heating Up as Friction Point Between U.S., NATO and Russia
Two Russian Sukhoi Su-24 attack aircraft fly over the USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) on Apr. 12, 2016. US Navy Photo
This piece is based on the recently released Atlantic Council Issue Brief “A Maritime Framework for the Baltic Sea Region” by Magnus Nordenman and Franklin D. Kramer.
The Baltic Sea region has emerged as one of the friction zones between an aggressive Russia and the United States and its NATO allies in northeastern Europe. Recently the USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) was twice buzzed by Russian Sukhoi Su-24 Fencers during an exercise in the Baltic Sea. The Cook incident is just the most recent of a string of close encounters between Russia and the West at sea and in the air over the Baltic Sea over the last two years. Read More
EUCOM Nominee Scaparrotti: Putin ‘Trying to Break Up NATO’
Gen. Curtis “Mike” Scaparrotti. CSPAN Photo
The nominee to command American and NATO forces in Europe says Russia needs to receive a “strong, clear and consistent” message about what could happen if its aircraft cross the line in endangering U.S. ships and airplanes when lawfully operating. Read More
Russian Flyby of USS Donald Cook Highlights International Tension in the Baltics
A Russian Sukhoi Su-24 attack aircraft makes a low altitude pass by the USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) on April 12, 2016. US Navy Photo
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The fly-by of the USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) in the Baltic Sea by Russian Sukhoi Su-24 Fencers on two separate occasions earlier this week serves as a dramatic reminder of the Baltic Sea region as a friction zone between Russia and the U.S. and its NATO allies. Read More
Video: Russian Fighters Buzz USS Donald Cook in Baltic Sea
Two Russian Sukhoi Su-24 attack aircraft fly over the USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) April 11, 2016. US Navy Photo
This post will be updated as additional information becomes available.
The guided missile destroyer USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) was buzzed on April 11, 2016 in the Baltic Sea by a pair of Sukhoi Su-24 Fencer fighters. As seen in a video released by U.S. European Command on Wednesday afternoon. Read More
Former Hill Staffers Explain Ins and Outs of Crafting Annual U.S. Defense Bill
U.S. Capitol on July 31, 2015, NASA Photo
Unlike Russia and China, the United States needs “to be in three places at once”—a rationale that lies behind some of the thinking on Capitol Hill that goes into building the thousand-page U.S. defense bill each year. Read More
Former House Intel Chair Mike Rogers: Widened European Privacy Laws Hurt Intelligence Collection
Former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.)
As is the case in privacy laws created after World War II, and widened in the wake of the Edward Snowden leaks in Europe, “we’re going to pay a price” for limiting intelligence-collection when it comes to knowing what adversaries, terrorists and even allies are thinking, the former chairman of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee said Wednesday. Read More
Dunford: Next U.S. Military Strategy Document will be Classified
Gen. Joseph Dunford testifying before Congress on March 17, 2016. DoD Photo
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the next military strategy document will be kept classified, a recommendation often called for in House and Senate armed services committee hearings that began in the fall on “defense reform.” Read More
