Security Developments

• US Coast Guard Training Team East Change of Command - In a quiet ceremony at US Coast Guard Support Facility Portsmouth Virginia, LCDR Donald Terkanian relieved LCDR Alain Balmaceda as commanding officer of US Coast Guard Training Team East. 
• Petraeus Defends ROE in Afghanistan - Gen. David Petraeus, the man tapped by President Barack Obama to succeed fired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal as the top military leader in Afghanistan, told lawmakers today it is critical that the U.S. do everything it can to limit civilian casualties caused by coalition actions in Afghanistan.
• Wanted Taliban commander killed in shootout in North Waziristan - The Pakistani military claimed today that it has killed one of the top 20 most-wanted Taliban commanders from South Waziristan during a clash in North Waziristan.
• Corps Set to Field SAW Replacement - The Marine Corps will field its new, lightweight auto rifle this fall to five combat battalions preparing for war-zone deployments. Commandant Gen. James T. Conway gave Corps officials the green light in April to issue approximately 450 M27 Infantry Automatic Rifles, enough to replace every M249 squad automatic weapon in four infantry battalions and one light armored reconnaissance battalion.
• July 12 Military History: First Marine wins Medal of Honor in Vietnam War

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Defense News

• Britain To Hand South Afghan Area To U.S. Troops - British troops will hand over control of the violence-wracked Sangin area of southern Afghanistan to U.S. forces by the end of the year, Defence Secretary Liam Fox announced on July 7.
• Major Cyber Security Conference Set for Singapore - Singapore will host the first Regional Collaboration in Cyber Security conference from July 13-14 at the Shangri-La Hotel. The conference will cover cyber terrorism, information operations, cyber warfare, wireless hacking and cyber crime.
• On Pentagon Wish List: Russian Copters - The Obama administration's recent lifting of sanctions against Russia's state arms exporter could boost orders for Russian aircraft from a somewhat-unexpected customer: the U.S. military.

Afghanistan–Pakistan Developments

• Afghan Companies Say U.S. Did Not Pay Them - A number of Afghan construction companies working on contracts for American and NATO military bases in Afghanistan have accused American middlemen of reneging on payments for supplies and services, and in one case of leaving the country owing Afghan companies hundreds of thousands, even millions, of dollars.
• Tracing the rise of Afghan cricket - In a van honking and maneuvering through gridlocked Kabul traffic, an Afghan man gets philosophical about the problems of modern life.
• Deputy commander: No major changes to battle tactics in Afghanistan - The U.S. military does not expect any major changes for now in the way troops operate on the battlefield in Afghanistan, according to the deputy commander of U.S. troops there.
• In Azerbaijan, key to Afghanistan efforts, Clinton walks tightrope on democracy - After a major speech in Poland encouraging democracy, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton traveled Sunday to a country that has tossed bloggers in jail, held elections widely considered flawed and abolished term limits for its president.
• Afghanistan: When Women Set Themselves on Fire - Fawzia felt like she had no way out. Married off to her cousin at age 16, she had been beaten routinely by her husband and in-laws in their poor rural home in Paktia province for the first

Homeland Security

• NYC subway bomb plot linked to British cell - A failed plot to set off bombs in the New York subway system last year was part of a larger al-Qaida terrorist conspiracy that planned a similar attack in England, U.S. prosecutors said Wednesday.
• Alleged Al Qaeda operatives indicted in New York plot - An unsuccessful plan to detonate homemade bombs in the New York subway system last year was orchestrated by senior Al Qaeda leaders who were also plotting a comparable attack in Britain, according to a terrorism indictment unsealed Wednesday.
• Repeat of SKorea, US cyberattacks does no damage - Hundreds of computers that helped cause a wave of outages on U.S. and South Korean government websites last July launched new attacks on the same sites, but no major interference was reported, police said Thursday.
• U.S.-Russia spy swap expected - Across a vast global chessboard, the pieces were set in motion Wednesday. In Moscow, Igor Sutyagin, an imprisoned physicist, was transported from a prison camp near the Arctic Circle to the high-security Lefortovo facility, where he was ushered into a room to meet with a general from the Russian security services and three U.S. diplomats.

Weapons and Tactics

• Accident reports show US drone aircraft plagued with problems - The U.S. military often portrays its drone aircraft as high-tech marvels that can be operated seamlessly from thousands of miles away. But Pentagon accident reports reveal that the pilotless aircraft suffer from frequent system failures, computer glitches and human error.
• U.S. Army Orders More IED Detection Systems - The U.S. Army is turning to an old friend in the growing fight against improvised explosive devices.

High Risk Logistics

• Ocean cargo concerns - While shippers may be heartened to hear that fewer ocean cargo vessels are being scrapped, and newbuildings are ramping up, some analysts are beginning to doubt if demand will sustain growth.
• Airstrike Complicates Afghanistan Fight - If the accounts provided today by top Afghan officials are accurate, the first NATO airstrike gone awry under the new command of Gen. David H. Petraeus killed five Afghan soldiers who seemed to be doing precisely the sort of operation that not enough ever do: Setting a trap – in the middle of the night, no less – to catch or kill militants in a dangerous part of the country where the Taliban are strong.
• NATO Planes Mistakenly Kill 5 Afghan Troops - NATO mistakenly killed five of its Afghan army allies in an airstrike Wednesday while they were attacking insurgents in the country's east, officials said.
• Expanding Exports To Stimulate The Economy - President Obama's push to boost exports is showing signs of progress. Foreign buyers are snapping up more pork chops and airplanes with the "Made in the USA" label. And that means more jobs for American farmers and manufacturers.
• Chinese rail plan in PoK worries India - India has expressed concern over China’s plans to build a rail link through the Karakoram ranges in Pakistan. The trans-Karakoram rail link will go through the Gilgit-Baltistan region, which is part of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

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