Defence // Current

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1 month ago

Tamil Tigers admit leader is dead

Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels have admitted for the first time that their leader Velupillai Prabhakaran is dead. A... more

kushan
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LTTE leader's body identified | Graphic Warning

Pictured here the recovered body of the LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran. These will finally lay to rest the vivid claims made by... more

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LTTE leader's body identified

The body of LTTE leader Vellupillai Prabakaran has been identified - Daily Mirror Sri Lanka

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BREAKING NEWS: LTTE leader shot dead

LTTE leader Velupillai Prabakaran was shot dead while ago tring to flee the troops - AFP reports

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BBC - 'Barefaced' Broadcasting Corporation

One of the best article about BBC being bias, alarmingly to terrorist groups.

kushan
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Japan Readies Missile Defense System

TOKYO, March 27 -- Japan ordered its military on Friday to destroy a North Korean missile or its debris, if the launch fails and... more

slarabee
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Police will receive 6,000 extra Tasers

The Home Office has said that police officers in England and Wales will get an extra 6,000 Taser stun guns at a cost of £8m.

ClareW
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Iraq reconstruction: "Failure"

A report by the New York Times says that the $100bn efford to bebild Iraq has failed. The paper obtain a copy of the draft copy... more

smurph25
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LA TRAGEDIA DEL 911 ANTICIPATA SEI MESI DA UNA SERIE TV!

LA TRAGEDIA DEL 911 ANTICIPATA SEI MESI DA UNA SERIE TV! Il 4 Marzo 2001 (potete verificare la data ovunque) andò in... more

innovari
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With all eyes on the bailout, House passes $612 billion defense bill

On Wednesday, the House passed a mammoth defense bill by a 392-39 vote. It’s expected to clear the Senate with little... more

dissimulator
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Plea deal unlikely before Gitmo war crimes trial

A last-minute plea deal could halt the first war crimes trial at Guantanamo Bay on Monday, but military lawyers and observers say that appears extremely unlikely at this late stage.

The Pentagon already has brought witnesses to the U.S. Navy base in Cuba and assembled a jury pool of American military officers, preparations that had not been made before a plea deal that ended the case against Australian David Hicks in March 2007.

Military prosecutors are also eager to use the case of Salim Hamdan, a former driver and alleged bodyguard for Osama bin Laden, to showcase a tribunal system that has seen repeated legal setbacks.

"We're looking at it in two veins, primarily as bringing Mr. Hamdan to justice but also we're well aware that in doing that at the individual level it provides the first opportunity to test and validate this process," said Army Col. Lawrence Morris, the tribunals' chief prosecutor.

Jury selection in Hamdan's case is scheduled to begin Monday. Military prosecutors are gathering 22 witnesses for a trial that is expected to last roughly three weeks.

Hamdan, a Yemeni, was captured in Afghanistan in November 2001 and accused of helping bin Laden escape retribution following the Sept. 11 attacks. He faces up to life in prison if convicted of conspiracy and supporting terrorism.

Defense attorneys, who say Hamdan was merely a low-level bin Laden employee, have refused to say whether they are in negotiations over a possible guilty plea.

Julia Hall, senior counsel for Human Rights Watch's counterterrorism program, said Hamdan would not be a likely candidate for a plea deal because his case appears simple in comparison with others pending before the first U.S. war-crime tribunals since World War II.

"He has alleged direct associations with Osama bin Laden, he was not held in secret detention, and a federal court judge has ruled the commission can go forward," she said. "It seems obvious why he is a person that the government would want to test drive the military commissions on."A last-minute plea deal could halt the first war crimes trial at Guantanamo Bay on Monday, but military lawyers and observers say... more

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12 months ago

U.S. and Iraq Agree to Set Goals for Troop Cuts

The United States and Iraq have agreed to set a “general time horizon” for the “further reduction of U.S. combat... more

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1 year ago

Saudis hold 520 terror suspects

Saudi Arabia is holding 520 suspected militants following raids across the kingdom this year, its interior ministry says. They... more

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1 year ago

Genetic-Testing Company Details Regulatory Defense Plan

Genetic-testing company Navigenics has responded to the state of California's cease-and-desist letter with a novel defense: It doesn't actually test patients' genomes, it just analyzes 'em.

In a letter sent to the Health Department obtained by Wired.com, the company argues that it does not actually perform genetic tests, and therefore should not be regulated as a clinical laboratory under California state law.

Instead, Navigenics argues it merely applies algorithms to DNA data it receives from tests performed by a third-party, a licensed laboratory.

As we noted Monday, this regulatory battle hinges on the definition of a clinical laboratory test.

"Nothing in the definition of a clinical laboratory test supports a conclusion that the interpretation of the data resulting from such a test is itself a test," Navigenics wrote in its response.

Though abstruse, these definitions could shape the long-term future of genetic testing. The arguments boil down to whether or not the information contained in your DNA should be treated like blood or like data.

Navigenics is arguing that once the state-licensed lab turns a biological sample into digital data, DNA is no longer within the purview of health department laboratory regulation. Navigenics is just an information service, combining scientifically-published genetic disease correlation data with personal genotype data.

Whether or not the health department (or eventually the courts) will buy this argument remains to be seen. The state is reviewing responses from the thirteen companies it served with cease-and-desist letters.

According to Navigenics, it contracts the actual biological work to a Federally-certified and California-licensed lab run by Affymetrix, so it never touches the spit-containing DNA that forms the basis of genetic testing. What Navigenics receives from Affymetrix is merely digital data about a person's genetic variations.

In that way, it argues, the company merely interprets clinical lab tests, much like a physician would, and physicians are not regulated as clinical labs.

The state, on the other hand, holds that because Navigenics obtains the biological data, it is essentially doing the test.

Navigenics' also proposes a second line of defense relating to the necessity of including a physician in ordering a genetic test.

Navigenics has argued all along that it has a California physician who actually orders and receives the tests, but it is not clear whether any physician can order a test, or whether it had to be "your doctor" (whatever that means in today's health care system).Genetic-testing company Navigenics has responded to the state of California's cease-and-desist letter with a novel defense:... more

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1 year ago

Pakistan airstrike video may be incomplete, Pentagon says

Grainy video footage released by the U.S. military may not provide a complete picture of what happened in an airstrike that... more

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1 year ago

Nimrod fleet should be grounded, says coroner

Families of 14 servicemen killed in an air-crash over Afghanistan have reacted in disbelief after the Ministry of Defence bluntly refused a coroner's recommendation to ground the fleet of Nimrod aircraft to “prevent future fatalities”.

There were gasps at Oxford Coroners Court when in the middle of a press conference of more than 70 relatives a statement by Armed Forces Minister Bob Ainsworth was read out.

Despite Coroner Andrew Walker's condemnation of the “cavalier” approach by the RAF to flight safety - and his claim that the reconnaissance planes had never been airworthy - Mr Ainsworth refused to ground them.

One angry family member shouted that the decision was “an insult to everyone in this room”.

Andy Knight, the brother of RAF Sgt Ben Knight, added it showed the MoD's “arrogance” and its “casual attitude to airworthiness”.

After hearing three weeks of evidence on the appalling number of fuel leaks experienced by Nimrod MR2s, the coroner Mr Walker said he would have been “failing in my duty” if he did not act to “prevent future fatalities”.

The disaster was caused by fuel leaking into a dry bay and igniting on contact with a hot air pipe. Having fuel couplings were in the same compartment as a hot air pipe was a “fundamental design flaw” in the 37-year-old Nimrod fleet, the inquest was told.

A senior RAF officer admitted the aircraft should not have been passed safe to fly and said mistakes were made during a hazard assessment which could have identified the fault.

Mr Walker, who was one of the coroners the MoD tried to gag in the High Court over using the words “serious failings”, said he had no alternative but to report to the Defence Secretary Des Browne that “the Nimrod fleet should not fly until the ALARP (as low as reasonably practicable) standards are met.”

The MoD is under no legal obligation to carry out any of the coroner's recommendations.

At least three of the fleet of 15 Nimrods are based in Iraq and Oman flying vital missions in support of ground troops. Their highly sophisticated cameras and detection equipment give soldiers and Special Forces a key advantage in tackling insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The RAF does not currently have enough unmanned drones or other surveillance aircraft to replace them.

Mr Ainsworth, who apologised to the families for the MoD's “failings”, said the head of the RAF had “reaffirmed to me that the Nimrod is airworthy” Families of 14 servicemen killed in an air-crash over Afghanistan have reacted in disbelief after the Ministry of Defence bluntly... more

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1 year ago

Air Force Aims for 'Full Control' of 'Any and All' Computers

The Air Force wants a suite of hacker tools, to give it "access" to -- and "full control" of -- any kind of computer there is. And once the info warriors are in, the Air Force wants them to keep tabs on their "adversaries' information infrastructure completely undetected."

The government is growing increasingly interested in waging war online. The Air Force recently put together a "Cyberspace Command," with a charter to rule networks the way its fighter jets rule the skies. The Department of Homeland Security, Darpa, and other agencies are teaming up for a five-year, $30 billion "national cybersecurity initiative." That includes an electronic test range, where federally-funded hackers can test out the latest electronic attacks. "You used to need an army to wage a war," a recent Air Force commercial notes. "Now, all you need is an Internet connection."

On Monday, the Air Force Research Laboratory introduced a two-year, $11 million effort to put together hardware and software tools for "Dominant Cyber Offensive Engagement." "Of interest are any and all techniques to enable user and/or root level access," a request for proposals notes, "to both fixed (PC) or mobile computing platforms... any and all operating systems, patch levels, applications and hardware." This isn't just some computer science study, mind you; "research efforts under this program are expected to result in complete functional capabilities."

Unlike an Air Force colonel's proposal, to knock down enemy websites with military botnets, the Research Lab is encouraging a sneaky, "low and slow" approach. The preferred attack consists of lying quiet, and then "stealthily exfiltrat[ing] information" from adversaries' networks.

But, in the end, the Air Force wants to see all kinds of "techniques and technologies" to "Deceive, Deny, Disrupt, Degrade, [or] Destroy" hostile systems. And "in addition to these main concepts," the Research Lab would like to see studies into "Proactive Botnet Defense Technology Development," the "reinvent[ion of] the network protocol stack" and new antennas, based on carbon nanotubes.

Traditionally, the military has been extremely reluctant to talk much about offensive operations online. Instead, the focus has normally been on protecting against electronic attacks. But in the last year or so, the tone has changed -- and become more bellicose. “Cyber, as a warfighting domain . . . like air, favors the offense,” said Lani Kass, a special assistant to the Air Force Chief of Staff who previously headed up the service's Cyberspace Task Force. "If you’re defending in cyber, you’re already too late."

"We want to go in and knock them out in the first round," added Lt. Gen. Robert Elder, commander of the 8th Air Force, which focuses on network issues.

"An adversary needs to know that the U.S. possesses powerful hard and soft-kill (cyberwarfare) means for attacking adversary information and command and support systems at all levels," a recent Defense Department report notes. "Every potential adversary, from nation states to rogue individuals... should be compelled to consider... an attack on U.S. systems resulting in highly undesireable consequences to their own security."The Air Force wants a suite of hacker tools, to give it "access" to -- and "full control" of -- any kind of... more