Pacific Perspective:Marines Update Their Pacific Deployments

The US Marine Corps is developing a new approach to its Pacific deployments called the Marine Littoral Regiment (MLR).It has already founded the first MLR in Hawaii.Next,the concept will be realised on the Japanese island of Okinawa.The Corps will transform its Okinawa presence without increasing its numbers there.MLRs contain about 2,000 Marines and US Navy Sailors,including a Combat Team.It is a self-deployable,multi-domain force that persistently operates across the competitive continuum in support of the Joint Force,assuring Allies and Partners;deterring adversaries;conducting and enabling Joint Force contact,blunt and surge activities.The MLR is a naval formation with capabilities to manoeuvre and operate in the maritme domain.It is mobile,low-signature and persistent in the contact to blunt layers and relatively easy to maintain and sustain as part of a naval expeditionary force.* The MLR leverages the full capabiltity of amphibious platforms,connectors and boats.Together,the Navy and Marine Corps will field a Light Amphibious Warship to enhance its mobility and sustainment.The MLR contains a Littoral Combat Team;Littoral Anti-Air Battalion;and Combat Logistics Battalion.So the MLR contains an infantry battalion and an anti-ship missile battery.It facilitates the deployment of multiple platoon-reinforced size expeditionary advanced base sites for long-range anti-ship fires;forward arming and refueling of aircraft;Intelligence,Surveillance and Reconnaissance of key maritime terrain;plus air defence and early warning.After Okinawa,a third MLR is being contemplated for the US militarised coral reef of Guam.An MLR is commanded by a colonel.* The new concept was agreed with Japan at the recent Security Consultative Talks (SCT) in Washington on 12 January 2023.The talks,hosted by the US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken for Japan's Foreign Minister,Hagashi Yosimasu,and Defence Minister,Hamada Yasukazu.The SCT deepened an already close relationship in the context of a more assertive China;Russia's second invasion of Ukraine;and North Korea's development of nuclear weapons and delivery systems.Said SecDef Austin: It is a shared committment to uphold the rules-based international order and to strengthen resilient partnerships around the globe.* Thus the US will forward-station the more versatile,mobile and resilient MLR.It bolsters deterrence and allows us to defend Japan and its people more effectively,according to Austin.The Marine 12th Artillery Regiment will remain in Japan and be re-organised into the 12th Marine Littoral Regiment by 2025.The transformed Regiment will be relevant to both current and future threat environments.At the same time,Japan has committed to acquire a counter-strike capability.* Furthermore,the SCT agreed that an attack to,from or within outer space would enable the invocation of Article V of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty.Article V states: Each Party recognizes an armed attack against either Party in the territories under the administration of Japan would be dangerous to its own security and declares that it would act to meet the common danger in accordance with its constitutional procedures and processes.* The SCT agreed Japan will establish a permanent joint headquarters and will work with the U.S. on command-and-control arrangements with an emphasis on interoperability with U.S. Forces.Joint/shared use of facilities in Japan will be initiated,as will increased exercises,including exercises in Japan's Southwest Islands.Activities with regional Allies and Partners such as Australia,South Korea and India are to be strengthened,while also welcoming greater International Partner engagement by Euro-Atlantic Partners.*

The Secret History of the CIA (2005) - Steve Coll,Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author on his book "Ghost Wars"

Special Intelligence Briefing:DNI

Iran has not decided to build a nuclear weapon,said Lieutenant General James R. Clapper,Jr.,US Air Force retired,Director of National Intelligence.That would be decided solely by the Supreme Leader,Ayatollah Khamenei.We would only have a brief forewarning,General Clapper told the Senate Armed Forces Committee April 18.
Pakistan views India as their preeminent threat.They have lost thousands of troops in pursuit of militants,whose presence in Pakistan hasn't changed basically.
The Defense Intelligence Agency has a higher degree of confidence that North Korea can weaponise a missile than the rest of the intelligence community.We do not know if that would work.
I saw how little the DIA was devoting to terrorism when I was its director in the 1990s.I fear I've seen this movie before.
The Iranians are developing two systems that could have intercontinental capability.The sanctions on Iran are having a huge impact on their economy,but have not yet changed their policy.
In Sudan,a very high proportion of the population is young,unemployed males,susceptible to jihadism.This is also true in other African countries.
The sequestration is certainly consuming us,the capability.We collectively are gonna have to correct what people expect of the intelligence community,because it is not gonna be the same.
We won't know what we've missed until something blows up,as Senator Angus King(I-Maine) put it.
We are facing more threats now than at any time in the past fifty years,General Clapper believes.
General Clapper,72,served in the US Air Force from 1963-95 in various military intelligence capacities.The Vietnam veteran went on to head the Defense Intelligence Agency from 1992-95;and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency from 2001-05.He was Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence from 2007-10,when President Barack Obama appointed him Director of National Intelligence,the nation's senior intelligence official.
General Clapper was decorated with the Legion of Merit(3);the Bronze Star(2);the Air Medal(2);and the National Intelligence Defense Service Medal.He is also an Officer of the Order of Australia(Honorary).

Boeing Delivers P-8A Poseidon Aircraft To US Navy

On November 2,Boeing delivered the fifth P-8A Poseidon aircraft  to the US Navy.The plane is part of an initial low-rate production order of 24 of the ultra-sophisticated maritime intelligence,surveillance and reconaissance planes,which also have anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare capability.
It was the final P-8A delivery of 2012;there will be 12 deliveries in 2013,including some P-8I planes to India.Initial operational capability for this P-3C Orion replacement will be reached in 2013.Until then,the Navy is testing the new jet,which is based on the Boeing 737 commercial airliner,at Naval Air Station Jacksonville,Florida.
The sixth P-8A will be delivered to the Navy in early 2013.The Navy plans to purchase a total of 117 of the planes,and Australia has expressed interest in acquiring some as well.Equipped with advanced radar and infrared sensors,the P8-A has a range of 1200 nautical miles radius with 4 hours onstation.It is armed with torpedoes and cruise missiles.
The Poseidon has a ceiling of 41,000 feet.It can fly at up to 490 knots true air speed.
Boeing(BA)