Coalition Remains Resolute Despite Insider Threat, Chairman Says

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT, Sept. 18, 2012 – The insider threat will not lessen the coalition’s resolve to accomplish its objectives in Afghanistan, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey said today.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff spoke about the insider threat in Afghanistan during an interview conducted after a visit to Turkey.

“We are absolutely resolute in our commitment to the objectives of our campaign, but … on the path to achieving those objectives we will make adjustments as we go,” he said.

The insider threat -- attacks on coalition personnel by members of Afghanistan’s security forces or people wearing Afghan uniforms -- is serious, and coalition and NATO leaders are leaving no stone unturned in the efforts to reduce and eliminate the threat, Dempsey said.

“I have a very close relationship with my Russian counterpart [Army Gen.] Nikolai Makarov, chief of the General Staff, and I’ve had two video teleconferences with him, seeking their insights into the experience of insider threats during their time in Afghanistan,” Dempsey said. “It was very helpful.”

The chairman also takes lessons from history. He noted that the British also faced an insider threat when they were in Afghanistan in the 19th century. The threat is part of every war in which outside forces help build indigenous forces, he said.

But building these indigenous forces is the right strategy for Afghanistan, he said. The roughly 340,000 trained members of the Afghan national security force today will grow to 352,000 shortly. These forces are taking the lead for operations, protecting roughly 75 percent of the Afghan population. At the end of 2014, NATO and coalition forces will end their combat mission and will remain in Afghanistan only to train and assist local forces.

Given the size of the Afghan forces, those who turn their weapons on their coalition allies are a small, small number, the chairman pointed out. But the coalition and Afghan government must assess the situation where the attacks take place and find out how to stop the attacks from happening, he added.

“What we need to do is look at these places and understand why there is a greater propensity, and to arm ourselves against it and to continue to encourage our Afghan partners at every level of their leadership to be engaged with us in this,” Dempsey said.

It should come as no surprise the coalition and Afghan forces are adapting operations to meet changing threat conditions, Dempsey said, and unrest over the portrayal of Islam in a YouTube video is part of the threat that coalition forces face.

“It’s important to note that it is not just the threat condition of the insider threats that we are reacting to, but the heightened tension related to the reaction of the Islamic world to the video,” he said. “You’ve got this kind of nexus of activities, and it’s absolutely prudent of commanders at every level to adjust their activity.”

Training for Afghan forces has not been cut, the general said. Recruit and unit training continue at the bigger base camps and operating locations, but there have been changes in the way Afghan and coalition units partner.

“I expect that two weeks from now, [Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen, commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan] will be looking at the conditions as he confronts them and making other assessments,” Dempsey said. “That’s what we expect our commanders do.”

The insider threat is complex and must be seen in context, the chairman said. While the Taliban have infiltrated and conducted some attacks, other killings are not ideological. The International Security Assistance Force has an assessment of what proportion of these attacks is related to infiltration, and what percentage is caused by other factors, the chairman said.

“ISAF has a team that goes to the location … to assess whether this was an infiltration or some other aspect of our interaction with them so we can stay ahead of it, or catch up to it,” he added.

The Taliban have been calling for the Afghan security forces to turn against their American partners for years, the chairman said. Insider attacks have increased this year, he said, and Afghan and coalition officials will work together to understand the root causes of these attacks.

“We will constantly make adjustments to our campaign in response to changing threats, whether that is increases in rocket and mortar attacks, or increases in improvised explosive attacks or increases in insider attacks,” Dempsey said.

NORAD, Russia Train to Confront Terrorist Hijackings

By Donna Miles

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON – It was a scene unthinkable even 30 years ago as U.S., Canadian and Russian militaries worked together this week at the North American Aerospace Command headquarters to confront a common enemy: terrorist hijackers.

That’s exactly what happened during Vigilant Eagle 12, the third exercise of its kind designed to promote collaboration in detecting hijacked aircraft and scrambling military jets to intercept and escort them to safety.

This year’s three-day exercise was computer-based, with participants at the NORAD headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo.; Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska; and at two bases in Russia.

The scenario involved commercial airliners on international flights that had been seized by terrorists, Air Force Brig. Gen. Richard W. Scobee, NORAD’s deputy operations director, told reporters as the exercise wrapped up yesterday. One simulated hijacking took off from Alaska and was headed for Russian airspace; the other originated in Russia and was bound for the United States.

The scenarios required NORAD – the U.S.-Canada command that safeguards U.S. skies under Operation Noble Eagle -- and the Russian air force to go through the procedures they would use to dispatch fighter jets to investigate and track the aircraft heading toward each other’s airspace. At that point, they handed off the missions to the other to complete.

Applying lessons learned during last year’s exercise, which involved actual aircraft, the participants worked through escort and handoff procedures using their different communications, command-and-control and air traffic control systems, Scobee explained.

To complicate the scenarios, and to reflect what assets might be available during a real-life hijacking, they had to work without input from the U.S. Air Force’s Airborne Warning and Control System or Russia’s A-50 Beriev system.

NORAD and Russia share surprisingly similar tactics, techniques and procedures, Scobee said yesterday during a post exercise news conference. “It is remarkable that they are so similar,” he said. “Even though we developed them separately, we see the problem similarly.”

Subtle differences became transparent during the exercise, Scobee said, because of the “clean handoff” as one command handed the mission and authority over to the other. “It was like a handshake,” he said.

The unifying factor, Scobee said, was an understanding that actions taken could mean the difference between life and death for passengers. “That is the No. 1 thing – and the Russian Federation is just like NORAD [and] the United States and Canada,” Scobee said. “We want to protect our citizens, and that is our primary goal.”

Scobee and Maj. Gen. Sergey Dronov of the Russian air force, who led Russia's delegation in Colorado, praised the professionalism of both the NORAD and Russian militaries and their shared appreciation of the importance of the mission.

“Right now, we have a common enemy, and that is terrorism,” Dronov said through an interpreter.

“Our countries are uniquely plagued by terrorism,” agreed Scobee. “And this exercise gives us an opportunity to work together, to learn from each other about how we are dealing with those kinds of events.”

The goal, he said, is to increase the complexity of the exercises, refining concepts and procedures in simulation, then applying them in the sky the following year.

“Next year, we will go back and use lessons learned from this exercise and apply them to another live-fly exercise,” he said. “It will be one of those things where we learn from each other and keep building on the exercises we have.”

Future exercises will continue to integrate new curve balls that keep participants on their toes while reflecting how adaptable adversaries operate, Scobee said.

“It is a constant chess game, because just like we don’t keep our tactics stagnant, terrorists do the same thing,” he said. “They are always thinking of another way to try to get past our systems of control. So we always have to think about adjusting our tactics, our training and our procedures.”

Dronov said he was impressed during this year’s exercise by how quickly the participants dealt with challenging scenarios thrown their way. “They are also walking away with some priceless experience of interaction with each other,” he said. “I am confident that in the future, this cooperation will continue.”

The Vigilant Eagle series stems from a 2003 agreement between the U.S. and Russian presidents to promote closer cooperation as they move beyond the Cold War era, Scobee explained. The threat of international hijackers served as a foundation to help advance that effort, resulting in a relevant exercise program that helps address a recognized threat.

“The populations of the United States and Canada and the Russian Federation should hear this loud and clear: We are here to ensure their safety,” Scobee said. “Not only do we practice here at NORAD multiple times a day for this to happen, but now we are also practicing with our international partners to ensure that the air systems of all our countries are safe. And then, if something does go wrong, that we are there to take action.”

This helps to provide a unified front against terrorist hijackers like those who attacked the United States on 9/11, giving birth to the Noble Eagle mission, he said.

“We will never be helpless again,” Scobee added. “[The public] should hear that loud and clear.”

Russia Resupplying Base in Syria, DOD Spokesman Says

By Karen Parrish

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 19, 2012 – A Russian cargo ship reportedly carrying attack helicopters to Syria turned back today when its British insurer canceled coverage, but a Defense Department spokesman said three other Russian vessels will carry supplies and possibly troops to the Russian naval base at the Syrian port of Tartus.

Russian military officials have said the supplies are intended for their own resupply and force protection, Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. John Kirby told reporters today.

Kirby said defense officials support Russia’s decision to stop the cargo ship’s voyage. “We … don't want to see the Assad regime get arms and ammunition or any lethal support that they could use,” he said.

In January 2011, Syrians began protesting against the government of Bashar Assad. The protests spread into a more general uprising, which United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in May had claimed some 10,000 lives. Russia, a Syrian ally, has threatened to veto any U.N. Security Council sanctions against Syria.

President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a joint statement yesterday calling for “moving forward on [a] political transition to a democratic, pluralistic political system” in Syria.

Kirby said political transition is “the right way forward.”

“I think we can all agree that that's the right answer for Syria and for the Syrian people,” he added.

International diplomatic and economic pressure “needs to continue to be applied to the Assad regime so that they will step down and do what's right for their own people,” the spokesman added.

Kirby noted U.S. defense officials have repeatedly said providing lethal military aid to Assad’s forces is “intolerable and unacceptable.”

“We've been very clear with the entire international community, not just the Russians, about what our concerns are with respect to lethal aid and assistance going to the Assad regime,” he added.

Pentagon Press Secretary George Little, who also spoke during today’s briefing, said any disagreement over Syria between Russia and the United States hasn’t affected the northern distribution network. The network, which Russia supports, has been the only means of ground transport for NATO supplies headed into Afghanistan since Pakistan closed ground cargo routes to NATO forces in November.

“It's an extremely complicated but essential network for our supplies in and out of Afghanistan,” Little said. “I have heard no indication that the Russians are going to change their participation in that network and would reiterate our thanks to the government of Russia for supporting it.”

“At the same time,” Kirby said, “we've been very clear with them about our concerns about lethal support to the Syrian regime. It's not like we haven't been honest about what concerns us with these arms sales to Assad. We have been.”

Kirby noted U.S. officials are working with the international community “as much and as aggressively as we can to make sure that Assad doesn't have at his disposal the means to kill his own people, or at least limit that ability as much as we can.”