AL-QAEDA HEADS TO SYRIA The war-torn country is looking good to al-Qaeda after setbacks in Afghanistan, say American and European officials expecting the terror group to refocus its efforts in Syria, according to the New York Times. The group has some clear strategic incentives for the move: It would place them in closer striking distance of Europe, in proximity to many of the countries that have fed al-Qaeda fighters, and it’s not as if they would totally have to start from scratch, given that the group already has an affiliate, the Nusra Front, on the ground. But the shift to Syria is likely to bring a confrontation with the Islamic State, posing a choice between the two rival terror groups: emirate or caliphate? Traditional or more upstart terrorism? Either way, the shift would likely complicate and prolong the chaos in Syria and splinter the opposition there currently fighting against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
STALL IN PLAN FOR TRANSGENDER SOLDIERS Plans for allowing transgender members of the military to serve openly are four months overdue, leaving the soldiers in limbo as they wait for a promised policy change, hoping it comes before the end of the Obama administration. The military’s official policy is that it can discharge transgender people — though that decision is now taken at higher levels than in the past, making the process more seldom. But a national conversation about how to treat transgender citizens, and a presidential order to schools not to discriminate against transgender people’s restroom choices, does not seem to have accelerated the military’s process of changing its policy.
The issue is also running up against a military sea change on women’s roles in the military, as the service opens up all combat roles to women and Congress moves closer to making changes to the Selective Service that would make women eligible for the draft.
NEXT FRONT AGAINST THE ISLAMIC STATE: SPACE? Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter wants the country’s new, secret space center to get involved in counter-terrorism activities, namely, by helping to fight the Islamic State. How? Well, he didn’t go into detail — then it wouldn’t be such a secretive mission, after all. But the shift is notable, as the United States’ space operations have traditionally been focused on gaming out how to counter other powers with a footprint in the high skies, such as Russia and China. Nonetheless, top military officials have noted in the past that some terror groups have used space-based technology for encrypted communications, providing one incentive for the United States to focus on space as a way of stymieing terror groups’ capabilities.
Carter’s comments focused on the Joint Interagency Combined Space Operations Center, opened on a military base in Colorado in October. After initial experiments, one Air Force official said the United States has “lost the ability” to determine where a threat from space originates — leading the Pentagon to pour in intelligence officials in a bid to improve the country’s space detection and readiness.
washingtonpost.com
