The U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s budget for 2019 plans to allocate resources toward building a laser-firing drone to intercept missiles.

The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) requested a total $9.9 billion budget that accounts for 0.22 percent of President Donald Trump’s $4.4 trillion 2019 budget proposal, its single largest request in the history of the agency, as The Diplomat noted.

In the document, the agency specifically cites the “recent escalation of the threat” from North Korea—which has successfully tested two different kinds of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) capable of reaching the U.S. mainland in 2017—as a reason to bolster missile defense spending.

Among the measures proposed, which include the deployment of 20 ground-based interceptors at Fort Greely in Alaska—adding to the existing 44 by 2023—and of two radars in the Pacific, the MDA is looking to develop new technologies such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) fitted with lasers.

Unlike existing missile defense systems, these would destroy enemy missiles shortly after their launch, in their boost phase of flight. “Scalable, efficient, and compact high-energy lasers can be game-changing capabilities within missile defense architectures,” the MDA writes in its budget proposal.

The agency requested $66 million to develop a drone-fitting laser, split between a $61 million Low Power Laser Demonstrator (LPLD) Program and a $5 million budget to then increase the laser’s power, Missile Defense Agency Director of Operations Gary Pennett told a press briefing Tuesday.

The agency has already begun working on developing the weapon, awarding more than $27 million in nine-month contracts to Lockheed Martin ($9.4 million), General Atomics (8.8 million) and Boeing ($8.9 million) for the integration and testing of a low-power laser on a drone, with a low-power flight test scheduled for 2020 and a beam stability test expected in 2012, according to Flight Global.

In July, Republican Senator Tom Cotton suggested that the military look as “aggressively” as possible at deploying drones to intercept North Korean missiles during a Senate Armed Services Committee session discussing the reappointment of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, in July. Dunford said the military was doing “a lot of work” on boost-phase intercept systems but currently does not have that capability.

North Korea’s last missile test occurred on November 29, unveiling its most powerful ICBM to date, the Hwasong-15. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un then announced the accomplishment of the country’s “historic cause of completing the state nuclear force,” but the U.S. Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Daniel Coats believes Pyongyang’s missile tests will continue this year.

“In the wake of accelerated missile testing since 2016, North Korea is likely to press ahead with more tests in 2018,” the DNI’s Worldwide Threat Assessment published Tuesday read.


(newsweek)

Last Thursday, U.S. Southern Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Caribbean, aided and advised state security forces in Trinidad to apprehend four extremists who sought to carry out an imminent terrorist attack during Carnival.

The rumored attack represented a broadening of the threat from the Islamic State militant group, or ISIS, which has disbanded into a network of ragtag insurgency movements after losing territory in its traditional strongholds in the Middle East.

The fall of Raqqa in Syria last year, in which U.S. backed forces declared that major military operations against ISIS had ended, marked the end of ISIS's self-declared Islamic “caliphate.” But it left the broader Middle East and the international community asking: What happens next?

The apparent threat appearing in the Caribbean went some way to answering the question. ISIS sympathizers, such as those found in the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago, a small nation off the coast of Venezuela, would continue to follow the established agenda.

Trinidad and Tobago appeared on the radar of Western state security services in recent years when it emerged that it had the largest per capita number of foreign fighters joining ISIS of any country in the western hemisphere. Though estimates of the true number of recruits vary from under a couple hundred to close to 300, the exact numbers are beside the point. One individual is too many and the greatest concern is how the fighters plan to utilize their newly-acquired skills after returning home.

This issue isn’t new to those of us in the field. In 2011, the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), an offshoot of one of the major Al-Qaeda franchises, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), was created because local black Africans wanted to carry out attacks inside their countries of birth, including Senegal, Niger, Mali and Chad.

They expressed that with their new technical skills and newly-adopted Islamist ideology, they were best prepared to carry out attacks in their homeland. They placed special emphasis on the historical figures of Islamic West Africa—a strategy to gain new recruits from their region and to connect the broader extremist ideology with the local reality in which they lived.

This precedent gives major concern to governmental, civil society and grassroots community members in Trinidad and Tobago as the nation finds effective strategies to respond appropriately.

Late last year, I traveled to the Caribbean island nation to engage with local communities, civil society and governmental officials to firstly understand the complexities of the situation and the measures that could be put in place to receive individuals who were likely to return home post-ISIS.

Secondly, we explored what measures were put in place within government structures to rehabilitate. Lastly we needed to determine how communities at the grassroots level can aid in ensuring and encouraging the resilience against extremism.

Solutions are not easy to find, but having an opportunity to engage with local actors, here are just a few recommendations to consider:

Establish a Counter-Extremism Rehabilitation Center

Trinidad and Tobago has decades of experience working with criminal gang and drug violence prevention including the work of leading organizations like Roots Foundation and Vision on Mission. Some of the organizations' members were previously involved in the drug and gang culture and they can serve as a model to work alongside other counter extremist organizations and networks. They can share good practices as they engage with the emerging Islamist extremist ideology. Finding a tailored and focused Trinidad and Tobago-appropriate response will allow for long term sustainability to combat the problem.

Support Arts and Culture

It could be effective for local leaders to work in collaboration with existing U.S. Embassy efforts, including the International Visitors Leadership Program, to create dialogue at the grassroots level between faith based communities in Trinidad and Tobago and the U.S. Together they can attempt to find effective strategies to combat extremism. In addition, empowering local voices across societal lines on a range of topics will allow for long-term sustainability.

Trinidad and Tobago Government Counter-Extremism Policy

The government at large is moving in the right direction and has begun some positive efforts to address the rising threat both internally and regionally. However, the issue of violent extremism is a bipartisan issue on the island nation and is a public safety issue.

By working across political divides, governmental officials have the opportunity to create a focused and effective policy that is not only government-supported but also includes an all-of-society approach. It is important to include civil society, inter-generational and religious communities including representations from Afro-Trinidadian and East Indian Muslim communities, whose voices and diverse views are critical for long term success in the country.

Dr. Muhammad Fraser-Rahim is the Executive Director, North America, for Quilliam International, the world’s first counter-extremism organization with offices in London and Washington D.C.


(newsweek)

• By EMILY SHAPIRO

Women are poorer, more hungry and more discriminated against than men, according to a new report from the United Nations. The report, called “Turning Promises Into Action: Gender Equality in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” looks at how women around the world are faring in several key areas.

It is pegged to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which lays out several global benchmarks, such as eliminating extreme poverty and hunger and getting all children into school. Significant progress has been made on the targets overall (though many probably will not be met). This study looks at how well women, specifically, are doing, and it finds that in nearly every category, they do worse than men.

The report says there are 122 women ages 25 to 34 who live in extreme poverty for every 100 men in that age group. The percentage of women living in poor households hovers at about 12.8 percent. For men, it is 12.3 percent, which means about 5 million more women are struggling.

It is harder for women to escape poverty, the report's authors say, because women have less access to jobs and economic opportunities. In many places, the laws make it impossible for women to inherit wealth, own land and access credit. Even when women do find jobs, they are often paid less than men. Women have less time to work, too, because they do a disproportionate share of the housework, cooking and child care.

Source: United Nations

Women are also more vulnerable to food insecurity in nearly two-thirds of all countries. When a crisis hits, the report finds, women are more likely than men to go hungry. The highest percentage of women who face this challenge is in sub-Saharan Africa, though it is a problem worldwide.

Source: United Nations

Maternal death continues to be a major problem.

Globally, 303,000 women died from pregnancy-related causes in 2015. Nearly two-thirds of those deaths occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, the report's authors say. Low-income women are particularly vulnerable. This is a challenge in the United States, too, the only developed country where the rate of maternal deaths is growing.

Women are vulnerable in other ways, too. According to the United Nations, 1 in 5 women and girls ages 15 to 49 reported experiencing physical or sexual violence at the hands of an intimate partner in the past 12 months.

Source: United Nations

The report's authors also surveyed national laws around the world and found that women are more likely to face legalized discrimination. “Over the past 25 years, progress has been made through, for example, legislation prohibiting discrimination based on sex with respect to inheritance and citizenship, laws that guarantee equality within the family and laws that address domestic violence,” they write. “However, while progress has been significant, discriminatory constitutional and legislative provisions remain in place in many countries, leaving women without protection or legal basis to claim their rights.”

There are bright spots. Around the world, more women are going to school than ever before, and many are staying in school longer. Worldwide, 90.3 percent of primary school-age girls were enrolled in school in 2015, compared with 82.2 percent in 2000. (For boys, the number is slightly higher — 91.9 percent of primary school-age boys were enrolled in 2015.) Even so, the report estimates 15 million girls will never get the chance to learn to read or write.

One issue schools still need to grapple with is providing adequate sanitation facilities for menstruating girls. The report says that “where adequate sanitation facilities are lacking, for example, concerns over safety and menstrual hygiene management may keep girls away from school or compromise their learning experience.”

Source: United Nations

(The Washington Post)

BY JACK MOORE ON 2/14/18 AT 6:52 AM

The political opposition in Israel has called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step down after the country’s police force recommended that he be charged with bribery and breach of trust.

The left-wing Labor leader Avi Gabbay said that Netanyahu’s party must choose the rule of law over supporting the under-fire premier.

“I think it’s clear here that this government needs to go to elections. It can’t be that this government continues as is,” Gabbay told Israel’s Army Radio, according to the Associated Press.

“There’s really a government culture of corruption,” he added.

Zehava Gal-On, leader of the left-wing Meretz party, said his cabinet ministers must “show Netanyahu the way out.”

But Netanyahu fought against the recommendation for an indictment and calls for him to step down. “The truth will come to light, and nothing will come of this,” he told a local government meeting in Tel Aviv.

If he was to step down, Netanyahu would fall short of becoming Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, which he is set to become if he remains in power until the next election in 2019.

Police say that there is enough evidence to charge Netanyahu with regard to his receipt of gifts from two billionaires, Hollywood magnate Aaron Milchan and Australian businessman James Packer, to the tune of $300,000. The gifts include pink champagne and cigars.

The authorities said that in the case known as File 1000, there is sufficient evidence to charge Netanyahu for accepting bribes and fraud.

Netanyahu has long decried the investigation into him as a “witch hunt” by the media. He has pledged to fight any claims.

“I will continue to lead the state of Israel responsibly and loyally as long as you, the citizens of Israel, choose me to lead you,” he said in a televised address on Tuesday night.

Ultimately, Israel’s attorney general has the final say on whether Netanyahu is indicted, and that decision could take months.

Netanyahu’s allies stood with him on Tuesday and Wednesday. His coalition whip David Amsalem accused the police of “a coup d’état in Israel,” while tourism minister Yariv Leven called the recommendation a “coup against the voters.”

Naftali Bennett, a political rival and education minister in Netanyahu’s cabinet, did not comment. He has previously said that the coalition government would not be felled over champagne and cigars.

Allies of Netanyahu in his right-wing Likud party attacked the Israeli leader’s main rival for the premiership, centrist Yair Lapid, after he emerged as a key witness in Case 1000. Lapid said that while he served as Netanyahu’s finance minister, the Israeli leader had tried to usher through a bill that would have helped Milchan. Lapid blocked the bill despite pressure to pass it.

Culture minister Miri Regev called Lapid a “snitch” after it became apparent that he had become crucial to the corruption allegations. Lapid said he acted “like any law-abiding citizen.” He said his party was the “last barrier” against corruption in the Israeli government.