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THINK TANK CENTRAL
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Atlantic Council: A NATO Strategy for Security in the Black Sea Region

NATO faces a worsening security environment defined by Russia’s growing willingness to challenge the West and a Europe whole, free, and at peace. In this new geo-political context the Black Sea region is one of the central friction zones between Russia and NATO. While the Alliance has recently pledged to protect its eastern flank against aggression, overall capacity challenges have resulted in little increased presence in the Black Sea. “A NATO Strategy for Security in the Black Sea Region” takes stock of the security and defense challenges in the broader region and offers operational and policy recommendations for NATO to address security in the Black Sea region.

MISCELLANEOUS
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Sputnik 1 Becomes World’s First Man-Made Earth Satellite, Sparks US Aerospace Insecurity

On Oct. 4, 1957 at 7:28 p.m., the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the world’s first man-made satellite to circle the Earth, sparking a space race that spurred US advances in education and technology that a dozen years later landed a man on the Moon. According to NASA, the cosmic bundle of joy weighed in at 83.6 kilograms and measured 58 centimeters tall. Sputnik reportedly soared at 28,980 km/hr, according to Soviet math, the Museum of Flight writes.

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Atlantic Council: Precision Fire: A Strategic Assessment of Iran’s Conventional Missile Program

The pace with which Iran’s conventional missile program has been developing in recent years suggests that the country’s missiles could become much more accurate, and thus deadly, within a few years, potentially providing Tehran with a new set of military options and a higher degree of operational flexibility. This would force (and most probably already has forced) the Pentagon to strategize and plan for a range of Iran-related military contingencies in the region like never before. As the utility of Iranian missiles expands beyond deterrence and possibly enters the realm of offense, the likelihood of military crises and kinetic flare ups in the Gulf rises.

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CNAS: U.S. Public Support for Drone Strikes

What is driving U.S. public support for drones? Despite the large number of opinion polls available – there is very little known about the reasoning behind U.S. public preferences for unmanned air strikes, how strong these preferences are, and in what situations the American public would prefer unmanned over manned air strikes. There are two reasons for this.

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CNAS: The $100 Billion Question: The Cost Case for Naval Uninhabited Combat Aircraft

Read the Report – A report by the Center for a New American Security examines the potential cost differences between a notional human-inhabited future naval aircraft and an uninhabited FNA. The authors assess the minimum cost avoidance of more than $30 billion over 30 years, with a more likely cost avoidance in excess of $100 billion. The report is authored by Paul Scharre, director of the CNAS Future of Warfare Initiative, and Daniel Berg, CNAS adjunct senior fellow.

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CNAS: Digitally-Enabled Warfare: The Capability-Vulnerability Paradox

Read the Report – A new report by the Center for a New American Security recommends the U.S. military focus greater attention, both within the acquisition process and during training and tactics development, on digital resiliency. The report is authored by Jacquelyn Schneider, an adjunct research associate with the CNAS Military, Veterans, and Society Program, and Ph.D. candidate in political science at The George Washington University.

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CNAS: Open Source Software and the DoD

Read the Report – Center for a New American Security Technology and National Security Program recommends the Department of Defense invest more in open source software and embrace it as a critical element of its efforts to maintain military technical superiority. The report is authored by CNAS Senior Fellow Ben FitzGerald, Adjunct Senior Fellow Dr. Peter Levin, and Researcher Jacqueline Parziale.

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CSIS: Reforming Security Cooperation

Assessing Defense Reform Series — Improving the efficiency, oversight, and professionalism of the security cooperation enterprise will help prove to Americans that these investments are worth the price. Still, security cooperation reform pursued by the Senate Armed Services Committee should account for the administration’s concerns, echoed by Senate appropriators, that the balance between DoD and DoS authority over security assistance be righted, given Department of State’s role as the lead for U.S. foreign policy.

THINK TANK CENTRAL
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CSIS: Reducing Guard/ Reserve General/ Flag Officers

Assessing Defense Reform Series — Because the number of Guard/reserve GO/FOs has been growing while the number of Guard/reserve troops has been constant, there would appear to be some opportunity for reductions. However, a 25 percent cut would be large and disruptive. Further, the loss of reserve three-star positions will likely be seen as a serious loss of influence in the reserve community.