ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Analysis The unusual Sept. 4 arrest of a South Korean member of parliament highlights the continuing divisions seen in South Korean politics and has reignited calls for the reform of the National Intelligence Service. The agency's dual internal and external roles have long been the subject of debate, and if that debate is reopened, Seoul's intelligence efforts with regard to North Korea could be hampered in the short term. The South Korean National Intelligence Service detained opposition United Progressive Party member Lee Seok Ki on Sept. 4, just hours after the country's National Assembly approved the rare arrest of a sitting lawmaker. Lee is accused of attempting to foment an uprising against the South Korean government in coordination with North Korea. He is also charged with calling on supporters to prepare arms and explosives for a strike against South Korean infrastructure in the event that Pyongyang launches an attack. Because lawmakers are immune t...

Analysis The Naval Update Map shows the approximate current locations of U.S. Carrier Strike Groups and Amphibious Ready Groups, based on available open-source information. No classified or operationally sensitive information is included in this weekly update. CSGs and ARGs are the keys to U.S. dominance of the world's oceans. A CSG is centered on an aircraft carrier, which projects U.S. naval and air power and supports a Carrier Air Wing, or CVW. The CSG includes significant offensive strike capability. An ARG is centered on three amphibious warfare ships, with a Marine Expeditionary Unit embarked. An MEU is built around a heavily reinforced and mobile battalion of Marines. Carrier Strike Groups The USS Nimitz CSG with CVW 11 embarked is conducting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet AOR. The USS Harry S Truman CSG with CVW 3 embarked is under way in the U.S. 5th Fleet AOR supporting maritime security op...

White House praises committee vote, which sets 60-day limit on any Syria engagement and bars use of U.S. ground troops in combat operations. The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a resolution on Wednesday authorizing a limited U.S. military intervention in Syria , setting the stage for a debate in the full Senate next week on the use of military force. The committee voted 10-7 in favor of a compromise resolution that sets a 60-day limit on any engagement in Syria and bars the use of U.S. troops on the ground for combat operations. Haaretz in depth coverage of the crisis in Syria : Obama, Syria and the prospect of an Israeli attack on Iran (Amos Harel ) || Former Syrian defense minister defects in break with Assad (Reuters) ||   U.S. intervention in Syria - humanitarian action or a new imperialism (Aeyal Gross)  ||  What Congress should learn from Auschwitz before the Syria vote (Gregory J. Wallance) The White House praised the decision, wh...