ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

The US Department of Defense is dealing with a breach of its travel records that exposed at least 30,000 military and civilian personnel, according to a Pentagon spokesman on the October 12 th . The breach resulted in some of their personal information and payment card data being compromised. “On Oct. 4, the Department of Defense identified a breach of personally identifiable information of DoD personnel that requires congressional notification,” Lt. Col. Joseph Buccino said. “The department is continuing to gather additional information about the incident, which involves the potential compromise of personally identifiable information of DoD personnel maintained by a single commercial vendor that provided travel management services to the department,” he says. “This vendor was performing a small percentage of the overall travel management services of DOD.” The vendor will not be identified due to security reasons, according to Buccino. However, the department “has taken ste

Illustrative image: REUTERS On October 15, a Ukrainian Su-27 fighter jet crashed during a simulated combat flight in the framework of Clear Sky 2018 military drills. The crash resulted in the death of two pilots a Ukrainain serviceman and a US serviceman. “We regret to inform that according to the rescue team, the bodies of two pilots have been discovered: one is a serviceman of the Ukrainian Air Force, the other is a member of the US National Guard,” the Ukrainian General Staff said in a statement via Facebook. Clear Sky 2018 is a joint military exercise involving Ukraine and NATO member states. It is taking place from October 8 to October 19. According to the Ukrainian leadership, the goal of the drill is to defend Ukrainian airspace from “Russian agression”.

Illustrative image On October 14 th , Saudi Arabia vowed to retaliate to any possible economic sanctions undertaken by other countries, after US President Donald Trump warned of “severe punishment” over the disappearance and suspected murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Preceding the Saudi response, Trump spoke in an interview saying that the Arabic country faces strong consequences if they are involved in the disappearance and murder. “There’s something really terrible and disgusting about that, if that was the case, so we’re going to have to see,” Trump said. “We’re going to get to the bottom of it, and there will be severe punishment.” He did, however, also say that  the US would be “punishing” itself if any arms sales deals are cancelled with Saudi Arabia . He said that the weapons deals are a “tremendous order” for US companies and that the Saudis would get it elsewhere if not from the US. In a statement published by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, the kingdom w

Soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China arrive on their armoured vehicles at Tiananmen Square during the military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two, in Beijing, China, September 3, 2015 (Damir Sagolj/Reuters) US President Donald Trump once again threatened to impose another round of tariffs on China. He also claimed that alleged Chinese meddling in US politics is “a bigger problem” than 2016 alleged Russian election meddling. In an interview with CBS he was asked if he wants to push China’s economy in a depression, he said “no.” “I want them to negotiate a fair deal with us. I want them to open their markets like our markets are open,” he said. He also added that more tariffs might be possible. So far, the U.S. has imposed three rounds of tariffs on Chinese imports totaling $250 billion, prompting China to retaliate against U.S. products. The president previously has threatened to hit virtually all Chinese imports with duties.

The  USS America  LHA-6 successfully completed combat systems ship qualification trials (CSSQT) on February 3 rd , in preparation for its first overseas deployment at the head of the 15 th  Marine Expeditionary Unit/Amphibious Ready Group (MEU/ARG). The vessel went to sea several times in January to conduct training exercises in the run-up to its future deployment, testing different mixes of aviation assets to be fielded on the new class of ship. The  USS America  is classified as a Landing Helicopter Assault (LHA), and lacks a well deck to launch and recover LCACs or AAVs. The U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps have to determine exactly how to best utilize the new vessel as an integrated component of an MEU/ARG. USS America LHA-6 as seen from the rear ramp of a V-22 Osprey. There was no small amount of controversy over the new vessel when it was first proposed. Many senior officers in the USMC argued that an amphibious assault ship meant to head an MEU/ARG must have amphibious a

AFP 2018 / Thomas WATKINS A US Department of Defense research program to protect crops by changing the genes of insects could possibly violate the international Biological Weapons Convention, according to five European researchers who warned in a research paper published in the journal Science on October 4 th ,  as reported by Sputnik . “If successful, the technique could be used by malicious actors to help spread diseases to almost any crop species and devastate harvests,” said the paper, which was authored by the French and German researchers including geneticist Robert Guy Reeves of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Germany and evolutionary biologist Christophe Boete of the Institute of Research for Development in France. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) launched the project, called “Insect Allies,” in Arlington, Virginia in 2016, with the goal of using insects such as aphids to infect crops with tailor-made viruses that can delive

Meng Hongwei. IMAGE: AP French police have opened an investigation into the disappearance of the president of international police cooperation agency Interpol, after his wife reported he had gone missing after visiting his family in China last week. According to reports, Meng Hongwei’s wife contacted police in Lyon, the French city where Interpol HQ is located, after not hearing from her husband since he travelled to China on September 29. Meng was elected president of Interpol in November 2016 and his term was set to end in 2020. Previously, he held several senior positions in China including vice minister of public security, vice chairman of the national narcotics control commission and the director of the National Counter-Terrorism Office for China.