Intel briefs
Intel briefs:
Jordan sentences militants to death
JTIC - 07-Dec-2006
JORDAN'S state security court sentenced three Syrians and an Iraqi to death on 7 December for their role in firing rockets at two US warships ...
Suicide bomber hits NATO convoy in Kandahar
JTIC - 07-Dec-2006
A SUICIDE car bomber attacked a convoy of NATO troops in the centre of the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on 7 December, Killing a ...
More than 150 rebels killed in Congo
JTIC - 07-Dec-2006
MORE than 150 rebels were killed when UN peacekeepers fought off a rebel offensive in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo last week, ...
US freezes assets allegedly linked to Hizbullah
JTIC - 07-Dec-2006
THE United States on 6 December froze the US assets of nine people and two businesses in the border area of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay ...
Captured Israeli soldiers were seriously injured
JTIC - 07-Dec-2006
TWO Israeli soldiers were seriously wounded during their capture by Lebanese Hizbullah guerrillas in July and at least one of them could now be dead, ...
Pakistan on a tribal offensive
JID - 04-Dec-2006
Pakistan's role against Al-Qaeda terrorism moved from supporting ally to co-pilot with its armed helicopter strike on a terrorist training facility, camouflaged as an Islamic...
Pakistan could give up Kashmir, says Musharraf
IWR - 04-Dec-2006
In an interview with New Delhi Television (NDTV), Musharraf outlined a four-point solution to the Kashmir problem which included: no changes in the boundaries...
Bombs shatter Assam ceasefire
JTSM - 01-Dec-2006
Recent bombings in the northeast Indian state of Assam have derailed peace talks between the central government and the rebel United Liberation Front of Assam....
*Effective anti-Qassam defence could be more than six years away
JMR - 01-Dec-2006
While few Israelis have been killed by the locally manufactured Qassam rockets fired into Israel by Palestinian militants, these rockets have had a strong impact...
Sri Lankan official escapes suicide bombing
IWR - 01-Dec-2006
While Gothabaya is unhurt, the government has blamed the rebel Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE) for the attack, which killed at least one...
Iraq insurgents unveil new rocket
JMR - 30-Nov-2006
A key Iraqi insurgent group, the Islamic Army, claims that it has built and successfully test fired a rocket with a range of 20 km...
UPI Intelligence Watch
By JOHN C.K. DALY
UPI International Correspondent
WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- The U.S. Air Force in Europe is offering a new online foreign language-training program.
Stars and Stripes reported on Dec. 3 that the response by personnel to the program has been substantial. Since Sept. 1 more than 700 personnel have signed up for free enrollment for the Rosetta Stone language courses. Among the 28 languages are Arabic, Farsi, French and Russian.
According to USAFE command librarian Melinda Mosley all available slots filled up in less than 30 days after USAFE began the program, which now has a waiting list of more than 60 people and a wait time of up to three years for new enrollees.
The program reflects an increased effort by the U.S. military to emphasize the benefits of foreign language proficiency.
On Dec. 3 Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley issued an order requiring all enlisted personnel and some officers to participate in a survey to gauge the foreign language capabilities of the U.S. Air Force, stating, "The Air Force is putting an emphasis on developing culturally and linguistically."
Rosetta Stone's Web site reported that earlier this year the U.S. Army renewed a $4.2 million contract to provide online Rosetta Stone courses to all soldiers, National Guardsmen, reservists and Army civilians across the globe.
The military contract allows soldiers with an Army Knowledge Online account to enlist for the online "immersion" program, which combines audio and visual elements rather than book-based methods to help teach a foreign language. The developers of Rosetta Stone maintain that their method reproduces the means by which people learn language as infants.
According to Mosley's office the Air Force courses with the highest enrollment numbers are German, Spanish, Italian, French and Arabic.
While the individual cost of a Rosetta Stone software package is approximately $200, the U.S. Air Force in Europe bought 400 library licenses, making the language software available to essentially all air Force personnel authorized to use a USAFE library.
-0-
The National Guard Bureau chief, Army Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, told Army and Air National Guard personnel in Deming, N.M. that chronic equipment shortages would be eased.
The American Forces Press Service reported on Dec. 4 that Blum told troops participating in "Operation Jump Start" that over the next five years, the Army National Guard would receive nearly $29 billion for equipment replacement and tha the Air National Guard is also scheduled to receive similar funding.
Blum has been persistently lobbying for increased funding to alleviate National Guard equipment shortfalls, calling the issue one of his biggest challenges given the National Guard's essential role in both combat and domestic response missions.
Three months ago during the National Guard Association's general conference Blum cautioned that while Guard troops "want for nothing in combat" they return home to a "dangerously low resourcing level" for their Stateside missions.
"Look, half the problem with this mission was getting equipment, because most of it was overseas," Blum told participants in the exercise. " ... And we didn't have that much back here to move around to you."
Blum added that congressman and Department of Defense officials now have "a very real recognition" of the need to re-equip the National Guard's worn-out equipment and are directing funding to that end.
Congress is "absolutely adamant that the Guard has to get re-equipped" and is monitoring the issue "like a hawk," Blum said, adding, "They know how important you are, day to day. The Guard is busy. We have 55,000 of us in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans, Sinai (and) the Horn of Africa, a couple of hundred of us down at Guantanamo, 6,000 of us on the southwest border this morning. It is unbelievable what the Guard is doing today. And you are part of the best Guard that this country has ever put on the ground in its 368 year history."
Russian roulette
Russian defence companies are increasingly looking to Arab states to sustain their military exports.
Beirut counts cost of war
Rafik Hariri International has repaired damage from the Israel-Hizbullah war.
UK details renewal plan for nuclear deterrent
Parliament will vote to renew the proposals to renew the UK's strategic deterrent in March 2007.
India tests anti-missile interceptor
India has conducted its first experimental interception of a ballistic missile.
Jordan sentences militants to death
JTIC - 07-Dec-2006
JORDAN'S state security court sentenced three Syrians and an Iraqi to death on 7 December for their role in firing rockets at two US warships ...
Suicide bomber hits NATO convoy in Kandahar
JTIC - 07-Dec-2006
A SUICIDE car bomber attacked a convoy of NATO troops in the centre of the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on 7 December, Killing a ...
More than 150 rebels killed in Congo
JTIC - 07-Dec-2006
MORE than 150 rebels were killed when UN peacekeepers fought off a rebel offensive in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo last week, ...
US freezes assets allegedly linked to Hizbullah
JTIC - 07-Dec-2006
THE United States on 6 December froze the US assets of nine people and two businesses in the border area of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay ...
Captured Israeli soldiers were seriously injured
JTIC - 07-Dec-2006
TWO Israeli soldiers were seriously wounded during their capture by Lebanese Hizbullah guerrillas in July and at least one of them could now be dead, ...
Pakistan on a tribal offensive
JID - 04-Dec-2006
Pakistan's role against Al-Qaeda terrorism moved from supporting ally to co-pilot with its armed helicopter strike on a terrorist training facility, camouflaged as an Islamic...
Pakistan could give up Kashmir, says Musharraf
IWR - 04-Dec-2006
In an interview with New Delhi Television (NDTV), Musharraf outlined a four-point solution to the Kashmir problem which included: no changes in the boundaries...
Bombs shatter Assam ceasefire
JTSM - 01-Dec-2006
Recent bombings in the northeast Indian state of Assam have derailed peace talks between the central government and the rebel United Liberation Front of Assam....
*Effective anti-Qassam defence could be more than six years away
JMR - 01-Dec-2006
While few Israelis have been killed by the locally manufactured Qassam rockets fired into Israel by Palestinian militants, these rockets have had a strong impact...
Sri Lankan official escapes suicide bombing
IWR - 01-Dec-2006
While Gothabaya is unhurt, the government has blamed the rebel Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE) for the attack, which killed at least one...
Iraq insurgents unveil new rocket
JMR - 30-Nov-2006
A key Iraqi insurgent group, the Islamic Army, claims that it has built and successfully test fired a rocket with a range of 20 km...
UPI Intelligence Watch
By JOHN C.K. DALY
UPI International Correspondent
WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- The U.S. Air Force in Europe is offering a new online foreign language-training program.
Stars and Stripes reported on Dec. 3 that the response by personnel to the program has been substantial. Since Sept. 1 more than 700 personnel have signed up for free enrollment for the Rosetta Stone language courses. Among the 28 languages are Arabic, Farsi, French and Russian.
According to USAFE command librarian Melinda Mosley all available slots filled up in less than 30 days after USAFE began the program, which now has a waiting list of more than 60 people and a wait time of up to three years for new enrollees.
The program reflects an increased effort by the U.S. military to emphasize the benefits of foreign language proficiency.
On Dec. 3 Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley issued an order requiring all enlisted personnel and some officers to participate in a survey to gauge the foreign language capabilities of the U.S. Air Force, stating, "The Air Force is putting an emphasis on developing culturally and linguistically."
Rosetta Stone's Web site reported that earlier this year the U.S. Army renewed a $4.2 million contract to provide online Rosetta Stone courses to all soldiers, National Guardsmen, reservists and Army civilians across the globe.
The military contract allows soldiers with an Army Knowledge Online account to enlist for the online "immersion" program, which combines audio and visual elements rather than book-based methods to help teach a foreign language. The developers of Rosetta Stone maintain that their method reproduces the means by which people learn language as infants.
According to Mosley's office the Air Force courses with the highest enrollment numbers are German, Spanish, Italian, French and Arabic.
While the individual cost of a Rosetta Stone software package is approximately $200, the U.S. Air Force in Europe bought 400 library licenses, making the language software available to essentially all air Force personnel authorized to use a USAFE library.
-0-
The National Guard Bureau chief, Army Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, told Army and Air National Guard personnel in Deming, N.M. that chronic equipment shortages would be eased.
The American Forces Press Service reported on Dec. 4 that Blum told troops participating in "Operation Jump Start" that over the next five years, the Army National Guard would receive nearly $29 billion for equipment replacement and tha the Air National Guard is also scheduled to receive similar funding.
Blum has been persistently lobbying for increased funding to alleviate National Guard equipment shortfalls, calling the issue one of his biggest challenges given the National Guard's essential role in both combat and domestic response missions.
Three months ago during the National Guard Association's general conference Blum cautioned that while Guard troops "want for nothing in combat" they return home to a "dangerously low resourcing level" for their Stateside missions.
"Look, half the problem with this mission was getting equipment, because most of it was overseas," Blum told participants in the exercise. " ... And we didn't have that much back here to move around to you."
Blum added that congressman and Department of Defense officials now have "a very real recognition" of the need to re-equip the National Guard's worn-out equipment and are directing funding to that end.
Congress is "absolutely adamant that the Guard has to get re-equipped" and is monitoring the issue "like a hawk," Blum said, adding, "They know how important you are, day to day. The Guard is busy. We have 55,000 of us in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans, Sinai (and) the Horn of Africa, a couple of hundred of us down at Guantanamo, 6,000 of us on the southwest border this morning. It is unbelievable what the Guard is doing today. And you are part of the best Guard that this country has ever put on the ground in its 368 year history."
Russian roulette
Russian defence companies are increasingly looking to Arab states to sustain their military exports.
Beirut counts cost of war
Rafik Hariri International has repaired damage from the Israel-Hizbullah war.
UK details renewal plan for nuclear deterrent
Parliament will vote to renew the proposals to renew the UK's strategic deterrent in March 2007.
India tests anti-missile interceptor
India has conducted its first experimental interception of a ballistic missile.
posted by Marko at 12/07/2006 09:28:00 AM
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