I’ve rolled out an experimental monitor for Syria at syriamonitor.blogsofwar.com that streams live tweets on a few different aspects of this conflict. The monitor is designed for high-resolution widescreen displays with 1680×1050 probably being optimal. The categories are certain to change but it is currently streaming:

• Opposition Groups – Tweets about the Free Syrian Army and Syrian National Council
• Bashar al-Assad – Commentary on the President of Syria
• Homs – the Syrian city at the heart of the Syrian uprising and the site of much bloodshed
• Syria and Russia – Russia is a key supporter of the regime and an obstacle to any attempts to moderate Assad’s actions
• Syria and the UN – The United Nations producing “expressions of concern” at a furious pace
• Video – Links to videos related to, or shot in, Syria
• Photos – Tweeted photos from the uprising

There are certainly other aspects of the conflict which are not being isolated here such as Syria’s relationship with Turkey, the GCC, and other entities but this is a start and modifications will definitely occur. You can still get most of this information aggregated in the current production Syria monitor at http://syria.blogsofwar.com

Robot swarm in the battlespace may not be as far off as many think. Sure, many obstacles remain but we’re advancing at an amazing pace. Imagine these weaponized – with just enough intelligence and payload to find and kill a human target within a mile or two. The effect on battlefield tactics will be profound but it may have an even greater impact on policy. Going to war is only going to get easier – as long as the robots are on your side.

http://nasa.blogsofwar.com will be streaming live video of the launch and all related tweets. Liftoff is scheduled for 10:02am EST. This is an extremely cool mission:

“NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission is preparing to set down a large, mobile laboratory — the rover Curiosity — using precision landing technology that makes many of Mars’ most intriguing regions viable destinations for the first time. During the 23 months after landing,

Curiosity will analyze dozens of samples drilled from rocks or scooped from the ground as it explores with greater range than any previous Mars rover. Curiosity will carry the most advanced payload of scientific gear ever used on Mars’ surface, a payload more than 10 times as massive as those of earlier Mars rovers. Its assignment: Investigate whether conditions have been favorable for microbial life and for preserving clues in the rocks about possible past life.”

There’s more on the mission’s home page.

Recommended on Twitter: @MarsCuriosity – Official NASA Twitter feed for the MSL Mission.

I’ve monitored a number of noble stands against cartel corruption over the years – most of which ended in murder. What Barrett Brown and Anonymous are doing with #OpCartel feels more like grandstanding than sacrifice for the greater good and will likely trigger the same ugly response.

Mr. Brown is of course free to risk his life. That is precisely what he is rather needlessly doing with this op and silly video. My primary concern is the number of innocent people who could get caught in the Anonymous-Cartel crossfire and die as a result. Identifying a cartel member or collaborator will almost certainly trigger reprisals and cartels have this really nasty habit of including all manner of innocent family members, associates, neighbors, and bystanders in their targeted killings.

It’s difficult to have faith that Barrett Brown and the anons will release this information in any sort of responsible manner when the first acts of #OpCartel feature them blowing their OPSEC all to hell. And it’s not just their own security that they’re compromising. They have potentially endangered the personal security of innocent bystanders just by announcing their intentions in such a public and clumsy manner.

ProTip: When declaring war on some of the most dangerous, highly trained, connected, and well-funded psychopaths on the planet DON’T TELL THEM YOU’RE COMING.

Recommended on Twitter: @BarrettBrownLOL. Barrett Brown’s work has appeared in The Guardian, al-Jazeera, Vanity Fair, HuffPo, New York Press, Skeptical Inquirer, Skeptic, McSweeney’s, American Atheist, others. Unofficial Anonymous spokesman.

Related: Krypt3ia has a good, and rather blunt, post on this.

I’ve thrown together a presidential address monitor for tonight’s speech. There are live Twitter streams for Obama and reaction to his address. You can also find links to the White House and up to date unemployment data. I’m also testing out a new split screen view that will allow you to watch the speech while monitoring reaction on Twitter.

Update
The monitors created to track the Egyptian revolution were so popular that I’ve expanded the coverage significantly. You can see the new configuration here. As part of this transition I’ve standardized on a single template and do not produce the multiple versions of each monitor as described below.

Original Post
A link to the Crisis Monitor can be found at the top of every page. The primary page offers streaming tweets and Al Jazeera English video as well as links to a few other resources (video, images, aggregated news) which I tend to update as events unfold.

Blogs of War has been streaming live tweets since the protests started on the January 25th. Initially only tweets containing the #Jan25 or #Egypt hashtag were monitored but there have been several modifications and new features added to the site as the scale and importance of this event became clear. It isn’t a comprehensive resource but I think it is useful for monitoring the big picture and getting up to speed quickly.

There are two other versions of the Crisis Monitor. A smaller, stripped down, mobile version and a much larger widescreen version which includes three different feeds of streaming tweets and Al-Jazeera English.

The widescreen version of the Crisis Monitor is the type of tool I’d typically build for myself when monitoring a significant event. In fact, that’s why it was initially created. However, I decided to roll out this quick and dirty solution to Blogs of War readers, rather than keep it to myself, because the incredibly large scale and speed of this event is just too much for one person to monitor.

This model has worked pretty well and will be a regular feature (with even more improvements) on Blogs of War during significant events. If you have suggestions for new features or enhancements drop me a line.

This diverse group of hackers (black, white, and grey hats), infosec pros, security media, independent researchers, and federal types can also be found (along with a lot of other people) on the Blogs of War Cyberwar list (live tweets). Some of these folks are a bit controversial but they’re all interesting and worth a follow.

Alexsotirov – Alexander Sotirov. Independent security researcher, speaker and occasional rockstar. Famous on the Internets. Also, better than being poked with a stick. Blogger.

AttackResearch – A company devoted to the in-depth understanding of computer based attacks.

BlackHatUSA – The World’s Premier Technical Security Conference.

Bobgourley – A CTO. Also find me @CTOvision and @CTOlist. National Security, Cyber Security and Enterprise IT are key topics of interest.

BreakingPoint – A cybersecurity company, pioneered the Cyber Tomography Machine to measure the performance, stability, and security of network infrastructure.

Carnal0wnage – Chris Gates also blogs.

CiscoSecurity – Security * technology * events * news * humor * Cisco!

Citizenlab – Research and development at the intersection of cyberspace, global security, and human rights; at Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto, Canada.

CyberSecure – DC-based cyber security advocacy and analysis group. Providing the latest news and insightful commentary from around the web.

Cyberwar – Richard Stiennon. Security industry analyst reporting on cyber defence and author of Surviving Cyberwar. Also tweets at Stiennon and Blogs at http://threatchaos.com/.

Cyberwar_geek – IT professional by accident, geek by nature. Grad Student in IA and military buff/asymmetrical warfare hobbyist. Christ Follower.

Danchodanchev – Independent Cyber Threats Analyst, OSINT/Cyber CI Analyst, ZDNet.com Blogger, also blogs here. Currently missing – reportedly institutionalized. More on this bizarre story here.

Danphilpott – Dan Philpott. Federal Cybersecurity, Information Assurance & Cloud policy and practice. Improving the art of state info security through state of the art info security.

DCgov – Patrick Thibodeau. DC reporter at Computerworld and blogger at DCBlogs.com.

Evgenymorozov – Evgeny Morozov. Author of The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom.

GovInfoSecurity – Eric Chabrow is executive editor of GovInfoSecurity.com.

IBMFedCyber – Chris Ensey. Principal Security Strategist for IBM Federal.

Iiamit – Iftach Ian Amit. Father, husband, hacker, executive and general trouble maker/seeker/solver.

InfosecurityMag – Infosecurity is the only magazine dedicated to the strategy and technique of information security, delivering critical business and technical information for IT.

InfowarMonitor – The Information Warfare Monitor is a joint project of The SecDev Group and the Citizen Lab, an interdisciplinary laboratory based at the University of Toronto.

ISDpodcast – Your daily source of Pwnage, Policy and Politics in the InfoSec community.

Jeffreycarr – author, ‘inside Cyber Warfare’ (O’Reilly Media 2009)

Kaspersky – Leading developer of Internet threat management solutions that protect against all forms of malicious software.

Keitheobrien – Cisco Distinguished Systems Engineer. Blogger.

Kevinmitnick – Kevin Mitnick. Computer Security Consultant, Public Speaker.

Kpoulsen – Kevin Poulsen is a senior editor at Wired.com and editor of the award-winning blog Threat Level.

Krypt3ia – Ethical hacker and photographer, blogger.

Mikko H. Hypponen – CRO at F-Secure.

MBenLakhoua – Mourad Ben Lakhoua. In Tunisia. Blogger.

Panda_Security – One of the world’s leading creators and developers of technologies, products and services for keeping clients malware free.

Paperghost- Chris Boyd. Threat Researcher, GFI Software (formerly Sunbelt Software). Research includes Ad/Spy/malware, IM, P2P, phishing, console hax & more.

Regsecurity – The Register Security News

Rjacksix – Robin Jackson of http://dc406.com

Robertvamosi – Writes about hackers and those who watch the hacker community.

SCMagazine – Our mission is to provide IT security professionals with in-depth and unbiased information in one incomparable publication.

SecurityWeek – Internet and Enterprise Security News, Insights and Analysis, By the Industry, For the Industry.

Taosecurity – Richard Bejtlich. Director of Incident Response for General Electric. TaoSecurity blogger. Author. Black Hat instructor.

Th3j35t3r – Hacktivist for good. Obstructing the lines of communication for terrorists, sympathizers, fixers, facilitators, oppressive regimes and other general bad guys.

Thedarktangent – Jeff Moss, also known as The Dark Tangent, is the founder of the Black Hat and DEF CON computer hacker conferences.

ThisIsHNN – Hacker News Network.

Threatpost – Threatpost is the first stop for fast-breaking security news, conversations and analysis from around the world.

WeldPond – Chris Wysopal. Software security dude, former L0pht researcher.

Zecurion – Data Protection Company, Treats Internal Threats: Encrypt. Block. Control.

I’m not doing a page-by-page analysis but I’ll point you to three excellent posts:

Al Malahem’s Inspire 4: Crusades Rhetoric and Tactical Updates In A Feedback Loop by @crabbyolbastard

and

al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s al-Malahem Media releases Inspire Magazine Issue #4 by @Azelin

and

Awlaki Breaks Silence In New Issue Of Inspire, Builds Links To History Of Jihad by @IntelWire

There are a few interesting things to note about this issue. First, the production quality has improved significantly. This is looking less like your office newsletter and more like a professionally produced print publication every day. This is especially interesting when contrasted with the extremely limited thinking evident in their discussions about “Open Source Jihad”. In short, the strategic masterminds behind some of this content have more experience making things look FABULOUS than they do killing people. I’m reminded of this for some reason:

Now, I’m not minimizing the long-term threat of their approach here. There is reason for concern. I just continue to think that they are, thankfully, executing poorly. Declaring man will set foot on the moon is a visionary idea. Looking for the best horse to take him there is poor execution of that idea. This is the current state of open source Jihad.

There is another significant development in this issue that others have touched on but that I don’t want to elaborate on here. I will say that I will not be surprised if, eventually, elements of this production team are discovered and authorities (or perhaps some independent ethical hackers) credit this issue with the breakthrough.

Download: Inspire 4 (PDF)

Here is another highly recommended group pulled from my “Following” list. Like the last set of recommendations, this pool represents a diversity of opinions. If you want your worldview reinforced with every passing tweet (and a lot of people do) some of these folks are guaranteed to rub you the wrong way. Even so, they’re all quality feeds which are guaranteed to keep you informed and thinking.

Abuaardvark – Marc Lynch. Blogger at Foreign Policy. Marc is an associate professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, where he is the director of the Institute for Middle East Studies. He is also a non-resident senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

Abumuqawama – Andrew Exum. Abu Muqawama is a blog dedicated to following issues related to contemporary insurgencies as well as counterinsurgency tactics and strategy. Abu Muqawama aims to be a resource for students, counterinsurgents, academics, and the general public.

AfpakChannel – Katherine Tiedemann. Tweeting analysis of the news about all things AfPak from her perch at the New America Foundation and Foreign Policy.

Alert5 – Military news from around the world. Blogs at Alert5. Actively covering the J-20 story out of China.

AlexLobov – Alexander Lobov. Melburnian. Financial journalist. Blogger. Asian financial markets. Middle Eastern politics. Afghanistan & Pakistan. Good food & coffee.

Azelin – Aaron Y. Zelin. Research Assistant, Department of Politics, Brandeis University. Blogs at Jihadology.

BlakeHounshell – Blake Hounshell. Managing Editor of Foreign Policy magazine.

DianaWueger – Blogs about defense policy and military and intelligence issues at Gunpowder and Lead.

Don_Reuters – Don Pessin. Reuters TV news producer based out of Washington, D.C..

InkSptsGulliver – Ink Spots is a blog dedicated to the discussion of security issues across the spectrum of conflict & around the world. I’m a cog in the mil-industrial machine.

IntlJurist – The International Jurist is a blog offering perspectives and opinions on the current state of international law and its future.

IsdPodcast – Your daily source of Pwnage, Policy and Politics in the InfoSec community.

JimmySky – James Skylar Gerrond. Military Technology Assessment, Info Nerd, Foreign Policy, Counter Insurgency, Law Enforcement and novice Social Engineer.

JoshMull – Afghanistan Blogging Fellow for @bravenewfound/@firedoglake Project Coordinator at @SmallWorldNews Contributor to @EnduringAmerica and @Polizeros

Laurenist – if nothing else, always stand for equality and human rights (and misha collins). Blogs about “about international development, advocacy, and taking over the world” at Lauren(ist).

Max_Fisher – Max Fisher writes primarily about foreign affairs and national security. He previously produced the Atlantic’s Food Channel and has written for The New Republic and Conde Nast Traveler. Follow him on Twitter.

Noonanjo – John Noonan. Policy Advisor with @ForeignPolicyI, writer for The Weekly Standard, ICBM expat.

Ndubaz – Nicholas Dubaz. US Army Civil Affairs Officer. From New Orleans. Afghanistan vet. Interests: Conflict, development/aid, languages, classical music & travel.

Rory_Medcalf – Foreign affairs and security analyst, Asia specialist, India watcher, ex-diplomat, journalist, intelligence analyst. Program director at Lowy Institute, Sydney.

Starbuck_WOI – Crispin J. Burke. Blogs at Wings Over Iraq

Stavridisj – Admiral James Stavridis Supreme Allied Commander and Commander, US European Command.

SultanAlQassemi – Sultan Al Qassemi. Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi is a columnist for The National & Emarat Alyoum & founder of the @BarjeelArt Foundation. Tweets about the Arabian Gulf and blogs at Felix Arabia.

TheMoorNextDoor – Quid novi ex Africa? North Africa, foreign policy & American Muslim issues. Blogs at The Moor Next Door.

Weddady – Mauritanian activist, focused on civil rights in the Mideast and North Africa. Great updates on the situation in Tunisia. Blogs at Dekhnstan.

WhiteCanvasGrp – Creativity Unrestricted = innovation + technical acumen + academic scholarship.

Xrauscher_ – Xavier Rauscher. Passionate about international law, comparative law and international affairs. Blogger. Currently a legal intern at the Coalition for the ICC in The Hague.

As predicted, and promised, better quality video is already available and posted here. I’m sure that within a few weeks we’ll have HD chase plane footage set to a Metallica soundtrack. When it drops, I’ll post it here.

Thanks again to Kursed for the tip.

The quality is quite bad. Really, you’d think someone bothering with all this could manage to hold a camera steady for 30 seconds but…

I expect more video (of higher quality) will be available in the coming days and I’ll share as it becomes available. For now this still photo offers the best proof that testing is underway.

Thanks to Kursed for the tip.

Forums, Twitter, and blogs are have been buzzing over this “new” Chinese jet for days. The quality of the jet is uncertain but props to the Chinese for excellent execution of a stealth marketing campaign – complete with the sort of grainy spy shots usually reserved for car launches.

I’ve rounded up some resources for those of you who want to keep tabs on this but first a couple of questions:

Raymond Pritchett believes that this news raises interesting (but likely to go unanswered) questions about our understanding of Chinese military development:

In less than one week we have:

1. Confirmation new PLAN aircraft carrier is under construction
2. PACOM confirming DF-21D is now at IOC.
3. 4/5 Generation Stealth technology demonstrators on the runway

All of which is either well ahead of projected schedules or was never before thought to exist, at least publicly? Perhaps it is time the Secretary of Defense answers a few tough questions, like why the DoD appears to be caught with their pants around their ankles when it comes to major PLA developments.

There’s plenty of OSINT on the J-20. It has been the subject of speculation on forums and blogs for years so it’s unlikely that anyone was caught off-guard by this one. Well, let’s hope not anyway. What do we know beyond OSINT? I’d like to know but that’s the unanswerable question. Still, the concern is valid and shared by many.

More important, perhaps, is the question of Chinese espionage. Debate over whether penetration of U.S. Defense contractors assisted China with the development of the J-20 seem almost unnecessary. Chinese determination, Russian engineering assistance and lazy American security practices are a pretty potent combination. China will continue to close gaps and will do so with increasing efficiency as long as this dynamic exists.

What about the military significance of this jet? As a near term military threat to the United States it doesn’t mean much. Deploying these as a viable platform on a large scale just isn’t in the cards and won’t be for quite some time. Building the airframe, even a fairly complex one, is only the first and easiest step. Additional hardware capabilities have to be developed, systems integration is highly complex, massive logistical issues have to be sorted out for production to occur on a large scale, and then there’s actual deployment. Let’s not forget that you need highly skilled personnel to support and man these things in battle.

There is no doubt that China is capable of closing the gap, even innovating, but by the time they get these issues sorted out (another 20-30 years or so at best) I expect the game will have changed considerably. That sort of dominance probably isn’t even the primary motivation at the moment as RIA Novosti military commentator Ilya Kramnik points out:

Given its traditional policy of aircraft manufacturing, China will most likely create a functional analogue of foreign-made 5G planes that will cost 50% to 80% less than Russian and U.S. models. China will most likely sell the plane in Central Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Southeast Asia, as well as to the richest African countries.

The export models of the J-20 and the planes of that series made for the Chinese Air Force will have foreign, including Russian, equipment and weapons. Moreover, in the next 20 to 30 years China will have to continue to import modern aircraft technology. Despite the strides made by China’s aircraft designers in the last 20 years, China has only slightly narrowed the technological gap dividing it from the global leaders.

So the J-20 has nice lines, will integrate a lot of outdated hardware, and will be obtainable by any petty dictator with a few extra dollars in the bank. It’s looking more like a Volkswagen Jetta than a game changer.

As promised, here are a few resources:

Forum Threads:
AsiaWind
SinoDefenseForum
MilitaryPhotos.net
Defense Forum of India
The Aviation Forum
Tiexue.net

Blogs:
Top81 – Chinese Military Aviation (Scroll to the bottom for tech specs)
China Defense (possible cockpit mockup)
Information Dissemination
War is Boring
The DEW Line

Twitter:
The #J20 Hashtag
Kursed
TheDEWLine
Galrahn
and of course BlogsofWar

That’s a difficult question to answer. I typically follow back those who follow me but I am always seeking new sources and interesting people to follow. I actively seek out subject matter experts regardless of their viewpoint and follow several people I disagree with on one or more issues. I have no interest in monitoring a stream that only reinforces my opinions. I use Twitter to learn more about these topics and to share that knowledge with others.

2. Why has Blogs of War added me to a list?

I have several lists. Some are public, some private. If I’ve added you it’s because you are geographically relevant to the topic, a subject matter expert, or comment frequently on the issue. If you think that you should be removed from a list let me know and I will be happy to take a look.

3. Why does Blogs of War have an Islam list?

Muslims are increasingly important demographic and are extremely relevant to the war on terror for obvious reasons. I do not consider this to be an enemies list. Rather, I use it as a window into this important (and wildly diverse) population.

4. Why did you just retweet THAT?

I retweet comments or links that are interesting – usually because I agree with them but sometimes not. I don’t always append my opinion to the retweet and this confuses some people. I offer the content up because it’s interesting and don’t always feel the need to force my opinion on my followers. My goal is to inform – not persuade.

5. I don’t agree with anything Blogs of War says. In fact, I’m a tofu eating anti-war pansy. Why are you following me?

Because you’ve probably said at least one thing that I found interesting. I may not generally agree with you either. In fact, I may be following you precisely because I don’t agree with your stance on one or more issues. I may even think that you’re a complete asshat but you can take solace in the fact that you’re probably an interesting or relevant asshat. I’m not looking for ideological conformity in my feed. I just want to learn something. Oh, I like tofu too. My girlfriend is Chinese. We eat tofu all the time – usually with pork.

6. I don’t like Blogs of War so will you please unfollow me?

Feel free to block me but please don’t ask me to actively participate in your stupidity.

7. What is the Blogs of War Watchlist?

This is a fairly large and diverse group but most of them have been added because the tweet consistently relevant content.

8. How do I contact you outside of Twitter?

Use the contact form on Blogs of War.

9. Who are you?

There’s an about page too. There’s not much on it but then there isn’t much you need to know. Blogs of War isn’t a self-promotion tool for me. I do take occasional interview requests (use the contact form or Twitter) but decline many as well. I won’t bite if you ask.

10. Will you connect with me on Linkedin or Facebook?

Maybe. Feel free to ask. In rare cases I may send people in my circle a request as well. This isn’t something that I do frequently so don’t be offended, or take it personally, if I decline.

11. How do I become a source for Blogs of War or get added to a list?

I’m constantly looking for new sources so just let me know that you’re out there – and why you think I should be watching.

Follow them at @SenJohnMcCain and @Sn00ki – if you have a strong stomach. For what it’s worth @Sn00ki is the more conservative of the two.

If you’re an iPad owner you’re probably already reading Blogs of War this way. If you’re not using FlipBoard do yourself a favor and download it from the App Store right away. It’s free and its magazine on the fly approach to displaying feeds is amazing. The experience is so enjoyable I find myself using it to review my posts at the end of each day.

The U.S. armed services are issuing internal messages to all personnel barring them from visiting the WikiLeaks website, which recently posted 77,000 classified diplomatic and military messages on the long war in Afghanistan.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman confirmed Thursday for The Washington Times that all four services “have put out such messages” after The Times had obtained copies of Navy and Marine Corps messages banning troops from accessing WikiLeaks.

Mr. Whitman later told The Times that the Army and Air Force had not yet issued such statements.

I certainly wouldn’t want my IP address showing up in their logs if I had a security clearance.

Lieutenant General William Lord, the United States Air Force’s Chief Information Officer, provides insight on the significant changes occurring in Air Force Cyberspace career fields. The video also summarizes the Air Force’s proud heritage of adapting to new missions brought on by technological change and its readiness to tackle future challenges. Learn more about SAF/CIO A6 at http://www.safxc.af.mil/

Wikileaks is an especially powerful concept that resonates with the especially naive but this project subverts democratic institutions, ignores the rule of law, and exposes heroic sources to imprisonment, torture, even death. If Americans want greater transparency, or other policy changes, they have democratic processes at their disposal. Creating that change, through those processes, is the only legitimate way for Wikileaks supporters and free culture types to achieve their goals.

Apply these tools to people who have no absolutely voice, no recourse, no hope and you might have a leg to stand on but no rational person can argue that U.S. citizens fit that profile. As it stands now these people are enemies of this state, enemies of legitimate freedom, and enemies of democracy.

The Daily Mail covered the rollout:

Almost invisible to ground radar, it is designed to travel at high jet speeds and cover massive distances between continents.

The plane is built to carry out intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance on enemy territory using onboard sensors.

And it has been designed to carry a cache of weapons – including bombs and missiles -, giving it a potential long-range strike capability.

It can be controlled from anywhere in the world with satellite communications.

Experts say the cutting-edge design is at the forefront of world technology and as advanced as any US development.

BAE has a helpful FAQ here and video of the rollout.

JimCantore – The Weather Channel
portisabeltexas – 3 mi. from South Padre
abramsandbettes – Stephanie Abrams and Mike Bettes from TWC
CycloneOz – Hurricane Chase Brian Osburn
elozano – On South Padre Island
KVEO – KVEO is the Rio Grande Valley’s NBC affiliate.
ExtremeStorms – Extreme Weather cameraman in S. Padre
cnnfiegel – CNN producer on South Padre Island
Pro8News – Laredo, Texas
krgv – The Rio Grande Valley’s award-winning ABC-affiliate
kgbt – KGBT Action 4 News for the Rio Grande Valley
southpadrelive – JW Wilson
JulianCablancas – Brownsville,TX
CityofMcAllen – Official twitter of the City of McAllen, TX
BrownsvilleNews – Brownsville, Tx
SPadre_Island- Severe weather alerts for South Padre Island

Also Worth Watching:
TWCBreaking – Breaking weather news feed of The Weather Channel
TrackHurricanes – Tracking Hurricane Information and Reports

Common Hashtags
#HurricaneAlex
#Hurricane
#Alex

If you’re aware of other folks worth following let me know and I’ll add them to the list.

Here you will find news, commentary, and reflection on important events throughout the CENTCOM area of responsibility, from Egypt in the West to Pakistan in the East, and from Kazakhstan in the North to Yemen and the waters off Somalia to the South. Of course, we will also provide extensive coverage of our ongoing operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and the work of our troopers deployed overseas.

As CENTCOM Commander, I look forward to lending my thoughts and perspective to the discussion on events in this vital region. I also look forward to reading contributions from leaders in the field, subject matter experts, regional scholars, and troopers. If you are reading this, consider yourself a member of CENTCOM’s online family. This blog is for you, and we hope you will take a moment to join the conversation.

We look forward to hearing from you.

The blog is a good thing but it is very poorly integrated with centcom.mil. It’s also kind of surprising that they chose to launch it nearly devoid of content. The initial post by the general was posted on the 16th and it’s the only content on the site. I would have suggested launching with a full range of categories and content (20-30 posts at least) to give people a feel for what the editorial team has to offer – and a reason to come back. The first impression here is – well, there isn’t one.

It would appear that they have the tools but the strategy is lacking. I hope more content is around the corner but my experience is that blogs that launch poorly tend to fade quickly.

Asked on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday whether he was trying to “seize control or shut down” the Internet, Lieberman answered “no way” and added that “the government should never take over the Internet.”

Lieberman said the Internet was “constantly being probed by other countries for weaknesses and that “we need the capacity for the president to say to an Internet service provider, ‘We’ve got to disconnect the American Internet from all traffic coming in from this country.’”

He cited China, which has long been criticized for its Internet censorship, as an example. “Right now, China can disconnect parts of its Internet in times of war. We need to be able to do that too.”

China’s infrastructure and policies were put in place to manage and control public opinion, stifle free speech, block the flow of information, and identify critics for punishment. Citing China as an example is probably not the best way to address the concerns of your “misinformed” critics Joe.

Anyway, I suggest reading through the bill and supporting material:

Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act
Cyber Bill Supporter Quotes
Cyber Legislation Section by Section
Cyber Bill One Page Summary

Official Navy iPhone/iPod Touch application providing information about important quality of life resources for Navy personnel, retirees and their families. Created by Commander, Navy Installations Command’s Fleet and Family Readiness (FFR) professionals. Endorsed by the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy.

Key Features:

* Majority of information available in offline mode
* Additional multimedia content available via Internet connection
* Official Navy news feeds, regional events and announcements
* Connect to Facebook pages for MCPON, FFSP and FFR
* Push notifications for emergency response, events and announcements
* Connect to Navy Gateway Inns and Suites
* Sea Legs – a handbook for Navy spouses
* Food and beverage listings by installation
* Access golf course listings
* Navy entertainment schedule

Download it now.

Sadly servicemembers stationed in a warzone often miss once in a lifetime moments, but with the advancement of technology and free services such as Skype Soldiers are finally able to join their ones for the moments that matter most. staff Sgt. Kirk Bell tells us more.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and why they’re so valuable to the war on terror.

U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Robert Radin, deputy G-4, and Lt. Col. Tony Sanchez, product manager for the Defense Wide Transmission Systems, discuss the benefits of the Very Small Aperture Terminal.

In announcing its withdrawal, Northrop said that the government’s requirements did not recognize the value of the larger refueling platform it had proposed and instead favored Boeing’s proposal to build a smaller tanker using a prototype of its 767 aircraft.

Wes Bush, chief executive of Los Angeles-based Northrop, said that under those conditions, it no longer made financial sense to stay in the competition.

“We have a fiduciary responsibility to our shareholders to prudently invest our corporate resources,” he said. “Investing further resources to submit a bid would not be acting responsibly.”

Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn said in a statement that the Pentagon was “disappointed” that Northrop had pulled out of the competition, noting that it “competed well on both price” and other factors. “We strongly believe that the current competition is structured fairly and that both companies could compete effectively,” Lynn said.

Wes Bush has indicated that the company will walk away – without protest:

“After a comprehensive analysis of the final RFP, Northrop Grumman has determined that it will not submit a bid to the Department of Defense for the KC-X program. We reached this conclusion based on the structure of the source selection methodology defined in the RFP, which clearly favors Boeing’s smaller refueling tanker and does not provide adequate value recognition of the added capability of a larger tanker, precluding us from any competitive opportunity.

“Northrop Grumman fully respects the Department’s responsibility to determine the military requirements for the new tanker. In the previous competition, Northrop Grumman was selected by the Air Force as offering the most capable tanker for the warfighter at the best value for the taxpayer. However, the Northrop Grumman and EADS team is very disappointed that the revised source selection methodology now dramatically favors Boeing’s smaller refueling tanker. We agree that the fundamental military requirements for the new tanker have not changed since the last competition, but the Department’s new evaluation methodology now clearly favors the smaller tanker.

“We continue to believe that Northrop Grumman’s tanker represents the best value for the military and taxpayer – a belief supported by the selection of the A330 tanker design over the Boeing design in the last five consecutive tanker competitions around the globe. Regrettably, this means that the U.S. Air Force will be operating a less capable tanker than many of our Allies in this vital mission area.

“Our prior selection by the Air Force, our firm belief that we provide the best value offering, and the hard work and commitment of the many individuals and communities on our team over many years made this a difficult decision for our company. But we have a fiduciary responsibility to our shareholders to prudently invest our corporate resources, as do our more than 200 tanker team suppliers across the United States. Investing further resources to submit a bid would not be acting responsibly.

“We have decided that Northrop Grumman will not protest. While we feel we have substantial grounds to support a GAO or court ruling to overturn this revised source selection process, America’s service men and women have been forced to wait too long for new tankers. We feel a deep responsibility to their safety and to their ability to fulfill the missions our nation calls upon them to perform. Taking actions that would further delay the introduction of this urgent capability would also not be acting responsibly.

“We recognize that our decision likely creates a sole-source outcome for Boeing. We call on the Department to keep in mind the economic conclusions of the prior round of bidding as it takes actions to protect the taxpayer when defining the sole-source procurement contract. In the previous round, the Air Force, through a rigorous assessment of our proposal, determined that it would pay a unit flyaway cost of approximately $184 million per tanker for the first 68 tankers, including the non-recurring development costs. With the Department’s decision to procure a much smaller, less capable design, the taxpayer should certainly expect the bill to be much less.”

Seattle PI has a really interesting roundup of reactions from a number of impacted elected officials.

Related:
Boeing Pitches NewGen Tanker in Air Force KC-X Competition

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill recently raised some concerns about the development of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Commandant of the Marine Corps, General James Conway, assured them that it was on schedule. Sgt Todd Hunter reports from Washington.

The NewGen Tanker will be based on the Boeing 767 airframe but the flight deck will be upgraded to include the electronic options found on the the 787 Dreamliner:

ST. LOUIS, March 4, 2010 – The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] today announced that it will offer the Boeing NewGen Tanker in the competition to supply the U.S. Air Force with a multi-mission aerial refueling aircraft that will meet all the warfighter’s mission requirements for the next several decades.

Dennis Muilenburg, president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, said the Boeing NewGen Tanker will satisfy all mandatory Air Force requirements and offer an American-made tanker that will be capable, survivable, and combat-ready at the lowest cost to the taxpayer.

“Having supplied tankers to the Air Force for the past 60 years, Boeing has drawn on its unmatched aerial-refueling experience to thoroughly review and evaluate the KC-X solicitation issued by the Air Force,” Muilenburg said. “We respect and understand the KC-X requirements, and appreciate the importance of this program for the United States and its warfighters. We intend to bid for the honor to work with our Air Force customer to replace the existing fleet of KC-135 aircraft with a new-generation, multi-role tanker in a fair and transparent acquisition process.”

Boeing studied the mission requirements closely to determine the optimal airframe size that would deliver the most capability for the lowest cost to own and operate. The result was the NewGen Tanker, a widebody, multi-mission aircraft based on the proven Boeing 767 commercial aircraft, updated with the latest and most advanced technology and capable of fulfilling the Air Force’s needs for transport of fuel, cargo, passengers and patients.

The multi-mission aircraft is named NewGen because it includes several state-of-the-art systems to meet the demanding mission requirements of the future. They include:

- A digital flight deck featuring electronic displays taken directly from the most advanced commercial airliner in existence – the Boeing 787 Dreamliner – that show all flight attitude, navigation, engine indication and crew-alerting information on screens 75 percent larger than on a commercial Airbus A330.

- A new-generation fly-by-wire boom with an expanded refueling envelope and increased fuel offload rate. It will meet the Air Force requirement and simplify refueling operations to reduce workload for the aircrew and improve safety and reliability. Boeing is the only team in the KC-X competition that has invented, manufactured and delivered combat-tested aerial refueling booms.

- The Boeing NewGen Tanker will be controlled by the aircrew, which has unrestricted access to the full flight envelope for threat avoidance at any time, rather than allowing computer software to limit combat maneuverability.

The NewGen Tanker will meet all of the Air Force’s 372 requirements – including a production rate at whatever level the Air Force determines – with a low-risk approach to manufacturing that relies on existing Boeing facilities in Washington state and Kansas as well as U.S. suppliers throughout the nation, with decades of experience delivering dependable military tanker and derivative aircraft.

“The NewGen Tanker will draw on the experience and talents of an integrated U.S. Tanker Team, including the best of our Boeing defense and commercial businesses and our nationwide supplier network,” said Jim Albaugh, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “It’s a proven team and existing infrastructure that is ready to deliver these NewGen Tankers on Day One.”

More cost-effective to own and operate than the larger, heavier Airbus airplane, the Boeing NewGen Tanker will save American taxpayers more than $10 billion in fuel costs over its 40-year service life because it burns 24 percent less fuel. The Boeing NewGen Tanker program also will support substantially more jobs in the United States than an Airbus A330 tanker that is designed and largely manufactured in Europe.

Boeing has been designing, building, modifying and supporting tankers for decades. Those tankers include the KC-135 that will be replaced in the KC-X competition, and the KC-10 fleet. The company also has delivered four KC-767Js to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force and is on contract to deliver four KC-767s to the Italian Air Force. Three of the four Italian tankers are in flight test, with the fourth airplane in production.

The Air Force released its final KC-X Request for Proposal on Feb. 24. Boeing will deliver its proposal by May 10, within the 75-day period set forth in the terms of the solicitation. The Air Force is expected to announce its decision later this year.

To watch Boeing’s KC-X offering announcement video and experience an interactive virtual tour of the Boeing NewGen Tanker, visit www.UnitedStatesTanker.com. This Web site provides the latest information regarding The Boeing Company’s offer for the KC-X tanker competition.

A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is one of the world’s largest defense, space and security businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions, and the world’s largest and most versatile manufacturer of military aircraft. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is a $34 billion business with 68,000 employees worldwide.

Boeing has launched a pretty cool flash-based tour of the new tanker along with a dedicated Twitter feed.