The Watch

THE WATCH staff U.S. Air Force Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, the leader of U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), said the military is “prepared to house and feed [Afghan refugees] for as long as it takes” to get them settled as part of Operation Allies Refuge. Tens of thousands of Afghans who helped U.S. forces during the war in their homeland will receive temporary housing, medical screenings and other services at military bases across the country as the first step in their new lives in the United States, VanHerck said during an August 27, 2021, Pentagon news briefing. “They’re coming here, starting over with what they bring…

THE WATCH STAFF Defense leaders from Canada and the United States said they plan to jointly invest in new technology and capabilities to make sure the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) can defend against new ballistic missile threats. “To meet our security and defense objectives, both countries must be secure within our shared North American continent. The stronger and safer we are at home, the more we are capable of engaging and acting together in the wider world, in support of a strong, rules-based international order,” Canadian Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd…

REUTERS Climate change is dangerously close to spiraling out of control, a United Nations panel said in a landmark report in late August 2021, warning that the world is already certain to face weather-related disruptions for decades, if not centuries, to come. The report has implications for homeland defenders in the United States and around the world and has been labeled an “existential threat” by U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. “Today, no nation can find lasting security without addressing the climate crisis,” Austin said during a speech at the Leaders Summit on Climate, a virtual gathering of 40 world…

THE WATCH staff Despite a recent flight test that did not meet all of its objectives, the U.S. Air Force remains optimistic that it will begin production of its new hypersonic missile by the end of fiscal year 2022. The Air Force is investigating why a rocket motor failed to ignite after the successful release of the Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) from a B-52H Stratofortress on July 28, 2021, over Point Mugu Sea Range near Southern California. (Pictured: A B-52H of the 419th Flight Test Squadron undergoes preflight procedures at Edwards Air Force Base, California, before an ARRW test…

THE WATCH staff U.S. warplanes have made history on a highway. Four A-10 Thunderbolt IIs touched down August 5, 2021, on a closed portion of Michigan State Highway M-32 as part of a training event called Thunder LZ. “This is believed to be the first time in history that modern Air Force aircraft have intentionally landed on a civilian roadway on U.S. soil,” Col. James Rossi said in a statement from the Michigan Air National Guard (MI ANG), according to The Detroit News newspaper. Two MI ANG pilots from the 127th Wing operated alongside two pilots from the U.S. Air Force’s…

THE WATCH staff The United States Coast Guard marked its 231st birthday on August 4, 2021, and celebrated the next day when it conducted the largest illegal drug offload in the service’s history. Cocaine and marijuana worth more than an estimated U.S. $1.4 billion were seized over the course of three months, the Coast Guard said. In a Coast Guard photo, the drug bundles filled most of the helicopter pad on the 418-foot-long USCGC James, whose home port is Charleston, South Carolina. “We can’t think of a better way to commemorate that birthday … than with the Cutter James crew…

REUTERS The White House is signaling to critical infrastructure companies in the United States that they must improve their cyber defenses because additional potential regulation is on the horizon. U.S. President Joe Biden signed a national security memorandum in late July 2021 that launched a new public-private initiative that creates performance controls for cybersecurity at America’s most critical companies, including water treatment and electrical power plants. The recommendations are voluntary, but the administration hopes it will cause companies to improve their cybersecurity ahead of other policy efforts, a senior administration official said. The announcement comes after multiple high-profile cyberattacks this…

REUTERS A counterterrorism organization formed by some of the biggest U.S. tech companies, including Facebook and Microsoft, is significantly expanding the types of extremist content shared between firms in a key database, aiming to crack down on material from white supremacists and far-right militias. Until now, the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism’s (GIFCT) database has focused on videos and images from terrorist groups on a United Nations list and has largely consisted of content from Islamist extremist organizations such as Islamic State, al-Qaida and the Taliban. Over the next few months, the group will add attacker manifestos — often shared by…

THE WATCH staff Building on the success of its first site survey, U.S. Special Operations Command North (SOCNORTH) recently sent another team to Alaska’s North Slope Borough (NSB). The team for the July 2021 visit was drawn from SOCNORTH (two members), the Air Force’s 621st Contingency Response Wing (two members), a Soldier from the 10th Special Forces Group — which recently implemented a new Winter Warfare Course — and a representative from the Arctic Slope Regional Corp. During their visit, team members focused on planning and logistics for next year’s Arctic Edge 22, a biennial, large-scale, joint training exercise. The team…

THE WATCH staff As the threats to the homeland become more diverse, the United States is broadening its approach to national defense. President Joe Biden, senior military leaders and Department of Defense (DOD) publications have called this principle “strategic competition,” especially in regard to the rapidly changing Arctic region and to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Biden, in February 2021 at the virtual Munich Security Conference, said of the PRC: “We must prepare together for a long-term strategic competition.” The DOD, in its fiscal year 2022 budget, said its strategic approach addresses “threats such as climate change, COVID-19 and…