Subject: The Evening CSIS: Defense Budget, Somali Strikes, the Real Me & More
From: "Andrew Schwartz" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 07 Mar 2016 23:40:05 -0000

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 Good Evening, 

Welcome to  The Evening CSIS —my daily guide to key insights CSIS brings to the events of the day plus HIGHLY RECOMMENDED content from around the world. If you want to view this in your browser, click here [ http://CSIS.informz.net/InformzDataService/OnlineVersion/Individual?mailingInstanceId=5412819&subscriberId=1062005454 ] . To subscribe, please send me an email at [email-masked] [ mailto:[email-masked] ] .

 Defense Budget Cuts? 

A majority of American voters would trim defense spending by $12 billion, according to a new poll from a University of Maryland initiative, as the  Hill ’s Christina Wong reports [ http://cs.is/1QGWVwC ] .

And, as IHS Jane’s  Defense Weekly ’s Daniel Wasserbly reports [ http://www.janes.com/article/58589/pentagon-budget-2017-evolving-power-projection-concepts-shaped-dod-s-request ] , today’s CSIS event on the DoD budget provided insight into how leaders of the Defense Department conducted a strategic review of the “power projection portfolio,” which includes platforms for deterring adversaries and potential adversaries.

 Dive Deeper:  CSIS’s International Security Program today launched a survey [ https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HHNKKG2 ]  to gauge opinion on the main contemporary problems facing the defense establishment. The survey will remain open through 11:59 p.m. Friday, March 11. The survey is anonymous.

Plus, today’s event, “The FY2017 Defense Budget and Strategic Outlook” can be viewed On Demand. [ http://csis.org/event/fy2017-defense-budget-and-strategic-outlook ] 

And, for additional information regarding defense reform initiatives, please visit the CSIS Defense360 micro website [ http://defense360.csis.org ]  and commentary series by CSIS’s John Hamre.

 US Strikes in Somalia
 US airstrikes hit a Shabab training camp today, 120 miles north of Mogadishu. According to US officials, the strikes came as the al Qaeda affiliate was conducting a graduation ceremony for its fighters. The  New York Times ’ Helene Cooper has the story. [ http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/08/world/africa/us-airstrikes-somalia.html ] 

 Dive deeper:  START has a quick primer [ https://www.start.umd.edu/baad/narratives/al-shabaab ]  on who Shabab are and their history.

The BBC also have a graphic-rich explainer [ http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-15336689 ]  on the group and its actions.

 US and South Korea Drills
 The US and South Korea started their major joint military exercises yesterday, which include rehearsing strikes on North Korea’s nuclear facilities and “decapitation raids,” as the  Washington Post ’s Anna Fifield reports [ https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/in-drills-us-south-korea-practice-striking-norths-nuclear-plants/2016/03/06/46e6019d-5f04-4277-9b41-e02fc1c2e801_story.html ] .

 Dive Deeper:  CSIS Senior Adviser and Korea Chair Victor Cha assesses whether North Korea’s rhetoric condemning the exercises leads to any real action by the DPRK in a just-published Korea Chair Snapshot/em. [ https://csis.org/publication/how-serious-are-north-koreas-pre-emptive-attack-threats ] 

 In that Number
  17,000 
The US and South Korea began one of their annual large-scale joint military exercises, which involves 17,000 American troops. The drills test the allies’ ability to respond to North Korean attacks on the Korean peninsula.
Source:  New York Times [ http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/07/world/asia/north-korea-threatens-nuclear-attack-as-us-and-south-korea-begin-drills.html?em_pos=large&emc=edit_nn_20160307&nl=morning-briefing&nlid=70741727&_r=0 ]  .

 Critical Quote
 “But the reality is if you compare the sanctioning of North Korea to date with that against Iran, the sanctions on Iran were exponentially much more comprehensive.”
—Victor Cha, CSIS Korea Chair, on the UN’s recent strengthening of sanctions against North Korea.
Source: CNBC [ http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/03/inside-the-push-to-stop-kim-jong-uns-nuclear-ambitions.html ] .

 One to Watch 

 

 

( Photo Credit: The Atlantic. )
Marina Koren (@marinakoren [ https://twitter.com/marinakoren ] ) is a senior associate editor at the  Atlantic  and co-authors  The Atlantic Daily . Marina previously served as a news editor and staff correspondent at the  National Journal . For the latest foreign policy news and for a daily news roundup, Marina is one to watch.

 Optics
 Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Central Asia Daniel Rosenblum recorded a quick video preview [ https://twitter.com/State_SCA/status/706965659423531008 ]  of what to expect at tomorrow’s Strategic Partnership Dialogue with Kazakhstan.

 Highly Recommended
 The  New York Times ’ Michael Gordon today reported on excerpts [ http://cs.is/1pbdXwn ]  from the forthcoming book,  The Envoy , by Zalmay Khalilzad, former US ambassador to the UN, Afghanistan, and Iraq, in “U.S. Conferred With Iran Before Iraq Invasion, Book Says.”

CSIS trustee Bob Schieffer will host the CSIS Schieffer Series with Ambassador Khalilzad to discuss  The Envoy  on March 31. This will be Ambassador Khalilzad’s first Washington book event. More details later.

 CSIS Today
 Today, the CSIS International Security Program hosted a half-day Defense360 [ http://defense360.csis.org ]  conference on the recently released FY2017 defense budget request and strategic priorities. Catch the insightful discussion here [ http://csis.org/event/fy2017-defense-budget-and-strategic-outlook ] .

 This Town Tomorrow
 As President Obama prepares to welcome Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada for a state visit, join POLITICO and CABC for cocktails and a series of high-level conversations on North American leadership in the global economy, energy, security, and the refugee crisis. For more information and to register, click here. [ http://www.politico.com/events/2016/03/a-new-agenda-canada-and-the-us-in-the-world-219209 ] 

 CSIS on Demand
 Last week, the CSIS Transnational Threats Project hosted Gregory Treverton [ http://csis.org/event/strategic-intelligence-view-national-intelligence-council-nic ] , chairman of the National Intelligence Council, on the NIC and its connection to policy, focusing on the organization’s key challenge: how to balance the rush of immediate support to policy—especially the two main policy bodies in the U.S. government, the Deputies Committee and the Principals Committee—with analysis that seeks to put immediate issues in a wider context of substance or time.

 Sounds
 NPR’s  All Things Considered  takes a look [ http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/03/07/468589425/as-migrants-flow-in-sweden-begins-to-rethink-its-open-door-policy ]  at the latest on the EU migration crisis—as migrants continue to flow in, Sweden is beginning to rethink its open-door policy.

 I Like It Like That 
 Eye-catching things in CSIS's orbit 

The BBC took a look inside Medium [ http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35709680 ] , which offers a platform for long-form articles and space for civil discourse.

 Smiles
 The Who are currently on their 50th anniversary tour. This is a band that has blazed a pioneering trail and their 50th tour is not a mere novelty.

My friend Parker Simes’ brother, the Grammy nominated multi-instrumentalist Frank Simes is The Who’s music director. 

Frank Simes (who has recorded with everyone who matters) has assembled and is part of a Who touring band that blows minds and amplifiers with the best of them. But more about the Who’s current band tomorrow. Tonight Parker (who is based in Tokyo) is in Boston to see the show, so I will wait a day to talk about the current Who lineup.

After all, there is so much to discuss about The Who and we can’t cover it all in a week or even a year. For that, I would recommend reading Pete Townshend’s autobiography.

So, let’s just smile with the band and watch one of The Who’s greatest performances ever caught on film—“The Real Me” [ http://cs.is/24MJyVe ]  from a 1979 show at London’s Hammersmith Odeon.

 Feedback
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