FEINSTEIN SOLD MILITARY SECRETS TO S. KOREA

Tuesday, October 29, 2013 <http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5256a08dc16bcfa46f76bda5171w6.wny/UmhgjOYQlF_UOIq5B6b0f x 60&utm_content=obama&utm_campaign=RD_web_Oct2> Is South Korea stealing American military secrets? Ike Skelton is dead at 81; NSA on Feinstein: “We’re really screwed now;” Asia series launches; Liposuction for the troops?; and a bit more. By Gordon Lubold Exclusive: Is trusted ally South Korea stealing American military secrets? Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel watched a live-fire exercise in South Korea last month in which American and Korean tanks operated side-by-side in a display of military might between two trusted partners fond of describing their relationship as a "blood alliance." But just beneath that relationship's surface is a growing unease. South Korea, one of America's strongest partners in East Asia, is aggressively targeting U.S. advanced technology for its own use in a variety of Korean weapons programs, Situation Report has learned. From anti-ship missiles, electronic warfare equipment, torpedoes, a multiple-launch rocket system, and even components on a Korean-made Aegis destroyer, the United States is concerned about the uncanny resemblance those systems bear to American weaponry. Even the tanks Hagel watched on the range that day may be partial knock-offs: The Korean models have fire control systems that appear to be all-but-identical to the American versions. Though the United States long has had systems in place to monitor technology-sharing with allies, the case with South Korea has become particularly acute in the last few years. As the United States pivots East and Asia's once sleepy defense industries begin to awaken, it has quietly begun to scrutinize its technology-sharing relationships with such allies, conducting secret but robust "dialogues" to ensure that American secrets stay that way. "We need people to have good capabilities," said Beth McCormick, the head of the Pentagon's Defense Technology Security Administration, or DTSA, in an interview in her office a few miles from the Pentagon. "But at the same time, when we provide that technology, the United States has the perspective that we want to make sure that it is used for the purpose for which we provide it." McCormick would not discuss any specific platforms on which DTSA is applying additional scrutiny, saying only that the United States is in a robust "dialogue" with Korea and must ensure that the technologies it shares, even with trusted allies, are properly safeguarded. "We really want to have an advanced dialogue with Korea because we saw the fact that Korea has definitely made it very clear that they want to have a bigger, indigenous defense industry," McCormick said. Read the rest of our story here. <http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5256a08dc16bcfa46f76bda5171w6.wny/Um-xiOYQzLbRs6WOC319b> Read below for a new series on the Asia Pivot with Randy Forbes. Welcome to Tuesday's edition of Situation Report. Sign up for Situation Report here <http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5256a08dc16bcfa46f76bda5171w6.wny/Umfma-YQjTjXMee6Cbe9c> or just e-mail us at gordon.lubold@foreignpolicy.com <mailto:gordon.lubold@foreignpolicy.com> and we'll stick you on. And if you have a report you want teased, a piece of news, or a good tidbit, send it to us early for maximum tease, because if you see something, say something -- to Situation Report. That and please follow us @glubold on the Tweeter machine. "We're really screwed now." That's what someone from the NSA told FP after Sen. Dianne Feinstein flipped and came out against spying on foreign leaders and called for a review: FP's Shane Harris and John Hudson, with an assist from Matthew Aid and us: "One of the National Security Agency's biggest defenders in Congress is suddenly at odds with the agency and calling for a top-to-bottom review of U.S. spy programs. And her long-time friends and allies are completely mystified by the switch. 'We're really screwed now,' one NSA official told FP. 'You know things are bad when the few friends you've got disappear without a trace in the dead of night and leave no forwarding address.' In a pointed statement issued today, Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Dianne Feinstein said she was 'totally opposed' to gathering intelligence on foreign leaders and said it was 'a big problem' if President Obama didn't know the NSA was monitoring the phone calls of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. She said the United States should only be spying on foreign leaders with hostile countries, or in an emergency, and even then the president should personally approve the surveillance. It was not clear what precipitated Feinstein's condemnation of the NSA. It marks a significant reversal for a lawmaker who not only defended agency surveillance programs -- but is about to introduce a bill expected to protect some of its most controversial activities." The rest of the story here. <http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5256a08dc16bcfa46f76bda5171w6.wny/Um-xiOYQzLbRs6WPC488c> Bonus: Dennis C. Blair, Mr. Obama's first director of national intelligence to the NYT today: "in our intelligence relationship with countries like France and Germany, 90 to 95 percent of our activity is cooperative and sharing, and a small proportion is about gaining intelligence we can't obtain in other ways." And, he said, he had little patience for the complaints of foreign leaders. Blair: "If any foreign leader is talking on a cellphone or communicating on unclassified email, what the U.S. might learn is the least of their problems." Here's the Der Spiegel story about how the NSA spied on Merkel's cell phone, one of a couple different versions of how it went down. Read it here. <http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5256a08dc16bcfa46f76bda5171w6.wny/Um-xiOYQzLbRs6WQC5b8c> Today at AEI, Rep. Randy Forbes announces a new "Asia series" that aims to make sure the "Asia pivot" stays on the map. The Virginia Republican will announce this morning a bipartisan effort to educate Congress and the public about the security dynamics in the Asia Pacific region and identify the budget shortfalls that threaten to undermine the "rebalancing" there. In so doing, it will force the administration's hand to put as much substance as possible behind the rebalancing to Asia. The series will include hearings, briefings and other events that for Forbes and like-minded members will bring the Pivot to the fore. Forbes, to Situation Report: "We are examining and asking the questions to make sure we actually have the capability to buttress what we need to be doing in the Asia Pacific realm...to make sure we're not just looking at the next three weeks but at the next three years... we will ask the tough questions." Democrat Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, on the Asia series, to Situation Report: "Congress has a responsibility to take the lead in facilitating a balance between the needs of today and those that represent the future...The security, prosperity, and vital interests of the U.S. are increasingly tied to other countries, and we must seize the opportunity to cement a comprehensive plan to take on new roles and engagement throughout the Asia-Pacific." Forbes, who sits on the HASC and chairs the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcomm, asked the White House for an "Asia Strategy Review," but the White House this month rejected the idea. In a statement to Situation Report, Forbes said that was unfortunate. Forbes: "...the White House continues to reject such a proposal and has instead allowed the rest of the U.S. Government and officials in Asian capitals to try and parse policy from a disparate collection of speeches, interviews, and articles. Announcing a rhetorical 'rebalance' to the region served to put the national security bureaucracy on notice, now the White House needs to provide clear guidance to the Congress and the rest of the Government to ensure that our military and operational planning is aligned with our diplomatic and political goals." Read the letter to Forbes from Thomas Sullivan, acting assistant secretary for leg affairs, to Forbes, here. <http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5256a08dc16bcfa46f76bda5171w6.wny/Um-xiOYQzLbRs6WRC2e29> Yesterday in our rush to deadline we dropped the last name of the two-star quoted in a WSJ piece about why troops wanted to stay in Afghanistan. Of course it's Maj. Gen. Austin Scott Miller, sometimes goes by "Scotty." Ike Skelton is dead at 81. The former Democratic Congressman from Missouri and longtime chairman of the House Armed Services Committee died Monday in Arlington, according to the NYT. <http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5256a08dc16bcfa46f76bda5171w6.wny/Um-xiOYQzLbRs6WSCb2e3> He was remembered as a compassionate and thoughtful leader of another time, a "fierce and relentless advocate" for men and women in uniform, according to Rep. Adam Smith, the Democrat from Washington. Erin Conaton, the Pentagon's former Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, who served Skelton for nine years (part of that time as Skelton's staff director) in an e-mail to Situation Report early this morning: "Chairman Ike Skelton was the definition of a true patriot and a superb legislator. The readiness and exceptional quality of our troops was his first consideration in every decision affecting national defense. And his ability to build bipartisan consensus in support of American national security is his legacy. Many members of Congress have learned from him. And it has been the sincere privilege of many of us to serve as part of his personal and committee staffs. He will be deeply missed for his leadership, his passion for our troops, and his tremendous friendship." Want to understand better the support Iran is giving the Assad regime? Foreign Policy obtained documents last week that shows that Iran has been "selling" shipments totaling about 4 million barrels of light crude oil over the last year to Syria at a 10 percent discount. Writing on FP, Michael Weiss: "...Documentary evidence has come to light showing that Iran -- which had previously been helping the regime in Damascus sell and ship its own sanctioned oil to international buyers -- is shipping light crude into Syria under terms that practically amount to pro bono petroleum imports. Simply put, the Iranian regime is giving its natural resources away at a time when its own people are starving thanks to debilitating international sanctions on its nuclear program... the discounted cost borne by the Assad regime... appears to be paid out of a long-term $3.6 billion line of credit for energy imports that Tehran issued Damascus a few months ago to help it counteract the economic impacts of a devastating nearly three-year civil war. In reality, however, Assad may never be able to repay this loan -- not that the Iranians likely even expect him to, given that they view his survival as inextricable from their own." Read the rest here. <http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5256a08dc16bcfa46f76bda5171w6.wny/Um-xiOYQzLbRs6WTC46ae> Fahreal? Some troops turn to plastic surgeons to get liposuction to pass their PFTs. AP: "...Service members complain that the Defense Department's method of estimating body fat weeds out not just flabby physiques but bulkier, muscular builds. Fitness experts agree and have joined the calls for the military's fitness standards to be revamped. They say the Pentagon's weight tables are outdated and do not reflect that Americans are now bigger, though not necessarily less healthy. Defense officials say the test ensures troops are ready for the rigors of combat. The military does not condone surgically altering one's body to pass the test, but liposuction is not banned." 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