NATO’s planning for Resolute Support—the Afghan training mission that will commence following the end of the alliance’s combat operations in Afghanistan in 2014—is on track, said Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Wednesday at NATO headquarters in Brussels during the final day of the alliance’s ministerial meetings. However, he emphasized during a press briefing the importance of quickly completing a bilateral security agreement with the Afghan government. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters on Oct. 23 following the meetings that Afghan forces are now leading more than 1,000 security patrols a day—most without any support from NATO forces. “All this will put them in a strong position as they prepare to assume full responsibility for security at the end of 2014,” he said. Hagel also met with Russia’s defense chief Sergey Shoygu in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss issues like missile defense cooperation and the civil war in Syria. During the meeting, Hagel encouraged Shoygu “to continue working with Syria to ensure its full cooperation” in destroying Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile, said Pentagon Press Secretary George Little in a readout of the meeting. (Hagel transcript)
Pentagon officials overseeing homeland counter-drone strategy told lawmakers that even with preliminary moves to bolster U.S. base defenses, the military still lacks the capability to comprehensively identify, track, and engage hostile drones like those that breached the airspace of Langley Air Force Base in Virginia for 17 days in December…