By Charles Hoskinson

VOLUNTEERS FROM AMERICORPS will take part in a new program designed to support military families who don’t have convenient access to existing military support services – a common problem for members of the National Guard and reserve components. Members of the new VetCorps http://www.cadca.org/VetCorps will help with finding employment and housing and connect service members and their families with other services in the community.

THE CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICE, along with the NGB and the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America are holding a news conference on the new project at 9:30 a.m. at the National Press Club.

Obama’s ‘new’ army? AMERICORPS VetCorps??

THE U.S. RESPONSE TO THE IAEA REPORT ON IRAN was surprisingly muted, especially in comparison to the reaction in European capitals, where France has already called for a U.N. Security Council meeting and the German foreign minister said the report “confirms our serious concerns” about Tehran’s intentions.

STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN MARK TONER said “we’re looking at a range of options, with the overall intent of being ways that we can put additional pressure on Iran so, again, to make clear to the Iranian government that it needs to come clean.” When pressed on why the U.S. response seemed less urgent, he replied: “I would hope that any reaction on the part of the U.S. government is deliberative and coherent and takes into account all the information in a clear and concise way. And that’s exactly what we’re doing with this report. We’re consulting with our partners and allies on it. The conclusions that it draws are alarming. And moving forward, we’re very clear that we are looking at additional ways to apply pressure on Iran and that we’re going to work with our allies and partners in that regard.”

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL TAKES NOTE OF THE DIFFERENCE, saying “any splits between the U.S. and Europeans could undermine efforts to isolate Iran.” http://on.wsj.com/v94g7X

BLOOMBERG MEANWHILE REPORTS that DOD has assessed that any attack on Iran’s nuclear programs would delay it by at most three years. http://bloom.bg/tSJUBe

IN A JOURNAL OP-ED, GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney slams the administration’s Iran policy, saying Obama “has shredded his own credibility on Iran, conveyed an image of American weakness, and increased the prospect of a cascade of nuclear proliferation in the unstable Middle East” and declares he will not allow Tehran to develop nuclear weapons. Read it here: http://on.wsj.com/sqsndj

AIR-SEA BATTLE IS DOD’S NAME for how U.S. military forces will maintain superiority in the face of proliferation of high-tech weapons such as precision ballistic missiles. At a briefing for reporters Wednesday, defense officials said the proliferation of modern military technologies means U.S. air, naval and land forces will have to cooperate in new ways to ensure continued freedom of access to the “global commons,” which includes space and cyber domains.

THE OFFICIALS DENIED THE STRATEGY IS AIMED specifically at China, but did note that one reason for development of the concept is because “we see state actors with well-funded militaries that possess the most advanced kinds of anti-access/area-denial capabilities and technologies — in some cases, multilayered across all of the war-fighting domains.”

OUR FORMER COLLEAGUE PHIL EWING traces the evolution of the concept here in DOD Buzz: http://bit.ly/sMVCdg

SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCES – the “bearded bastards” as Afghan insurgents call them, are doing a lot of the dirty work in the areas along the Pakistani border. USA Today has the story here: http://usat.ly/uWGr9B

WHAT NOT TO SAY ABOUT AFGHANISTAN, even if it may be true. Tom Ricks has a helpful primer in his Foreign Policy blog. Read it here: http://bit.ly/vSZKIU

KEY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS are tangling with the Pentagon over the interpretation of the single word “produced,” as it relates to the acquisition of steel armor plate, a specialty metal used in MRAPs. DOD has been using steel melted abroad and finished in the United States to meet its demand, which some lawmakers says defeats the purpose of made-in-the-USA laws for military contracts. POLITICO’s Austin Wright has the story here: http://politi.co/tVqGvQ

SASC TODAY EXPLORES WHETHER the head of the National Guard Bureau should be a member of the Joint Chiefs. NGB chief McKinley, DOD General Counsel Jeh Johnson and the Joint Chiefs are set to testify in the hearing, which is at 10 a.m. (new time) in Dirksen G-50.
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