* With a 423-0 roll call, the US House of Representatives passed H.R. 3210, a bill making continuing appropriations for military pay in the event of a government shutdown. It looks likely to pass the Senate. Today is the final day for roundtrip(s) between the two chambers to agree on a continuing resolution before FY2014 indeed starts with a shutdown. Such a last-minute agreement does not seem very likely.
* The White House gathered federal agency contingency plans in one place, while USA Today has a Q&A on government shutdowns. Somehow the country will survive, but the October 17 debt ceiling deadline is more serious.
* Gordon Adams from the Stimson Center calls that “groundhog day on steroids” in the Defense News video below. (Side note to Vago Muradian: the US Navy says you can officially stop TALKING IN ALL CAPS.)
* Peter Munson, a former US Marine Corps major who recently moved to civilian employement, offers a list of military transition pointers. He advises to start planning very early:
“I started laying the foundation for my transition as a captain with about 6 years of service. After seeing a lieutenant colonel retire and take a job that made me cringe, I realized that I needed to do something to give myself an employable skill after military life.”
* The RAND Corporation updated their study of modern insurgencies which now compares all 71 insurgencies begun and completed worldwide since World War II.
* Iran is adding a bunch of low-tech, light submarines that could still be somewhat of a threat by resting on the seabed and waiting, making them hard to detect.
* A glimpse of what the daily life aboard an Israeli submarine looks like.
* China has not yet shipped J-10 jet fighters to Pakistan, according to state-controlled media.
* A team of researchers from the US Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University have demonstrated an electron accelerator in a tiny glass chip. One potential application may be portable X-ray sources to diagnose soldiers injured in combat, so it’s no coincidence that DARPA is one of the backers of this research. Paper submitted to Nature | Video explanation.
* SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket started the process to get certified for national Security Space (NSS) missions a few months ago. In the meantime, they’re meeting other milestones. The company launched their 1.1 rocket for its 1st successful flight yesterday from Vandenberg AFB, with a Canadian satellite payload. Video below: