* US top brass say that ISIL is winning its way to defeat [Politico].
* WaPo: Serious disagreements remain in U.S.-led coalition battling the Islamic State.
* RAND Corporation is attempting to draw lessons from 13 years of war and recommends a similar whole-of-government approach that takes political and cultural aspects into account.
Built to Compete?
* The CSIS think tank looks at [PDF] the quality and intensity of competition for US defense contracts under Better Buying Power. There are wide discrepancies among the services and depending on whether goods or services are procured.
* DID is running its annual readership survey. Have we delivered Better Reading Power 2.0? Let us know.
Asia
* The Diplomat reviews the dynamics of the Japanese-Vietnamese security relationship. You have to give it to the Chinese that they’re good at bringing other people together.
Bitcoin Primer
* Cryptocurrencies are interesting to intel for reasons beyond concerns about who will use them. Information regarding who does use them is also a valid data point, and sometimes breaks into overt events – like Russia’s recent move to ban them [RT] after becoming their #2 market [Coin Telegraph], ahead of China.
* To get an in-depth view, and see a very different model for Senate hearings while you’re at it, check out a recent Canadian Senate hearing involving Andreas Antonopoulos in the following video. Antonopoulos is a very strong proponent. Watchers may disagree, but he’s a widely recognized guru who presents the argument at its strongest:
