* Pressure mounts for strikes on Syria over apparent use of poison gas. The US Administration is signaling that it will conduct a “punitive strike.” This would express moral outrage and convey a sense that President Obama’s threats mean something. But hopes of accomplishing meaningful progress towards putting an end to the civil war, let alone helping Syria reaching a state of balance aligned with Western interests, are very scant at best.
* WaPo’s Walter Pincus decries the defense appropriations shuffle.
* The US Department of State issued an “interim final rule” (a phrase that gets our Oxymoron of the Day Award) amending [PDF] the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) relating to brokers and brokering activities. In response to concerns expressed by many parties, they are trying to clarify what a broker is, lest the number of people required to register for brokering booms. The rule will be “final final” in October after further comments from the public have been sent and processed.
* It’s soon that time of the year again: the US will hit its debt limit for good in October.
* The US Air Force yielded to contractors which had filed protests with the GAO over the USAF’s NetCents II contract: 8 additional companies will be eligible for work orders within it.
* The US Army is standardizing its tactical computers through a 3-year award to DRS Tactical Systems for the Mounted Family of Computer Systems (MFoCS).
* India wants to equip its UAVs with precision guided munitions.
* US Navy Rear Adm. Richard Breckenridge, director, Undersea Warfare (OPNAV N97), discusses the Ohio-class replacement program in the video below:
