SOF News Update 20161220 – Movie “American Sniper” barred from college campus, SFCT Dec 2016 newsletter, Secretary of Army designee, Russian ambassador to Turkey killed, SAS to guard UK streets, and more.
“American Sniper” barred from Campus. The movie about a famous Navy SEAL sniper starring actor Bradley Cooper is being protested by a student group at the University of Maryland. Read more in a news report by The Washington Times, December 13, 2016.
SOF in the Gray Zone. Phillip Lohaus has penned a paper entitled “Special Operations Forces in the Gray Zone: An Operational Framework for Employing Special Operations Forces in the Space Between War and Peace”, American Enterprise Institute (AEI), December 19, 2016.
Future Secretary of the Army. President-Elect Trump has named Vincent Viola as his future Secretary of the Army. Viola is a former infantry officer with the 101st Airborne Division and a graduate of West Point. He is also a fairly wealthy man who owns the Florida Panthers hockey team. Shortly after the 9/11 attacks he was instrumental in the founding of the Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) at West Point. CBS News, December 19, 2016.
Assassination in Turkey. The Russian ambassador to Turkey was killed while he was giving a speech in an art gallery. The killer was a Turkish police officer in a special operations unit or undercover cop depending on which news source you read. The assassin was killed by other security officers. The shooter cited Aleppo as the reason for the attack.
Terrorists Have Been Busy. In the past few days they have used a 7 year old girl as a suicide bomber in Syria, murdered tourists and police at an old crusader castle in Jordan, three people shot at a mosque in Switzerland, assassinated an Ambassador from Russia to Turkey, and plowed a truck into a bunch of German civilians at a Christmas market (12 dead and 50 injured).
OSS Veterans to be Recognized. The veterans (about 100 still living) of the Office of Strategic Services that served during World War II will be honored as recipients of the OSS Congressional Gold Medal. The act was passed by Congress and signed by President Obama earlier this month. Fox News, December 19, 2016.
SFCT Dec 2016 Newsletter. The Special Forces Charitable Trust December 2016 Newsletter is now posted online.
https://t.e2ma.net/message/8t9k4b/sx53xm
SAS On Guard During XMas. According to the Daily Star (UK) guarding British streets (Dec 18, 2016) the Special Air Service will be during the Christmas holiday.
