CNAS Report - Dynamic Balance: An Alliance Requirements Roadmap for the Asia-Pacific Region

As President Obama continues his trip to the region, three experts from the Center for a New American Security have written a new report analyzing the growing anti-access/area-denial challenges posed by China and exploring the role that allies and partners may play in engaging the challenges in a variety of contexts and domains. The report, “Dynamic Balance: An Alliance Requirements Roadmap for the Asia-Pacific Region,” provides a roadmap for the next U.S. administration and key U.S. allies in the region to address these challenges and potential escalation.

CNAS Report - Dynamic Balance: An Alliance Requirements Roadmap for the Asia-Pacific Region

Why the U.S. Military Turned a Hipster Tattoo Parlor into A Special Operations Lab by Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Washington Post

From the outside, U.S. Special Operations Command’s latest attempt to find and test the best technology for its operators looks like one more downtown storefront here.

Inside, 3-D printers and half-built drones litter the 10,000-square-foot space, which was converted from an old tattoo parlor and former telephone book factory. High stools, wood tables and flat screens give it the look of Silicon Valley. The walls, however, are adorned with pictures of commandos in 1940s North Africa and mission dossiers from the CIA’s World War II precursor, the Office of Strategic Services. During a recent visit, a young intern was working on a device that uses radar to see through walls.

This is SOFWERX - a stylized name that roughly translates to Special Operations Forces Works - a Special Operations Command (SOCOM)-funded technology incubator that opened its doors at the end of 2015.

The easy-going vibe is meant to attract people who wouldn’t ordinarily think to work with SOCOM, according to SOFWERX director Tambrien Bates. A door next to an old cafe is a lot easier to walk into with an idea than, say, a base with armed sentries and a gate, said Bates…

Read on.