The Pentagon report, which is part of the annual report made to the Congress under law, also mentioned North Korea’s success in launching a multi-stage rocket delivering a satellite into space orbit in December. The advance is significant in powering long-range ballistic missile capability of North Korea.

The report mentioned, “These advances in ballistic-missile delivery systems, coupled with developments in nuclear technology … are in line with North Korea’s stated objective of being able to strike the U.S. homeland.”

Pentagon authorities think that the development of missile power capable to launch a satellite, coupled with a successful nuclear detonation in February, makes North Korea capable of further nuclear tests at any time.

Elaborating on the situation and on North Korea’s goal to attack the U.S. mainland with nuclear weapons, the report observed, “North Korea will move closer to this goal, as well as increase the threat it poses to U.S. forces and allies in the region, if it continues testing and devoting scarce regime resources to these programs.”

In fact, the annual Pentagon report to the Congress sees North Korea as one of the biggest threats to U.S. and the stability of the world given its history of selling weapons technology to others and readiness to “undertake provocative and destabilizing behavior.”

At present, the United States continues to reject the demands of North Korea to recognize it as a nuclear-armed state in the UN.

The post Pentagon Says North Korea Close to Building Capacity for U.S. Nuclear Strike first appeared on JDJournal Blog.

“Thank you for the opportunity to be part of your campaign, your transition, and your Administration,” he wrote. “Thank you also for the best clients I will ever have: Robert Gates, Leon Panetta, and the men and women of the U.S. military.”

In his four years, Johnson influenced many key issues, such as fighting to increase the government’s power to detain terrorism suspects, and to use drone strikes in Yemen and Somalia, but also in giving the press more access to proceedings against suspected terrorists. He also helped end the “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” policy of the military, allowing soldiers to now be openly gay.

He has been integral in responding to the mass leaking of military documents, which Bradley Manning has been accused of being a part of. He penned a letter to the WikiLeaks attorney, demanding the materials be removed.

Johnson expects to take some time off before returning to Paul and Weiss.

The post Top Pentagon Lawyer to Step Down first appeared on JDJournal Blog.

While the fleet of unmanned robotic aircraft keeps growing and adding to the nation’s arsenal, the Pentagon is working out procedures to enable the Federal Aviation Administration to open U.S. Airspace for military drones.

With the gradual pacification of the war-torn areas of Iraq and Afghanistan the time for the drones to return has arrived. The armed forces continued to acquire military drones to upgrade tactical prowess and reduce human casualty throughout the “War against Terror” period. The original fleet of 50 drones as of Sept 11, 2011 has now grown to almost seven and a half thousand.

After returning home, the robotic aircraft would be stationed in military bases around the nation for use in emergencies. Unmanned drones have already been successful in penetrating critical areas and helping people like during the recent tsunami in Japan and earthquake in Haiti.

Steve Pennington, the Director of Ranges, Bases, and Airspace for the Air Force said that “The stuff from Afghanistan is going to come back,” and that the Department of Defense wanted to use the drones for needs of the nation and that the Department “doesn’t want a segregated environment. We want a fully integrated environment.” This can mean that military drones would be brought under the same rules as other military aircraft.

The FAA does not allow remotely controlled aircraft in the national airspace as according to the FAA, drones don’t have adequate “detect, sense and avoid” technology to safeguard collisions with other objects in midair.

While the smaller drones, which are mostly as large as hobby planes may be brought under a system, the question is different for the large Global Hawks, MQ-1 Predators and MQ-9 Reapers which can wreak havoc in the wrong hands.

Last week, Congress approved legislation requiring the FAA to create a plan for wide-scale integration of drones in the national airspace by 2015.

The post Combat Drones Soon To Fly Over U.S. Airspace first appeared on JDJournal Blog.

According to a new study conducted by the University of Maine Center, a relatively high percentage of elderly residents of Maine will require legal intervention at some point in their lives….

A survey by law school admissions consulting firm Veritas Prep showed 81% of law school applicants would still apply even if a significant number of graduates were unable to find jobs in their desired field…

The University of California, Irvine School of Law will provide scholarships of at least one-third of tuition to each member of its next class of students…

John Frankenheimer of Loeb & Loeb will be stepping down as the firm’s  co-chair…

Lawyers for SAP AG, a German software company, requested that a federal judge issue a gag order during a forthcoming trial for an intellectual property theft case…

Sam Baxter of McKool Smith has been named by The Best Lawyers in America the 2011 Dallas Intellectual Property “Lawyer of the Year…

Whistle-blower website Wikileaks published classified documents related to the Iraqi war last Friday…

The post Morning Roundup first appeared on JDJournal Blog.

The New York Times is saying that the most recent documents to be released via the site reveal a new idea of the number of Iraqi civilians killed during the war. The latest round of documents also discuss Iran’s role in supporting the Iraqi militants, as well as several accounts of abuse by the Iraqi army and police.

Wikileaks provided several newspapers, including The New York Times, with access to the documents prior to their official release on the Wikileaks.org website. The United States military is currently notifying those Iraqis named in the documents according to Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell.

“This is all classified secret information never designed to be exposed to the public. Our greatest fear is that it puts our troops in even greater danger than they inherently are on these battlefields. That it will expose tactics, techniques and procedures – how they operate on the battlefield, how they respond under attack, the capabilities of our equipment… how we cultivate sources and how we work with Iraqis,” added Morrell.

The post Wikileaks.org Releases Second Round of Classified Iraqi War Documents first appeared on JDJournal Blog.