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Yemen, described as hotbed of terrorist activity after the bombing of the destroyer USS Cole in the Port of Aden on October 12, 2000 is the most strategically important of all the U.S. allies in the Middle East. Yemeni efforts to secure the nation's ports and coastline would restore the U.S. Navy's access to regional refueling docks.

Gen. Michael W. Hagee, as commandment of Marine Corps, has outlined his commitment to sea basing and the maritime prepositioning of combat assets, allowing the corps to vastly expand its maneuver warfare capabilities. A primary strategist in the lead-up to Operation Iraqi Freedom, Hagee discusses impact of budget cut on the Marine Corps, intelligence sharing, ship mix and other issues.

The Marine Corps' Center for Emerging Threats and Opportunities (CETO) was established at the direction of a Senate subcommittee dealing with the issue in 2000 and is comprised of retired officers from all the possible service backgrounds and disciplines. CETO is headed by retired Col. Randy Gangle who reveals its functioning and policies.

Brigadier General Richard C. Zilmer, as commander of Marine Air Ground Task Force Training Command at Twentynine Palms, California, has instituted a program of instantaneous turnaround for 'lessons learned' on the battlefield. He says that the academics, teamwork and discipline of Milton Hershey School in Hershey, Pennsylvania that he attended, as a defining experience in his life which prepared him for his 3-year career in the Corps.

The Department of Navy proposes $125.6 billion budget for 2006, an increase of $6.4 billion over the approved 2005 figure as the cost of high-tech weapons keeps rising. Pentagon budget proposal reduces the Marine Corps' baseline budget to $17 billion from $18.8 billion in fiscal 2005.

The role of the 5th Marine Civil Affairs Group (CAG) situated in the Civil Military Operations Center (CMOC) in Fallujah, Iraq, in helping to rebuild the lives of the local Iraqi people, is explored. The question is whether Marines should get involved in nation building and reconstruction efforts that are normally handled by the more resourceful U.S. Army.

The US Marine Corps' transformation to sea-based operations and Distributed Operation has as its focal point the MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, which overcoming its troubled past, has successfully completed its final operational evaluation outperforming all other rotor craft. However, current rotor aircraft including protective escorts cannot keep up with the MV-22 and the Cobra Zulu could be the answer to the problem for the time being.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld wants the Marine Corps and United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) to reach a consensus on an expanded role for the Corps, and the possible formation of a Marine special operations component within the command. The Corps has increased its participation in SOCOM, but is not willing to give up control of Marine assets in an integration it has resisted since the formation of the SOCOM in 1986.

The Pentagon directed the United States Marine Corps and Army to converge their disparate situational awareness (SA) systems into a single program known as the Blue Force Tracker (BFT) system. However, the diverse needs and legal separations between the services could become an issue, with security being the biggest concern, warn experts.

US Sec of State Colin Powell demanded that Lebanon and Syria end Hizbullah attacks along the Israeli border during his 10-day mission to the Middle East. Syria has deployed troops away from Beirut, leaving Hizbollah's armed militia in control of southern Lebanon.

The United States Marine Corps fired the Tube-launched, Optically-tracked, Wire-guided (TOW) 2B top-attack heavy anti-tank missiles for the first time during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The TOW 2B entered full production in fiscal year 1992 to replace the TOW (BGM 71 E) in US Army and the Marine Corps. The problems faced by the Marines while shooting the target and the remedy for that problem are discussed.

Hizbullah withdrew its forces from the Israel-Lebanon border in response to US pressure on the Syrian government. Syria is balancing its relations with the West and with Arab allies and will not make major foreign policy changes until the US provides guarantees of financial and territorial rewards.

Khalil Hrawi states that Lebanon's army will rely on personnel rather than on equipment in coping with a possible renewal of hostilities with Israel. He reveals that the army faces further budget cuts.

Features the Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company (ANGELICO), the only unit qualified to plan, execute and control U.S. supporting arms fire for joint and combined forces worldwide. Development of ANGELICO; Focus of the company's mission; Use by ANGELICO teams of the small-unit tactics of Special Operations; Importance of ANGELICO's Joint Tactical Air Controllers expertise to U.S. and coalition forces.

This article focuses on the increasing popularity of the U.S. Coast Guard's International Affairs Training Division across the world. In April 2005, a four-man training team from the Division arrived in Baku, Azerbaijan, to conduct a one-week training course for the Maritime Brigade of the Border Police. The Coast Guard training team was there not merely to train, but to cement relationships with young officers, the country's future maritime leaders who will become part of a global network of cooperating countries. The Coast Guard International Affairs division has expanded the international role of the service in an attempt to enhance maritime and port security worldwide. The International Division was consolidated in 1995, although its training efforts were primarily focused on the southern hemisphere in support of counter-drug and immigration control efforts.

This article reports that the U.S. Coast Guard has recently became the newest member of the U.S. intelligence community, with a dual mission in law enforcement and national intelligence. Captain Patrick J. Nemeth, head of the Coast Guard Office of Intelligence Plans and Policy, claims that the Coast Guard is unique within the intelligence community because of having unique mission. Although the Coast Guard is one of the nation's military services, its primary mission involves a federal law enforcement mandate, that is, protecting the nation's economic interests and preventing crimes committed on domestic waterways, including smuggling, illegal fishing, human trafficking and piracy. It also has a limited international mission to protect domestic shipping interests. Because of its unique mission and role as guardian of the nation's ports, the Coast Guard Intelligence escapes conflicts over budget and authority with the other intelligence agencies.

Focuses on the training of Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) personnel for Special Operations Capable (SOC) certification prior to deployment by the Special Operations Training Group (SOTG) in the U.S. Function of the SOTG; Coordination of local and government agencies for the set up of the exercises in the training process; Main focus of the MEU training program; Qualifications of the training; Comments of Major Dave Falk, SOTG operation officer, on the background of the SOTG instructors.

Focuses on the mission of the U.S. Marine Corps Reconnaissance Battalions with the growing urban insurgency in Iraq. Functions of the Marine reconnaissance unit; Factors compromising the clandestine operation of the unit; Measures done by the Marine Corps to address the lack of broad urban reconnaissance and sniper capabilities.

Focuses on the dispute between the House Homeland Security Committee and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee over the jurisdiction of the U.S. Coast Guard. Contention of Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn) that the budget allocated for the Coast Guard by the Bush administration is not enough to compensate its homeland security measures; Budget figures recently released suggests that the Navy is reducing its manpower faster than what was planned; Proposals of Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) concerning the raise of the status of the Marine Corps and the acknowledgement of its significant military role; Appeal by legislators for the increase of manpower for the Army and the Marine Corps. INSET: A Visionary Naval Chief Prepares to Depart.

Reports on a major reassessment of the military's strategy, forces, capabilities and risks called Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) conducted by the Pentagon and leaded by the Defense Secretary in the U.S. Duties and responsibilities of Admiral Patrick Walsh, head of QDR process for the Navy; Areas covered in QDR reassessment process; Fundamental issues to be dealt with by the Navy; Statement of Ronald O'Rourke, senior analyst for the Congressional Research Service, regarding the shipbuilding plan of the Navy.

Reports that some on Capitol Hill will be asking for more detail and predictability in president George Bush's war funding requests. Warning by analysts that the total cost of the war will exceed $225 billion by September 2005; Decrease of the U.S. Coast Guard ability to support future U.S. polar scientific research and naval operations due to the breakdown of one of its three oceangoing icebreaking cutters; Issue on whether the Marines will use it new authority to grow its ranks by as many as 9,000 troops through 2009; House and Senate oversight of the Homeland Security Department

Reports on the proposals of the Senate Armed Service Committee for the U.S. Intelligence Agencies. Implementation of the bureaucratic reform of the intelligence community and the budget authority; Impact of the proposal on the organization of the intelligence system; Annual budget for the Intelligence Agencies. INSETS: Navy League Ends Support of Sea Power Ambassador Program;INTERCEPTS.

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