Military Officers

U.S. military officials seeking to boost the nation's cyber warfare capabilities are looking beyond defending the Internet: They are developing ways to launch virtual attacks on enemies. But first the military will have to figure out the proper boundaries. "What do we consider to be an act of war in cyberspace?" asked Lt. Gen. Robert J. Elder Jr., who heads the Air Force's cyber operations command.

In promoting Army Gen. David H. Petraeus to commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, President Bush is doing more than rewarding a job well done in Iraq. The president also is taking a step toward perpetuating his policy of high troop levels in Iraq and is putting his most trusted general in charge of renewing the military's focus on Iran. Petraeus has been the prime advocate of Bush's policy of a large troop presence in Iraq.

When Army Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno began his second tour of duty in Iraq late in 2006 as the war's No. 2 commander, he was handed a battle plan that he and his staff quickly determined was out of touch with reality -- a set of precise timetables for handing over whole provinces to Iraqi security forces, regardless of their readiness. "This race to victory based on a timeline did not pass the common-sense test," said a top Odierno aide, citing the threat of widespread violence.

A North Korean officer defected to the South across the heavily armed border, the first officer to do so in about 10 years, a South Korean military official said. A Joint Chiefs of Staff official said the defection took place Sunday. Yonhap news agency quoted a government official as saying it was near the Panmunjom truce village set up in the demilitarized zone. The officer was identified only by his family name, Ri. South Korea usually keeps high-profile defectors under wraps for months or even years as it debriefs them on the inner workings of the secretive, communist North.

President Bush on Monday nominated a top logistics officer to be the first female four-star general in U.S. history, tapping Lt. Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody to head the command responsible for supplying the Army with all its equipment. Dunwoody's selection as chief of Army Materiel Command comes nearly 11 years after the first female three-star general was appointed, as head of Army intelligence, and 38 years after the first two female Army one-stars were named.

The top Air Force leadership sought for three years to spend counter-terrorism money on "comfort capsules" for military planes to ease the travel of senior officers and civilian leaders -- with at least four top generals involved in design details such as the color of the capsules' carpet and leather chairs -- according to internal e-mails and budget documents.

Two defense officials nominated to take control of the Air Force promised Tuesday to work to restore trust after the reputation of the service was battered by accusations that it failed to properly oversee the nation's nuclear weapons and was insufficiently committed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Michael B. Donley, who previously served as a Pentagon administrator, and Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, head of Transportation Command, were nominated to replace Air Force Secretary Michael W.

The Bush administration's nominee to become the next head of the Air Force is facing trouble in the Senate and will undergo an unusual second round of closed-door questioning today. Air Force Gen. Norton A. Schwartz is being called before the Senate Armed Services Committee for a second classified session focused on testimony he gave after the initial invasion of Iraq, said military and congressional staff members. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Navy Adm. Michael G.

A sniper assassinated a senior Syrian general close to President Bashar Assad, according to reports in a Saudi paper and on websites for a Syrian opposition figure and a member of Syria's ruling party. The sniper, on a yacht, killed Brig. Gen. Mohammed Suleiman at a beach resort in the northern port city of Tartus, said the website of exiled Syrian dissident Abdul-Halim Khaddam. The site said the general handled intelligence files and was a close Assad associate. The other website, run by Ayman Abdul-Nour, said the senior officer was shot Friday night at his beach house.

The general who toppled Mauritania's government led a triumphal march through the capital, Nouakchott, declaring that he is "determined to save democracy" as police elsewhere in the city fired tear gas at people protesting the coup. Gen. Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz's takeover returned military rule to the desert country that last year held its first election regarded as free and fair in more than 20 years. Mauritania won international praise for that vote, which saw President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi elected after a two-year transition to civilian rule that began with the army's 2005 ouster of a dictator.