NATO would like to conclude its mission in Libya at the end of the month, announced NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen Sunday. “We have taken a preliminary decision to end Operation Unified Protector on Oct. 31, and we will take a formal decision in the next few days,” said Rasmussen in a statement. “As we wind down the operation, together with our partners, we will monitor the situation and retain the capacity to respond to threats to civilians, if needed.” Rasmussen’s words came three days after the death of Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi and on the same day that Libya’s National Transitional Council declared that the North African nation is liberated and on the path to peace. NATO’s North Atlantic Council met on Oct. 21 and made the preliminary decision, according to an alliance statement. “This has been a successful mission by NATO, by all of NATO’s members and by NATO’s partners as well,” said Defense Secretary Leon Panetta Oct. 21. “This was not an easy effort. It involved a great deal of cooperation, a great deal of partnership.” (Panetta transcript) (See also President Obama statement.)
The White House announced its United States Space Priorities Framework in a document released concurrently with Vice President Kamala Harris' first National Space Council meeting. Listed among five U.S. priorities is to “defend its national security interests from the growing scope and scale of space and counterspace threats.”