Secretary of State Kerry said the US is sending intelligence officials to help Nigerian security forces recover the nearly 300 kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls; the use of US military assets in the search for the girls is not anticipated. Secretary of Defense Hagel warned that the US cannot afford isolationism as “terrorists and insurgents are not fading into oblivion,” but said Congress must face necessary military spending cuts on bases and outmoded aircraft. The head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s navy threatened that his forces will target US aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf if war breaks out between Iran and the US. He also said his forces are in “daily” contact with US ships in the Gulf. The US began imposing sanctions on both sides in the South Sudan conflict.
