Has the Libya story been milked?

It’s three days before the debate on foreign policy and the issue of the administration’s handling of Libya isn’t quite going away. But there is some sign that Monday night’s debate won’t be a retread of the same old ground. In a 1,607-word editorial in the Wall Street Journal this morning that amounts to debate prep for the Romney team, editorial writers mention Libya only in passing. It suggests that on foreign policy, Republican thinking is veering away from attacking the administration for its handling of Libya (and Romney’s stumble during last week’s debate) and moving on to create contrasts on defense spending, China, Iran, and the countries undergoing transformation in the Middle East. "Mr. Romney can help himself by offering a serious critique of Mr. Obama’s foreign policy that doesn’t descend to clichés (e.g., "I won’t ever apologize for America"), and by laying out a vision that answers the needs of both the national interest and the self-interest of everyday Americans." http://on.wsj.com/QyPh8D

Speaking of editorials, the Post this morning suggests Romney’s defense plan is better but asks in the top editorial, how he’ll pay for it: "Given his unwillingness to contemplate tax increases or other revenue measures, military spending is one more area where Mr. Romney’s math doesn’t add up." http://wapo.st/PF1Y6R

Obama spoke to the Libya issue on Jon Stewart but added little new. . The president appeared on Stewart’s show in New York last night and relied on the same talking points, but, with urging, acknowledged the administration would get to the bottom of the Libya situation – including the apparently botched communication after the tragedy.

Stewart: "The perception seemed to be that State seemed to be on a different page than you, or you had Susan Rice five days afterwards saying on shows that this video could have been a part of that and then other people were…"

Obama: "Jon, the truth is that information comes in, folks put it out, throughout the process, people say, it’s still incomplete. What I was always clear about was we’re going to do an investigation and figure out exactly what happened."

Stewart: "Is part of the investigation helping the communication between these divisions of security, not just what happened in Benghazi, but what happened within because I don’t know, I would say even you would admit, it was not the optimal response at least to the American people as far as us all being on the same page."

Obama: "Here’s what I’ll say. When four Americans get killed, it’s not optimal, and we’re going to fix it.

Stewart: "All of it."

Obama: "All of it. And what happens during the course of a presidency is that the government is a big operation. At any given time something screws up and you make sure that you find out what’s broken and you fix it." http://bit.ly/18d6v

Welcome to Friday’s edition of Situation Report where we never editorialize. Follow me @glubold. Or hit me anytime at gordon.lubold@foreignpolicy.com. And sign up for Situation Report here: http://bit.ly/NCN9uN or just send me an e-mail and I’ll put you on the list.

The Pentagon seems like it has gone quiet in the run-up to the election. But it may be self-imposed. With the presidential election less than three weeks away, many civilian and military officials in the Pentagon aren’t eager to get out in print or broadcast, "fearing even a toe-touch in the electrified political pool," as the E-Ring’s Kevin Baron put it. Even the answer to some of the most innocuous of queries could be seen as being skewered politically. One former Pentagon official said it shouldn’t come as a surprise: "Everybody is in wait-and-see and do-no-harm mode," the former official told Situation Report.

Nor is it all true. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus spoke this week about his initiative to spend billions on developing renewable energy sources, and Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army chief of staff, is speaking today at the MRE conference. Indeed, a senior Pentagon official said there is no gag order: "There’s been no order from the White House to stop interaction with the press. There’s been no order at all," the official said. Yet the official acknowledged there is a skittish air about the building, which the official called "a temporary culture" as political tensions increase. "Some of this is to be expected." http://bit.ly/S7LfYj

What’s Mitt Romney’s take on cyber? The campaign hasn’t said much about it even as cyber becomes a more front-burner issue for the Obama administration. "He will order the formulation of a national cybersecurity strategy, to deter and defend against the growing threats of militarized cyber-attacks, cyber-terrorism, and cyber-espionage. Once the strategy is formulated he will determine how best it can be implemented," a Romney camp official told Killer Apps’ John Reed. http://bit.ly/WucIXy

Two four-stars get the nod for AFRICOM and the Marines’ No. 2 spot. After some amount of internal struggle, the White House nominated Gen. David "Rod" Rodriguez to command U.S. Africa Command, and Lt. Gen. John "Jay" Paxton, Jr. to the Marines as the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps. The latter nomination comes as President Obama nominated Gen. Joe Dunford to head the ISAF mission in Kabul after some internal Pentagon squabbling over who would get the nod. Some had pushed for Rodriguez, who had been the operational commander in Afghanistan, to get the job. But Dunford won out for his "strategic acumen," as one report put it.

Now, "Rod" will head to Africa, pending Senate confirmation, where at least one individual thought he would be a perfect fit because Rodriguez tends to have an "intuitive grasp" of local populations. That’s an important quality in Africa, where the U.S. has tried to walk a fine line between having a presence there and not treading too heavily. "His empathy and his ability to understand other people’s contexts I think will make him great for AFRICOM," said Sarah Chayes, a longtime Afghanistan resident who served as special adviser to the ISAF command while Rodriguez lead there and now a senior associate for the South Asia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Paxton was on the very short list to replace Dunford as the Marine assistant commandant. He’s seen as the man for the job, says Jan Huly, the colorful retired Marine three-star who served in Somalia with Paxton on the 22^nd MEU (Huly as MEU commander, Paxton as the battalion landing team commander, arriving just after the Black Hawk incident) Huly jokes that Paxton is "Huly-trained," and ready for the job. "He was on everybody’s team, everybody likes Jay Paxton," Huly told Situation Report. "He knows how the operational forces of the Marine Corps work, and it didn’t surprise me that he did well on the Joint Staff," Huly said of Paxton, who served as the J-3.

"He’s just a man for all seasons – a well-rounded guy."

Paxton’s call sign: Fang. (after getting bitten by a poisonous snake at Camp Lejeune years ago).

Twelve Years and Counting

• AP: U.S. hopes for a "DIY insurgency." http://huff.to/RJ1F6M
• AP: 19 killed in attack on bus headed to wedding. http://fxn.ws/ONvwhp
• LAT (blog): Malala stands up but fights infection. http://lat.ms/R84IWC
• CNN: After Malala attack, Taliban threaten journalists. http://bit.ly/ViBFG1

Noting

• AP: Envoy arrives in Syria amid calls for truce. http://bit.ly/ViwqpL
• ABC: North Korea threatens to attack anti-Pyongyang protesters over leaflets. http://abcn.ws/T2GjAn
• Reuters: Turkey fires on Syria in retaliation over cross-border squirmishes. http://reut.rs/TB7LpN
• CNN International: International leaders meet in Mali to discuss al-Qaida’s tightening grip on country. http://bit.ly/Ti7uxq

Overlooked

• Der Spiegel: Iran’s secret plan to contaminate the Strait of Hormuz. http://bit.ly/TrT7AI

Your Opinion Counts

• WaPo (Harold Brown op-ed): Protect military programs by getting rid of redundant service secretaries. http://wapo.st/PF5YEv
• WSJ: (Doug Feith and Seth Cropsey): A foreign policy failure to acknowledge the obvious. http://on.wsj.com/OMOfts