There's an old joke that goes "for sale–French rifle, never fired and only dropped once." It comes from an ugly old stereotype about the French military, one of white flags, hands thrust aloft, tails tucked in retreat. There's nothing wrong with good natured ribbing between military forces (just…
Of all the grim prospects of a Trump presidency, the thought of a reality TV star at the helm of America's nuclear arsenal should top the list. And not just any reality TV star. To wit, I could plausibly see Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs, Bear Grylls from Man vs. Wild, or Bob Vila from This Old House…
Long-range ballistic missile capability has traditionally been a tough nut to crack, reserved for superpowers and the permanent members of the UN Security Council. Not only is the telemetry and rocket technology prohibitively difficult to master, but the process of building a nuclear weapon small…
"Georgia faces a stark choice between two mutually exclusive futures." That's how the Center for American Progress (CAP) kicked off a 70-plus page report on the divided former Soviet Union. Suffice to say, that sophomoric assessment is just the opening salvo in a report overflowing with…
It is, in a way, unsurprising that the president gave Bogota a brief nod during his State of the Union address. After all, In 2010 State of the Union address, the president claimed, “we will strengthen our trade relations in Asia and with key partners like South Korea and Panama and Colombia.” And,…
In a speech last November Buck McKeon, newly minted Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), said that a "defense budget in decline portends an America in decline."
Marc Ambinder reports that Vice Admiral William McRaven will be promoted after a distinguished tenure as boss of Joint Special Operations Command.
Senator Marco Rubio just returned from Afghanistan, where he was forward thinking enough to tote along a flip cam. This is a pretty savvy use of new media, and an admirably innovative way for the 21st century politician to message.
The House Armed Services Committee responds to the Obama administration's demand for further Defense cuts today:
For decades, one of the Pentagon's fundamental strategic doctrines has been sustaining a military that could successfully prosecute two wars simultaneously. But after the last Quadrennial Defense Review, a Pentagon force shaping study, Defense department planners largely backed off the combat…
Few defense acquisition tales have been as sordid as that of the U.S. Air Force’s new refueling tanker, the KC-X. The tanker acquisition program first popped up on the national radar screen in 2001, when Senator John McCain called into question a no-bid contract that would have leased modified…
In their aggressive push to ratify the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the Obama administration has been wholly unimpressive in the messaging department. Calling the small, bilateral treaty the most pressing "national security issue" of our time, for example, is cause for head scratching.…
No matter how much of a supposed "national security priority" ratifying the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty is, the Obama administration hasn't been very impressive in the messaging department. They claim START needs to be ratified immediately, but have fallen short in explaining why.
Eli Lake reports in today's Washington Times:
In the discussion of the relationship between ratification of the new START treaty and the National Nuclear Security Administration’s budget for maintaining our nuclear weapons stockpile, an oft heard war cry in favor of ratification is that the Obama administration’s budget is one that former…
On June 6th, 1944, 1st Lt Dick Winters parachuted behind German lines, assembled a small strike team, and neutralized four enemy artillery pieces that were wreaking havoc on nearby Utah Beach. The Brecourt Manor Assault, as it was later dubbed, represented one of the most brilliant examples of…
Both U.S. military and civilian leaders seem a bit nonplussed about the North Korean attack on a South Korean fishing village. With the American Armed Forces tied up in Iraq and Afghanistan, the White House is reluctant to up the ante in the highly militarized Korean peninsula. So the American…
Eli Lake reports in this morning's Washington Times:
Much hash has been made about President Obama's refocus on foreign policy in the aftermath of an election that wounded his party's political ranks. That initiative may have suffered an equally damaging blow this morning, as Senator Jon Kyl -- the GOP lead on the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty…
An influential, bipartisan group of lawmakers and policy experts are set to discuss the major foreign policy challenges for the 112th Congress next week. The Foreign Policy Initiative's annual forum, Restoring America's Leadership of a Democratic World, has already been generating a fair share of…
Saying that it's a whole new ball game on the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) would be an understatement -- it's more like a whole new sport. Several of HASC's key Democratic lawmakers lost their seats last night, including Chairman Ike Skelton from Missouri and moderate Gene Taylor from…
"If you see an F-14 Tomcat," says a friend who teaches a U.S. Navy flight intercept course, "it's enemy. Shoot it down."
Yesterday's news about an entire squadron of nuclear missiles dropping offline may have blown up the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, projected to hit the floor during the lame duck session of Congress.
The Atlantic (and now Wired) is reporting that an entire squadron of nuclear missiles unexpectedly dropped into a "launch facility down" status on Saturday morning, taking a sizable portion of America's nuclear deterrent offline:
MEMRI just published an interesting study that's worth a look:
By way of Reuters, a troubling interview with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin:
Some heartening news out of the defense procurement world today:
Though this is a little late in the game for fact checking, the Defense Department just fired out an important clarification in the WikiLeaks case:
One of the key problems facing the U.S. military is the pressing need for force modernization. Most of its defense hardware -- tanks, jets, fighting ships -- are leftovers from the Reagan era defense build-up. And some are even older: like the KC-135 Stratotanker, the B-52 bomber, the M102…
In war, victory belongs to the most persevering. Unfortunately, the endurance and political will to persist through a tough military slog like Afghanistan are precious commodities -- particularly given tough economic times and given complicated military and political objectives. No one would accuse…
At a Pentagon presser, Secretary Gates just announced that Marine General James Mattis will be the new head of CENTCOM. Hats off to Secretary Gates and President Obama, Mattis is the right man for a tough job. Read General Mattis's bio here.
While CNN was busy firing senior editor for Middle East affairs Octavia Nasr for tweeting niceties about Hezbollah's recently deceased spiritual leader, another effusive tribute to terrorist Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah seeped out into cyberspace -- this one coming from, shockingly enough, the…
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is fresh off a goodwill tour to the Republic of Georgia, part of a larger effort to reassure a nervous eastern Europe that the administration's "reset" policy toward Russia won't come at the expense of Russia's democratic neighbors.
With the deficit soaring, it might not be the easiest time to make the case for increased defense spending. But the long-term prognosis for the U.S. military isn't good -- we are embroiled in two tough wars, face threats along a spectrum of conflict that is at its widest in history (from cyber to…
The THAAD (terminal high altitude area defense) interceptor has been maligned for years as a failed, overly expensive missile defense system. That's mostly due to the missile's volatile initial testing phases during the mid-1990s, when the program was wrought with failure after failure -- not…
CIA director Leon Panetta gave a surprisingly candid interview on ABC's "This Week" yesterday, talking about Afghanistan and Iran. In the conversation with Jake Tapper, Panetta confessed that sanctions against the Iranian regime probably will not work. (Watch the entire exchange here.)
Michael O'Hanlon, of the left-leaning Brookings Institution, has been one of the strongest advocates for adopting effective, functional strategies in both Iraq and Afghanistan. To his credit, O'Hanlon was ahead of the pack on the Iraq surge, correctly predicting that additional forces -- all…
There's an old axiom from the intelligence community, "admit nothing, deny, counter-accuse," that can be as useful in politics as it is in the shadowy espionage world. Faced with a high-level summit bound to scrutinize President Obama's much-touted "reset" policy with the Soviet Union, that…
One of the tertiary benefits to Iraq's surge -- aside from the military victory -- was the birth of a group of military thinkers informally called the COINdistinas. Though sticking counter-insurgency on the front burner of Armed Forces combat doctrine remains a hot debate inside the Pentagon,…
Reuel Marc Gerecht, a former case officer with the CIA's clandestine service, lays out a compelling case for supporting Iran's Green Movement:
Not a bad start for Britain's new prime minister, David Cameron:
In last week's print edition of TWS, I wrote:
Russian President Vladimir Putin, on why Russia can invade Georgia at will and doesn’t need an advanced amphibious assault ship like the French Mistral to do so:
McClatchy is reporting that the Iranian government has now launched a series of airstrikes and artillery barrages along the Northern Iraq border, in autonomous Kurdistan. Those attacks are coupled with a small scale troop incursion in the Kurdish-Iranian mountains.
Wired has an excellent profile of the Wikileaks mole, one that's worth a read in its entirety. Here's a brief background:
Some heartening news from Helmand, courtesy of our British friends:
The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation has released study that's worth of a (scrupulous) look. Here's its central tenet:
Remember, it's all about the impoverished Palestinian people:
Noah Shachtman has a rather dour take on the utility of Israel's new media engagements in the wake of the flotilla fiasco:
Below is President Reagan's 1984 speech at the Tomb of the Unknowns, one of his finest (a week later, he'd top it at Point Du Hoc, honoring the 40th anniversary of Operation Overlord in a beautiful, soaring address). The tomb, which contains the remains of soldiers -- or known only to God, as the…
A source inside ISAF emails to say that Afghanistan's large peace jirga, scheduled for next week by President Karzai, has been delayed until further notice. A jirga, Pashtun for "council," is a traditional means of brokering peace amongst warring tribes. Next week's assembly would aim to bring…
Now that Dennis Blair has officially resigned from his post, Obama officials are scrambling to find a new director of national intelligence (DNI). But why bother?
This could have serious ramifications:
There was big, though somewhat underreported, news out of Zimbabwe today. Roy Bennett, an opposition leader jailed for bogus terrorism charges, was just acquitted by a high court in Harare. I've written about Bennett before--and his persecution by a malevolent Mugabe government--pointing out that…
I've had my nose buried in an interesting, if not a bit alarmist, piece on a potential naval spat with China. The paper, titled "How the United States Lost the Naval War of 2015" (how's that for an eye-catcher?), raises the red flag on the PLA Navy's intent to raise the black flag. That scenario,…
Liberal bloggers are making a fuss over this story, which means that -- despite Secretary Gates's temporary redirect on an issue that has nothing to do with winning the war -- DADT is being debated all over again:
This popped up last week, so consider it an "in case you missed it" blurb. Over at Time, Dimitri Simes has a take on the U.S.-Russia treaty negotiations that I consider extremely instructive:
To say that President Barack Obama's response to the Iranian opposition movement has been tepid might be a bit of an understatement. But suppose he does assume a Reagan style posture, and uses his lofty pulpit as leader of the free world to fan the flames of opposition. Would the protesters,…
Since assuming his post during the Bush administration, Robert Gates has operated with a simple philosophy: win the war. But execution of that guiding objective has proven complicated. During World War II, America's armed forces were transformed from a sleepy, mostly domestic border guard into a…
Yesterday, the Obama administration released the DoD's official nuclear stockpile figures. For decades, the size and shape of America's atomic arsenal have been deliberately kept secret, and for good reason. There's always been a calculated sense of ambiguity around our nuclear forces and our…
“Greetings in the name of freedom,” proclaimed the newly minted prime minster, Robert Mugabe, during Zimbabwe’s independence celebration in 1980. His words marked one of the most brilliant transitions of power in recent history, as the last conflict of the post-colonial retreat faded into history.…
As if President Obama's foreign policy hasn't come under enough fire for its warm embrace of the world's misfits and shabby treatment of allies, Jackson Diehl reports:
Trying to prevent terrorists from obtaining nukes should be national security priority number one. But the Obama administration's plan to combat that threat is puzzling. They've argued ad nauseam that arms reduction treaties like START are the key to keeping loose nukes out of the hands of…
With healthcare reform behind him, President Obama has turned his attention to what is perhaps his number one foreign policy priority: nuclear disarmament. On April 6, the Obama administration released a new Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) report, outlining U.S. nuclear weapons strategy. The NPR is…
If the Nuclear Posture Review -- a congressionally mandated document which evaluates the state and purpose of America's nuclear forces -- was a battle between Secretary Gates and President Obama, Gates won.
Over at the Washington Post, Jackson Diehl dives into an unnecessarily tense meeting between Israeli prime minister Netanyahu and President Obama.
One of the most dangerous aspects of today's nuclear debate is the deeply skewed ratio of fact versus opinion. Disarmament advocates, many with a poor understanding of nuclear game theory, operational concepts, even basic weapon capabilities, too often posture themselves as experts in a debate…
In 2005, Syria's Ba'athist dictatorship was accused of supporting the assainination of Rafik Hariri, who was then the prime minister of Lebanon. Hariri's death sparked an internal anti-Syrian uprising in Lebanon--the Cedar revolution--which was both supported vocally by the Bush administration and…
Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, once the largest exporter of arms in the world, there's been a growing international choir of peace-minded activists determined to halt the import/export of weapons. Now that America has taken center stage as the new chief arms dealer, that chorus has…
Over at The Cable, Josh Rogin reports that the Obama administration's strategic engagement with China seems to have less to do with broad foreign policy objectives than the more narrow issue of arms sales to Taiwan.
Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, recently detailed a new approach to warfare that's worth a look. In two speeches at Kansas State University and Fort Leavenworth, Mullen talked up a massive doctrinal shift in America's approach to warfighting.
Over at Military.com, Christian Lowe reports that there's some serious introspection from Army thinkers over the quality of long range combat gear. The battle, so to speak, is raging over a paper scribed by one of the Army's "Jedi Knights" -- a nickname for graduates of the prestigious School for…
Terrific tale of courage and calm under pressure, courtesy of our friends from across the pond. Anything less than Lt. Fortune's superb handling of the situation would have cost the lives of 20 of Her Majesty's soldiers.
To date, President Obama's nominations to key defense postings have been mostly pragmatic, starting at the top with the retention of Secretary Gates. However, in the instance of Philip Coyle -- nominated to fill the associate director of national security and international affairs spot in the…
This Newsweek article was touched on yesterday, but -- considering the source -- it's worth revisiting. A choice quote:
Over at Heritage, Ariel Cohen and Helle Dale dive into anti-Americanism in Russia. Apparently it's reaching Cold War levels, with no shortage of government encouragement.
Now that fighting in Marja has boiled down to minor skirmishes, here are a few points worth noting:
Bill Sweetman, the veritable godfather of aviation reporting, has an interesting story up on efforts to push the Joint Strike Fighter out the door on time.
The Times of London, in a story that borders on the passive-aggressive, is reporting that President Obama has refused to endorse British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands. The short skinny of this is that there's another Buenos Aires-London row over the rightful ownership of the islands (you…
According to Josh Rogin over at Foreign Policy, there's a "growing realization on Capitol Hill that Senate ratification of the START follow-on treaty with Russia will probably not happen this year."
Reuters has an interesting story up on Robert Mugabe's birthday celebration, hosted by the new soft imperialists, communist China. Last year, the Zimbabwean dictator's 85th birthday was globally mocked as an embarrassing Marie Antoinette moment (one of many, really), as Mugabe spent a huge sum on a…
Fareed Zakaria has an interesting -- though silly -- column up mocking Sarah Palin's suggestion that Obama get tough on Iran. It's interesting because Zakaria's grand solution to the deeply complex Iran problem is to simply lock them into a deterrence paradigm with the U.S. and Israel --more…
As Operation Moshtarak enters its second week, Americans should take a minute to appreciate just how lucky we are to have the British fighting alongside U.S. and Afghan forces. Their vast experience in imperial counterinsurgency notwithstanding, this marks the third war that the British have fought…
Yesterday Senators Lieberman, Kyl, and McCain delivered a sternly worded letter to General James Jones, urging the president's national security advisor to resist pressure from Moscow to tie conventional missile defense systems into the new START follow-on. The letter came after Ambassador John…
The BBC is reporting that Operation Moshtarek has finally launched in Afghanistan's Helmand province. The principle objective will be to seize Marjah, the fortress city owned by the Taliban. Marjah is a key node for Taliban operations and resourcing, so expect the good guys to sweep it, clear it,…
The AP is reporting that Rep. Charles Wilson (D-TX) has died from a heart attack. Wilson was a champion of the Cold War, credited as the driving force behind the covert war against the Soviets' occupation of Afghanistan (see Operation Cyclone, made famous by the book and motion picture Charlie…
Here's a headline that begs for a "reset" joke:
Iran's Supreme Leader raised some eyebrows yesterday, claiming that Tehran would deliver a "punch" that would leave Western powers "stunned."
Politico is reporting that Vice President Biden will be delivering a key address on the future of America's nuclear arsenal this Wednesday. Here's what to expect:
This week in Tehran, it's déjà vu all over again:
As if the French offering to sell Russia an amphibious assault ship wasn't bad news for Georgia, Eli Lake at The Washington Times reports that:
Quote of the day (so far, as Continetti says), from the champion of the Polish Solidarity movement, Lech Walesa:
Word on the wires is that U.S.-Russian negotiators have reached an agreement in principle on a drastic reduction to nuclear forces. The cuts, part of the new START agreement, are projected to sharply cut nuclear delivery systems like subs, bombers, and ICBMs, as well as nuclear inventories. It will…
According to a draft copy of the Quadrennial Defense Review, DoD wonks are planning to mold an already over-tasked military to meet rising challenges associated with global warming climate change.
In a State of the Union address that was already too light on national security and foreign policy, one of the most pressing security challenges of the day --Iran-- received barely a mention.
One of the big payoffs from the much touted (yet deeply underwhelming) "reset" of relations with Moscow was sustainment of the northern distribution network, a logistical lifeline to Afghanistan which cuts a hot path through several former Soviet republics. This was to be step one in a larger…
After one year in office, the Obama administration's foreign policy has been defined by an odd role reversal. The rogues gallery of the world, from Burma to North Korea to Iran to Russia to China, have been largely embraced by the White House and State Department --while relations with key…
There's been much gnashing of the teeth over the new defense budget, which is reported to top out at a towering $708 billion. The lamentations are premature. The budget won't be finalized for an additional month, while the Quadrennial Defense Review —a force structuring roadmap— isn't expected to…
I mentioned in an earlier post that there's an abundance -- perhaps over abundance -- of opinions about U.S. nuclear forces, but a shortage of expertise. In an exquisitely timed op-ed, James Carroll makes my point for me:
Last week, the Glover Park Group -- one of Washington's largest PR/communications firms -- launched a strange attack on the Wall Street Journal over its recent op-ed on nuclear warhead modernization. The Journal's editorial, which laid down some fairly basic points on the importance of properly…
Hugo Chavez announced this weekend that the Venezuelan currency, the bolivar, will be devalued for the third time since 2004. The oil-rich banana republic increasingly resembles Mexico prior to its 1994 economy crash. So, socialist policies enacted by a bombastic Latin American strongman are…
The Hill is reporting that Robert Gates will retain his post as Secretary of Defense, as least for the next year. This decision will mercifully spare us from the rumored alternatives, among them Chuck Hagel and John Kerry. Here's a few of Gates's directives that should absolutely be sustained.
Solid score from Josh Rogin over at Foreign Policy, who reports that the much anticipated Nuclear Posture Review -- a DoD force structuring plan for America's nuclear weapons -- will be delayed an additional month. The Pentagon announcement comes on the same day that the Los Angeles…
Debra Burlingame makes some solid points regarding TSA checkpoint screening. During a flurry of recent holiday travel, I also took note of TSA's reaction to the underwear bomber, jotting down some observations while waiting in the infinite airport security lines. The bureaucratic suck that is TSA…
Today's LA Times has an admirably even piece on the shadowy barfight between Pentagon officials and White House staffers over the future of our nation's nuclear arsenal. President Obama's ambitious plan to begin phasing out nuclear weapons has run up against powerful resistance from officials in…
Here's a handy little chart from the Old Grey Lady, breaking down three years worth of benchmark data from the Global War on Terrorism Overseas Contingency Operat-- er... Global War on Terrorism. Though there's still some knifework to be done, Iraq is looking like Eden compared to the trying…
Zimbabwean farmer Mike Campbell has been terrorized, threatened, beaten, and, this past fall, victimized by a vicious arson attack that left him homeless. His crime? Refusing a government order to abandon his mango farm, which the Campbell family purchased legally and has worked for decades.…
Iran's nuclear program is spread throughout a variety of experimental laboratories, hardened enrichment facilities, heavy water manufacturing plants, and two plutonium reactors currently under development (Bushehr could come online within a few months). That far exceeds what's needed to turn on the…
I'm a little late coming in on the latest Iranian missile salvo, but there a few salient points still worth mentioning. First, the Sajjil-2 is a solid fuel rocket. That's the type of power source that we use in our own Minuteman III rockets, as solid fuel is stable in flight and requires no…
Senator Nelson should call Rahm Emanuel's bluff. Offutt Air Force Base is one of the nation's most critical command and control nodes, second to only to the National Military Command Center in the Pentagon. The base's hardened facilities, designed to withstand a nuclear blast, are so optimized to…
light display.jpg Just in time for the President's big speech, as it turns out. MOSCOW - The failure of a new Russian intercontinental ballistic missile during testing was the cause of spectacular spiraling blue lights in the skies over northern Norway, analysts said Thursday. Russia's defense…
Boxer: Hackers should face criminal probe over 'Climategate': Leaked e-mails allegedly undermining climate change science should be treated as a criminal matter, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said Wednesday afternoon. Boxer, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee,…
Fred Barnes writes on the START follow-on treaty with the Russians: When the Nobel Committee announced [Obama's Peace Prize], it pointedly "attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons." But Obama may go to Oslo empty-handed--and a bit…
The New York Times has an interesting article up on the role of US and Canadian air defense in the post-9/11 world. Between 2001 and 2007, NORAD provided for regular combat air patrols over major US cities. Due to the spiraling costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, military planners swapped out…
worst kind of ally.jpg Sayeth the British Spectator: 'The Afghan issue has made clear the astonishing disregard with which Mr Obama treats Britain . As he decides how many more troops to send to Afghanistan - a decision which will fundamentally affect the scope of the mission - Britain is reduced…
Here's a nifty write-up of counterinsurgency sensei David Kilcullen's speech at Johns Hopkins, delivered last night. Kilcullen's been in the news recently, warning of a "Suez-like disaster" should the White House lowball USFOR-A boss Gen McChrystal's request for 40k additional combat troops. DoD…
Nothing to fear. Though the President will likely shortchange General McChrystal's troop request, his charm, charisma, and supernatural diplomacy powers will soon make war obsolete anyway. Standing on a riser wearing a blue suit and red tie, with a cluster of troops and a large American flag behind…
No surprise here, Tehran doesn't believe sanctions will materialize and have buried the lion's share of their HEU stockpiles -- and accompanying centrifuge cascades -- in a massive underground complex near the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center. Isfahan, Tehran's version of Cheyenne Mountain, is…
I tweeted this a few days ago, but deliberately kept it vague. Capt. Shannon Meehan, an old college associate and former patient at Fort Hood's medical facility, said that Hasan had a reputation for telling his patients to report themselves to the legal office for war crimes, an unbelievably sick…
From Aussie Lt. Col. David Kilcullen, an alumnus of the vaunted Petraeus 'brain-trust' that beat the Iraqi insurgency, comes a biting commentary on dithering. David Kilcullen, one of the world's leading authorities on counter-insurgency and an adviser to the British government as well as the U.S.…
This coming from the Commander, United States Strategic Command, who knows a thing or two about nuclear deterrence. A U.S. missile defense system that is too robust could actually backfire and become destabilizing, prompting countries like China to expand their nuclear arsenals, a U.S. general said…
From the AP: WASHINGTON-President Barack Obama does not plan to accept any of the Afghanistan war options presented by his national security team, pushing instead for revisions to clarify how and when U.S. troops would turn over responsibility to the Afghan government, a senior administration…
You have to admire the Obama administration's message discipline, no matter how silly the talking point. He's got General Casey making diversity the Army's prime directive after the Ft. Hood shootings, his National Security Advisor emphasizing that troop levels in Afghanistan aren't important…
He's going through the motions at least. It's doubtful that Chavez initiates a conflict with his better-armed neighbor while he's still waiting for those big Russian arms shipments. Chalk this up next to the dictator's long list of prior attention whoring: hosting of Russian supersonic bombers, his…
IAEA seeks explanation from Iran on nuclear weapon implosion device: The Guardian newspaper reported on Thursday that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has requested a response from Iran in regard to evidence that the country has experimented with the creation of advanced implosion…
Let's take a look at Obama's near-term grand aspirations for his "Overseas Contingency Operations." He wants to remove 90k troops from Iraq while at the same time increasing Army and Marine end strength by 22k troops. Presumably the president also plans to increase troop strength in Afghanistan,…
The borders have been pushed east, countries have switched sides, but the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization's raison d'etre isn't that much different than its Cold War predecessor. That is, to provide a strong military counterweight to NATO and ultimately return the European…
After advocating massive influxes of taxpayer money into blackholes like stimulus, bailouts for failed corporations, and universal health care, the New York Times editorial board is suddenly on a big fiscal responsibility kick: Presidents, and those aspiring to be presidents, routinely promise to…
The timing here is beautiful. The exercises reportedly transpired during the 70th anniversary of the Russian invasion of Poland... also the same day that President Obama killed plans for Polish based missile defense. The [Russian] armed forces are said to have carried out "war games" in which…
Goldfarb notes that the Chinese are eyeing space supremacy in the same manner that the US and Soviet Union eyed air supremacy post-WWII. China's determination to militarize space has been evident since they shot down an aging satellite in 2007, or at least evident to everyone except President…
Is there a growing revolt of senior military leadership over Afghanistan? Experts say no but Rolling Stone says yes. In early October, as President Obama huddled with top administration officials in the White House situation room to rethink America's failing strategy in Afghanistan, the Pentagon…
The New York Times reports that President Obama plans to amalgamate General McChrystal's COIN strategy with General Biden's (snark) counter-terrorism strategy, focusing on protecting cities instead of villages and towns. President Obama's advisers are focusing on a strategy for Afghanistan aimed at…
They're spinning this as an "in the off chance sanctions don't work..." contingency plan, but it sounds like an administration succumbing to its own impotence: The Obama administration is quietly laying the groundwork for long-range strategy that could be used to contain a nuclear-equipped Iran and…
This was bound to happen, as most American wars have experienced their share of mid to high level defections. This time around, State loses a talented FSO who was serving in one of the toughest regions in Afghanistan. A former Marine who fought in Iraq, joined the State Department after leaving the…
The START treaty has provisions that ban the development of new ICBMs that carry multiple reentry systems (read: nukes). For years now, Russia has bent that provision by modifying their Topol-M ICBM into the newer RS-24 system, a road-mobile ICBM with a whopping ten bombs per missile. Once START…
Cheney's speech last night on Afghanistan was sublime, laying out the simple realities of a war that we must win. My favorite from the Cheney archives, however, is his 2008 missile defense speech to the Heritage foundation, where he calmly and deliberately laid out the strong case for a robust…
If what the White House and Obama supporters have been saying for two years is true, the weighty decision on Afghanistan's troop strength is one that Obama shouldn't have to make. From airy speeches in Berlin, to campaign rallies boasting that The One would renew "tattered" alliances abroad, to…
Common sense dictates that if you have a nuclear deterrent, you need to verify that it works. If your enemies suspect that it doesn't (or won't) work, deterrence fails and nuclear war evolves from a distant threat to a frightening possibility. The United States hasn't tested a nuclear device since…
Both Goldfarb and I have offered a collective head scratch over the Obama administration's decision to cut the valuable F-22 Raptor while pouring trillions into economic black holes. Lockheed's F-22 program was a nexus for tens of thousands of defense manufacturing jobs, the preservation of which…
Staggering, yet obvious admission from the Grey Lady -- the use of force is the only effective form of diplomacy in the Middle East. The payoff from the use of force in the struggle between Israel and the Palestinians is evident. It was only after the first Palestinian uprising in the late 1980s…
A knotty question. I'd point to their continued support of the Iranian regime's nuclear program, their use of energy reserves to blackmail democratic Eastern Europe, their aggressive export of high-tech weapons to thuggish regimes, disconcerting upgrades to their nuclear forces, chest-thumping…
Here's a sharp take on Obama's strange decision to hold off the troop decision until after Afghanistan's runoff election. A Marine Lt Col serving in Afghanistan writes: We have here a conundrum: sorting out the clear and fair winner of an election, according to the law, is of course the proper…
Over at Small Wars Journal, I sat down with Peter Godwin -- author, war correspondent, and veteran of the Rhodesian Bush War-- for a discussion on counterinsurgency tactics and strategy. Godwin's experiences with the British South Africa Police -- a Rhodesian police/paramilitary outfit -- were…
September 24, 2009: The White House claimed a key victory Wednesday in its effort to create momentum toward sanctions against Iran for its pursuit of nuclear weapons, saying that comments by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev after a meeting with President Obama represented a shift toward favoring…
The AFP is reporting that despite pulling the ground based mid-course interceptor from Europe, the Russians remain unhappy with Noble Laureate Obama's missile defense plans. Ivan is, of course, playing the classic Russian game here -- push until you meet resistance. In a terrible lapse of judgment,…
Here's a strange bit of logic from the White House spokesman (who never really understood missile defense in the first place): Gibbs said the Polish, Czech and Romanian governments support Obama's decision, which he said would deploy "a missile defense system that protects a greater geographic area…
Goldfarb notes that Vice President Biden is trying to split the Afghan baby, proposing a big bump in kinetic operations (read: airstrikes) instead of complying with General McChrystal's request for more troops. Have we learned nothing in the past eight years? Neither Generals Petraeus and…
Two days ago, London's Sunday Times confirmed what many close to the Iran debate already knew -- that Russian scientists are actively assisting the Iranians in their nuclear program. If you omit the disastrous 2007 NIE from the strategic calculus here, most credible intel estimates had identified…
Is there an antonym for "leadership?" According to sources close to the administration, Gen McChrystal shocked and angered presidential advisers with the bluntness of a speech given in London last week. The next day he was summoned to an awkward 25-minute face-to-face meeting on board Air Force One…
Perhaps he meant "Israeli nukes number one threat to Arab plans to decimate Israel." This coming off Israel's 40 year track record of nuclear restraint, even after the near collapse of IDF lines during the Yom Kippur War. Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohamed…
A reader emails: The government is playing down Iran's missile tests as scantly more than "provocative," while some political pundits are calling them gravely serious. What's the real story? Just how far along are they in [missile] development? Short skinny: It's serious. Iran's test provides some…
Here's an interesting Briefing Room back-and-forth on Iran's successful Sajjil-2 missile test (emphasis mine). Q: Robert, what's the White House's reaction to Iran's test-firing of missiles and how will that affect the atmosphere for the October 1st talks? MR. GIBBS: Well, a couple things. I mean,…
This is certainly a unique interpetation of "wartime presidency." What does it say about your Commander-in-Chief when he's spoken with David Letterman more than his key guy in Afghanistan? The military general credited for capturing Saddam Hussein and killing the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq says he…
Here's what we'll get in return for unilaterally killing European Missile Defense: Russia will "consider other options" for dealing with the Tehran. During this morning's Q & A at the University of Pittsburgh, Medvedev said: I do not believe sanctions are the best way to achieve results. Sanctions…
Via the Corner, Major Garrett tweets from a briefing by a senior administration official: + deets: Iran facility NOT operational, had abt 3K centrifuges & cld produce 1 or 2 warheads if run to produce highly enriched uranium. Significant. It takes several thousand centrifuges running for…
Is there a totalitarian regime on the planet that the President hasn't yet coddled, emboldened, or outright supported? How about... China? Goldfarb notes that the Obama Administration is looking to develop a partnership, if not an "alliance" with the Chinese Communist government. Step back and soak…
Quoth the Great Orator: No world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will succeed. Fair enough -- the UN was designed to be the great level playing field for all nations and it's failed spectacularly. Impotent, corrupt, and a diplomatic forum for anti-Semitism, the United…
Imagine if this had happened in the age of camera phones and Facebook. Boris Yeltsin got so drunk during a 1995 visit to Washington that Secret Service agents found him a few hundred feet from the White House clad only in his underwear and trying to hail a cab - because, he explained, he wanted a…
Disturbing report, from The Guardian Obama has rejected the Pentagon's first draft of the "nuclear posture review" as being too timid, and has called for a range of more far-reaching options consistent with his goal of eventually abolishing nuclear weapons altogether, according to European…
Obama Missile Decision May Smooth U.S.-Russia Arms Talks, says the Washington Post. Preemptively removing contentious issues from a debate will make any diplomatic summit easier, but that's not really the point of negotiations, is it? Doesn't it make more sense for diplomacy to be focused on goals…
A friend texted me early yesterday, wondering "what's the big deal?" with our tail-tucked missile defense retreat from Eastern Europe. This is coming from a guy who just finished a masters in security policy. And no doubt the Great Orator will be trying to convince a distracted citizenry that Czech…
Military.com's superb defense blog, DoD Buzz, blogs from the Air Force Association conference in Washington, DC: The U.S. military's historic dominance of the skies, unchallenged since around spring 1943, is increasingly at risk because of the proliferation of advanced technologies and a buildup of…
Danger Room reports that Venezuela has just taken out a $2.2 billion line of credit for Russian military hardware. Appearing yesterday on Aló Presidente, his weekly talk show, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced that Russia had extended a credit line worth $2.2 billion toward new arms…
Ivan's making a list and checking it twice: August 30, 2009: Russia is naming the fourth of its Borei class SSBN (ballistic missile carrying nuclear submarines) Syvatitel Nikolay (Saint Nicholas). That's the same Saint Nicholas who serves as the model for Santa Claus in the West. In Russia, Saint…
George Will echoes the concerns of many on the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan. There's no doubt that killing a dedicated insurgency is frustrating, indeed dislodging an indigenous enemy force from the local population could be the trickiest maneuver in warfare. But winning there, in the…
The reputable Small Wars Journal is, interestingly enough, one of the leading sources on the current plight in Zimbabwe. That expertise, originating in their aggressive study of the Rhodesian Bush War, has matured into pragmatic policy on statecraft and diplomacy -- evident in the following excerpt…
The feel-good story of the day: The IDF published on Tuesday a video depicting an altercation that took place this week in the southern Lebanese village of Marwakhin between local residents and Hezbollah operatives. Taken by a unit of the IDF's Field Intelligence Corps, the video shows a group of…
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Interesting bit on the decline of U.S. production capacity, via Loren Thompson at the Lexington Institute's new blog. With the Obama Administration moving to put more emphasis on manufacturing policy, the Lexington Institute is releasing a report this week detailing just how severe the nation's…
Interesting bit on the decline of US production capacity, via Loren Thompson at the Lexington Institute's new blog. With the Obama Administration moving to put more emphasis on manufacturing policy, the Lexington Institute is releasing a report this week detailing just how severe the nation's…
"Planes come first," says the Russian military.
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One of the most contentious issues among military planners is how, exactly, we should be fighting the counter-insurgency in Afghanistan. CENTCOM boss General Petraeus figured Iraq out quickly, but cracking the Hindu Kush's human terrain remains -- as it has for centuries -- the bane of empires and…
A knotty question -- he's due to visit the blast site come November and loves to say "I'm sorry." On the other hand, the twin Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombings served as a legitimate conclusion to a war that Japan initiated -- with a recent poll showing that 61% of Americans support Truman's decision to…
NY Daily News:
Voice of America reports:
This past month, Heritage fired a loud warning shot at lawmakers responsible for the F-22's sustainment, cautioning against legislation that would exacerbate the problem of our swiftly shrinking fighter fleet. Though the entire paper -- The Growing Air Power Fighter Gap -- is worth reading, their…
Thanks to the cancelation of the F-22 program, a two-year delay on F-35 development, and an upcoming QDR likely to shortchange F/A-18 sustainment, the Pentagon is projecting gaping holes in our active-duty Navy and Air Force fighter forces for the next 6-9 years. With fewer active duty airframes…
A salient point from Michael Yon, embedded with the UK's 2 Rifles. I was up on a watch post with a soldier from Ghana while we waited for soldiers who have been fighting to return to base. The war is serious here; earlier in the day, another soldier from 2 Rifles had been killed upriver at Kajaki.…
Sixth Seventh times' a charm. So much for Russia's sparkling new nuclear arsenal -- the Bulava was purportedly Putin's baby. For the uninitiated, this is not an optimal missile trajectory. ivanslbm.jpg They point those things at us, so I'll hoist a beer to this epic snafu. Credit to the Ruskies…
They also have an odd take on summer camp
A friend passes along an interesting report on China's "Project 048," the PLA Navy's strategic plan to construct six nuclear and conventionally powered aircraft carriers. The first two conventionally powered carriers will reportedly be laid down this year, with more quickly to follow. Once…
There's been some pretty egregious stuff floating around about the detention facility at Gitmo, but a recent blog post at the American Prospect takes the cake. According to the Prospect, the Guantanamo stockade apparently has the same effect on inmates as the Overlook Hotel from The Shining. The…
With the JSF two full years behind schedule and the F-22 program dead, the USAF's fleet projections for the next 7-8 years are pretty ugly. Fortunately, the Obama administration will be retaining the Navy's robust fighter force to meet our air defense demands. Or... not: At a discussion this week…
Former CIA boss: Wiretapping was lawful, effective and necessary. If the beer-soaked assertions of some colleagues in the intelligence community are true, it also saved an awful lot of innocent lives.
From the indispensable Small Wars Journal, a biting reality check to Secretary Clinton's Mid-East trumpet blast: ...anyone who remembers the Cold War should recall that U.S. security guarantees for Western Europe, Japan, and South Korea were not easy, cheap, or simple. A U.S. guarantee for the…
An interesting report from the Washington Post claims that the White House launched an "aggressive, coordinated effort" to slash the fifth generation fighter from the defense budget: When a showdown vote loomed on July 15, Senate Democratic leaders who backed Obama's effort to scuttle the program…
supertucano.jpg Christian Lowe reports: A top Pentagon official told a small group of defense reporters this morning (July 23) that the upcoming QDR will likely propose the formation of an aviation cadre devoted solely to irregular warfare. The Pentagon's guru for special operations and low…
As Goldfarb pointed out, the key to ballistic missile defense is redundancy. European deployment of the system affords Western allies a critical level of protection, as well as the first line of a robust, layered defense of the US mainland. The threat, however, isn't limited to Iran. Proliferation…
Interesting concept art of Russian's new Sukhoi PAK-FA fighter jet, informally dubbed the "Raptor Killer" by Russian aficionados. Scheduled for its maiden flight later this year, the PAK-FA purportedly boasts many of the F-22's bells and whistles: stealth, supercruise, advanced phased array radar,…
From an administration that made its bones arguing that our defense resources are stretched dangerously thin: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Iran Wednesday that the United States would extend a "defense umbrella" over its allies in the Persian Gulf if the Islamic Republic obtains a…
More job cuts expected in U.S. defense sector : Big defense contractors could be poised to shed jobs as the Pentagon cuts traditional weapons spending, while smaller, niche companies may ramp up their hiring as the United States expands resources to protect ground troops and computer networks.…
One of the main justifications for killing the F-22 program was that the hyper-advanced fighter was irrelevant in a world of small wars and contingency actions. Secretary Gates is fond of pointing out that the jet has never flown a combat sortie over Iraq or Afghanistan -- an argument that's…
Back in 2007, US intelligence officials -- fearing an overestimation of WMD capabilities similar to Iraq circa 2002 -- severely lowballed their analysis of Iran's nuclear weapons program. Their product, the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran, put the Bush administration on the defensive and…
News from Afghanistan has been -- admittedly -- less than stellar lately. Here's a little ray of hope from the estimable Michael Yon, embedded with the US Marine Corps: The U.S. Marines are flooding in, and you might think that every Marine helicopter in our arsenal is here. I'll not give numbers…
If the Obama administration is so insistent on "reseting" Cold War relations, why are they using an outmoded Cold War paradigm for nuclear arms reductions? The major allied nuclear powers -- Great Britain, France, the United States -- have all steadily reduced both nuclear stockpiles and delivery…
It would be the finishing touch on their decade-long dismantling of Her Majesty's Armed Forces: The U.K. should re-examine its commitment to the Lockheed Martin F-35, a left-leaning think tank suggests, as part of a broader review of defense procurements. The Institute for Public Policy Research…
Suppose, from a purely hypothetical standpoint, the crisis in Honduras was mimicked in the United States? A fictional American president, lacking the votes in Congress and the judicial nod from the Supreme Court, circumvents the constitutional process and holds an illegal national referendum to…
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