We cut off funding to Pakistan last week. Guess who steps in to fill the gap this week?
Pentagon
Air Force: “A Quick Symphony of Planning”
As the war for Libya stretches into its fifth month next week, it’s easy to question the wisdom of entering into a conflict with as many caveats on it as this one. But there’s no questioning the gee-whizzedness of the Air Force’s initial strikes carried out by five bombers from bases in the United States. While that “quick symphony …
Iraq: Pentagon Is All Ears, But No One’s Asking
It has been striking to watch the U.S. beg for months for the Iraqi government to request that at least some U.S. troops stay in Iraq beyond the end of this year. That’s the deadline set in a pact between the two nations, and U.S. forces will be able to stay after December 31, 2011, only at the request of the Baghdad government. But …
Brigadier General Loretta Reynolds, Combat Commander Extraordinaire
As the author of Breaking Through the Brass Ceiling: Strategies of Success for Elite Military Women, I was recently interviewed for an upcoming edition of the CBS Early Show. They’re doing a segment on Brigadier General Loretta Reynolds, USMC, who has recently been assigned as the Commanding General of the Marine Corps Recruiting …
“Counter-Insurgency versus Counter-Terrorism?”
Since President Obama announced his plan to begin pulling 33,000 troops out of Afghanistan by the end of next summer, there’s been a lot of debate over whether this marks the end of a counter-insurgency campaign and the beginning of a counter-terror strategy. Is it really a binary choice — does it have to be one or the other — …
Rumsfeld Wins!
Former Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld stopped by Battleland‘s suite Monday for a super-secret project we can’t talk about just yet. Although he’s walking with a cane due to recent back surgery, he says that’s just a temporary setback for the one-time college wrester who turned 79 Saturday. (“Joyce got me this tie,” he said of his …
“Is Counter-Insurgency Dead?”
Here’s our second take on President Obama’s Afghan policy in our new video series featuring John Nagl of the Center for a New American Security and your Battleland scribe. We’re chatting this week with Dr. Nora Bensahel, a noted COIN expert formerly at the Rand Corp. and now at CNAS, and Dave Barno, the top U.S. commander in …
Rin Tin Tin Info: Now Off Limits
The Pentagon is cracking down on the data it posts on its websites. The latest example: the Army manual on its use of dogs. The 2005 version used to be public, but it has been scrubbed off Pentagon websites, according to Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists (although he managed to snare a copy, which you can …
And We’re Worried About Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons?
Robert Gates made a big deal out of the security of U.S. nuclear weapons, going so far as to fire the Air Force’s top two officials for one too many atomic fumbles. Apparently he left the Navy’s nuclear nightmares to successor Leon Panetta.
Check out this story from Navy Times:
A master-at-arms posted at a Navy nuclear warhead
…
Pentagon Budget: Tug-Of-War-Spending Continues
Speaking of Pentagon budget cuts: word from inside the Defense Department is that President Obama’s proposed $400 billion in “security” cuts over “12” years — those words in quotes because “security” is squishy and the Pentagon talks in five- and 10-year terms — may only be a “down payment.”
Though the new bogey for cuts is …
U.S. Turns Down Cash Spigot to Pakistan
The White House said Sunday that it has put on hold $800 million in military aid to Pakistan given Islamabad’s continuing shaky response to the terrorism in its midst. “Until we get through these difficulties,” White House chief of staff William Daley told ABC, “we will hold back some of the money that the American taxpayers have …
Well, That Was Fast
The National Grocers Association has announced the keynote speaker at its next annual convention will be (drum roll, please): former defense secretary Robert Gates. He will “share his considerable knowledge, experience and insights of current world events gained through his long, distinguished career,” NGA chief Peter Larkin says. …
Hey Mate: Scrapping Gender Barriers in Australia’s Military
The story seems too good to be true, at least for this old (female) salt: a truly gender-neutral military, based on capabilities and not gender!
Wow. But here’s the catch…gender norms are still being applied, and the same old anti-women-in-combat arguments are surfacing:
If I see that it’s a woman on the receiving end of …