Battleland

Happy Birthday, Battleland!

Battleland is one year old today. Great. Twenty more and we can have a drink. Actually, we’ll be toasting the anniversary this afternoon with some freezer-prepped Jeremiah Weed. Some pilots say it’s the only kind of depth charge worth delivering.

Our little slogan at the top – Where military intelligence isn’t a contradiction

More Than One Way to Win?

The “spring offensive” that the Haqqani network launched Sunday in Kabul and other points around the Afghan capital was pretty bush league, by all accounts. But while it was military insignificant, its political ramifications …

More Bucks, Fewer Bodies



This interesting chart surfaced last week at the Center for Strategic and International Studies Global Security forum. Note how the black line – representing the number of troops in the U.S. military by year – generally tracked the blue bars, representing how much money we spend on defense each year. Until 9/11, that is, when …

Sexual Assault Awareness Month…Revisited

Last week I wrote about the Navy’s plan for a stand-down to “communicate the service’s policy of zero tolerance for sexual assault while encouraging sailors to work harder to prevent attacks.” I had indicated a bit of skepticism about the leadership’s buy-in of the program…

The day after my blog was published I was invited …

Lasers: Tomorrow Never Comes

Laser, née L.A.S.E.R. – for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation – might as well stand for Late And So Extraordinarily Recondite (adj., meaning mysterious, esoteric) at the Pentagon. Defense officials talk …

Sexual Assault in the Ranks Up 4% Last Year

The number of sexual assaults alleged by military personnel crept up slightly in 2011. The rise from 2,617 in 2010 to 2,723 represents a 4% increase. “One sexual assault in the military is one too many,” the Pentagon’s latest report on sexual assault in the ranks concludes. “While the Department has taken bold steps to prevent and …

Dud Doesn’t Dent Danger

That’s the word from Austin Ramzy in Beijing on Time’s Global Spin blog:

…the ballistic bust does not mean that North Korean threat has lessened significantly. The isolated authoritarian state still possesses significant conventional artillery with which it could attack Seoul, just 55 km south of the demilitarized zone that

Full Speed Ahead




This chart comes from a Government Accountability Office report released Thursday. It’s funny how some Pentagon costs seemed to have turned on their afterburners in the wake of 9/11.

Tokyo: Wait Until Next Time

TOKYO – You could almost hear the collective “Aw, damn,” from Japan’s Ministry of Defense Friday as a North Korean missile broke up soon after takeoff and plopped into the sea. Japan spends about $5 billion a year on missile defense and had mobilized forces throughout the country to shoot the missile down if it strayed …

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