When it comes to fingering trouble spots in the arc of crisis that springs from the Middle East and ranges west to Libya and east to India, No. 1 — with a bullet — is invariably Pakistan. It’s a vexing stew of tribal rivalries, economic stresses, religious hatreds and a perpetual war alert — perhaps including nuclear war — …
“Stop Using My Paycheck as Your Poker Chip!”
There’s talk in Washington that the failure to raise the debt limit could lead to a halt in military paychecks. This — surprise! — does not please soldiers currently fighting or deployed elsewhere overseas.
“A-One, and a-Two, and a-Three…”
Pentagon Unveils Defensive Cyberwar Strategy
The Pentagon rolled out its new cyber-defense strategy Thursday, hyping it with the news that foreign hackers (from an unidentified country) invaded the computers of one of its (unidentified) contractors in March and pilfered 24,000 sensitive documents in one fell swoop.
Cyber-security is a Pentagon growth area, make no mistake …
Internal Pentagon Proposals to Boost Contract Oversight Go Kaput!
Did the Pentagon ignore proposals by the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) to increase oversight of federal contractors and save taxpayer dollars? The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) has obtained documents outlining legislative proposals submitted by the DCAA to Pentagon leadership back in September 2009—but the Department of …
Clooney’s Satellites Capture Piles of Bodies, Mass Graves in Sudan
George Clooney’s Satellite Sentinel Project set up to monitor the spiraling violence in Sudan has a stunning report out today with convincing evidence showing “a campaign of systematic mass killing of civilians in Kadugli, South Kordofan” in the south-central area of the country. TIME was the first to write about Clooney’s …
Who Ends the Libya War, the Rebels or NATO?
Like two evenly-matched bantam-weights tiring as they enter the final round of a matchup low on the global strategic undercard in which the crowd has long-since lost interest, NATO and Libya’s Colonel Muammar Gaddafi are staggering towards the final bell. NATO will keeping jabbing away and win the bout on points, no doubt, but it’s …
Air Force Argument for New Bomber Bombs, Top General Says
Marine General James “Hoss” Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, just made a lot of enemies in the Air Force. Over breakfast Thursday, he made clear he finds the service’s push for a new manned bomber as a part of the U.S. nuclear triad less than convincing. “I’m known as a bomber-hater, I guess,” the nation’s No. …
Don’t Ask…About “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell…”
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…because it is getting really confusing, as I tried to detail Wednesday night on the PBS NewsHour, along with Aubrey Sarvis of the Servicemembers Legal Defense …
Drones + Biometrics: Weapons That Conquer Globalization’s Frontiers
Cool NYT story on the US military’s use of biometrics (eye scans, etc.) to create unforgeable identification records of roughly one-in-five fighting-age Iraqi and Afghani males, creating databases that can be perused in seconds by a handheld device at a border crossing. Naturally, there is much interest and some desire to use the …
“What’s Pakistan’s Role in Afghanistan Going To Be?”
As the U.S. begins pulling troops out of Afghanistan, is Pakistan going to be a help or a hindrance to stability in the region? John Nagl of the Center for a New American Security and your Battlelander discuss the issue with Dr. Nora Bensahel, counter-insurgency expert with CNAS, and Dave Barno, retired Army lieutenant general and …
Military Suicides: The Families Left Behind
In the recent swirl of articles and blogs about the new Presidential policy on honoring those who suicide in combat with a condolence letter, there are some who may be lost: the Families. The controversy seems to be about whether or not you should “honor” the Soldier who died with a letter of condolence. Recently the White House …
Militants Will Benefit if Pakistan is Blamed for Latest Mumbai Bombing
There’s no reason yet to believe the latest Mumbai terror attacks bear the same signature as the 2008 massacre that left 164 people dead. Wednesday’s multiple explosions appear from early reports to have involved small-scale and relatively crude bombs, even though they appear to have inflicted substantial casualties. That might point …