So this is the week where Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is going to give us a peek into where he wants to cut $450 billion in military spending over the coming decade. It’s the lead story in the New York Times Tuesday morning, …
Military
Air Force: Firing For Effect?
Major Kale Mosley was getting ready to board his KC-135 refueling tanker for Iraq last June when a commander pulled him aside. He was being fired as of Nov. 30, contrary to a long-standing Pentagon policy that lets officers stay …
Gorbachev On “A New Arms Race”
It is hard now to recall the electricity that surged through Washington, D.C., when Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev first visited late in 1987, and jumped out of his limousine right in front of Time’s Washington bureau. Reported …
U.S. Deaths in Afghanistan Drop in 2011
After steady jumps over each of the past four years in the number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan, 2011 brought a welcome decline. After peaking at 499 dead in 2010, last year ended with 418 killed, according to iCasualties.org.
The key question is what the reduction means. Some U.S. officers say the allied forces have broken …
The Pentagon’s New Year’s Resolutions
You make them, I make them, we all make them…but few of us keep them. In keeping with the seasonal delusion, let’s imagine our favorite world’s biggest office building is a sensate creature, and suffered shortcomings and …
Wipe That Smile Off Your Face, Kim Jong Un…
He’s wearing a $3.5 billion grin because of this contract the Pentagon announced New Year’s Eve eve (click on it to enlarge):
But enough real-world woes. May all Battlelanders have a joyous New Year’s celebration…even if many of you tend to focus more on fiscal new years than the calendar variety, and FYDPs instead of …
The `K Street Clausewitz’ Remembered
Mark Thompson’s 27 December posting, “General Newt,” alerted readers of Battleland to Karen Tumulty’s pastiche of mini portraits of Newt Gingrich’s martial prowess. Mark highlighted one the few passages that zeroed in on the insubstantial essence of the K Street Clausewitz.
Unable to contain my mirth, I immediately forwarded Mark’s …
Jail Time
(U.S.) Blood For (Chinese) Oil
The U.S. has spent a decade, $500 billion and 1,863 lives trying to square away Afghanistan. Yet China – which has done nothing in the past 10 years to bring stability to that troubled land – has just become the first foreign …
None Dare Call It Money Laundering…
Sure it’s just a coincidence that one day after Saudi Arabia says it will help fill any oil shortage caused by cutting off Iranian exports to world markets, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia announced they have finalized a deal for 84 …
“I Gave Up Being a SEAL For This?”
Suzanne Kelly over at CNN’s Security Clearance blog pulls back the curtains on what it’s like to be a private contractor toiling in Iraq or Afghanistan. Hint: the big-money dreams seem to be just that.
Retired Generals and Wartime Sales Jobs
Marines’ F-35 Engines Costing Way More Than Other Services’
There’s been lots of grumbling over the cost of the $380 billion F-35 fighter program, and some wheels squeak louder than others. On Wednesday, the Navy awarded a $1.1 billion contract for 30 F-35 engines to Pratt & Whitney …