The pressure to reduce U.S. defense spending took a hit Monday when China’s top military officer suggested Washington is spending too much on its military in light of its economic problems at home. “I know the U.S. is still recovering from the financial crisis,” Chen Bingde, chief of the General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army, …
Military
The Slow, and So Far, Quiet Demise of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
So Pentagon enforcement of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” stopped happening Friday. As of Monday morning, the U.S. military seems none the worse off. It appears – and I may yet regret saying this – that the Pentagon’s formal, 17-year ban on gay men and women serving openly in uniform is more likely to end with a whimper than a bang.
For …
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. …
Better Late Than Never
The Air Force is heralding the arrival of its Operation Enduring Freedom Camouflage Pattern (OCP) uniforms to its troops toiling “outside the wire” in Afghanistan. “OCPs have a more advanced camouflage pattern that blends in with the Afghan terrain, making our Airmen safer and more effective on the battlefield,” said Lt. Col. Shawna …
Number of Homeless Vets Dropping Sharply :-)
Reports about struggling veterans are usually grim, so it’s always nice to trumpet good news: the number of homeless veterans in this country has been cut nearly in half between 2004 and 2009, according to a new Congressional Research Service report just released by Steven Aftergood at the Federation of American Scientists (such …
The iPhone Foe
The independent U.S. Naval Institute’s Proceedings journal has long been one of the best at asking questions some of its readers might prefer not be asked. In its just-released July issue, Lieutenant Commander Matthew Harper grapples with the Navy’s biggest bogeyman: China. Military relations are fundamentally altered, he argues, …
Inside the Battle for Kandahar
Army Major Rusty Bradley was commanding a Special Forces unit in Afghanistan that served as Taliban bait during 2006’s Operation Medusa, the largest offensive in NATO’s history. In his new book, Lions of Kandahar (co-written with journalist Kevin Maurer), Bradley takes the reader into battle. His goal: a patch of high ground called …
Controversy Grows over Obama’s Military Suicide Condolence Letters
Some veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan and their families are vexed by the seemingly arbitrary, location-based limits of a new White House policy to use condolence letters to acknowledge military suicides as legitimate casualties of war.
The disappointment is particularly palpable among family of troops who committed suicide after …
“Yo! Admiral! Ever Hear of Cause And Effect?”
Navy policies and programs work optimally under a retention rate of 55 to 60%. The Navy is currently operating at 71% retention. We have more people wanting to stay in the Navy than we presently have billets.
— Vice Admiral Mark Ferguson, chief of naval personnel
So why is the Navy paying bonuses like a drunken sailor?
Suicide Bombs Away!
This Pentagon purchase caught my attention Wednesday night: the Army has awarded Science, Engineering and Technology Associates of Arlington, Va., a $48.2 million contract for “the procurement of the counter-bomber system to provided detection capability of suicide bombers approaching a controlled access site.” The company says “the …
Is the Cyber-Terror Threat Inflated?
So I’m reading the August-September issue of Reason magazine (a well-crafted periodical of libertarian bent) when I came across a fairly compelling piece on the threat, or lack thereof, posed by cyber-terrorism. Unfortunately, Reason’s latest issue isn’t on line, but I found the working paper on which it is based. It’s well worth a …
What Price American Leadership?
Dueling items Thursday morning over the U.S.’s proper place in the world, and how much the nation should be willing to invest in maintaining it.
On Time’s Curious Capitalist blog, veteran Asia hand Michael Schuman wonders: