Big rollout of the U.S. military’s budget request for 2012 today (of course, 2011’s still isn’t finalized — and the fiscal year is nearly half over — but that’s another matter). This first chart traces the budget from 2001 through 2016, if the Administration gets its way. The growth from $316 billion in 2001 to this year’s planned $708 …
National Security
A New Nuclear Triad?
Something profound is happening in the proposed 2012 $670 billion (including $117 billion for Afghanistan and Iraq) defense budget that will be released on Monday, but few are paying attention. You may want to, because it sets the nation on a path that, if history is any guide, will last for a half-century, and cost hundreds of …
Blast from the Past
Someone of a certain age has noted the growing resemblance between Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak and the Mighty Favog, from Saturday Night Live, way back in 1975-1976. They do more than look alike, however. Favog was a deity in the Land of Gorch, offering wisdom to King Ploobis and the planet’s other residents in exchange for sacrifices. But he …
What Will The Egyptian Military Do?
When we published our dead-tree story last week on the steady hand the Egyptian military was playing in keeping things in line in a tumultuous time, we kept our fingers crossed. Those tanks could roll at any moment — against either the protesters, or the government. But they stood still, as they have for all 18 days of the protests so …
Not So Fast, Afghan Women
Yesterday’s post on how the U.S. and NATO are trying to make Afghanistan more female friendly faces obstacles like this detailed in today’s New York Times by ace reporter and former colleague Alissa Rubin:
KABUL, Afghanistan — After her parents threw her out of the house for refusing to marry a 52-year-old widower with five children,
…
More Afghan Notion Building
Earlier today we posted on the U.S.-led efforts to give Afghan women more clout in their society. In another sign that the U.S. has gone well beyond war there, today we learned of something called the Rule of Law Field Force-Afghanistan. Its goal: justice in that war-torn country.
Army Brig. Gen. Mark Martins said the Afghan …
Notion Building in Afghanistan
In a primitive land where women have been suppressed for centuries, the U.S. military and NATO are trying to change that. Jack Kem, a top NATO trainer, said he and his team are trying to bring “gender mainstreaming” into Afghan society. That’s a stiff challenge, given this story by TIME’s Aryn Baker last year.
Kem, on leave from the …
"Don't Blow Smoke Up My Ass"
Excuse me, but that is the Air Force’s top officer scolding the contractors who supply him with weapons. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz didn’t mince words Wednesday after giving a speech in Washington, D.C.
When an audience member asked him what contractors could do to help the Pentagon during the coming lean times, …
Pentagon Is "Stodgy," Experts Confirm
Apparently it’s not just the Pentagon’s weapons that represent relics of the superpower rivalry between the U.S. and the Soviet Union — it is the Cold War way it continues to develop weapons despite today’s very different world. The chart above shows just how much time it takes the military to come up with new weapons — some as long as …
Help, At Last, For Those On The Home Front
We read so much about the stresses and strains nearly a decade of war has put on our troops. Army boosters are formally acknowledging something just as important: spouses face challenges when their significant other deploys, too.
That’s why the Walter Reed Army Medical Center has just launched a “Significant Others Support Group” …
Pentagon Wish List
Sure, they call it the National Military Strategy of the United States of America. It’s a smart but eye-glazing document that oozes national-security platitudes on every one of its 21 pages:
The United States remains the world’s preeminent power, even as a growing number of state and non-state actors exhibit consequential influence.
…
"A spontaneous manifestation of discontent."
That’s what Defense Secretary Robert Gates called Egypt’s woes today. Zut alors! He may just have been trying to show up Alain Juppe, the French defense minister, with that verbal fusillade at a press briefing the two of them held at the Pentagon. Or his speechwriters may be working too hard.
Britannia Rules The Waves. Not So Much.
The cash-strapped British military — remember our post on it putting the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible up for sale not too long ago? — is cutting the patrols of the Caribbean its warships have sailed since World War II, the Guardian reports. It’s another sign that a lack of funds is forcing a one-time world superpower to curb its …