“There is a chance that [killing sequestration and its $600 billion in Pentagon spending cuts] could happen, particularly during a lame-duck session, that we would once again kick the can down the road, modify the law that now is in place…I don't think it's the right way to go. But to say that [there’s]…no chance that Congress would kick the can down the road would be kind of inconsistent with a hell of a lot of evidence. Not only can we kick the can down the road, but I think we have special gym shoes…”
National Security
PsyWar of Words
The Army’s psychological operations manual spells out – literally – how psyops soldiers are supposed to help the guys with the guns win. Toward that end, they’re supposed to draft psyop plans with “strong verbs” instead of those dreaded “weak verbs.”
For those of you who weren’t paying attention in English class, the …
One Day Closer to Home…
New Standards for Navy Skippers
The Navy seems to have hit rough seas in recent years, repeatedly canning command officers who have fallen short on the job. To the Navy’s credit, it announces these ousters more loudly and clearly than the other services. But …
“I would like to highlight the remarkable difference between Afghanistan today vis Afghanistan under the Taliban rule. Today more than five times as many children are in school, roughly 85% of Afghans have basic health care within one hour of where they live, women represent 27% of the parliament, and 52% of the Afghan people believe their government is headed in the right direction.”
$4,752.73
Not A Silver Drone…
All this recent reporting on drones and robots might lead one to think the U.S. is nearing the sweet spot, where remote-control war clicks firmly from science fiction to reality. Not so fast, cautions Bill Roggio in an analysis …
The Powers That Be
This Friday, the Air Force will award Francis Gary Powers – the pilot of the ill-fated U-2 spy plane shot down by the Soviets in 1960 and held captive for 21 months – a posthumous Silver Star. It’s the latest in a series of sorrys the U.S. has offered Powers’ family following his poor treatment at the hands of the the government he …
The U.S. Military’s Abortion Policy: Neither Fair Nor Equitable
Over the past couple of months, the military has upped the ante in its fight to reduce sexual harassment and assault through education and prevention programs. This is all good, but it will take time to see whether or not these initiatives actually work.
In the short run, women are still being assaulted, and some of those assaults …
The War Machines
Ready or not, robot wars are coming.
That was made clear in the skies over Pakistan a week ago, when an unmanned drone killed al-Qaeda’s No. 2 leader with a missile strike. And it’s happening on the ground in Afghanistan, …
Paying More for Vets Than Troops Starting in 2014
Thought-provoking chart from the Bipartisan Policy Center’s assessment of how sequestration, if it happens, is likely to affect the defense budget beginning Jan. 2. In fact, it warns, there’s trouble looming, regardless of the sequester:
Three main pathologies internal to the structure of the DoD budget are increasingly detracting
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Bad News All Around
What’s worse – apparently cheating on your wife while based in Iraq as a key U.S. diplomat, or purportedly using your State Department email account to facilitate your alleged assignations with your paramour, supposedly a reporter for a top newspaper? Can’t decide? How about this: having those emails surface after the Obama …
“Look at the current level of air defense and anti-missile defense -- these aircraft will not get anywhere. Not ours, not theirs.”