The cutting-edge U.S. Navy – all lasers, missile defenses and EMALS – is checking out airborne fax machines. What’s next – 8-tracks playing the Top Gun theme? This is from a Tuesday contract inquiry:
President Obama
White House Bash for Iraq Vets
Reduced U.S. Role in Afghanistan: Politics, By Other Means
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s statement Wednesday that the U.S. plans to hand off all combat missions in Afghanistan sometime in 2013 has triggered howls from hawks who maintain it’s a step down a slippery slope headed to …
Defense-Budget Primer…For Normal Folks
The debate over defense spending will light its afterburner Thursday afternoon, when SecDef Leon Panetta and Army General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, invite us into the Pentagon kitchen and show us how they plan …
Talk is Cheap in Washington When It Comes to Politicians and the U.S. Military
Last night, President Obama opened his State of the Union address by referencing the sacrifices and courage of America’s military personnel as they return home from combat. The President’s rhetoric was moving, but unfortunately, words are simply words and have not been fully backed up with action that supports America’s heroes.
21%
“Embrace Our Solution”
The Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee have posted a new video timed to President Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday night. They’re calling on him to join with them in cutting the federal workforce so that a second $500 billion batch of Pentagon budget cuts required under existing law can be …
The Shah’s Ghost…
Those of you paying attention to international affairs a generation ago recall that Jimmy Carter’s decision to let the shah of Iran come to the U.S. for medical care created an anti-American firestorm back home in Iran. Has …
Happy 10th Birthday, Guantanamo Bay
Guantanamo Bay remains the persistent headache that pretty much all Americans would like to go away. Wednesday marks its 10th birthday as home to alleged terrorists scooped up by the U.S. following the 9/11 terror …
A National Guard Keepsake…
Of course, some folks disagree.
New Defense Strategy: Why Wait For The Details?
You may recall Battleland’s advisory last week that it was too early to conclude whether the Obama Administration’s new Pentagon strategy makes sense. That’s because the devil is in the details, and they won’t be known for …
The Changing of the Guard
I would never want to belong to any club that would have someone like me for a member.
The sentiment is usually attributed to Groucho Marx, but as of this week it works for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, too.
“Clintonizing” Perpetual War
In the winter of 2002, a close friend, a liberal staffer on Capitol Hill, asked me if I thought the crazy fulminations of the neocons and the tough-guy rantings of an insecure President [1] could result in a war with Iraq? My answer was something like ‘read the Barbara Tuchman’s The Guns of August and you will get a good idea of …