Military Recruiting Up as Economy Turns Down

It was inevitable:  As it becomes harder to find work in the civilian sector, more people are turning to their local military recruiter. The economic downturn and rising unemployment rate are making the military a more attractive option, Pentagon officials say. In some cases, the peace of mind that comes with good benefits and a regular paycheck is overcoming concerns about ...

Making the Transition in Iraq and Afghanistan

Yesterday's New York Times featured a collection of seven columns on the challenges the incipient Obama Administration faces in managing the transition between administrations in two ongoing wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan. Contributors cover a wide spectrum of opinion and expertise from journalists (Linda Robinson, Rory Stewart) to scholars (Anthony Cordeman) to military officers (Peter Mansoor) to a former ...

James Jones as National Security Advisor?

General James Jones, chairman of the Atlantic Council, is the leading candidate for National Security Advisor in the Obama cabinet, CNN and Politico are both reporting. Two sources close to the Obama transition team tell CNN retired Marine Gen. Jim Jones has emerged as President-elect's leading choice to become national security adviser in the White House. The sources said Jones has been ...

McKiernan: ‘Glass Half Full’ in Afghanistan

[caption id="attachment_27595" align="alignright" width="300" caption="ISAF Commander GEN David McKiernan at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC"][/caption] During his address this evening to the Atlantic Council, ISAF commander General David McKiernan emphasized the many positive trends in Afghanistan, noting that he preferred a "Glass Half Full" view. At the same time, he emphasized that Afghanistan is in the middle of a war -- ...

What To Do In Afghanistan

There's an extremely important interview with David Kilcullen in the New Yorker in which the anthropologist addresses some of the questions I've been asking here lately about Afghanistan. In the interview he observes that counter-insurgency efforts are failing in Afghanistan because the forces in Afghanistan are being out-fought by the the Taliban and the Kabul government is being out-governed ...

Intelligent Reporting on Intelligence

One truism that I've noted over the years is that any event that I experience in person will invariably be reported in the press quite differently.  That proved true again last night as I began absorbing media accounts of CIA Director Michael Hayden's "State of al Qaeda Today" address to the Atlantic Council. It seemed obvious to me that the "news" ...

Every Major Terrorist Threat Has Ties to Pakistan

CIA Director Michael Hayden told the Atlantic Council this afternoon that al Qaeda's safe haven in Pakistan's ungoverned tribal areas have provided a "sanctuary" that has "allowed it to recover some capacity lost when expelled from Afghanistan" nearly seven years ago. It has developed a "close, co-dependent relationship with Pashtun extremist and separatist groups" through very careful exploitation ...

Obama’s Afghanistan Plan

[caption id="attachment_27340" align="alignright" width="300" caption="German Bundeswehr army soldiers of the ISAF monitor a valley during a mission near Kunduz, Afghanistan on September 26, 2008. (REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch)"][/caption] Over at New Atlanticist, I discuss "Obama's Afghanistan Plan," noting that actually achieving results will prove far more difficult than criticizing the Bush administration. My main criticism is of his continued harping on catching Osama bin Laden: [I]t ...

Removing Combat Brigades from Iraq

Barack Obama has been President Elect for just two days and already we're reducing the number of combat brigades in Iraq: Gen. David H. Petraeus has decided to reduce the number of U.S. combat brigades in Iraq from 15 to 14 about six weeks earlier than planned, as a result of dramatically lower violence there, Pentagon officials said yesterday. "The hope is ...

Do We Need a Bigger Hammer in Afghanistan?

Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold penned on op-ed in the Christian Science Monitor questioning the wisdom of increasing U. S. troop strength in Afghanistan: We need to ask: After seven years of war, will more troops help us achieve our strategic goals in Afghanistan? How many troops would be needed and for how long? Is there a danger that a heavier military ...