Naval Infantry and the GWOT
John Cole points to former President Bill Clinton's remarks on Larry King last evening about the war in Iraq. He draws especial attention to this: But in a way, the fact that we have now succeeded with this strategy also shows its limits, because we don't have the troops to do this all over the country. And it shows you that ultimately ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on September 6, 2007 11:57
Imus Charity Ranch Future in Doubt
One fallout of the Don Imus firing is that his charity ranch for sick kids may go under, reports AP's Deborah Baker. Don Imus's banishment from the public airwaves also deprives him of a critical platform to raise money for the sprawling Imus Ranch, where children with cancer and other illnesses get a taste of the cowboy life. Before he was ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on April 15, 2007 07:34
Wisely Spending Our Defense Dollars
Retired Army LTC Andrew Krepinevich has a devastating critique of the recent Quadrennial Defense Review in the current issue of Military Officer, the trade journal of the Military Officers' Association. Especially interesting is his assessment of how the Pentagon plans to allocate its not-all-that-scarce budget. He notes that there are several big ticket items that are crippling the ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on December 22, 2006 09:40
Technology and the Future of Warfare
Mark Williams of Technology Review has an interview with RAND defense analyst John Arquilla on "Technology and the Future of Warfare." It is scheduled to appear on their website next Monday but they have sent out a preview to some of us who blog on such things. [Update (3/23): They released the Web version early. Full content ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on March 22, 2006 16:28
QDR: America’s Long War
Two articles from the Feb. 15 edition of the London Guardian help flesh out the future direction of U.S. military policy, as outlined in the recently published Quadrennial Defense Review. In "America's Long War," (p. 19) Simon Tisdall and Ewen MacAskill summarize the report thusly, Looking beyond the Iraq and Afghan battlefields, US commanders envisage a war unlimited in time ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on February 17, 2006 13:06
QDR: Pentagon Realigning Procurement Policy
InsideDefense [January 31 edition, subscription only] reports that, "One of the most significant results of the 2005 Quadrennial Defense Review will not be found in the final report or in the Pentagons accompanying fiscal year 2007 budget request." It is a major change in the process by which force structure and procurement is conceptualized. Central to the QDRs recommendations regarding ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on February 1, 2006 09:20
QDR Pretends Iraq War a One-Off
Mark Mazzetti reports that the soon-to-be-released Quadrennial Defense Review reads as if the Iraq War never happened. The U.S. military has long been accused of always planning to fight its last war. But as the Pentagon assesses threats to national security over the next four years, a major blueprint being completed in the shadow of the Iraq war will do largely ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on January 24, 2006 11:17
Rumsfeld’s Legacy: Netcentricity
One conservative crititic of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says he will leave at least one important positive legacy: the transformation of the department into a net-centric environment. Analyst: Advanced Networks To Be Rumsfeld Legacy (Defense Today, p. 1, $) Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld may depart his post soon, but his push to infuse the military with netcentricity should be remembered as ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on December 8, 2005 11:40
CIA Counterterrorist Intelligence Centers
Dana Priest has a lengthy discussion of the CIA's "secret" Counterterrorist Intelligence Centers (CTICs) and the relationship between counterterrorism, espionage, and diplomacy. Foreign Network at Front of CIA's Terror Fight (WaPo, A1) The CIA has established joint operation centers in more than two dozen countries where U.S. and foreign intelligence officers work side by side to track and capture suspected terrorists and ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on November 18, 2005 09:17
Base Closures Speed to Approval
The last-ditch effort to reject the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) has failed 324-84, clearing the way for the BRAC Report to become law in mid-November. A plan to close and reconfigure hundreds of military bases is sailing through Congress, on track to take effect next month in a blow to communities hoping for an eleventh-hour reprieve. ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on October 31, 2005 02:29
