Fanning the flames of COIN | Land warfare in A2/AD | Plans vs. planning
Mark Stout draws together various threads of the recent COIN debate, and urges more. (War On The Rocks) Just a reminder: “Plans are worthless but planning is everything.” Richard Fontaine puts the...
View ArticleA skeptic rethinks the Surge | Climate change, faster than you think | Easy...
Frank Hoffman calls Peter R. Mansoor’s “Surge: My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War,” an “invaluable resource” that reshaped his thinking about the U.S. escalation in...
View ArticleLeading infantrywomen | CJCS’ zero option | DISA’s big plans
Soren Sjogren, a Danish Army officer who has led mixed-gender units in combat, offers a few lessons from the experience. (Carrying The Gun) CJCS Gen. Martin Dempsey says the U.S. might still just leave...
View ArticleZero option, or not? | Hagel’s cuts | Weapons roundup
In the wake of Gen. Dempsey’s mention of the “zero option” in Afghanistan, Anthony Cordesman evaluates whether it’s a viable strategic choice. (CSIS) SecDef Hagel’s plans to cut staff aren’t evenly...
View ArticleA2/AD is key | China’s ADIZ, so far | Should the USN buy corvettes?
It’s A2/AD Day, apparently: Starting by declaring that wars of choice are gravely risky and therefore the U.S. military should be optimized for wars of necessity, Sam Tangredi argues that counter-A2/AD...
View ArticleBudget deal | More might, less cost | AirSea Battle & ADIZ
Gordon Adams on the Murray-Ryan budget deal: “But let’s get real: $498 billion is a pretty good deal in a world where threats to the United States are low, terror attacks are down, and the wars in Iraq...
View ArticleNo China strategy | Framing the NSS | ADIZ and int’l norms
Four experts told a House hearing on China’s growing seapower yesterday that no real strategy exists to deal with Beijing’s increasing assertiveness in the western Pacific, Chris Cavas reports....
View ArticleRewrite the AUMF | No split for NSA/CYBERCOM | Better mobile tools
Charles E. Berger says it’s time to rewrite the AUMF. (National Interest) The White House rejects the arguments for un-dual-hatting NSA and CYBERCOM, at least for now. (Washington Post) Sea change at...
View ArticleJudge raps NSA | Top 100 influencers | Terror stats
A U.S. District Court judge finds that the NSA’ phone metadata gathering appears to violate the Fourth Amendment prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures. (Politico) Defense News has a list of...
View ArticleSenkakus = Berlin? | The Army’s weak arguments |“Invisible” Hagel
Posted by Bradley Peniston Interesting parallels: “The Senkaku Islands as Cold War Berlin” by Zachary Keck (The Diplomat) “The Army is fighting a budget battle by pretending it’s fighting a strategy...
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