1989′s False Promise
The West, as it was once proudly called, has come to seem more and more like an island rather than a beacon. Along its peripheries, even just next door, are frightening echoes of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The response of most Europeans and Americans to them has been, sadly, one of limited liability. Most spent the 1990s cultivating their own gardens; so far, much of the following decade has been spent building new walls or in being consumed by the passions of the moment. The world of 2009 is still much freer, more open and more peaceful than the one of a generation ago. But how much longer can this last?
Energy Security – America’s Best Defense
“Energy Security – America’s Best Defense,” the latest report from Deloitte LLP, addresses the urgent need for America’s military to become more energy secure and provides recommendations on how the Department of Defense can proceed. According to this survey, U.S. soldiers’ average daily fuel consumption has increased 175 percent since the Vietnam conflict. In addition, the study found that the ongoing Afghan conflict may result in a 124-percent increase in U.S. casualties through 2014, should the war be prosecuted without any game-changing shifts.
Space Command defends far reaches of cyberspace
Without a doubt, the fight is on in cyberspace. When we come to work and log in, we are entering a digital zone which can be used for good or for ill. Our cyber capabilities are too important and too tempting a military target for the Air Force to ever take for granted. All the aspects of military operations rely on or reside in cyberspace, in one form or another. Therefore, it is our responsibility to ensure continuity of mission operations.
Should We Simultaneously Make China More Powerful and Try to Contain It?
If the authors think that a wealthier China is naturally going to get more ambitious and more capable, and that these developments are contrary to U.S. interests, why would the authors endorse engagement, which has helped make China more wealthy?
More on the Bandar Abbas Uranium Prodcution Center
The bad news is that, as Iran produces more yellowcake, we need to worry that some of it could end up in a covert facility, like Qom, for conversion and enrichment. The good news is that this should force a realistic assessment of the status of Iran’s program. This assessment should conclude that we should improve our ability to monitor the Iranian nuclear program, rather than attempting to place unverifiable limits on it.
Lockheed Was NOT the First Bailout – A look back at capitalism, Pentagon-style
Lockheed was indeed the largest and best-known bailout of the period, and almost certainly the first time that the American public debated the merits of saving a private—though government-contract-dependent—company from going under. But Lockheed was not the first; it was one of thousands of Pentagon interventions to save companies deemed to be failing, going back to the 1950s. Unlike Lockheed, these smaller bailouts were doled out without congressional authorization (and at least on some occasions, without the knowledge of the Secretary of Defense). Instead, the Pentagon relied on an obscure emergency provision of the War Powers Act, which is technically still valid today, because the Korean War was never ended by treaty. Nearly $86 million in outright government grants went to private companies in this manner, dating back to 1958.
60 Minutes On Cyberwar
I don’t know if this is an endemic failing of major US news outlets – rest assured, we have our problems in the UK too; I’m not Yank-bashing – but if you’re going to broadcast pieces as documentaries, then you need dissenting voices to balance your case. Without them there is no dialogue, and you end up with a polemic, which is how this film comes across. It is low on facts and high on unsubstantiated speculation and scaremongering. Worse, it feels like an institutional attempt to shame big business into action. They may need a kick up the ass but portraying them solely as entities who, I quote, “lied to Congress” is unlikely to foster the sort of partnership an integrated strategy requires.
Cyber warfare: The military community
The realm of cyber space is a construct created by man starting with peoples thoughts and ideas and reaching into the deepest depths of physical space and back through the thinking and decision support matrixes of human kind. It is both a deeper and more fearsome concept along with larger and more tangible idea than many give rise to. Further, cyber warfare does not need a nation state to act upon anymore than an insurgency needs two armies. People resist tyranny and act on ideological imperatives and hysteria in the face of violence. To identify cyber warfare with only minimal constructs allowed by current military thinking and authors is to ignore the history of air power (a couple dudes in a farm field), communications (Watson come in here), and industry (Which branch of the military funded Henry Ford?). Cyber space almost begs for the insurgent model of warfare.
Soldiers Maintain Electronic Warfare Equipment
It’s 2 a.m., and the intelligence electronic warfare maintenance section of the 1st Armored Division’s 4th Brigade here is ready to spark into action. “We’re on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” explained Army Warrant Officer Fernando Aguirre of Los Angeles.
Cyber defense spending in the 2010 Defense Authorization Act
On October 28th President Obama signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (655 page PDF here ) Since most analysis has focused on the National Hate Crimes Bill that was appended to it I thought it would be valuable to peruse it for cyber security provisions. Here they are.
Fort Hood Suspect Warned of Muslim Threat Within Military
The Powerpoint, entitled, “The Koranic World View As It Relates to Muslims in the U.S. Military,” consisted of 50 slides, according to a copy obtained by the Post. “It’s getting harder and harder for Muslims in the service to morally justify being in a military that seems constantly engaged against fellow Muslims,” Hasan said in the presentation. Under a slide titled “Comments,” he wrote: “If Muslim groups can convince Muslims that they are fighting for God against injustices of the ‘infidels’; ie: enemies of Islam, then Muslims can become a potent adversary ie: suicide bombing, etc.” [sic]
Joint intelligence program comes to Tech
Virginia Tech students could soon take the first steps toward careers in national intelligence. Tech, along with Howard University, received an award from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to join a national program already consisting of 19 other universities. This award will designate both universities to develop an “Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence.” The program is geared toward engineering but is also looking for students from all majors and backgrounds interested in pursuing careers in national intelligence.
Navies of 2 Koreas Exchange Fire
The fighting erupted when a North Korean patrol boat sailed across the so-called northern limit line, a sea border drawn by the United Nations at the end of the Korean War in 1953 but never accepted by North Korea. The South Koreans fired warning shots, but the North Korean boat continued to sail deeper into the area controlled by the South, Yonhap reported. At that point, the South Korean Navy fired on the North Korean patrol boat, which also fired. It was unclear how many patrol boats were involved in the fighting.
DHS completes detection system integration
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office and U.S. Customs and Border Protection have successfully installed radiation portal monitors at all border crossings on the northern border two months ahead of schedule.
Reservist Earns Silver Star in Iraqi Save
It was Nov. 14, 2004, and the insurgency was rocking the Sunni Triangle. Leader of a 10-vehicle convoy that came under attack, the 37-year-old Arkansas Army National Guard captain from tiny New Blaine, 97 miles northwest of Little Rock, refused to leave behind the Iraqis he had trained to become guardsmen.
Virginia set to execute ‘Beltway sniper’
John Allen Muhammad, the mastermind of the 2002 sniper attacks that terrorized the suburbs of the nation’s capital, is scheduled to die by lethal injection Tuesday evening at a state prison near Jarratt, Virginia.
DHS Urged To Explore FM Alert System For Cell Phones
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski are being urged by House members to explore the potential benefits of including FM radio tuners in mobile telephone handsets as part of a national alert system.
Happy Birthday: USMC
