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Boston Globe May 27, 2012 After a decade of 'mission creep'--into diplomacy, agriculture, even energy policy--the Department of Defense has become America's default tool for dealing with the world. Where does this leave the next president? When President Obama and Mitt Romney cross swords on defense policy, it can sound like a schoolyard fight: Who …
Continue reading "The Amazing Expanding Pentagon By Thanassis Cambanis"
John Nagl Friday, May 25, 2012 In every presidential election since 1992, the candidate with the less distinguished military résumé has triumphed. Bill Clinton defeated war heroes George H.W. Bush and Bob Dole; National Guard pilot George W. Bush beat Vietnam veterans Al Gore and John Kerry; and Barack Obama was decisively elected over John …
View original / Foreign Policy Think of it like an iceberg: The top lies in plain sight, but a lot more hides beneath the surface. In its annual appraisal of the Chinese military published last week, the U.S. Department of Defense seems to be describing an object it finds both familiar and mysterious. The report …
Continue reading "5 Things the Pentagon Isn’t Telling Us About the Chinese Military by TREFOR MOSS"
by J. William DeMarco In the Military we have a rather unique "tradition" of the exit interview. When a commander is about to leave, public affairs or in the case of the Bloody Hundredth, the Wing Historian will give a quick interview regarding accomplishments, plans and vision. It seemed to last no more than five minutes …
Washington Post May 22, 2012 Pg. 14 NATO's Blind Spot A summit in Chicago ignores the thousands dying in Syria. NATO's "victory" in Libya, senior U.S. officials recently wrote, was a "model intervention," a "teachable moment." "The first lesson is that NATO is uniquely positioned to respond quickly and effectively to international crises," the U.S. …
Washington Post May 22, 2012 Pg. 13 Fine Print Retired Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright aired some fresh ideas about U.S. defense policies last week. About the same time, the House was preparing to pass next year's Pentagon authorization bill and, in the process, illustrating Cartwright's point that the nation isn't downsizing correctly. The former …
Continue reading "Retired General Talks Frankly On Defense Spending By Walter Pincus"
Miami Herald May 22, 2012 Pg. 3 A change has been made in how the U.S. determines which terrorists should be targeted for drone attacks. Associated Press WASHINGTON — White House counterterror chief John Brennan has seized the lead in choosing which terrorists will be targeted for drone attacks or raids, establishing a new procedure …
Continue reading "White House Team Picks Attack Targets By Kimberly Dozier"
Washingtonpost.com May 18, 2012 Checkpoint Washington: Reporting on diplomacy, intelligence and military affairs Drum roll, please. The House, for a second year in a row, has approved a measure limiting Pentagon spending on military bands next year to only $200 million. An amendment by Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), a member of the House Appropriations Committee, …
Continue reading "House Puts Squeeze On Military’s ‘Musical Arsenal’ By Walter Pincus"
Washington Times May 21, 2012 Pg. 1 The Washington Times For Pentagon planners, automatic spending cuts slated to begin in January have become the $600 billion contingency they can’t plan for. Military planners are under strict orders not to devise scenarios for meeting the demands of “sequestration,” as the automatic, across-the-board spending reductions are called. …
Blogger's Note: Crisis, Complexity, and Confusion (C3) Washington Post May 20, 2012 Pg. 23 Perhaps when Chinese leaders began to speak over the past several years about a new “Beijing Consensus” and the triumph of the “China Model,” that was a warning that the bubble was about to burst. And we’re seeing that hubris play …
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