News & commentary by Dave Maxwell. Edited and published by Daniel Riggs.
1. Additional Restrictions on the Issuance of Visas for People’s Republic of China Officials Engaged in Human Rights Abuses
2. How the Army Out-Innovated the Islamic State’s Drones
3. Joe Biden and the Fight for Asia
4. West Point accuses more than 70 cadets of cheating in worst academic scandal in nearly 45 years
5. Why Americans are numb to the staggering coronavirus death toll
6. Biden Talks Up Bipartisanship; He Has Three Good Reasons
7. Space Force Poised to See Major Growth, New Uniforms in 2021
8. Calling SolarWinds Hack ‘Act Of War’ Just Makes It Worse
9. How China's state serves the Party
10. Lloyd Austin, Biden’s profoundly private Pentagon pick, joins Twitter
11. USS John S. McCain trains with French and Japanese navies in the Philippine Sea
12. US warship transits Taiwan Strait, prompting outcry from Beijing
13. My pledge to our nation’s veterans by Denis McDonough
14. Ahead of first anniversary of Soleimani’s death, Iran still eyeing retaliation against the United States
15. [OPINION] The monster will come for you: Why the Tarlac killings threaten us all (Philippines)
16. Biden Must Prioritize Missile Defense
17. Enhance missile defence capability to deal with range of security threats: Yomiuri Shimbun (Japan)
18. The U.S. Marine Corps Wants a Generation of Free Thinkers - 19FortyFive
19. Are U.S. Navy Brass Making Unannounced Visits to Taiwan?
20. Treasury Department’s Senior Leaders Were Targeted by Hacking
1. Additional Restrictions on the Issuance of Visas for People’s Republic of China Officials Engaged in Human Rights Abuses
state.gov · by Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State
December 21, 2020
2. How the Army Out-Innovated the Islamic State’s Drones
warontherocks.com · by T.S. Allen · December 21, 2020
Sadly, the Army has decided to disband the Asymmetric Warfare Group.
Conclusion: The Asymmetric Warfare Group will case its colors next year and transfer its responsibility for innovating to counter emerging asymmetric threats to other Army organizations. This mission should endure because it will be critical on future battlefields. There is every reason to think that improvised attacks drones will remain a persistent problem, and only become more capable. The daunting task ahead does not diminish the fact that ISIL’s small Group 1 and 2 drones failed to successfully strike U.S. ground forces despite hundreds of attempts. The Army’s rapid fielding of counter-small drone capabilities, which was sparked in part by the proactive threat assessments of the Asymmetric Warfare Group, is a remarkable case study of successful military innovation. The academic literature on military innovation has tended to focus on the high end: the adoption of major new weapons systems, technologies, force structures, or doctrines. Both academics and policymakers should consider the role of experimentation, problem-solving, prototyping, diffusing knowledge and scaling up solutions in warfare. Anticipating and disrupting capabilities, even high-tech ones, is critical to building asymmetric advantages against peer competitors. On future battlefields, the Army will have to not just out-fight, but also out-think and out-innovate its enemies.
3. Joe Biden and the Fight for Asia
algemeiner.com · by Alon Levkowitz
This is the choice?
Conclusion: President Biden will have to make the strategic decision of either tilting back toward Asia to balance China or leaving Asia to China.
4. West Point accuses more than 70 cadets of cheating in worst academic scandal in nearly 45 years
USA Today · by Tom Vanden Brook
I find this statement simply unbelievable. I think the Colonel not only needs a little public affairs training he probably needs a values check.
Army Col. Mark Weathers, West Point's chief of staff, said in an interview Monday that he was "disappointed" in the cadets for cheating, but he did not consider the incident a serious breach of the code. It would not have occurred if the cadets had taken the exam on campus, he said.
5. Why Americans are numb to the staggering coronavirus death toll
The Washington Post · December 21, 2020
This is sad and frustrating. We are putting partisanship, hoxes, and conspiracy theories above the suffering of our fellow Americans. And for some Americans, this is not a staggering death toll.
6. Biden Talks Up Bipartisanship; He Has Three Good Reasons
WSJ · by Gerald F. Seib
I fear the divide is too great but I hope he can do it. And partisan opponents already say no one gave Trump a chance four years ago.
7. Space Force Poised to See Major Growth, New Uniforms in 2021
military.com · by Oriana Pawlyk · December 20, 2020
The new SF (Space Force).
Excerpts:
The military relies heavily on space-based technologies to keep its edge on the battlefield, with some members devoted to supplying satellite communications and others to protect them.
But when Congress mandated that the new service had to use existing personnel -- to limit redundancy and bureaucratic bloat -- the Space Force looked to the Air Force to transfer its space specialties.
To date, roughly 2,200 members in "organic" space careers -- such as space operations and space systems operations -- have transferred from the Air Force.
The Space Force said in September that 2,400 members were slated for transfer; some are waiting for promotion boards and other processes to conclude, according to spokeswoman Lynn Kirby.
In addition, 86 U.S. Air Force Academy graduates were directly commissioned into the service this year; close to another 100 will do so next year.
The service has also selected 3,600 members in common specialties -- jobs that fit both the Air Force and Space Force, including those in intelligence, cyber, acquisition and engineering -- to transfer starting in February. Of those, 1,900 are officers and 1,700 are enlisted. (About 30 enlisted members were part of an early transfer that began Dec. 1.)
8. Calling SolarWinds Hack ‘Act Of War’ Just Makes It Worse
breakingdefense.com · by Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
Excerpts:
The solution isn’t to pull the plug. The Pentagon sees greater connectivity, not less, as essential to everything from digital weapons design to All-Domain Operations in combat. Senior officials like Air Force acquisition chief Will Roper even talk about creating a military “Internet of Things,” despite the tremendous security vulnerabilities in the civilian version.
For example, Roper explained, as the Air Force stands up new “digital factories” to design weapons using computerized design tools such as computerized 3-D models known as ‘digital twins,’ the attack surface potentially accessible to adversaries grows. “This creates a new kind of target,” Roper acknowledged to reporters recently. “They become crown jewels and they’ll have to be protected as such.
“So we are pulling all the stops, and having red teams and cyber experts try to break our system to ensure that it is as tough as it can be,” he said. “But the other thing [is] zero trust technologies and doing continuous monitoring. We don’t do that in the Defense Department,” he admitted. “We certify things are impregnable.”
But in the modern era, what’s impregnable today may be exquisitely vulnerable tomorrow. That’s why you need to keep checking all the time - continuous monitoring — and have a multi-layered defense that assumes the enemy is going to get in - what is known as a ‘zero trust’ strategy.
Traveling around Europe as a student, Roper recalled, he saw plenty of ruined castles. Their history, he said, proves that a single wall is never enough. In those castles Roper saw, the art of fortification included multiple lines of defense with multiple fallback positions, mottes and baileys, curtain walls and inner keeps. “Just having a single perimeter that your adversary is never going to get through - if that’s your plan, there’s a burned castle in your future,” he said.
9. How China's state serves the Party
eastasiaforum.org · by Kerry Brown · December 22, 2020
I think sometimes it is difficult for us to grasp the importance of the party.
Conclusion:
The Party is above all a crisis-management entity. It performs best when there are crises. The vast stress of COVID-19 has shown it at its best. While Western governments have largely floundered, the Party has managed to face down the problem, aided by huge voluntary assistance from the public. It seems to already be pulling out of the worst of the economic downturn, with more than 4 per cent growth predicted by some for 2020.
Those in China who need to relate to the state — and that means practically everyone — have to ensure that while they seem to be dealing with a strengthened and more confident state apparatus, they know that behind it is the invisible, but undeniable and irrevocable, hand of the Party. China is a complex place, but in this respect it is as simple as ABC.
10. Lloyd Austin, Biden’s profoundly private Pentagon pick, joins Twitter
militarytimes.com · by Lolita Baldor · December 21, 2020
Joe Collins and my response to General Austin's tweet:
Lloyd Austin
@LloydAustin
·
20h
They say you learn something new every day. Well, today I'm learning about Twitter.
Joseph J Collins
@josephcollins77
·
13h
Don't spend too much time here, Mr Secy Designate. Do the right thing and Twitter will come around. Pls have some young people in PA keeping you up on all social media. God bless.
David Maxwell
@DavidMaxwell161
13h
Actually I recommending thinking of Twitter (and social media) like listening to the command net, ops &intel net, and logistics net in the TOC simultaneously. The key is following the right people and news sources for information. It can be useful for situational awareness.
David Maxwell
@DavidMaxwell161
10h
Replying to
@DavidMaxwell161 @josephcollins77 and @LloydAustin
*recommend (typo) Twitter needs an editing function
11. USS John S. McCain trains with French and Japanese navies in the Philippine Sea
Stars and Stripes· by Caitlin Doornbos · December 21, 2020
I wonder if US and Japanese naval officers did a combined "staff ride" studying the WWII Battle of the Philippine Sea. That would make for some interesting professional development discussions.
12. US warship transits Taiwan Strait, prompting outcry from Beijing
navytimes.com · by Geoff Ziezulewicz · December 21, 2020
13. My pledge to our nation's veterans by Denis McDonough
militarytimes.com · by Denis McDonough · December 22, 2020
Conclusion:
During my tenure at VA, I hope that my own words, actions, and successes on behalf of the veteran community will earn your trust. I won't rest until I ensure we are giving veterans the high standard of care and service worthy of their service to our country.
And in the coming years, I hope you will count me as one of those who have cared for "those who have borne the battle," and their families, caregivers, and survivors.
14. Ahead of first anniversary of Soleimani's death, Iran still eyeing retaliation against the United States
The Washington Post· by Missy Ryan · December 21, 2020
15. [OPINION] The monster will come for you: Why the Tarlac killings threaten us all (Philippines)
rappler.com· by John Molo
This is journalism doing its job and trying to hold the government accountable. It is also why Maria Ressa is facing uncalled for legal action from the Philippine government. The work of her Rappler.com is a threat to Duterte (but it is only a "threat" because of his actions and the exposure of his extrajudicial killings and human rights abuses in the name of his war on drugs).
16. Biden Must Prioritize Missile Defense
defenseone.com · by Rebeccah L. Heinrichs
Actually we as a nation must prioritize it. The President will prioritize it if it has the backing of the American people. We need to invest in missile defense.
17. Enhance missile defence capability to deal with range of security threats: Yomiuri Shimbun (Japan)
We really need integrated missile defense systems with our allies.
18. The U.S. Marine Corps Wants a Generation of Free Thinkers - 19FortyFive
19fortyfive.com · by James Holmes · December 20, 2020
Conclusion:
That the nation needs a Swiss army knife isn't bad as fixed assumptions go. It attenuates the dogma that typifies individual combat domains and helps stimulate needful change. Marine Corps magnates, moreover, insist that every marine is a rifleman. Everything the service does-including in the aerial and saltwater domains-supports the efforts of infantrymen on the surface. That remains true whether marines are trudging through dusty Afghanistan or leaping from island to island in the Western Pacific. Keeping the infantry central concentrates attention on the surface-but it's the hybrid surface environment where joint land/sea operations unspool with air support.
Keeping that cultural anchor firmly moored, paradoxically, permits heterodoxy and thus an experimental ethos that fosters innovation. Fellow armed services can profit from reviewing marine history and culture in their quest to become more freewheeling and adaptable.
They might even try setting up the chessboard.
19. Are U.S. Navy Brass Making Unannounced Visits to Taiwan?
The National Interest · by Peter Suciu · December 22, 2020
Hard to keep these kinds of visits off the radar.
20. Treasury Department's Senior Leaders Were Targeted by Hacking
The New York Times · by David E. Sanger and Alan Rappeport · December 21, 2020
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"Nothing in life is as important as you think it is when you are thinking about it."
- Daniel Kahneman
“In foreign policy, a modest acceptance of fate will often lead to discipline rather than indifference. The realization that we cannot always have our way is the basis of a mature outlook that rests on an ancient sensibility, for tragedy is not the triumph of evil over good so much as triumph of one good over another that causes suffering. Awareness of that fact leads to a sturdy morality grounded in fear as well as in hope. The moral benefits of fear bring us to two English philosophers who, like Machiavelli, have for centuries disturbed people of goodwill: Hobbes and Malthus.”
- Robert D. Kaplan, Warrior Politics: Why Leadership Requires a Pagan Ethos
“If you concentrate exclusively on victory, while no thought for the after effect, you may be too exhausted to profit by peace, while it is almost certain that the peace will be a bad one, containing the germs of another war.”
- B.H. Liddel-Hart