Blog Posts

Continue on for today's SWJ news and opinion roundup.

Via PR Newswire: “The Council for Emerging National Security Affairs (CENSA), a non-partisan, non-profit research organization focused on national security policy, announced today the publication of Hybrid Warfare and Transnational Threats… While the expert insights and points-of-view in Hybrid Warfare and Transnational Threats often diverge, there's one point on which they agree: As recently reinforced by Deputy Secretary of Defense William J. Lynn III, future wars will be longer, deadlier, more complicated and involve more diverse enemies than at any other point in history.”

Continue on for today's SWJ news and opinion roundup.

A Gates Team at the Pentagon by David Ignatius, Washington Post opinion. BLUF:

"Leon Panetta, the new defense secretary, will lead a team that is collegial and congenial, two qualities Gates prized. The question is whether its members have the toughness to say no to Pentagon bureaucracies that excel at logrolling and political horse-trading. Gates’s secret was his ability to impose accountability, and, with his barbed wisecracks, to scare subordinates into following his orders. This skill will be hard to replicate."

Continue on for today's SWJ news and opinion roundup.

Internet group 'Anonymous' threatens authority and control of San Francisco government

Continue on for today's SWJ news and opinion roundup.

Continue on for today's SWJ news and opinion roundup.

In Afghanistan’s Garmser District, Praise for a U.S. Official’s Tireless Work by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Washington Post. BLUF:

Afghan officials and U.S. commanders credit Malkasian with playing a critical role in the transformation of Garmser from one of the country’s most violent, Taliban-infested districts to a place so quiet that some Marines wish they had more chances to fire their weapons.

The academic debate of enemy-centric, population-centric, leader-centric, and economic- centric counterinsurgency minimizes the complexities of the conflict and detracts from working towards success.

Foreign Fights Need Training, Not Troops by Marcus Weisgerber, Defense News. BLUF:

The U.S. is more likely to increase foreign assistance to nations such as Yemen and Somalia in the future rather than deploying troops, according to President George W. Bush's top national security adviser.

"I think we're going to use a different model in places like Yemen and Somalia, and it's going to be about training and equipping and supporting local forces," Stephen Hadley said during an Aug. 12 panel discussion at the Brookings Institution in Washington…

How do we succesfully exit Afghanistan?

NATO: Afghanistan Raids by US Commandos Nearly Triple Since '09 at Stars and Stripes. BLUF:

“US forces in Afghanistan have almost tripled the frequency of commando raids launched against Taliban or insurgent groups since 2009, according to NATO figures cited in a report by Bloomberg.”

Continue on for today's SWJ news and opinion roundup.

Tough week plus at SWJ and I'm sure our readership has had some real frustrations with our inability to maintain a stable site.  It appears to be "almost behind us now", knock on wood, so here is a song from my hometown of Baltimore for a Friday night.

Former Marine Corporal to be Awarded Medal of Honor by Joby Warrick and Greg Jaffe, Washington Post. BLUF:

A former Marine corporal who repeatedly braved enemy fire in attempting to rescue four comrades in Taliban-infested eastern Afghanistan has been selected to receive the Medal of Honor, the highest award given to members of the armed services, the White House announced Friday.

Dakota Meyer, a former turret gunner and scout sniper from Kentucky, is only the third living veteran of the Afghan and Iraqi conflicts to be chosen for the honor, and he is the first living Marine to be designated for the award since 1973…

My column this week at Foreign Policy discusses how the U.S. is helping Mexico avoid the "Escobar Scenario." It also wonders whether China is —to accept a "win-win" outcome in the South China Sea.

Counterinsurgency Scorecard Says Afghan War Could Go Either Way by Nancy Montgomery, Stars and Stripes. BLUF:

“A Rand study of 30 insurgencies worldwide between 1978 and 2008 concluded that there are 15 good practices and 12 bad practices in all counterinsurgencies, and if you want to win, you have to do more good than bad… Sizing up Afghanistan, and deciding which good and bad factors were present, was done earlier this year by some 13 emailing experts - military officers with recent deployments, authors of recent books or reports on Afghanistan and editorsof Small Wars Journal.”

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Better understanding Al Qaeda's narrative can provide a more efficient strategy for the War on Terror.

This is harder than it should be.

Is current US foreign policy in need of mental health intervention?

Continue on for today's SWJ news and opinion roundup.

Spin Machine by Major William B. Taylor, Armed Forces Journal. BLUF:

“The coalition is desperate to demonstrate success in any form in order to generate momentum for continued political and economic support for the war. After 10 years of war and little to show for it, the military wants to prove that it can still “win.” Unfortunately, because the military is the junior partner to the civilian leadership in civil-military relations, it has little choice but to approach missions with a can-do attitude and to spin events positively. The alternative of pessimism would be unthinkable.”

From the ISAF Website:

ISAF Joint Command - Afghanistan
2011-08-S-025 
For Immediate Release

KABUL, Afghanistan (Aug. 10, 2011) – Coalition forces killed the Taliban insurgents involved with the recent downing of the CH-47 helicopter, with a precision airstrike in Chak district, Wardak province, yesterday.

The strike killed Taliban leader Mullah Mohibullah and the insurgent who fired the shot associated with the Aug. 6 downing of the CH-47 helicopter, which resulted in the deaths of 38 Afghan and coalition service members.