Blog Posts

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6, 2011 -- The Defense Department has found $154 billion in efficiencies over the next five years and will be able to invest $70 billion of that saved money in more deserving accounts, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said today.

The secretary announced the savings and reinvesting of the efficiencies during a Pentagon news conference.

Gates emphasized that the nation is at war and faces a range of future security threats. "It is important to not repeat the mistakes of the past by making drastic and ill-conceived cuts to the overall defense budget," he said. "At the same time, it is imperative for this department to eliminate wasteful, excessive and unneeded spending."

Gates said he wants every dollar invested in defense spent in the smartest manner. The efficiencies continue a process to reshape and re-balance the defense budget that has already saved the nation $300 billion, he noted.

Continue on for the entire AFPS article.

News / Official Links

Defense Efficiencies Initiative Web Page - DoD

Statement on Department Budget and Efficiencies - DoD transcript

Winners and Losers as Pentagon Outlines Cuts - Reuters Factbox

Pentagon to Cut Spending by $78b, Reduce Troop Strength - Washington Post

U.S. Orders Biggest Defense Cuts Since Before 9/11 - New York Times

Gates Outlines Plans to Cut $78b in Programs, 70k - Stars and Stripes

Defense Secretary Announces Billions in Budget Cuts - CNN News

U.S. Defence Budget to be Cut by $78bn - BBC News

Robert Gates Proposes $78 Billion U.S. Defence Cuts - Daily Telegraph

DOD Directs Army, Marine Drawdowns for 2015, 2016 - AFPS

Program Cuts let Army Keep Soldiers, for Now - Army Times

Defense Department to Prune Senior Ranks, Freeze Staffing - AFPS

Joint Chiefs Fully Agree With Gates' Efficiencies - AFPS

Not Every Defense Dollar 'Sacred' - GovermentExec

Robert Gates Details Pentagon Cuts to Congress- Politico

Gates to Cut Marine Vehicle, Plans $178 Billion Cuts - Bloomberg

DOD Budget Targets: Contractors, IT Programs - Federal Computer Week

Gates: Pentagon Must Do Its Part in Deficit Reduction - PBS News Hour

Robert Gates, Budget Hawk? - The Atlantic

Can Congress Really Stop Gates' Gear Cuts? - Wired

Highlights:

1. Gates believes that plans by the services, OSD, agencies, and commands to achieve $154 billion in overhead savings over next five years are on track.

2. $100 billion savings will be reinvested in procurement and operations

3. EFV cancelled. F-35B on two-year probation. If engineers can't fix its problems, it will be cancelled. Army SLAMRAAM and NLOS cancelled.

4. Army and Marine Corps will cut headcounts by 2015; Army by 27,000, USMC by about 15-20,000.

5. Gates to try again to get Tricare premium increase for working-age retirees.

6. OMB has delivered to DoD new top-line figure for next five years -- will be $78 billion less than last year's five-year projection.

Nothing follows

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6, 2011 -- Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has recommended to President Barack Obama that he nominate Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey to be the next Army chief of staff.

Gates made the announcement at a Pentagon news conference.

The Army chief of staff is the highest-ranking soldier and serves as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

If nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, Dempsey would succeed Gen. George W. Casey Jr., who has served as Army chief of staff since April 2007 and will retire after more than 40 years of service.

Dempsey, 58, is commander of the Army's Training and Doctrine Command, based at Fort Monroe, Va.

Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called Dempsey a "creative thinker and a terrific soldier" who has his unequivocal support.

Dempsey served as the acting commander of U.S. Central Command upon the retirement of Navy Adm. William Fallon in 2008. He took up the Training and Doctrine Command's reins in December 2008.

Dempsey commanded the 1st Armored Division in Iraq in 2003 and 2004, and he served as commander of the Multinational Security Transition Command in Iraq from 2007 to 2008.

He was commissioned as a second lieutenant following graduation from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., in 1974. He was assigned to Germany as an armor officer, and he served with the 3rd Armored Division during Operation Desert Storm.

As for sudden appearance of the J-20 stealth fighter at a flight test center in Chengdu, it is hard to argue with Dorsett's assessment: "I think time will tell whether we've underestimated it."

Errors in intelligence estimating are inevitable and include both positive and negative surprises. The task of preparing for negative surprises is an exercise in risk management. Defense policymakers should attempt to maintain a margin of safety in their forces and capabilities in anticipation of the unexpected. They must balance this prudent desire with the pressure to economize. Today, Defense Secretary Robert Gates is to announce more cuts in Pentagon spending.

Regarding China and the protection of America's security interests in the Indo-Pacific region, are U.S. policymakers doing a good job of risk management? Yesterday, Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen released his strategic guidance for 2011. In the seven page document, China and America's interests in the Pacific region received a brief mention within one paragraph on page five.

Nothing follows.

U.S. Boosts Afghan Surge - Wall Street Journal

Plans for Major Taliban Attacks are Foiled in Afghanistan - Los Angeles Times

Corrupt Leaders Trump Taliban - Washington Post

Allies Plan to Spend $11.6 Billion this Year for Afghan Security - Washington Post

Pakistan: As Politician Mourned, Suspected Killer Lauded - Washington Post

Radical Cleric Returns to Iraq After Years in Iran - New York Times

Obama Administration Building a Network to Hit Militants - Associated Press

Southern Sudan Chooses: Unity or Secession? - Voice of America

Ivory Coast: U.N. Plans More Peacekeepers - BBC News

China and U.S. Have 'Useful' Talks on North Korea - New York Times

China's Push On Military Is Beginning To Bear Fruit - New York Times

China's Ability to Effectively Use Expanding Arsenal? - Stars and Stripes

China Newspaper Refers to New Stealth Jet - Wall Street Journal

China Stealth Plane Still 'Years Away', Says Pentagon - BBC News

Military Needs Response Plan to Genocide - CNN opinion

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

Contractors Brace for Cuts as Gates Readies Budget Axe - Wall Street Journal

Gates Expected to Announce Budget Details, Cuts - ExecutiveGov

The Final Gates Defense-Budget Showdown Begins - Wired

Gates Hopes to Preempt Congress on Budget - Politico

Pentagon Poised to Cancel Marine Landing Craft - New York Times

Gates Wants to Drop $14 Billion EFV Program - Washington Post

Stealth Jet Delay Could Screw Marine Corps - Wired

Gates Aims to Shift Pentagon Spending, Avoid Cuts - Associated Press

Gates Moves to Preempt U.S. Defense Budget Cuts - Agence France-Press

Pentagon Cuts to Reflect Gates, White House Tussle - Reuters

Protecting Irregular Capacity Under Constrained Funding - Global Security Monitor

How to Cut $1 Trillion from the Pentagon - CNN News

Hope for Peace Arises in one Afghan District - Washington Post

Afghan Taliban Attack Sangin Truce Talks Elder - BBC News

Reintegrated Taliban Fighters Allowed to Join Local Police - Stars and Stripes

Taliban Benefits as Afghans' Anti-drug Efforts Stall - Washington Times

Killing of Governor Deepens Crisis in Pakistan - New York Times

Pakistani Governor Spoke Out Against Religious Extremism - Washington Post

With Killing of Governor, Pakistan's Government in Turmoil - Los Angeles Times

Assassination Points to Pakistani Extremists' Mounting Power - Washington Post

Resurgent Turkey Flexes Its Muscles Around Iraq - New York Times

Anti-Christian Drumbeat Loud Before Egypt Attack - Associated Press

South Sudan Welcomes Bashir Reassurance - BBC News

Ivory Coast Leader Softens Position in Crisis - New York Times

Bigger U.S. National Guard Deployment Along Mexican Border - Washington Post

Obama Aides Lean Against Bypass of Guantánamo Rules - New York Times

Aircraft Carrier Captain Removed Over His Role in Videos - New York Times

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

Also see two Small Wars Journal reviews of A Question of Command; A Question of Command by Matthew Caris and A Third COIN Course of Action by LtCol Adam Stickland; and Dr. Moyar's SWJ article Counterinsurgency and Professional Military Education.

Purchase A Question of Command at Amazon.com here.

BLUF: "We have a crisis of leadership in America because our overwhelming power and wealth, earned under earlier generations of leaders, made us complacent, and for too long we have been training leaders who only know how to keep the routine going. Who can answer questions, but don't know how to ask them. Who can fulfill goals, but don't know how to set them. Who think about how to get things done, but not whether they're worth doing in the first place. What we have now are the greatest technocrats the world has ever seen, people who have been trained to be incredibly good at one specific thing, but who have no interest in anything beyond their area of exper­tise. What we don't have are leaders.

What we don't have, in other words, are thinkers. People who can think for themselves. People who can formulate a new direction: for the country, for a corporation or a college, for the Army—a new way of doing things, a new way of looking at things. People, in other words, with vision."

Much more at The American Scholar

Click through to read more ...

U.S. Sees Progress in Eastern Afghanistan - National Journal

U.S. General: Deal with Tribe in Taliban Bastion - Associated Press

Agreement in Afghanistan Offers Hope - USA Today

U.S. Sees Progress in Eastern Afghanistan - National Journal

Violence in Afghanistan 'Had to Get Worse Before it Gets Better' - Daily Telegraph

Fleeing Violent Husbands Lands Afghan Women in Prison - Time

Pakistan's Premier Fights to Save Government - New York Times

Pakistan: Govt in Crisis after Coalition Loss - Washington Post

Iran Invites Some Nations, Not U.S., for Nuclear Tour - New York Times

Copts' Anger Escalates in Wake of Egypt Attacks - Los Angeles Times

Diplomacy Again Falls Short in Tense Ivory Coast Standoff - New York Times

Southern Sudan '100% Ready' for Independence Referendum - BBC News

Nearly 4 Million Sudanese to Vote in Referendum - Associated Press

Top U.S. Envoy Wants Serious Talks on N. Korea - Associated Press

Japan to Propose Closer Military Ties With S. Korea - New York Times

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

U.S. General: Deal with Tribe in Taliban Bastion - Associated Press

Afghan Tribe Promises Peace for Foreign Aid - Wall Street Journal

U.S. Marines Report Peace Deal with Tribe - McClatchy Newspapers

Agreement in Afghanistan Offers Hope - USA Today

Afghanistan Hopes Tribal Uprising will Bring Peace - The Guardian

U.S.-built Infrastructure is Deteriorating - Washington Post

NATO: No Pause in Afghan Winter Fighting - Voice of America

Violence in Afghanistan 'Had to Get Worse Before it Gets Better' - Daily Telegraph

Afghan Panel to Reassess Fall Votes - New York Times

Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia

by Michael Korda.

Published

by HarperCollins, New York. 784 pages, 2010.

Reviewed by Commander Youssef Aboul-Enein, MSC, USN

Understanding the complex and contradictory political arrangements of the

Middle East can be best understood by reading the biography of T. E. Lawrence.

In addition, no total understanding of guerilla and irregular warfare tactics

will be complete without a study of this British officer, better known as

Lawrence of Arabia. There have been movies, documentaries, and many books about

Lawrence and the Arab Revolt. Initially, I was concerned about the title of

Michael Korda's new book on T. E. Lawrence. Hero gives the impression of delving

into the mythology of the person, and not their complexities. I am glad to have

not been dissuaded, and delved into the 702 pages of text, and found an

important biography of Lawrence.....

Tenay Guvendiren sent us and all wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New

Year.  She and LTC Scott Downey penned two articles in Small Wars Journal

about their experiences applying intel in a countersurgency .  Though they

were specifically in Iraq, their take-aways are broader. BTW, they were

learned under General Petraeus' campaign plan whose approach is now in effect,

mutatis mutandi, in Afghanistan.  So we highlight those two works

again;  if nothing else, for food for thought for those currently in the

fight.

Putting the Priority Back into PIR -- Linking Brigade/Regimental Combat Team

Priority Intelligence Requirements to Desired Effects and Campaign Plan

Decision Points, 12 April 2009.

Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Collection Management in the

Brigade Combat Team during COIN: Three Assumptions and Ten 'A-Ha!' Moments

on the Path to Battlefield Awareness, 10 November 2008.

(Nothing follows in the full text entry)

Senator Proposes Permanent U.S. Bases in Afghanistan - Associated Press

Air Force Doubles Manpower for Afghan Attacks - USA Today

U.K.'s Afghan Mandate for Action Finally Exhausted - The Guardian editorial

Major Party Walks Out of Coalition in Pakistan - New York Times

Pakistan Government at Risk after Party Shift - Washington Post

2 U.S. Troops Killed in Iraq in Rare Loss of American Lives - Washington Post

Egypt Tries to Calm Outrage Over Deadly Bombing at Mass - New York Times

North Korea Calls for Better Relations With South - New York Times

S. Korea Leader Talks Tough but Opens Door to Talks - Associated Press

U.N. to Investigate Ivory Coast Violation Reports - BBC News

Ivory Coast Mass Graves Investigation Launched by U.N. - The Guardian

Sudan's South Anticipates Independence, Problems - Los Angeles Times

Violence Shows Christian, Muslim Split in Nigeria - Associated Press

Mexico Plan to Save Violent Border City Is Lacking - Associated Press

Military Recruiting: Are We Passing The Test? - NPR

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

Afghanistan War: How a Model Province Tumbled into Violence by Anna Mulrine at the Christian Science Monitor. "Khost Province had been a U.S. success story in the Afghanistan war. But poor local leadership, an influx of insurgents fleeing U.S. pressure elsewhere, and the proximity to Pakistan are stubborn challenges."

Homeland Security to Increase Activity, Agents in Afghanistan - Washington Post

U.S. Stepping Up Fight on Afghan Smuggling - New York Times

With Air Force's New Drone, 'We Can See Everything' - Washington Post

Composition of New Government Setback for Women - McClatchy Newspapers

Saying Adios in Iraq - Boston Herald editorial

Top Iran Prosecutor Vows to Charge Opposition Leaders - New York Times

Iran's Education Reform Takes Anti-Western Tack - Washington Post

Church Bombing is Latest Assault on Mideast Christians - Los Angeles Times

Ivory Coast President Has Limited Time to Step Down - Washington Post

Rights Unclear for Sudanese if Divided by Border - Associated Press

Mali Tackles Al Qaeda and Drug Traffic - New York Times

Drug Violence in Mexico Hit New Level of Brutality in 2010 - Dallas Morning News

China's Naval Ambitions - New York Times editorial

Why China's Missiles Should Be Our Focus - Washington Post opinion

Transforming Military Might into 21st-century Weapons - Washington Post opinion

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