News & commentary by Dave Maxwell. Edited and published by Daniel Riggs
1. The Domestic Counterterrorism Strategy Is a Good Start—But Needs More
2. The New Pentagon Slush Fund
3. U.S. Plans to Spend Big on Critical Minerals; Choosing Where Isn’t Easy
4. Top US general in Africa: ‘Wildfire of terrorism’ on march here
5. Pentagon’s extremism definition will have to find the line between free speech and unit cohesion
6. Taliban enters Kunduz City, seizes control of 16 districts
7. Marine Corps shuts down Southern Command rotational deployment
8. Special Operations News Update - Monday, June 21, 2021 | SOF News
9. Keeping the Razor’s Edge: 4th PSYOP Group’s Innovation and Evolution Council
10. A State Department for the Digital Age
11. Assumptionitis in Strategy
12. Old Habits Die Hard: Special Operations Forces, Twenty Years of Counterterrorism, and the New Era of Great Power Competition
13. Myanmar junta leader leaves for Russia conference, second trip abroad since coup
14. First Special Warfare Airmen graduate initial apprentice course for special reconnaissance
15. Missile Defense Agency Lays Out How It Plans To Defend Against Hypersonic Threats
16. Groundhog Day Comes for the Defense Budget
17. Wokeness warriors take over the Pentagon
18. Pentagon Official Details US Missile Defense Strategy
19. Oath Keepers: How a militia group mobilized in plain sight for the assault on the Capitol
20. Opinion | The Two Men Blocking Military Sexual Assault Reform
1. The Domestic Counterterrorism Strategy Is a Good Start—But Needs More
defenseone.com · by Thomas S. Warrick and Javed Ali
Conclusion: On balance, yesterday’s domestic counterterrorism strategy is an important first step forward—but releasing the strategy is the easy part. The hard work starts now.
2. The New Pentagon Slush Fund
defenseone.com · by Andrew Lautz
A slush fund? Reject the PDI? I certainly hope not. PDI and OCO are apples and oranges.
Conclusion: “By the time the Biden administration proposed mothballing OCO earlier this year, lawmakers and experts from across the ideological spectrum recognized it had become an unaccountable, off-budget fund relieving policymakers of the pressure from Budget Control Act, or BCA, spending caps. In a post-BCA, no-caps era, PDI seemingly is the new DOD slush fund, putting upward pressure on a Pentagon budget that is sorely in need of downsizing. Congress should reject PDI before it’s too late.
3. U.S. Plans to Spend Big on Critical Minerals; Choosing Where Isn’t Easy
WSJ · by Alistair MacDonald
Probably one of the most important strategic issues of our time. (along with microchips and the cyber domain writ large)
4. Top US general in Africa: ‘Wildfire of terrorism’ on march here
militarytimes.com · by Mosa'ab Elshamy · June 19, 2021
Excerpts: “I am concerned about the security situation across a band of Africa,” from the Sahel region in the west to the Horn of Africa, Townsend told reporters. He noted deadly attacks by al-Qaida- and Islamic State-linked jihadis and al-Shabab.
“All of them are on the march,” he said.
African neighbors are helping governments deal with the threat, but, he added, “all of that does not seem to be sufficient enough to stop what I call ... (the) wildfire of terrorism that’s sweeping that region.”
5. Pentagon’s extremism definition will have to find the line between free speech and unit cohesion
militarytimes.com · by Meghann Myers · June 18, 2021
Yes, we absolutely have to find the right balance and get this right or we are going to do long term damage to the force.
6. Taliban enters Kunduz City, seizes control of 16 districts
longwarjournal.org · by Bill Roggio · June 20, 2021
Excerpt: The Taliban currently controls 116 of Afghanistan’s 407 districts, while 192 districts are contested, according to FDD’s Long War Journal’s study of the security situation in Afghanistan [See Mapping Taliban Contested and Controlled Districts in Afghanistan].
7. Marine Corps shuts down Southern Command rotational deployment
marinecorpstimes.com · by Philip Athey · June 20, 2021
Excerpts: “The Corps is cutting costs from all over its budget in an attempt to rebuild the Corps for a fight with China.
In 2021 the Corps scrapped its tank units and started reducing the number of infantry battalions it has in the ranks.
The 2022 budget proposal also calls for the Corps to continue shrinking as it looks to save money.
Though the Corps has ended the Southern Command rotational deployment, there is no sign that the Corps will end the special purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force deployments to Central Command or Africa Command.
The cut to the rotational deployment coincides with the Marine Corps’ move to make Marine Corps Forces South a three-star position led by Lt. Gen. David Bellon, who also commands Marine Corps Forces Reserve.
8. Special Operations News Update - Monday, June 21, 2021 | SOF News
sof.news · by SOF News · June 21, 2021
9. Keeping the Razor’s Edge: 4th PSYOP Group’s Innovation and Evolution Council
madsciblog.tradoc.army.mil · by Trisha E. Wyman, Ashley Franz Holzmann, Robert Kava, John Kozlowski, Vu Tran · June 21, 2021
Excellent initiative by 4th PSYOP Group.
Excerpt: “Sustained innovation has always been an elusive goal for Commanders, even within the SOF community. Regular internal personnel movement, overall force turnover, and cultural obstacles often combined to stifle innovation. In typical Army fashion, Commanders of the past believed that innovation could be tasked into existence. The belief that throwing enough people and money at a challenge will result in innovation is common.
Looking at the IEC, it is tempting to believe that this was the case, but the truth is more nuanced. The appearance of innovation and actual innovation are two very different things. Understanding this is key to successfully replicating the effort in other organizations.
10. A State Department for the Digital Age
warontherocks.com · by Ferial Ara Saeed · June 21, 2021
Excerpts: “America faces a tidal wave of challenges wrought by unprecedented and ubiquitous advances in emerging technologies and the rise of China as an anti-democratic economic superpower. The State Department has a leading role to play in addressing both challenges. Consolidating all technology issues under a single undersecretary would significantly strengthen the department’s hand in the interagency policymaking process. The department is better positioned than its interagency counterparts to articulate a national emerging technology policy that accounts for the full range of U.S. national interests, not just those related to security. Multidimensionality is the State Department’s core comparative advantage. Consolidation would reinforce it. No other agency has the mandate, the expertise, and the credibility to compel consideration of that vital perspective. Without it, the United States risks undermining its complex geostrategic interests with over-securitized responses to rivalry with China and the related, evolving challenges presented by the most rapid technological change ever experienced in human history.
The State Department’s technology policy apparatus was built for an era that no longer exists. This moment calls urgently for a bold reorganization. The past is never a good place to live.
11. Assumptionitis in Strategy
thestrategybridge.org · by Mie Augier, Sean F. X. Barrett, and William F. Mullen · June 21, 2021
I did not know assumptions were an "itus."
Excerpts: “Assumptionitis sets in when one set of actors project their own objectives and values onto others. One problem with the Rational Man perspective–or any other theory that assumes homogeneity across preferences, cultures, and countries; is that it does not always happen that people invest the time to try to understand where others, e.g., countries, cultures, are coming from. As a result, one set of actors assumes that others have the same objectives as themselves even though two groups rarely agree on what is rational. This approach to forming assumptions about an opponent’s decisions or actions is a poor foundation upon which to build strategic thinking and planning. It can, for instance, lead to neglecting the nuances in how countries view national power, which influences their strategic objectives, how their strategic fears may influence what they do, and the operational code behind their decision making.[10] Additionally, when homogeneity is assumed and static tools and models are applied to a changing environment, another deleterious assumption occurs: that the enemy is static and is not also trying to enact countermeasures and identify competitive advantages to exploit.[11]
....
Assumptionitis undermines useful strategy and strategic thinking. In this article, we identified some of its symptoms, as well as an empirically grounded, interdisciplinary approach we hope can be useful. While there are certainly others that deserve attention, we hope our recognition of these pitfalls can help us build some immunity against the unhealthy long-term effects assumptionitis can wreak on behaviorally realistic, meaningful strategy.
12. Old Habits Die Hard: Special Operations Forces, Twenty Years of Counterterrorism, and the New Era of Great Power Competition
mwi.usma.edu · by Jack Watling · June 21, 2021
If old habits die hard perhaps some of our "good old " habits from prior to the GWOT will re-emerge.
The SF ODA used to know how to operate "unplugged" without being "wrapped in the support" surrounding counterterrorism operations. In fact the SF ODA was designed based on the assumption it would have to operate independently with little to know support - as they say, alone and unafraid. Perhaps we can revitalize some of those good old habits and update them for the modern era.
But this is quite a conclusion. Note the reference to hyper conventional which I would argue is one of the biggest problems we have in SOF today. But that is of course the direction the bureaucracy drives special operations.
Conclusion: “None of these challenges are likely to surprise those within the special operations community, nor are they impossible to solve. But for units to address these problems they require the time and space to do so creatively. Perhaps the most important prerequisite for special operations forces optimizing for great power competition, therefore, is the recognition by policymakers that throwing them into the breach to confront every challenge comes at a cost. The political convenience of special operations forces threatens their readiness for tasks where their skills and capabilities are essential enablers for the joint force. If policymakers will not allow special operations forces to conduct operations unplugged from the command structure, then they will find it difficult to do so when it is necessary. If the force is overcommitted, it will take short cuts that form predictable patterns. It may be highly effective, but it will also become hyperconventional.
Leaders have the right to choose what they want from the special operations community. Since that community is limited in size, however, policymakers should think twice when they deploy it—or else they may find themselves with special operations forces that will struggle to offer assurance when faced with a great power competitor.
13. Myanmar junta leader leaves for Russia conference, second trip abroad since coup
Reuters · by Reuters Staff · June 20, 2021
14. First Special Warfare Airmen graduate initial apprentice course for special reconnaissance
15. Missile Defense Agency Lays Out How It Plans To Defend Against Hypersonic Threats
thedrive.com · by Brett Tingley and Joseph Trevithick · June 19, 2021
16. Groundhog Day Comes for the Defense Budget
realcleardefense.com · by Mackenzie Eaglen
Excerpts: “Congress must push the Pentagon to think beyond simply repurposing and rehashing of the Third Offset strategy and overemphasizing R&D. It is no longer a sufficient framework to address the threats facing the United States—particularly given the rapid pace at which China has modernized militarily. Congress should restore procurement funding across the board and push military leaders to seek a more balanced ratio between research and development and the building of new systems.
Pentagon leaders are touting their hard choices this year to cut readiness and procurement to spend more on research and development. However, the truly tough calls will be picking winners and losers from the R&D accounts and moving ready programs into production quickly. The approach of “let 1,0000 flowers bloom” is over. Putting meaningful new capability into the hands of warfighters in the next one to five years is the more serious solution to a here-and-now problem and a major missed opportunity of the Biden defense budget.
17. Wokeness warriors take over the Pentagon
Washington Examiner · by Mike Berry · June 19, 2021
I think this whole "woke" thing is way overblown; however, it seems the author is in a place to know these things. But I do hope the author is wrong in that the new definition of extremism the pentagon adopts will not include constitutionally protected free speech.
I am heartened that the pentagon would have someone like Mr. Berry on the CEWG and he should absolutely not be removed from it.
Conclusion: “Some have warned me that simply writing this article will likely result in my removal from the CEWG, or possibly even the Marine Corps, in which I continue to proudly serve as a reservist. But I love my country too much not to sound the alarm. And if my love of America is what leads to my removal, then so be it, as long as my discharge papers state "discharged for love of country."
18. Pentagon Official Details US Missile Defense Strategy
eurasiareview.com · by DoD News · June 21, 2021
19. Oath Keepers: How a militia group mobilized in plain sight for the assault on the Capitol
Then there is this. They may be "well trained." But possibly not in OPSEC and COMSEC.
20. Opinion | The Two Men Blocking Military Sexual Assault Reform
The New York Times · by The Editorial Board · June 19, 2021
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“The truth is that everything starts from the top. What determines your failure or success is your style of leadership and the chain of command that you design.”
- Robert Greene, The 33 Strategies of War
"When you have assumed these names – good, modest, truthful, rational, a man of equanimity, and magnanimous – take care that you do not change these names; and if you should lose them, quickly return to them."
- Marcus Aurelius
"First and last is the question of values. Most conflict researchers cited here, including the author, try to be objective in their analyses. The ultimate normative purpose of this kind of conflict analysis, though, and the objective that has attracted most scholars to the subject, is to help all of us—political activists, policy makers, and scholars—understand how to build more just and peaceful societies."
- Ted Gurr, Why Men Rebel