Tag: Defense
Stevenson’s army, August 19
– WSJ says Afghan pilots flew to Uzbekistan.
– GOP divided on Afghan refugees.
– Sarah Chayes says US civilians made key mistakes over the years in Afghanistan.
– MIT study says Chinese hackers disguised as Iranian to hack Israel.
PS: Charlie has added the following:
– CJR discusses the Taliban’s “spin machine.”
– A former Air Force intelligence guy tells what the Taliban talked about.
– Facebook tells what gets the most views.
– I do agree with this AEI analyst’s arguments against a separate Cyber Force.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I plan to republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
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Stevenson’s army, August 11
– Lured by the prospect of an August recess, the Senate approved the infrastructure package and, after only 14 hours of votes, and 47 amendments, approved the budget resolution intended to pave the way for a filibuster-proof reconciliation bill.
-WaPo reports an intelligence assessment says Kabul could be overrun in 6-12 months. The reporters give no hints of their sources, but I would note that Senators got a secret briefing on Afghanistan on Monday.
– Politico reports that the administration has made a major effort to fill Senior Executive Service positions across government.
– Meanwhile, Senator Cruz [R-TX] still blocks many State Dept nominations because of his opposition to the administration’s NordStream2 policy. [Here’s a CRS report from June, shortly before the Biden-Merkel deal on the project.]
– Nobody blocked former SAIS Prof Mara Karlin, who was confirmed yesterday.
– Biden’s promised “Summit of Democracies” is now set for December.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I plan to republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
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Stevenson’s army, August 5
– The administration announced a $750 million arms sale to Taiwan, its first.
– Reuters says a new arms transfer policy will be coming soon, with added human rights criteria.
– CRS has an updated report on the congressional process in arms sales.
– China may have converted ferries for amphibious operations.
– Politico explains how HAC Chair Delauro gets her bills approved. [This reinforces my point that appropriations and armed services are the rare committees that know how to pass controversial legislation.]
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I plan to republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
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Stevenson’s army, August 4
– SFRC will vote today on legislation repealing the 1991 and 2002 AUMFs on Iraq.
– Administration officials signaled support, but with caveats.
– David Ignatius says Biden hit “sweet spot” with Iraq.
– Senate Homeland Security Committee has bipartisan report criticizing agencies’ cybersecurity.
– CNO blasts lobbying by defense firms.
I’ve long argued that you can’t write a good paper on Congress using Google because the best information is behind paywalls. Lobbyists pay $5K to $10K a year for access to Politico Pro and similar sites. Now it looks like Axios is joining the fray. See this from a competitor:
Axios executives plan to jump into the policy journalism market this fall with new mid-and high-priced subscriptions products, according to a person briefed on the plan.
This represents an effort by the D.C.-based news outlet to take on Politico Pro, and jump into a market with Bloomberg owned B-Gov and CQRoll Call.
Axios plans to start offering mid-range products for investors and private equity firms first, and then higher-priced ones that are designed to challenge Politico Pro. Jim VandeHei and Roy Schwartz — Axios’ founders — started Politico Pro, and have long toyed with a similar product at Axios. They have intimate knowledge of the business and would seek to create a modernized version. VandeHei had no comment.
Disclosure: We all worked at Politico with VandeHei, Schwartz and Mike Allen, and we now compete against them.
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Stevenson’s army, July 30
– Former SASC chairman Carl Levin has died. Like John Warner, an effective statesman.
– Philippines keeps US forces agreement intact.
–Biden invites Cuban Americans to announcement of more sanctions.
-SAIS prof Frank Gavin discusses lessons from history.
-CSET criticizes DOD’s “innovation tourism.”
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I plan to republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
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Stevenson’s army, July 29
Mike Mazarr, my former NWC colleague now at Rand, urges dropping scenarios as the basis for defense planning.
Iran’s supreme leader casts doubt on deals with West.
AP details how much we’re promising Afghanistan, while Task & Purpose warns of the deterioration of Afghan air forces.
Kevin Drum says the evidence points to Fox News as the source not only of US political polarization, but actual hate:
The Fox pipeline is pretty simple. Fox News stokes a constant sense of outrage among its base of viewers, largely by highlighting narratives of white resentment and threats to Christianity. This in turn forces Republican politicians to follow suit. It’s a positive feedback loop that has no obvious braking system, and it’s already radicalized the conservative base so much that most Republicans literally believe that elections are being stolen and democracy is all but dead if they don’t take extreme action.
Margaret Sullivansays the press’s bothsidesism is also to blame. My own view sees multiple coinciding causes,with special mention of Newt Gingrich.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I plan to republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
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