Tag: Defense
Stevenson’s army, November 13
NYT has another deep[ dive on what was wrong with polling this year.
Looks like drones won the war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
NYT sees new cold war in the Arctic.
Outgoing ambassador said US troop numbers in Syria were hidden from Trump.
More bad ideas from McGregor.
Gen. Milley wrongly seems to suggest only US troops don’t take oath to a person. In fact: United States armed forces take an oath to support and defend a piece of paper—the Constitution. The British military take an oath of allegiance to the monarch. German forces swear to defend the law and liberty of the people. The Japanese vow to maintain the nation’s independence and peace. Russians swear loyalty to the Fatherland. Perhaps not surprisingly, the French armed forces, after five republics, two empires, numerous monarchies and several attempted military coups, take no oath.
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, November 12
Jonathan Swan of Axios says the firings and shuffling in the Pentagon may be the prelude to rapid troop withdrawals before the inauguration. Politico echoes that and adds efforts to put loyalists in the intelligence community.
While the simplest explanation may be revenge by the president, the maneuvering of people who couldn’t even be confirmed by a GOP Senate suggests a master plotter — NSA O’Brien?
WaPo notes the uneasy position these moves put CJCS Milley in.
NYT doubts a master plot, but also reports a recent clash between the new acting SecDef and SecState Pompeo.
This is not a good time for the national security leadership to be in such disarray.
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, November 10
– The administration is deliberately refusing to allow the transition to begin.
– The president has abruptly fired the Secretary of Defense, installed an official with limted experience, while threatening also to fire the CIA director and FBI director. Esper is trying to defend himself.
– This is the season for “what Biden will do ” stories. Most are highly speculative, based on sources that may or may not have power in the new administration. I’m only going to send stories I think are soundly based, especially by reporters with very good sources. So pay attention to what Michael Gordon reports for WSJ and David Sanger for NYT.
– Armenia has lost the war, cut a deal.
– AEI scholar questions the way the combatant commands are run.
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, November 2
Military ballots may not be counted if delayed.
Pentagon is removing defense attaches from Africa.
Venezuela plotters met at Trump Doral.
NYT discusses failed Venezuela policy.
US-Chinese talks on crisis communications. Good.
Amb. Crocker remembers talks with Biden.
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, October 30
I want to stop reading election news. There’s nothing new under the sun. The polls have been consistent for weeks, so now the news is in outliers. What if they are true? Now reporters are hedging their bets by discovering little facts that point the other way. If the polls are “wrong,” I don’t think it will be methodological error but turnout problems because of postal and voting logistics and suppression efforts.
Meanwhile, it does look like NSA O’Brien is looking for a bigger job. SecDef?
Defense News jumps on the post-election bandwagon by profiling the possible new SASC chairman. Congress has been formally notified of F35 sale to UAE.
Former APSA Congressional Fellow Paul Musgrave has a clever piece on the problems of moving to Canada.
Just Security has been running a series of articles on legal issues in foreign policy. Today, I’d urge reading the pieces on War Powers Reform and Treaty Withdrawals.
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, October 28, 2nd edition
As a kid, I got to read two newspapers every day — the Rocky Mountain News [r.i.p.] in the morning and the Denver Post in the afternoon. In the spirit of those days, when many cities had a t least 2 daily papers — and because there’s so much news today — here’s your PM edition.- Pew says only 4% of Trump and BIden supporters plan to split their ticket by voting for a Senate candidate of the other party, This could lead to the 2016 results when Every winning Senator was from the same party as that state voted for President. But be aware, only 6 states still allow straight ticket voting by a single mark.
-WaPo says people criticized by Trump often need special protection.
– Where did the China tariff receipts go? In farmer aid.
-Leaks get action: the inside story of the TR leaks.
And now some good think pieces: Profs Barno & Bensahel on the future of the US Army.
Suggestions for reforming US security assistance.
And great ideas for making better US strategy.
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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