Tag: Defense
Stevenson’s army, June 10
– WSJ says Trump wanted to fire SecDef Esper but was talked out of it by Hill allies and outside advisers.
– NYT says Bolsonaro threatens military coup in Brazil.
– Just Security article says DOD regs give command to Attorney General.
– Lawfare piece sees conflicting laws over control of out of state Guard units in DC.
– Here’s CRS list of military posts named after Confederates
– WSJ’s Gerry Seib notes polls showing distrust of opposing parties.
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, June 6
– SecDef Esper, without consulting the president, has ordered National Guardsmen deployed to DC not to carry weapons. He has also sent additional Guard units back to their home states.
– WSJ reports, confirmed by WaPo and NYT, that President Trump has ordered the withdrawal of 9500 US troops from Germany,cutting the current 35,000 to a new ceiling of 25,000.
– In what looks like a damage-control effort, “friends” of Gen. Milley tell the NYT that he argued forcefully against invoking the Insurrection Act and otherwise distanced himselkf from Trump’s photo op.
– Similarly, “people who know him” tell WaPo how Gen.Mattis came to write his scathing critique of the president.
– The WH is now an armed camp, with a much greater security perimeter than I remember from the antiwar demonstrations in 1969. High fencing now surrounds 15th-17th streets, and Constitution Ave to H St. And look at the huge no vehicle cordon in much of downtown DC for today’s expected protests.
-FP quotes several of my civ-mil friends on the current situation.
– BTW, I wondered why there was so much fuss about Sen. Cotton’s “send in the troops” op-ed when it never appeared in the print edition of NYT. I learned today that it had been scheduled for Sunday, was released early, and now has been cancelled.
– On this 76th anniversary of D-Day, WaPo has some photographs from then.
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, Jun 5
– A former Senate staffer explains the success of the NDAA as a process. [I’d like to see the same for State and foreign aid.]
– Bloomberg has a history lesson: when MacArthur attacked the Bonus Army and hurt Hoover.
-Politico has more details on the many federal police forces.
– A Senator put a hold on top USAF nomination in order to get planes for his state. Many precedents for this kind of hostage-taking.
– BTW, Trump relented and let Esper send 82d airborne troops home.
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, June 4
Perhaps Secretary Esper and Chairman Milley have been shamed into restraint — by the avalanche of criticism from Gen Mattis, Dean Cohen, George Will, and others. What we do know is that the president shouted angrily at Esper in a Wednesday meeting and ordered him not to send 82d airborne troops back to NC, as Esper had earlier ordered. Esper reversed his decision. I don’t see how Esper can remain in office; I expect he’ll resign or be fired.
What we also know is that military operations in DC have actually been run by Attorney General Barr since the weekend. He ordered the clearing of Lafayette Square. He is in charge of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Bureau of Prisons police which were deployed at the Square.[Attorneys General like to be addressed as “General,” though their title is actually the noun rather than the following adjective. And DC has over 30 police forces with varying jurisdictions and chains of command — DC Metro police, Park Police, Capitol police, Secret Service, US Marshals, Diplomatic Security, etc. It is unclear precisely which forces have been sent where in DC in recent days.]
Interesting development: yesterday, NYT posted an opinion piece by Senator Cotton urging “send in the troops.”That provocative article does not appear in the print edition, perhaps because of blowback from Times staffers and others.
Why have Republicans been so silent? Anne Applebaum discusses pressures for complicity and collaboration from Eastern Europe in The Atlantic. [BTW, an excellent series dramatizing moral dilemmas and compromises is “A French Village,” set in a rural French village during WWII and available through Amazon Prime.]
On this 31st anniversary of the Chinese attacks on protesters in Tiananmen Square, NYT sees this as opportune moment for China to crack down on Hong Kong.
FYI, there’s already some encryption on Senate phones.
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Stevenson’s army, June 3
– Several former military commanders are criticizing the president’s comments and photo op. Former CJCS ADM Mike Mullen among them. Many also criticize the SecDef and current CJCS.
– NYT has a detailed tick tock of the photo op event.
– Esper says he didn’t know. [But he did talk about dominating the “battlespace” with governors]
– Military.com lists the units in DC area.
In other news, Duterte has changed his mind on US military cooperation.
China is slowing grain purchases.
Russia changes its nuclear policy.
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, June 1
– FT says Israel and Iran have begun cyber war.
– USMC Commandant takes flak from Jim Webb.
– CFR has ideas for post-pandemic foreign policy.
– Many nuggets from long WaPo article on Trump’s rocky May.
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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