Tag: Defense
Stevenson’s army, December 19
– FP says one of the key reasons for a rash of Pentagon departures is the toxic environment created by Under Secretary Rood.
– Peter Feaver says public support for the US military is more fragile than expected.
– A Marine worries that the US is once again de-emphasizing the counter insurgency mission but it will be needed.
– CRS has a new report on intelligence community spending.
– Pay close attention to what Chinese diplomats are doing in their expanded role in UN organizations.
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. If you want to get it directly, 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, December 17
Last week I noted how many foreign policy matters are in the NDAA. Today, look at some of the extraneous measures added to the two omnibus appropriations bills. Lesson: must-pass bills turn into Christmas trees.
Saudi Arabia is making nice toward Iran, with geopolitical consequences.
The anti-Muslim citizenship bill in India is sparking widespread protests.
Morale is improving at State — except among those closest to Pompeo.
A Texas law professor has found, in the new NDAA, a provision codifying a requirement for notification of the Armed Services Committees when significant offensive cyber operations are conducted. Hooray! For several years I have been calling for a “Title 60” provision modeled after the Hughes-Ryan provision for CIA covert actions to deal with offensive cyber operations and lethal drone strikes. This is a welcome development.
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. If you want to get it directly, 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, December 16
– An official with long Afghanistan experience disputes WaPo’s claim that senior officials regularly lied to the public about progress there. Key quote:
My personal observations during the roughly 12 years I have been working on assessments of the Afghanistan war are that U.S. officials have not generally engaged in a deliberate campaign of lies and deceit of the American public when it came to progress in the war. Rather, what I’ve observed is shifting (and often unclear or arguably unachievable) strategic and policy objectives combined with aggressive optimism and an overwhelming “can do” attitude on the part of U.S. government officials — especially within the military given its rigid hierarchy, and culture of following orders and vertical appeasement (as described here). In addition, the U.S. government — and particularly the Department of Defense — has consistently struggled with its own doctrine, processes, approaches, and “bureaucracy doing its thing” type challenges to assessing these non-conventional wars, as I have endeavored to show along with a host of other authors such as Ben Connable and Stephen Downes-Martin. I also agree with his point that these personal citations will make it harder for future IGs to get honest answers.
– SecDef Esper says he wants 50% expansion of IMET in next 5 years.
– New NDAA authorizes coastal defense and antiship missiles for Ukraine.
– OMB has a mostly nonpartisan professional staff, only 5 political appointees. But those people are acting aggressively to promote presidential ideas, according to a report by Axios.
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. If you want to get it directly, 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, December 13
Along with agreement on the NDAA and USMCA, congressional leaders now have a deal on spending bills, avoiding both a government shutdown and another CR.
First time ever, the Senate unanimously approved a resolution condemning Armenian genocide.
Here’s the language.
The president seems to have a deal rolling back sanctions on China for some trade concessions.
How many wars are we in today? Still 19, according to the 6-monthly report to Congress under the war powers law.
Who loves us, hates us? Pew has a new international survey.
Politico’s London branch reviews UK election results.
The latest in the Post’s Afghanistan series,this time on the security forces. But former Amb.Ryan Crocker pushes back.
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. If you want to get it directly, 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, December 11
What’s in the 3,488 page[ ! ]NDAA? Besides the key domestic section of parental leave for federal workers, there’s security stuff. The HASC summary. The Defense News summary.
What’s in the final USMCA? WSJ lists winners and losers. Politico shows how Pelosi ran the negotiations.
Part 3 of the Post’s Afghanistan papers — wasted aid.
NYT says US commanders aren’t sure how to respond to Russian and Turkish acts in Syria.
Dan Drezner laments the end of WTO and the economic order that came with it.
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. If you want to get it directly, 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, December 9
– China has ordered no foreign computers or software after 2022.
– US strangles WTO.
– North Korea lambastes Trump.
-WaPo details how Democrats leveraged Space Force for parental leave.
– WaPo publishes formerly secret documents showing misleading statements about Afghan war.
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. If you want to get it directly, 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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