Tag: Intelligence
Stevenson’s army, July 30
– LA Times has a summary of Robert Draper’s new book on the Iraq war. [I’m happy to say I just got a copy from my newly reopened library.]
– I have a piece debunking the “wag the dog” theory. Yes, foreign policy decisions including use of force, are often driven by domestic political considerations, but the US just doesn’t start wars in presidential election years.
–DOD now sees protesters and journalists as “adversaries” in mandatory training manuals.
– The Gang of 8 are feuding over what to tell us about foreign interference in the election.
– DOD announced withdrawal of troops from Germany. Fred Kaplan has a good critique.
Reading between the lines, it looks to me as if DOD is slow-rolling the matter, making it easy to reverse course after the election.
Daily Beast reports on all the dark money flooding into our elections this year.
Congratulations to the NYT editor who wrote the line saying the tech execs who testified yesterday all wore “trust me suits” and ties.
Breaking news: the quarry for the Stonehenge stones has been found 15 miles away. Still not know is how they were transported 4500 years ago.
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 20, late edition
More hot news on a hot day. The administration is planning to send federal agents to Chicago and perhaps New York as it has to Portland. Lawfare says they are claiming an intelligence mission — to protect monuments and statues.
Just Security has discovered that AG Barr has done this sort of thing before and bragged about it.
In other news, Dan Drezner gives a barely passing grade to Pompeo’s Unalienable Rights Commission
A group has a bipartisan list of suggested defense budget cuts.
Reuters has a special story on Chinese amphibious capabilities.
Brookings has a new site for its China assessments.
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 17
– An Obama NSC staffer criticizes the new DNI.
– A Brookings Fellow critiques the new defense space strategy.
– AG Barr hits US companies for “appeasement” of China.
– Several reports question Merkel’s friendliness toward China.
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 1
– NYT details numerous Russian activities against US
– WSJ says NSA and CIA disagreed over Russian bounty evidence.
– NYT says US warned Russia of Chinese military buildup.
– NDAA provision would put DOD in charge of Energy Dept weapons budget.
-Fight continues over HFAC chairmanship.
– Many former congressmen are now foreign agents.
– New study documents US heavy use of contractors abroad. Here’s the study
– Germany is cracking down on right-wing extremism in its special forces.
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 17
– WSJ says Trump administration is still working with WHO despite announced US withdrawal.[ Teaching point: throughout Trump’s presidency, he and the WH staff have made announcements that were not followed up with action. They seemed to think that a press release was sufficient. Or a so-called executive order that really only called for an action to be studied. Process matters.]
– Britain is merging its development office with the Foreign Office. [Teaching point: the US has the same longtime tension between USAID, which wants to give aid for developmental goals, and State, which usually wants to add political goals. No easy answers. As JFK said, “To govern is to choose.”]
– CIA hackers got hacked, with enormous damage. [Teaching Point: Hubris is a powerful force in elite organizations. We also have prioritized cyber attack over cyber defense and resilience.]
– Here’s good background on the China-India clash and on the Line of Actual Control. BTW, the deadly fighting was with barbed wire clubs, since firearms aren’t authorized by either side.
– Speaker Pelosi mandates masks in committees.
– My local library system, PG County in Maryland, sent a message yesterday saying that major newspapers and many magazines are now freely accessible online via the library. Your local library might do the same. Check it out.
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, May 27
– Several sources confirm NYT story that, to meet Trump’s demand to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan before the US elections, Pentagon planners will present options including that one,but recommending delay until at least May 2021.
– Africom head accuses Russia of sending camouflaged planes to fight in Libya.
-FT has more on the growing rift between China and Australia.
-Lawfare lists the US factions in the China debate
-Politico says Pompeo courted civic leaders while at CIA, too.
Recommendation for military officers: I just finished former CJCS General Martin Dempsey’s memoir. It’s mainly a collection of stories of Army life, both at West Point and in recent years, with common sense lessons offered. I was especially interested in how he depicts civil-military relations under OBama.
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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