Tag: National security
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 11
Honor veterans today!
I have long argued that the only thing election returns can tell is who won, who got more votes, not how or why it happened. That’s especially true this year when the two national exit polls had significant differences in the numbers of voters they found. Given that caveat, here’s a big collection of the data. And note that Nate Cohn of the NYT has a long story trying to tell why the polls were wrong.
David Ignatius reports a bitter interagency fight over declassifying some materials about Russia which Esper, Haspel & others warn would reveal key sources and methods.
This is new information which might explain why Esper was fired this week and Haspel may be.
Meanwhile, the national security community suffers more firings, resignations, and burrowing in of Trump loyalists.
WSJ explains the Biden-McConnell relationship.
I have a piece in The Hill urging the new administration to speed the naming of all the top 1200 nominees so they can start planning together.
As you know, it’s the season for think tanks to make their suggestions to a new administration, Here’s CFR on how to revitalize the State Dept.
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, October 16
– AP reports WH efforts to politicize CDC
–Trump lets California burn without relief.
–Confusion in the ranks over troop withdrawals.
– More on those mixed messages.
– Sweden boosts defenses against Russia.
Missed opportunity: Yesterday, WH released a “National Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technologies.”Doesn’t say who wrote it. No letter from Trump. I bet there would be bipartisan support for many of its ideas. Instead, it sinks like a stone.
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, September 30
After last night’s dispiriting display of socially-distanced mud wrestling, let’s turn to something completely different.
Two bipartisan congressional reports on important national security matters: a House panel on future defense and a task force report on arms control.
WSJ reports how China is taking control of various international organizations.
A retired Navy captain writes about Chinese actions in the Taiwan strait.
US Navy has moved ship to help Greece against Turkey.
SAIS profs Barno and Bensahel preview their new book about military adaptation.
Russian Duma goes remote because of Covid infections.
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, September 23
As you’ll learn when we discuss the Senate, there are many ways to obstruct and delay in addition to the filibuster. Democratic Leader Schumer invoked one Tuesday. The rule [XXVI, 5] requires unanimous consent for any committee to meet more than 2 hours after the full Senate has convened, and never after 2pm. This will limit Judiciary hearings on the Supreme Court nominee.
Meanwhile, candidates to become House Appropriations Chair in the next Congress are endorsing the return of earmarks.
Save the date: December 11 is when funding for the new fiscal year runs out, assuming the Senate agrees to the Continuing Resolution that passed the House with strong bipartisan support.
The Hill says DOD is planning full US withdrawal from Afghanistan by next May.
The National Security Adviser is pressuring DOD to add funds for the Navy. It’s unusual for someone in that position to do such budget stuff.
Politico says CIA is censoring and limiting what it send to WH about Russia
Lee Drutman, whose writings about interest groups I’ve assigned, says the US political parties are collapsing and some kind of transformation is coming.
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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