Adfero Group HSPI

A panel at the MilBloggers Conference provided a very interesting discussion earlier this month. The main point of the meeting is that the news media covers the military differently. Social media is driving fast reporting online and has created a constant drumbeat for information NOW. The panel was asked if this effect has created a tabloid-type, low quality product today. The reporters agreed blogs add a valuable corrective and much positive context to the media landscape.

I attended the MilBlogger’s Conf in Arlington on May 12. Congressman Randy Forbes was the keynote speaker, who noted most people in Washington are only asking, “How can we cut spending in the military?” They must ask, “What is the effect on the security of these cut?” Forbes reminded everyone present that most Americans (and a lot of legislators) simply do not understand that cuts to the military will actually have consequences.

Should President Obama be taking credit for the removal of Usama bin Laden from this mortal realm? The short answer is “yes,” based on the logic that if the mission that got UBL had failed, Obama would have had to take the blame. That said, it is a distorted view to think that nothing was done until before the present Administration arrived, and no one should be credited except President Obama.

The U.S. Secret Service, the TSA and the U.S. Military have all been involved in recent public relations disasters that exposed poor choices on the part of federal employees and disrupted the public trust in government agencies. Fallout continues over the Secret Service prostitution scandal in Colombia. News reports of TSA agents breaking rules and laws are ongoing. Military personnel have been caught in photos urinating on dead bodies and in other offensive acts. Why did these incidents occur and what can be done to ensure they do not happen again?

An elective course called “Perspectives on Islam and Islamic Radicalism” was summarily cancelled at the Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk, VA by General Marty Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The course apparently had asserted, “Islam is at war with the West.” OK, the Chairman gets high marks for ensuring we don’t offend anyone, but Al Qaeda, its affiliates and ideological progeny have declared war on the West. They did it well before 9/11, and they have never declared even a ceasefire.

One of the great things about the United States is that our forefathers wrote and established a timeless Constitution as a cornerstone to the best nation in the world. It is the basis for the best legal system in the world, where citizens are afforded due process. Sadly, there are more and more instances where the press has self-appointed itself judge, jury and even attorney for both sides. What happened to reporting the facts and not opinions? Indeed, many in the press have tried and convicted the Secret Service agents and officers that were in Colombia recently.

Reporting over the past few days regarding an advance detail of U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Military personnel’s activities in Colombia has been riveting. Being a former federal law enforcement officer, I was not shocked by their activities, but I was truly saddened. People responsible for the safety and security of the President and others just cannot engage in this kind of behavior. Part of the problem could be that the Secret Service is incorrectly situated in DHS. My own sense is that they are in the wrong department, with leadership problems, and are starved for funding.

By Jeffrey Voth
Last month, the Pentagon released its widely anticipated roadmap to transform operational energy security.From both a strategic and an operational perspective, the call to action is clear. Rapid employment of energy-efficient technologies and smarter systems will be required to transform the military’s energy-security posture while meeting the increasing electric-power demands required for enhanced combat capability.

When I was a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, every time we tried to do something – like develop cyber security capabilities – we were accused of cravenly seeking new budget allocations. Yet, the only reason I have been, am now, and will continue to push cyber as a key issue is that I believe it is one. In a recent Foreign Policy article, Thomas Rid argues the cyber threat is not real. I sincerely wish he were correct. He is sincerely wrong. Denying threats does not make them go away.

Last week, I testified before the House Homeland Security Committee about Hezbollah capability to attack within the United States, should the group decide to do so. I explained that it is by no means a foregone conclusion that Hezbollah would attack America in the event of an attack on Iran, but also laid out four different scenarios of how they could carry out such an operation.

I worry that we are sliding toward a “Guns of August” scenario over Tehran’s nuclear program. I worry that rhetoric and potential policy choices may bring about the very outcome we seek to avoid and unleash unforeseen and uncontrollable forces. Stoking this concern is the fact that despite a lack of intelligence suggesting Iran is moving toward weaponization, the chorus of those calling for direct military strikes to interdict such is sounding off with increasing frequency and volume. With this comes the risk that ex ante policy objectives may be getting ahead of both intelligence and strategy.

In a recent New York Times article, Admiral William McRaven, Cdr, U.S. Special Operations Command, asked for more freedom in pursuing America’s self professed enemies. McRaven is the architect of both the Usama bin Laden (UBL) takedown in Pakistan and more recent rescue of the Somali pirate hostages. This is not the first time the idea of allowing SOCOM to be the head of the spear has come up. I, for one, think it is an idea whose time has come.

The past couple of days have been bloody as Iran and its surrogates and Israel fight a dirty war of retribution using the streets of innocent countries as fields of battle. Additionally, the Iranian Navy continues to threaten the world’s oil shipping lanes with rhetoric and by making furtive moves against the U.S. Navy. I think we are very close to the tipping point of war with Iran, and in my opinion, the more time we wait, the more dangerous they become.

White House press secretary Jay Carney noted yesterday that the Administration is mulling over its options with respect to the nature of American involvement in such a potential force. It is well and proper for the Administration, at least in the discovery phase of policymaking, to entertain a broad range of policy options. Nevertheless, it needs to be evident to the President and his policy planners that any direct U.S. military involvement in a peacekeeping mission in Syria would be a major mistake.

I spoke to students at the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security. The school helps military officers get their master’s degrees, but mine was not a military audience at all – many were homeland leaders from throughout the public and private sectors. To be sure, America has gained a lot since the 9/11 attacks, part of which is a brotherhood shared by all homeland professionals..

President Obama’s critics (of which I have been one) have tried to infer he is many things. He’s been called a socialist, a far-left liberal and other names. People will use all sorts of facts and inferences to back their words up but one word and invective that will never stick is “wimp.” Through the use of drones, Special Forces, Navy SEALS and all of the other military resources at his disposal, the President has scored a kill sheet that no one could have imagined. The inspirational orator that many thought was weak-kneed has become remarkably effective and efficient at getting rid of some of the world’s most pungent trash.

I was attending my church’s Kids’ Christmas program, and the depiction of the three wise men brought back some memories for me of a Christmas I spent far from home a few years ago. It was Christmas 2003, and I was in Baghdad, Iraq. I had been sent there by Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, leading a team of 20 senior field grade officers. No service member likes to be away during the holidays, but serving one’s country gives you a treasure trove of memories that cannot be replaced.

Senator Susan Collins ripped in to representatives of the Department of Defense this week. The issue was one so absurd that I could not believe it at first. The Department has categorized the Fort Hood Shootings where Major Nidal Hasan murdered 13 people as an example of “workplace violence.” The Senator responded rightly; she was not incredulous, she was livid. Calling this incident of terrorism workplace violence equates it with the proverbial postal employee gone wild. This was an act of Islamic terrorism.

I’m mad. In fact, I’m furious. I just read the Washington Post’s latest story on the treatment of the remains of U.S. military service members that served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Air Force dumped their incinerated remains in a landfill. What was originally thought to be a few dozen is now up to 274 people. The truth is, the full number of desecrated remains may never be known given the reckless and absolute abhorrent conduct of the people at Dover Air Force Base who engaged in these actions.

The U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security held a joint hearing today with the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs entitled “Homegrown Terrorism: The Threat to Military Communities Inside the United States.” According to the Department of Defense, American soil is the most dangerous place for our service men and women outside of actual war zones due to radicalism and homegrown terrorism.