Foreign Policy Blogs

U.S. Defense

GailForce: CNN’s Cybershock TV Special

Last night I saw something I never thought I’d see, a televised war game.  Last week a DC think tank, The Bipartisan Policy Center, staged a war game with former members of government simulating the President’s staff dealing with a massive cyber attack against the United States.  CNN taped it and is televising it this […]

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GailForce: Annual Intelligence Threat Assessment

Last week I blogged about the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR); I thought this week I’d take a look at the Intelligence Community’s annual threat assessment.  The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Dennis Blair presented the report before Congress on February 2.  I found it interesting that in spite of the spotlight focused on the […]

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GailForce: QDR/Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

Last week there were two major events coming out of the Defense Department, the release of the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) and a recommendation by both the Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff that the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy be repealed allowing gay men and lesbians to serve […]

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GailForce: U.S. Increasing Missile Defenses in the Gulf

Over the weekend several newspapers ran articles on U.S. efforts to accelerate deployment of missile defenses in the Persian Gulf region.  According to the New York Times, the U.S. is providing 2 Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) batteries each to Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman.  The U.S. is also maintaining a constant presence […]

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GailForce: Defense Issues

Topic:  Just a Typical Week in the World of Defense Issues   Last week was interesting but pretty typical for those involved with monitoring national security issues.  Osama Bin Laden crawled out from under whatever rock he’s been hiding under and claimed responsibility for the failed attack on Flight 253 on Christmas Day.  While speaking […]

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GailForce: Haiti: U.S. Military Contributions

Reflections of a Retired Baby Boomer   Topic:  Haiti:  U.S. Military Contributions   While watching the excellent media coverage of the Haitian earthquake last night, I noticed that many people are beginning to wonder why it was taking so long for U.S. military units and other nations and relief groups involved in the effort to […]

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GailForce: Obama and the Intelligence Community

Reflections of a retired Baby Boomer   Topic:  Obama and the Intelligence Community   On Thursday, President Obama and his staff discussed the findings of their internal review of the failed Christmas Day terrorist attack.  They concluded there was not a failure to share information such as was seen in the pre 9/11 days; but […]

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GailForce: Pregnant Soldiers

Note:  I wrote this opinion piece last week but was unable to load on the web site due to problems with my travel computer.   Reflections of a retired Baby Boomer   Topic:  Pregnant Soldiers   When I woke up the day after Christmas and checked the morning news, I was very happy to hear, […]

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GailForce: Flight 253, Intelligence Failure?

  Reflections of a retired Baby Boomer   Topic:  Flight 253, Intelligence Failure?   In the aftermath of the recent failed Christmas day terrorist attack by a young Nigerian man, the airwaves and print media are once again filled with cries of “intelligence failure”.  As I watched the talking heads give their “expert” analysis of […]

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GailForce: Year in Review

Reflections of a retired Baby Boomer   Topic:  Year in Review   Overview:   Overall defense issues played out pretty much as expected in 2009.  In a January 27, 2009 testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates identified Afghanistan as the greatest military challenge and stated “we have not had […]

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GailForce: Iranian Missile Test

GailForce Reflections of a retired Baby Boomer        On December 16, two days before scheduled UN talks on its nuclear program, and in a not so subtle warning to the U.S. and its allies, Iran test fired, the Sajjil-2, the latest variant of their ongoing missile development program.  The missile is powered by solid […]

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In The News

Authorization Bill Kills Big US Defense Programs This year congress has vetoed a half dozen weapons programs and plans to specifically target missile defense, reports the Armed Forces Journal. General Dynamics Wins $16M US Defense Contract General Dynamics’ Information Technology arm has won a five-year $15.6m contract from the Department of Defense’s Defense Acquisition University […]

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Army-pedia

Over the course of its history, the U.S. Army has been called many things, but “democractic” is certainly not one of them.  That however, maybe be changing.  The NY Times reported over the weekend about a radical new approach the Army is taking to the writting of its manuals, which serve as the the basis […]

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Is the Raptor going extinct?

Is the Raptor going extinct?

There has been much ink spilled lately over the fight between the Obama administration and the House and Senate over the fate of the F-22 Raptor. The administration was seeking to limit the number of planes to the 187 that had already been ordered, arguing that the advanced fighter, which has never seen combat, was […]

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In the news…

Foreign Policy Beyond the Pentagon Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, believes that the United States’ foreign policy has become “too militarized.” US Vice President Offers Iran a Chance and a Choice In what appears to be a big shift in foreign policy, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden publicly reached out […]

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