Defense & Security

…evidence that the US did in fact sign such an agreement with Mexico, authorizing ATF, in cooperation with Mexican authorities, to implement the gun-walking ‘sting’ that provided Mexican gunman with killing tools used to fire on and murder US agents would corroborate the intent and involvement, at the highest levels, of ATF officials, of the Attorney General (either Holder or his representatives would have had to sign off on the operation), and of the President of the United States—who, as Holder’s supervisor, must be held accountable for the decisions and actions of his subordinates.

It would be difficult, as well, to believe that Eric Holder would have undertaken such a risky endeavor, such a politically sensitive gamble, without a discussion having occurred between Holder and Obama before the implementation of the ATF operation. The stakes, in terms of US-Mexico relations, would have just been too high.

I’ve been off the blogging sphere for a while and consequently am playing catch up.  Been training for a 25 bicycle race.  Every Memorial Day weekend people come from all over the country to my small town in the Colorado Rocky Mountains and race through the mountains against the train that was used in the […]

If we are able to recognize that US foreign policy in respect to instability in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India is irrational due to the absence of a ‘necessary but not sufficient’ condition – bolstering of Pakistan’s strategic advantages over India – then the easy part is done.  Crafting a foreign policy that addresses this contingent […]

Last month I attended a panel discussion called “Post Genocide Rwanda: Inventing Structures of Hope” at Brown University’s Arts in One World conference.  One speaker in particular, Tim Gallimore, had much to say that I wanted to share with my Law and Security Strategy readers.  So I interviewed him.  With events relating to Rwanda making […]

The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, will speak about promoting nonproliferation at the Japan Society in New York on May 31st.  Details below. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE THURSDAY, MAY 26, 2011 Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General to the United Nations, to Speak on Promoting Nonproliferation NEW YORK— Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary-General, will speak on Tuesday at the conference: […]

The World Economic Forum spoke to over 500 companies from around the world May 4-6, 2011 about Africa’s huge economic growth potential. The forum opened with a call for Africa to rethink its global role. “You can no longer talk about the old Africa,” said South African President Jacob G. Zuma. “We need to develop […]

The next meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is slated to meet next month with its current chair, the Netherlands, at the helm.  At that meeting, the USG and Indian governments are hoping to get the other members to agree to making India a permanent member.  They currently have observer status.  I could not […]

Tom Friedman has it right in yesterday’s column. He writes: “To the Palestinians I would say: You believe the Israelis are stiffing you because they think they have you in box. If you resort to violence, they will brand you terrorists. And if you don’t resort to violence, the Israelis will just pocket the peace […]

There has been much discussion and grandiose speech-making on the Middle East this week. First Obama gave a “big” address on the Arab Spring, and he even touched on the Israel-Palestinian peace process too. Then Bibi Netanyahu arrived in town for meetings with Obama and to give a speech to a joint session of Congress […]

There is, of course, much commentary already on Obama’s Middle East speech.  Here are some assorted thoughts from me. First, Obama stated unequivocal support for democracy, asserting that U.S. policy is to “support a set of universal rights” that includes “the right to choose your own leaders—whether you live in Baghdad or Damascus; Sanaa or […]

Nicholas Kristof’s recent op-ed in the New York Times highlighted Richard Holbrooke’s concern for the declining relationship between the US and Pakistan and, essentially, pronounced the need for America not to forsake Pakistan, as tumultuous as relations may be. Pakistan, without question, is grappling with a litany of issues: rampant poverty and natural disasters; protection of minorities […]

When I first began in the field we like to call “Nukes and Spooks”, I was one of very few women in a sea of old white guys. (Sorry old white guys.  We love ya, but there are just too many of you)  I was a loud-mouthed, black clothes-wearing, not-so reformed goth girl from New […]

It was an exciting day yesterday at Opinio Juris, as State Department Legal Adviser, Harold Koh, in a blog post, laid out the U.S. Government’s official legal justification for killing bin Laden. Was it really that exciting though?  Koh reiterated the rationale he gave in a speech last year to justify targeted killing.  Then he […]

Just as I was finishing the Kissinger/Nixon ‘Detente’ chapter of John Lewis Gaddis’ “Strategies of Containment“, I came across this excerpt from Henry Kissinger’s new book “On China”. Kissinger, whose strategic leadership comes across very well in Gaddis’ book, dishes about his secret trip to Beijing in 1971 to lay the ground work for American […]

On this day in 1974, India detonated a low-yield device (8 kilotons) under the Rajasthan desert at Pokhran.  Code-named “Smiling Buddha”, the “peaceful nuclear explosion (PNE)” was also the first confirmed nuclear test by a country outside the P5 nuke states codified by the NPT.  India famously developed and executed the test weapon from materials […]