Author: Tim J. Clark

Red Teams and Predicting Variability

To Battle Groupthink, the Army Trains a Skeptics Corps
(U.S. News & World Report)…Anna Mulrine, may 26, 2008, pg.30

In the wake of chaos and a lethal insurgency in Iraq, blamed in no small part on poor decisions and a lack of planning at the highest levels, the U.S. Army has had a startling insight that is upending conventional thinking about how the military works. That epiphany is that the force needs fewer yes men.

… The program at Fort Leavenworth’s University of Foreign Military and Cultural Studies is more commonly known by its nickname, Red Team University.

Application of the Red Team concept can develop an awareness and understanding of variation.  Everything varies. One measure of success is accurately predicting the gap between the actual and expected result. 

For example, given all the variation inherent in a daily commuting process, how close can you predict your arrival time?

Marine Corps Vision 2025

Conway: New World Needs Return Of Expeditionary Marine Corps, (Inside The Navy)…Rebekah Gordon, May 19, 2008 Pg. 4

…Citing the work of the Marine Corps’ Strategic Vision Group, which is evaluating how to position the service into 2025 and beyond, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway painted a future requiring a more agile and littoral-focused corps.

Standard practice within DoD and the services to develop long-term strategies. 

Gates Doctrine & Strategic Leadership

Defense’s Realist Rebel (Washington Post)…Michael Gerson, May 21, 2008 , Pg. 19

When Gates was nominated in late 2006, conservative suspicions and liberal hopes coincided.

… The Gates Doctrine has helped right a listing Iraq war

Article touches upon the major aspects of strategic leadership which involves leveraging and exercising the elements of national power while balancing the demands between short, mid and long term needs and priorities.

China – Global Power in 40-70 yrs?

China debate, Inside the Ring, Washington Times, by Bill Gertz, May 16, 2008

Former Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre says a “raging” debate is under way in Chinese academic circles over Beijiing’s power and influence and when to declare Beijing a world leader. 
 
 Mr. Hamre said one academic cast the debate as “is China going to be the tail of the ox, or the head of rooster?”

The former deputy defense secretary is betting China will stay on track to be a rooster head in Asia and “inspirational leader in Africa and South America.” It could be a global power in 40 to 70 years.

China – Global Power in 40-70 yrs?

China debate, Inside the Ring, Washington Times, by Bill Gertz, May 16, 2008

Former Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre says a “raging” debate is under way in Chinese academic circles over Beijiing’s power and influence and when to declare Beijing a world leader. 
 
 Mr. Hamre said one academic cast the debate as “is China going to be the tail of the ox, or the head of rooster?”

The former deputy defense secretary is betting China will stay on track to be a rooster head in Asia and “inspirational leader in Africa and South America.” It could be a global power in 40 to 70 years.

Information – Objectivity Questioned

OPINION: What The Pentagon Was Feeding Us (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)…Joseph Galloway, McClatchy Newspapers, May 19, 2008, Pg. 13B

…There’s little doubt that this program violated laws against covert propaganda operations mounted against the American people by their government. But in this administration, there’s no one left to enforce that law or any of the others that the Bush operatives have been busy violating. The real crime is that the scheme worked. The television network bosses swallowed the bait, the hook, the line and the sinker, and they have yet to answer for it.

Joe Galloway s a military columnist for McClatchy. Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf has called him “the finest combat correspondent of our generation — a soldier’s reporter and a soldier’s friend.” He is co-author of the book: We Were Soldiers Once… and Young.

A follow-up to the New York Times story regarding the objectivity of military analysts on the cable shows – see previous posting in the Information category.

U.S. First Responders

ARTICLE: Embracing New Role (Baltimore Sun)…Lawrence Korb and Max Bergmann, may 20, 2008

Quietly, and perhaps without fully realizing it, the U.S. military has begun embracing a new, wide-ranging international role that will compel it to intervene in many countries throughout the world. Yet this is a role that virtually every country would support and one that should be widely embraced here as well: the role of global first responder.

Lawrence J. Korb, a former assistant secretary of defense, is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. Max A. Bergmann is the deputy policy director at the National Security Network.

Good example on the application of all the elements of national power.

Progress in Iraq – Kurdistan

We Are Making Progress In Iraq, (Wall Street Journal)…Nechirvan Barzani, May 20, 2008, Pg. 21

While the media offers mostly images of violence, and many Americans have grown weary of the war in Iraq, I bring hopeful news to Washington this week as I meet with the administration and members of Congress.

Mr. Barzani is prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq.

Global Peace Index

US And Russia Ranked Among Least Peaceful Nations, by  (Financial Times)…James Blitz

An annual study ranking nations in terms of how peaceful they are has given poor marks to the US and Russia, placing them firmly in the bottom half of a list of 140 states.

The Global Peace Index is drawn up by the Institute for Economics and Peace, an independent think-tank, together with the UK-based Economist Intelligence Unit. It tests each nation against 24 “peacefulness” criteria, including a nation’s relations with its neighbours, arms sales and foreign troop deployments.

 I’m somewhat of a collector of indices .. aim is to find one or more that will provide indicators of progress over time.