Category: National Security

National Security – DIME

Defense Strategy

A Transformer In Disguise, (Weekly Standard)…Thomas Donnelly, June 23, 2008

Donald Rumsfeld’s primary mission when he returned to the Pentagon as secretary of defense in 2001 was to transform the U.S. military to meet the missions of the new century. Today it seems more likely that it is his successor, Robert Gates, who will leave the lasting legacy.

The Gates Transformation … is  about reorienting the current American way of war, making the generals understand that irregular warfare is not only the most likely form of conflict but, as our experience in Iraq and Afghanistan strongly suggest, the most complex form of fighting and the highest priority in building our forces.

…  In particular, watch the debate over the soon to be released National Defense Strategy and National Military Strategy documents. The first, prepared by defense civilians, reflects the Gates Transformation. The Joint Chiefs of Staff prepared the second. They are worried by other challenges–and have already said that the defense strategy is too risky.

Prison Escape

Coalition Hunts For Escaped Afghan Inmates, (Houston Chronicle)…Noor Khan and Jason Straziuso, Associated Press, June 15, 2008

U.S. and NATO troops aided Afghan forces with reconnaissance in a hunt Saturday for 870 inmates who escaped prison after a sophisticated Taliban assault that even NATO conceded was a success for the militants.

Special cause variation.

The President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board

Covert Board Called Crucial To Presidents, (Washington Times)…Bill Gertz June 16, 2008, Pg. 1

Presidents need to rely on a little-known group of intelligence advisers that since the 1950s has helped guide policies and oversee the U.S. intelligence bureaucracy, according to a report by former intelligence officials.

The book-length report to be released today is an exhaustive historical study of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB), which was created during the Eisenhower administration and has been used by presidents in different capacities ever since.

The report, "The President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board: Learning Lessons from its Past to Shape Its Future," was written by former intelligence and national security officials Kenneth M. Absher, Michael Desch and Roman Popadiuk.

DoD: Fuel and Food Bills

CNN, June 18, 2008, Rise In Fuel And Food Prices Affects Pentagon, Issue Number One (CNN), 12:00 PM

ALI VELSHI: Well, you’re going to love this story. You all probably have an idea of what you spend on gas and food every month. Hopefully it’s a simple family budget. But what if you had a food and fuel budget for your entire company? And what if that company was nearly three times the size of Wal-Mart, IBM and ExxonMobil combined? CNN’s Barbara Starr has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BARBARA STARR: If you think your gas and grocery bill is high, meet Tina Jonas. She spends $15 billion a year on fuel and $3 billion a year on food.

TINA JONAS, PENTAGON CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER: It’s pretty hectic around here.

STARR: Jonas manages the Pentagon’s $600 billion budget.

JONAS: If we were a country on earth, we’d be about the 17th largest economy in the world.

STARR: She likes to point out that the Pentagon’s budget woes are just like everybody else’s, running out of money in a world of rising prices. The U.S. military is the single largest consumer of fuel in the country, perhaps the world — 122 million barrels a year.

JONAS: We need another $3.5 billion of fuel money just to get through the year. We’re going to need another $1 billion to finance our food bill.

STARR: And why is that?

JONAS: Well, transportation’s driving a lot of it. The cost of wheat and corn and other things have gone up.

STARR: From her desk, or what she calls her dash board, Jonas monitors everything.

JONAS: What I do for my fuel prices is, I have my — the figures that I have here tell me how short I’m going to be in the accounts that buy fuel for the departments.

STARR: So the budget around here really isn’t that different than your family budget really?

JONAS: Well, that’s right. We’re car pooling a lot at home now. Took the metro yesterday.

STARR: Seriously?

JONAS: Yes, I did. I’ve been taking it the last couple of days. My husband, he’s a former retired Marine, so he’s pretty tight with the bucks. (END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: And Jonas has another tip for saving money that might sound familiar, pay your bills on time. She’s making sure the Pentagon does that and so far she calculates she has saved about a quarter of a billion dollars in late fees.

VELSHI: All right. And that — I mean, when you’re at the Pentagon, that’s a lot of money to be able to save, but they’ve got big budget needs. Where do they get the new money for those?

STARR: You know, I asked that question, Ali. I said, so is there a secret printing press for money in the basement? There’s always been that rumor here in the Pentagon. But, of course, what they do is they go to Congress to get authorization to spend more money. So, of course, they’re really getting it from you and me, the taxpayers.

VELSHI: Yes. And those gas prices have really, really hit them very hard. It’s a great story. It’s a good lesson to learn. You know, when the biggest of the big save money by doing those things, it could work for us.

Boeing wins appeal: 35 Billion

Audit Says Tanker Deal Is Flawed
(New York Times)…Leslie Wayne

In a stunning turnabout for the Boeing Company, government auditors on Wednesday upheld the company’s appeal of the Air Force’s decision to award a $35 billion contract to build midair refueling tankers to a partnership of Northrop Grumman and the European parent of Airbus.

Academics and Soft Power

Pentagon To Consult Academics On Security
(New York Times)…Patricia Cohen, June 18, 2008

Eager to embrace eggheads and ideas, the Pentagon has started an ambitious and unusual program to recruit social scientists and direct the nation’s brainpower to combating security threats like the Chinese military, Iraq, terrorism and religious fundamentalism.

But if the uncustomary push to engage the nation’s evolutionary psychologists, demographers, sociologists, historians and anthropologists in security research — as well as the prospect of new financial support in lean times — has generated excitement among some scholars, it has also aroused opposition from others, who worry that the Defense Department and the academy are getting too cozy.

Mr. Gates has stressed the importance of devoting resources to what he calls “ ‘soft power’, the elements of national power beyond the guns and steel of the military.”