President-elect Trump has promised to destroy Daesh. If Trump wants to avoid being the third Administration in succession to sink into the morass of the Middle East, it is essential to first ask what declaring victory would look like. Part of the West’s challenge is rooted in that Daesh is a brand inside a religion and…
UPDATED: Crowley Will Stay In NYC, Per Request She Withdraw; Jan. 16 This is a little out of of our usual lane, but the controversy about Monica Crowley’s apparent plagiarism, both in large sections of her Ph.D thesis and in a recent best-selling book of hers, raises troubling issues of truthfulness and personal integrity, values one hopes…
With the election of Donald Trump as the next President of the United States and with Trump’s nomination of Gen. John Kelly for Secretary of Homeland Security, life is going to change for the US Coast Guard. Trump’s campaign focused intently on border security, asking a fundamental question: Why do we send thousands of troops…
The phone call between President-elect Trump and the President of Taiwan sent shock waves through the diplomatic community. But it is time to turn the page and include Taiwan in shaping a 21st century deterrence strategy for Pacific defense. The People’s Republic of China has made it clear that the regime is moving out into…
Recently, Chief of Naval Operations John Richardson drove home the point that using the term Anti-Access Area Denial (A2AD), was too vague as to be useful to define the effort of US and allied forces to deal with peer competitors. “The term ‘denial,’ as in anti-access/area denial is too often taken as a fait accompli,”…
The Australian military is shaping a transformed military force, one built around new platforms but ones that operate in a joint manner in an extended battlespace. The goal is to extend the defense perimeter of Australia and create, in effect, their own version of an Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) strategy. They also recognize a key reality of 21st…
Gen. Hawk Carlisle has been at the center of global allied operations for several years, first at Pacific Air Forces and now at Air Combat Command. Recently, we interviewed him at Langley AFB, home of Air Combat Command. During his watch, several new combat assets have come to play in Middle East operations. “Each of the…
Brexit, instead of being the end of an era, may be an opportunity for a political opening to a much needed, long overdue reform process in Europe. Much of the discussion of the British vote to leave the European Union (EU) has ignored the reality of political sclerosis in Europe; the status quo is not stable; the Brexit…
In less than three years, Northern Command has witnessed an important strategic shift. North Korea’s leadership changed and the acceleration of their nuclear weapons and missiles program are changing the strategic calculus for the United States and Canada. Meanwhile, the re-launch of Russia under President Putin has Russia’s presence felt in the Middle East, Asia…
Sen. John McCain recently went after the Jones Act again. In an amendment to bill S.2012, the “Energy Modernization Act of 2015, McCain argues that the Jones Act is an “antiquated law” that hinders free trade and raises prices for American consumers. What the senator ignores is the impact of the legislation on Military Sealift Command. The…
As former Air Force Chief of Staff “Buzz” Moseley once declared, “there is not a place on the face of the earth that the USAF will not fight their way into.” But this aspiration has been complicated by 15 years of fighting low-end opponents like the Taliban even as peer adversaries like China and Russia…
The sea and the sky above it are becoming more dangerous for US forces. Even terrorist groups like Hezbollah and the Islamic State have access to anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles, let alone great powers like Russia and China. But the US Navy and Marines recognize this “anti-access/area denial” challenge and are reshaping their forces to…
When the British Parliament voted to strike Daesh (or ISIL as we used to call them) in Syria, the Royal Air Force was “unleashed,” to use the words of a senior British government official. British planes launched from Cyprus and struck against Daesh oil facilities in Syria. They struck against what the Defense Minister called the pocketbook…
President Francois Hollande of France arrives Tuesday in Washington for talks with President Obama. Top of the list will be how much America is willing to commit to destroying Daesh, the terrorist group we used to call ISIL. Robbin Laird, Ed Timperlake and Harald Malmgren explore in detail what America’s options are, what France wants and…
The competition for Warfighter Training and Readiness Solutions will bring together training networks, combat training centers and live ranges across the DoD enterprise.
The competition for Warfighter Training and Readiness Solutions will bring together training networks, combat training centers and live ranges across the DoD enterprise.
President-elect Trump has promised to destroy Daesh. If Trump wants to avoid being the third Administration in succession to sink into the morass of the Middle East, it is essential to first ask what declaring victory would look like. Part of the West’s challenge is rooted in that Daesh is a brand inside a religion and…
By Ed Timperlake and Robbin Laird