Leon Panetta, Michèle Flournoy, and H.R. McMaster agreed Ukraine is showing China how tough a target Taiwan could be, while Bob Gates predicted Xi would not arm Putin and Condi Rice said Beijing is already backing off its worst ‘Wolf Warrior diplomacy.’
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.“There really is former-general-officer fatigue, bordering on apprehension, on the Hill – on both sides of the aisle,” a former Senate staffer says. “Trump really burned out a lot of folks.”
By Paul McLearyWASHINGTON: Fact. China controls 90 percent of the world’s trade with North Korea. When President Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Mar a Lago club there was, “frank recognition that China does have a great deal of control — a great deal of control over that situation, mainly through the coercive power…
By Colin ClarkWASHINGTON: Whoever is elected the next president of the United States must stand ready for crisis to strike “at 12:01 on January 20th,” the Secretary of the Navy warned today, lest America’s adversaries see a window of opportunity. What Ray Mabus and his fellow service secretaries didn’t say, at least out loud, speaks volumes. With Russia meddling in…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.REAGAN LIBRARY: Just two months ago, prominent pro-defense Republicans were telling me the best outcome for the military budget would be a GOP-controlled Senate. Now they’ve got it — but before the new Congress is even sworn in, several veteran legislators speaking here Saturday discounted the prospect of it doing anything to scrap the automatic budget cuts…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.WASHINGTON: The fact that the Obama administration selected Christine Fox, the former CAPE director, as Deputy Defense Secretary illustrates two truths: First, several people turned down the job or withdrew from consideration because of the hideous confirmation process; second, the political impulse to place a female in the position was intense and, ultimately, successful. Those…
By Colin ClarkWASHINGTON: Instead of trying to cram a $500 billion force into a $450 billion budget and hoping Congress passes sequester relief, the Defense Department needs to go back to the drawing board. That’s the consensus of two top defense experts from either side of the government-industry gap — former Obama and Clinton appointee Michele Flournoy…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.WASHINGTON: Michele Flournoy, oft rumored as the next Secretary of Defense, called the military’s elaborate planning process “stale,” its training too risk-averse, and its corporate culture in danger of a new “Vietnam syndrome” where it willfully forgets the lessons of the last decade of guerrilla war. Flournoy also threw cold water on the hot concept…
By Otto KreisherWASHINGTON: The United States is still the world’s indispensable nation and we’ll probably avoid sequestration, albeit by the skin of our teeth. That’s the modestly reassuring message from the unlikely duo of Michèle Flournoy, who recently left her job as under secretary of defense for policy, and Dov Zakheim, Pentagon comptroller under George W. Bush.…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.WASHINGTON: The Pentagon and White House are trying to have it both ways in the new national security strategy unveiled last week, and the department is looking to the National Guard and Reserve to help make that happen. The Pentagon nixed several missions from the U.S. military’s portfolio as part of the new strategy. The…
By Carlo MunozThe most senior woman ever appointed to a military job is leaving the Pentagon. Michele Flournoy, undersecretary of defense for policy, announced today that she was leaving to “rebalance” her life. It has been an extremely busy life for the woman occupying what is generally regarded as the Pentagon’s number three position. On top of…
By Colin Clark