Archive for December, 2013

Zero option, or not? | Hagel’s cuts | Weapons roundup

In the wake of Gen. Dempsey’s mention of the “zero option” in Afghanistan, Anthony Cordesman evaluates whether it’s a viable strategic choice. (CSIS)

SecDef Hagel’s plans to cut staff aren’t evenly spread, …

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Leading infantrywomen | CJCS’ zero option | DISA’s big plans

Soren Sjogren, a Danish Army officer who has led mixed-gender units in combat, offers a few lessons from the experience. (Carrying The Gun)

CJCS Gen. Martin Dempsey says the U.S. might still …

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A skeptic rethinks the Surge | Climate change, faster than you think | Easy cybersecurity steps we’re not taking

Frank Hoffman calls Peter R. Mansoor’s “Surge: My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War,” an “invaluable resource” that reshaped his thinking about the U.S. escalation in …

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Sex-assault double standard

Sex-assault double standard

DART to Army Secretary John McHugh for creating a corrosive double standard.

Faced with an angry Congress demanding that military leaders curb the epidemic of sex assaults in the ranks, McHugh has …

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Let CYBERCOM stand alone

Let CYBERCOM stand alone

Gen. Keith Alexander currently wears the hats of director of the National Security Agency, chief of the Central Security Service, and commander of CYBERCOM. (NSA photo)

By Rob Sheldon

Over the past …

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Fanning the flames of COIN | Land warfare in A2/AD | Plans vs. planning

Mark Stout draws together various threads of the recent COIN debate, and urges more. (War On The Rocks)

Just a reminder: “Plans are worthless but planning is everything.” Richard Fontaine puts the …

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How to ease the ADIZ pressure | Deterring China | COIN and grand strategy

For all the concern over China’s newly declared Air Defense Identification Zone, it’s just the latest in a series of escalations in the battle for the Diayou/Senkaku Islands. Here’s Mark E. Rosen’s …

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1944: Smoke ’em if you…never mind

In July 1944 on Peleliu, Marine Pvt. 1st Class Douglas Lightheart (right, holding a 30-caliber machine gun), paused for a smoke. (DoD photo)

From the archive: December 2, 1944

Editor’s note: The cigarette industry saw a great boom during World War II. Cigs were distributed in troops’ rations and smoking rose on the homefront — …

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