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Over the weekend President Obama completed an overhaul of his national security team by nominating Army General Martin Dempsey to be the new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Gen. Dempsey had recently been confirmed as Army Chief of Staff, this is highly unusual to move someone into the chairmanship after just being appointed to a high military command, but the president was leaning toward Marine Corps General James Cartwright, the Vice Chairman, and the presidents trusted military adviser. Unfortunately, the president informed Gen. Cartwright last week that he would not be getting the job because of opposition from outgoing Chairman, Adm. Mike Mullen, and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.
For the first time since being elected the president, Obama now has in place his own national security team, as Adm. Mullen and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates where holdovers from the Bush administration.
Early this month the president selected CIA Director Leon Panetta to replace Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense, and General David Petraeus as Director of the CIA.
Numerous challenges await Obama's new national security team with how to begin the presidents draw down of forces in Afghanistan, and reducing the the defense department's budget, all the while maintaining U.S. overseas commitments.
Let's see how they do!
http://militarybriefingbook.com/browse.cfm?category=Defense%20Policy%20and%20Budget&subcategory=Military%20Transformation
Today, the president attends the G-8 summit in Deauville, France, and high on the list will be the focus on security issues, and how to end the conflict in Libya which has been ongoing since March.
When all of the ruffles and flourishes fad away, the member nations attending the summit have some serious serious business to discuss. Many nation's notably France and Britain, have been less than enthusiastic with the leadership exhibited by President Obama. Two of the most contentious issues facing the European alliance is the conflict in Libya and the ongoing financial crisis affecting both Europe and the U.S.
President Obama's lead from behind strategy has rankled many of our European allies, especially the British and the French, who have been left to lead the operation in Libya, but lack the strategic capabilities to do so. President Obama continually remarks that we entered into military operations to prevent the killings of civilians by the Libyan government, but fails to articulate a strategy with regard to Syria, who has killed far more of its own people then is the case in Libya.
The president has also failed to make deep reductions in spending to rein in the massive federal debt of the U.S., European nations have taken deep austerity measures, but the U.S. fails to address its own fiscal crisis.
The flowery public persona of gratitude fails to alleviate the tension beneath the surface of the summit. Let's see how the president navigates rhetoric with reality.
http://militarybriefingbook.com/browse.cfm?category=Defense%20Policy%20and%20Budget&subcategory=U.S.%20Foreign%20Policy
Robert Gates, who next month will relinquish his duties as Secretary of Defense and retire, has in recent days been sounding a warning not to systematically reduce the Pentagon budget to deep, which would hamper the U.S. military power for decades to come.
The persistent and chronic federal debt is leading many advocates to reduce the federal debt burden, and that the Pentagon needs to reduce its spending considerably.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, speaking before the American Enterprise Institute stated, "For starters, I have long believed-and I still do-that the defense budget, however large it may be, is not he cause of this country's fiscal woes. However, as a matter of simple arithmetic and political reality, the Department of Defense must be part of the solution."
The Department of Defense needs to make major changes on how it allocates resources, but a hollowing out of the Defense Department to meet domestic constituencies will only reverberate back to the U.S. as was the case after World War II, for which the U.S. paid dearly in the early stages of the Cold War.
A detailed and thought provoking process needs to take place at the Pentagon, and not short sided reductions to satisfy domestic concerns. If it is the latter, the U.S. will again regret its actions, but the real victims will be the military, as was the case during the early stages of the Korean War.
http://militarybriefingbook.com/browse.cfm?category=Defense%20Policy%20and%20Budget&subcategory=Military%20Transformation
Today, Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, addressed a Joint Session of Congress and laid out his intentions for peace between Israel and Palestinians. This coming after President Obama announced last week that the borders of Israel and a future Palestinian state would be based on Israel's pre-1967 borders.
The past two years have seen contentious relations between the two long time allies, and the matter was exacerbated even more with the president's announcement last week, which caught Israel by surprise.
It will be interesting to see how the process will move forward, as the president's Middle East strategy is in virtual chaos. As much as the president rebuked the Bush administration's Middle East strategy, his strategy is eerily similar.
Read for yourself the full text of the Prime Minister's address before a Joint Session of Congress.
http://militarybriefingbook.com/
Tomorrow, President Obama will be giving a major address on the situation in the Middle East, and outlining his administrations broad strategy for the region. This will be the first time the president will be addressing what his strategy is for the Middle East, this coming at a time of intense upheaval with the "Arab Spring" revolution throughout the Middle East, and with his failed attempt to settle the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
Much has changed in the Middle East since the president spoke in Cairo in 2009, since then the president has lost his Middle East envoy, who resigned last week. The Arab Spring revolution caught the administration off guard and gave inconsistent and confusing answers as to what the U.S. strategy was in the region.
Military operations in Libya have been hampered by a disorganized and contradictory U.S. policy on what precisely are the goals of the U.S., this coupled with the president's haphazard and naive strategy with regard to the situation in Syria.
It will be interesting to see if the president addresses what the specific strategy of the U.S. will be for the region, address how to reinvigorate the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process, or if we will again get more fluff then substance from this administration.
http://militarybriefingbook.com/browse.cfm?category=Defense%20Policy%20and%20Budget&subcategory=U.S.%20Foreign%20Policy
Too often we only hear of Afghan's and the cultivation of poppies, but now view a video that shows Afghan farmers moving away from growing poppies to growing saffron.
View for yourself the video showing a change of Afghan farmers into saffron cultivation which provides a safe and reliable market for their product. It's a start for a safe and reliable cash crop.
http://militarybriefingbook.com/topic.cfm?topic=Letter%20from%20Iraq%20Afganistan
With all the attention centered on the raid that killed bin Laden in the past two weeks, and the ramifications for Pakistan on how much they knew regarding the whereabouts of bin Laden, little has been paid to U.S. policy in the greater Middle East.
After two months of military operations in Libya, the situation is stalemated with Muammar Gaddafi still in power and protests throughout the region continuing. President Obama on Thursday will deliver a speech concerning events in the Middle East.
This comes at a difficult time for the president, first with the resignation of his Middle East envoy, coupled with his failure of his Middle East peace proposal. The administration has been slow to respond to the Arab Spring movement and has given conflicting statements on what strategic direction to follow, which has only confused and alienated our Arab allies.
The president's Libyan policy has been confusing and perplexing from the start on what strategic goals the administration wants to follow. The administration seems to be tough on our allies but remains silent in regard to atrocities committed by our enemies; Syria and Iran.
It will be interesting to see what the president says on Thursday.
http://militarybriefingbook.com/browse.cfm?category=Defense%20Policy%20and%20Budget&subcategory=U.S.%20Foreign%20Policy
With energy prices at record levels, and members of both parties making wild accusations on the cause of energy prices, even President Obama has been disingenuous about rising fuel costs.
Yesterday, the U.S. Senate called the major oil companies to testify before the Senate, which was only for partisan political consumption instead of any real desire to solve rising cost of fuel prices in the U.S. It's no wonder why the American people are confused with prices that keep going up and how they are calculated.
The Council on Foreign Relations put together a report on gasoline prices and how cost's are calculated. This is an excellent article that all should read to get at least an understanding on what makes up energy prices.
http://militarybriefingbook.com/topic.cfm?topic=Energy
Yesterday, the president spoke in Texas, on the need for immigration reform, and renewed a call for comprehensive immigration reform. The president stated, "we've seen leaders of both parties who try to work on this issue, but then their efforts fell prey to the usual Washington games. And all the while, we've seen the mounting consequences of decades of inaction."
The unfortunate part of this narrative is the president is part of the problem with Washington and is playing politics with the immigration debate. In 2008, then candidate Obama promised repeatedly that his first year in office he would introduce comprehensive immigration reform legislation, nothing was introduced even though Democrats controlled Congress by wide margins in both the House and Senate.
Even today, the president gives flowery rhetorical speeches, but still no legislation has been introduced by this administration. Both sides play partisan politics with the issues and still nothing gets accomplished.
In the president's speech, nothing at all was mentioned about Mexico's role in regard to immigration. Each time the president of Mexico visit's the U.S., he is never asked what is his country doing to create economic opportunities for his own people.
It's time for both parties to get a reality check and stop partisan politics, but that will be hard to do with the 2012 election on the horizon.
http://militarybriefingbook.com/browse.cfm?category=Homeland%20Security&subcategory=Immigration
House speaker John Boehner is seeking reductions in federal spending of at least $2 trillion dollars in exchange for lifting the debt ceiling. The extent of what Boehner is advocating at this time is unclear, but in March the Government Accounting Office outlined billions in duplication of various programs if eliminated would save taxpayers billions in savings if enacted.
This may be more posturing by the House speaker, but the federal government has to begin reducing the ballooning federal debt which will soon reach $15 trillion dollars.
Both Democrats and Republicans are responsible for the federal debt, and both parties are going to have to begin addressing this issue as this is now affecting the national security of the United States.
The president has failed to address this issue, he even failed to accept one recommendation from his own Debt Reduction committee, which presented its findings in December.
Both parties need to get serious about debt reduction, which has to include entitlement reform and defense spending reform, if it ever is to get a handle on the massive federal debt.
The ball is in the air, let's see who grabs the ball and runs with it. Time will tell who is serious about reducing the debt of the United States. The nation's economic future is in their hands!
http://militarybriefingbook.com/topic.cfm?topic=U.S.%20Politics
The growing tensions between the United States and Pakistan continue to widen over how much Pakistan knew about the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden. Tensions between the U.S. and Pakistan has been building for years. It hit a low point in the 90's when the Clinton Administration imposed sanctions on Pakistan over its nuclear ambitions, and when they tested a nuclear device in 1998.
Cooperation between the two nations have been tenuous at best on how reliable, and just how much cooperation or elements of cooperation inside the Pakistani intelligence and military have been given to radical Islamic fundamentalist groups being allowed to reside on its territory.
In 2008, Pakistani militants where responsible for a major terror attack on the Indian city of Mumbai, which resulted in the deaths of 164 people. A captured militant disclosed that he and others were members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistani based terrorist organization, with links to Pakistan's intelligence services.
With documents seized in the bin Laden raid, it will be interesting to see what is reveled and if evidence is found linking Pakistani involvement with shielding bin Laden. Whatever transpires, both countries need each other, and rhetoric aside, the raid puts the U.S. in a strong position as it begins debating foreign assistance to Pakistan.
It will be interesting to see how the U.S. handles this changing environment.
http://militarybriefingbook.com/browse.cfm?category=Asia&subcategory=South%20Asia
As the euphoria begins to wane over the death of Osama bin laden, the single most important issue facing American's is the state of the nation's economy. The president deserves praise for his handling of the death of bin Laden, but his re-election will depend on the state of the U.S. economy.
One has to remember that President H.W. Bush had close to 90% approval rating after the Persian Gulf War, but then suffered defeat to Bill Clinton less then eighteen months later. The economy became the signature issue of the 1992 election. For the 2012 election, the economy will be the paramount issue on voter's minds.
The economy created 244,000 jobs in April, but a real gauge of the strength of the economy will not be fully felt until mid-summer. Then we will feel the full impact on rising energy prices and food prices, and in June the Federal Reserve ends its policy of pumping over $600 billion into the market place in an attempt to boost the struggling economy.
The president's re-election hopes rest on the strength of the economy, if it improves he will be in good shape, if not, he will have a tough road ahead.
http://militarybriefingbook.com/browse.cfm?category=Defense%20Policy%20and%20Budget&subcategory=National%20Security
The raid that killed Osama bin Laden on Sunday continues to raise questions on how much did Pakistani intelligence and military know about the whereabouts of the world's most wanted terrorist.
Over the years Pakistan has used its strategic location to gain valuable economic and military assistance from the United States, and often has played both sides of the War on Terror to its advantage. The raid that killed bin Laden has re-opened the debate, and Washington will be asking tough questions on how much did Pakistan know of bin Laden's location.
It is inconceivable that bin Laden was located for the past few years next to the Pakistani military academy without being noticed, a place where many retired military personnel reside and have to endure numerous checkpoints which surround the city.
President Asif Ali Zardari has a lot of explaining to do if he wants continued aid from the U.S., and its interesting to note that Army Chief of Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani was the head of Pakistan's Intelligence service, the highly secretive Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The ISI over the years has built relations with many terror organizations including the Haqqani network with its ties to the Taliban.
The U.S. has gained valuable leverage with the raid deep inside Pakistan that killed bin Laden. It will be interesting to see how the U.S. uses that leverage?
http://militarybriefingbook.com/browse.cfm?category=Asia&subcategory=South%20Asia
The spectacular and daring raid on Sunday, which killed Osama bin Laden has the potential to spawn various conspiracies if the White House is not careful on how it gives details of that dramatic raid.
Since Sunday, various senior administration officials, including Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counter-terrorism, and Assistant to the President, John Brennan, have given detailed accounts on the raid itself, only to find out the real situation was different. To some it may be trivial on how the events unfolded, but to many, especially in the Middle East where conspiracies are a way of life, it may have a profound effect on accepting that Bin Laden was killed.
White House spokesman Jay Carney, at Tuesday's briefing, provided an updated version of the assault noting, "What is true is that we provided a great deal of information in great haste" yesterday" obviously some of the information came in piece by piece and is being reviewed and updated." The "fog of war" is no excuse for the administration in providing inaccurate information to the media and the nation before all the facts were in.
The administration has to be careful or it can open a Pandora's box in which it will have to answer and repudiate false narratives of the raid. The President and his administration had better make sure that the Seal teams after-action report is completed before going into detail about the raid. Once false information is released in our viral world it takes a life of its own and forever lingers among conspiracy theorists.
http://militarybriefingbook.com/browse.cfm?category=Terrorism&subcategory=War%20on%20Terror
Over the weekend President Obama completed an overhaul of his national security team by nominating Army General Martin Dempsey to be the new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
