nerdgirl

Pulling back from the current CINC, was that the standard situation? Was that a problem of training & education? More importantly (im-ever-ho), underlying what you wrote is a profound question on the nature of qualification to be CINC and also one of the questions that was asked in a recent survey, “The U.S. Military Index,” conducted by Foreign Policy and the Center for a New American Security [w/which former SecNav Richard Danzing, Joe Cirinicione, and soon-to-be-retired-counterinsurgency 'guru' LTC John Nagl (USA) -nerdgirl], who “surveyed more than 3,400 active and retired officers at the highest levels of command about the state of the U.S. military.” To be upfront there are some problems with the survey pool, which FP & CNAS has been completely forthright regarding, principally something like 70% of the respondents were retired, many for >10 years, and the survey pool was restricted to field grade officers and above (i.e., Army, Air Force & Marine Lieutenant Colonels, Colonels; Navy Commanders and Captains; and General Officers). W/r/t elected leaders: “When asked how much confidence they have in other U.S. government institutions and departments, the index’s officers report low levels of trust nearly across the board. For instance, on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 means the officers have a great deal of confidence in the department or institution and 1 means they have none, the officers put their level of confidence in the presidency at 5.5. Some 16 percent express no confidence at all in the president. The index’s officers gave the CIA an average confidence rating of 4.7 and the Department of State, 4.1. The Department of Veterans Affairs received a confidence rating of just 4.5 and the Department of Defense, 5.6. The officers say their level of confidence in the U.S. Congress is the lowest, at an average of just 2.7. “These negative perceptions of U.S. agencies and officials may stem in part from the fact that a majority of the officers polled for the index do not believe that the United States’ elected leaders are very well informed about the military they oversee. Sixty-six percent of the officers say they believe America’s elected leaders are either somewhat or very uninformed about the U.S. military. “How can the military’s perception of elected leaders be improved? In part, the officers say, by electing people who have served in uniform. Nearly 9 in 10 officers agree that, all other things being equal, the military will respect a president of the United States who has served in the military more than one who has not. The people we trust most are often the ones who remind us of ourselves.” Some may extrapolate the last sentence to the wider population. VR/Marg p.s. Thanks for helping keep the thread focused! Much appreciated! Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

You can thank the "Black Death" in the 14th Century for that. And the Viking raiders too! “From Heofonum to Heavens,” Science, 27 February 2004, Vol. 303. no. 5662, pp. 1326 - 1328 In the 10th century, to consider a classic example, English had an object-verb grammar like that used today in Modern German, requiring sentence constructions such as "Hans must the horse tame." By 1400 C.E., the English were using the familiar verb-object grammar of "Hans must tame the horse." French underwent a similar change before the 16th century, whereas German retained its basic grammar. To find out why such changes happen, researchers explore the historical circumstances surrounding them. In the past few years, based on a comparative analysis of religious texts from northern and southern England, Kroch and his colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania have suggested that northern English was transformed during the 11th and 12th century as Viking conquerors married native Anglo-Saxon women, who spoke Old English. The resulting bilingual households became crucibles for linguistic change. For example, whereas Old English had distinct verb endings to mark differences in person, number, and tense, the speakers of what is now called Early Middle English began using simpler verbs--perhaps because the Scandinavians had difficulties keeping track of all the verb forms--and settled on a simplified system closer to what we use today. /Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

... Isn’t that true of almost any field? E.g., medical doctors are more qualified to make decisions regarding healthcare, macro-economists are more qualified to make decisions regarding the economy; skydivers are more qualified …, etc. What about substituting “elected representatives of the American citizenry” for “politicians”? Does that change it substantially? Pragmatically, would you disagree that both the day-to-day and many of the larger/longterm resource and strategic decisions w/in the services are made by military commanders: from setting acquisition requirements (through J-8) to budgets and the POM? Where’s the boundary between (across?) those decisions that should be up to ‘politicians’ per the US representative democracy and Constitution versus those that should be the military commanders? A single boundary point/metric is likely to be completely inappropriate application to all situation … but in the one central to the subject of this thread (at least im-ever-ho) of US military action toward Iran? I don’t know. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Even tho’ it may not have been your initial intention, thanks for bringing in a hardcore, real-world example of failure when strategy is disconnected from the operational ‘ground truths’/requirements and that illustrates breakdown across the needed ends, ways, & means. In the case of Somalia, *indirect action* was not appropriate to accomplish the mission’s goal. It’s hard to indirectly capture a warload. In the context of ADM Fallon’s resignation and surrounding politics, one can speculate that he’s trying to avoid that kind of breakdown in a potential situation (i.e., US direct action toward Iran), which would necessitate substantially more troops, equipment, and weaponry than the Battle of Mogadishu. Repeatedly – from last November’s piece in UK’s Financial Times: “None of this is helped by the continuing stories that just keep going around and around and around that any day now there will be another war which is just not where we want to go … Getting Iranian behaviour to change and finding ways to get them to come to their senses and do that is the real objective. Attacking them as a means to get to that spot strikes me as being not the first choice in my book. There has got to be some combination of strength and willingness to engage. How to come up with the right combination of that is the real trick.” to the more recent Esquire article, ADM Fallon has emphasized indirect action. So here's the underlying question: How does today’s military balance requirements to do both direct and indirect actions? (And we have to figure out how to pay for it too …) VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

To me, it’s a no-brainer. When living in the US, the ability to speak, write, and read English correlates to higher income. From a study published in 1999 that considered legalized aliens: “Earnings are higher by about 8% for men and 17% for women who are proficient in both speaking and reading English, compared to those lacking both skills.” (I had expected it to be larger.) Am doubtful that the situation has changed dramatically. --- ---- --- ----- --- Between 2001 & 2003, I travelled to Tokyo every few months for my company. In Tokyo in the summer, it got very smoggy. I came down with a nasty cold & cough. I don’t speak or read Japanese. I went down to the convenience store and tried to find cough drops. There were no Ludens or Halls. The clerk didn’t speak English (I wouldn’t expect him too), and my improvised sign language seemed to be more amusing/annoying to him. I didn’t want to end up with a “Preparation H for toothpaste”-esque moment. In the end, I had one of my Japanese colleagues write out the Kanji on a piece of paper for me to show to the store clerk. It took a while to convey the idea, as “cough drops” is something of a colloquialism. R/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

True. That is not, however, the case w/r/t this situation. You can request a copy of the unclassified, cleared for public release IDA report by contacting JFCOM: Spokesman for Joint Forces Command: "We're making the report available to anyone who wishes to have it, and we'll send it out via CD in the mail." VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

For the large part, I concur. There is a legitimate conflict here: the job of someone in that position is to execute policy, not make it. At this point I (& most of America) can only speculate whether he’s arrogantly forgotten that (he is a naval aviator after all), or if he is so frustrated and concerned about the what he considers less-than-wise decisions that may impact the nation and the military that he feels ethically prompted to speak out & that his concern has reached the level to warrant such action. Until information to the counter is presented, I’m going to assume the latter. One area that has not been mentioned, is reconciling or considering that conflict w/r/t ethics and obligations. (Unfortunately I don’t know have the USN document cognitively or electronically accessible …) On loyalty the Army says to put: “Put obligations in correct order: the Constitution, the Army, the unit, and finally, self.” [Reference: “The Warrior Ethos and Soldier Combat Skills” FM 3-21.75 (issued Jan 08), which includes the “Warrior Ethos” (warning: 28MB file)] From a realist (political theory rather than the colloquial meaning) perspective, my first-order response is will or have humans ever learned that? Is that in the nature of war & politics? In another post you asked: I can’t. And since you previously cited Clausewitz, I’m going feel comfortable invoking “St Carl” too.

Sounds fantastic! I’d love to! And would welcome the opportunity to participate in operational-level training. To whom do I send my request for invitational travel orders? I’m genuinely trying to engage you & solicit additional information; I apologize if my questions came across as “pompous.” What were the symptoms that you observed that suggested radiation poisoning? What did you think was the significance of the multi-colored smoke? VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Ooooh … … those are fabulous!!! I’ve got Infectious Awareables Vaccinia, aka smallpox and anthrax scarves & the polio tie.

Not just under this administration, although it certainly gets a lot more 'air time' than prior administrations. Not really, mike. The last time we had a situation like this was Vietnam - where the politicians ran the war. And we saw what happened there. Not really - I was thinking more on the lines of Somalia, Bosnia and Kosovo. As I said, it's not just *THIS* administration. You’re both right – history may not be predictive but it should not be forgotten either. One can find lots of examples from Vietnam era, e.g., HR McMaster’s neo-classic Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam comes to mind immediately. For the hardcore wonk: the declassified Army War College Study on Leadership from the early 1970's compared what the junior officers were saying about the conduct of the Viet Nam War to the General Officers. Not surprisingly they were not the same (to put it diplomatically). In 1970, GEN Westmoreland commissioned a study on professionalism in the service that revealed many of the same problems cited by LTC Yingling. The subject has hardly been ignored. What is different is the LTC Yingling asserts that responsibility lies with the General Officer Corps rather than “general Army culture” or nebulous characteristics of training, military education, and promotion. One can build an argument that the instances of Somalia, Bosnia, and Kosovo further support LTC Yingling’s core hypotheses/criticisms that General Officers (& implicitly civilian leadership) have (a) concentrated on conventional military operations and high-tech weaponry; (b) failed to train and equip the forces for the challenge of counterinsurgency operations (as you know, until FM 3-24 the Army Field Manual on Counterinsurgency had not been updated in 20 years; 25 years for the USMC), and (c) refused to adjust tactics to meet changing conditions in Iraq until >3 years into OIF. LTC Yingling notes: “Despite paying lip service to ‘transformation’ throughout the 1990s, America’s armed forces failed to change in significant ways after the end of the 1991 Persian Gulf War. In ‘The Sling and the Stone,’ T.X. Hammes [COL, USMC (ret) & former Commander of CBIRF … or see his 4GW+ article in Military Review from last year] argues that the Defense Department’s transformation strategy focuses almost exclusively on high-technology conventional wars. [i.e., what I call the “Dark Empires” scenarios or "stuck in Fulda Gap mentality" when I'm feeling frustrated w/Soviet specialists - nerdgirl] The doctrine, organizations, equipment and training of the U.S. military confirm this observation. The armed forces fought the global war on terrorism for the first five years with a counterinsurgency doctrine last revised in the Reagan administration. Despite engaging in numerous stability operations throughout the 1990s, the armed forces did little to bolster their capabilities for civic reconstruction and security force development. Procurement priorities during the 1990s followed the Cold War model, with significant funding devoted to new fighter aircraft and artillery systems. The most commonly used tactical scenarios in both schools and training centers replicated high-intensity interstate conflict. At the dawn of the 21st century, the U.S. is fighting brutal, adaptive insurgencies in Afghanistan and Iraq, while our armed forces have spent the preceding decade having done little to prepare for such conflicts.” There’s a tactic in LTC Yingling’s article: while publicly criticizing the Army and its officers is risky, publicly criticizing the civilian leadership as a field grade officer is verboten. And I concur w/the jcd11235's rationale above. The farthest LTC Yingling pushes in his AFJ article is near the conclusion: “While the physical courage of America’s generals is not in doubt, there is less certainty regarding their moral courage. In almost surreal language, professional military men blame their recent lack of candor on the intimidating management style of their civilian masters [Read: SecDef Rumsfeld, DepSecDef Wolfowitz, & USD-P Feith & the increased politicization of the promotion to General Officer that occurred during their tenure - nerdgirl]. Now that the public is immediately concerned with the crisis in Iraq, some of our generals are finding their voices. They may have waited too long.” LTC Yingling’s article recommends increased Congressional oversight. The situation has to be dire for any member of the Executive Branch to *call for* increased Congressional involvement (!) This has been a fantastic thread with intense dialogue – let’s keep it that way! Please … VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

What do you think the source of the multi-colored smoke was? Would you describe the symptoms of radiation poisoning that you observed? VR/Marg

Given many/some of the girls in the study may have been infected before it was approved, nonetheless there's a vaccine available. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Actually ... & perhaps surprisingly (none moreso than him, perhaps? ) ... he was apparently channeling his secret feminist philosopher side, as that’s not too far off from one of the arguments made in Carol Adam’s Sexual Politics of Meat. /Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

WWI and WWII both show that obeying stupid orders also leads to unnecessary deaths - lots of them. I think I get to what you are referring, but would you clarify specifically? Thanks. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Although I would not phrase it that way (most of the hardcore true neo-cons are gone), at its most distilled: Yes. Within the Executive Branch, one serves at the pleasure of the Executive; that's the President's or the Secretary's perogative. Is it that simple w/r/t General Officers? No. Occam's razor often fails in the real world. Does that mean the policy decisions are necessarily wise? No, for reasons given above by other posters and me. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

I would find it curious, but definitely not among critical or sub-critical issues/characteristics. I would also find it more curious to know a candidate's opinion on cats. /Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

For those who don’t follow US defense/foreign policy, the “why” does this matter (aka, the answer to the “So What? Who Cares?”-test) extends beyond the additional issues identified by [Para Frog], [Zenister] & [lawrocket]. Adm Fallon is correct that the USG (Executive & Congress, and the western world) does not appear to have a Grand Strategy for defeating extremist Islam nor for dealing with overall destabilizing conflict in the Middle East. [I’m looking forward for former Under Secretary for Defense for Policy (USD Policy), Doug Feith’s forthcoming memoir, which is already being described as “Why Iraq was Everyone’s Fault But Mine.”] Adm Fallon is also correct that our “saber-rattling” is not helpful when our saber is otherwise occupied (to put it diplomatically), and while the USG is not pursuing active diplomacy. At the same time, it’s unwarranted to place too much blame on the diplomatic corps (in this instance), if they are not permitted to do what they are supposed to/trained to. Former SecDef Rumsfeld is correct in his assertion of the need for functional strategic communications and the SSTR issue remains. Today’s Wall Street Journal has a staff editorial “The Pentagon vs. Petraeus” that focuses on the tension between GEN Petraeus’ counterinsurgency efforts in Iraq and broader defense needs – the two may not be severable. I find it a curious (telling?) omission that the WSJ piece did not mention Afghanistan. Excerpts below. VR/Marg ---- --- ---- “Yesterday's resignation of Admiral William Fallon as Centcom Commander is being portrayed as a dispute over Iran. Our own sense is that the admiral has made more than enough dissenting statements about Iraq, Iran and other things to warrant his dismissal as much as early retirement. But his departure will be especially good news if it means that President Bush is beginning to pay attention to the internal Pentagon dispute over Iraq. “A fateful debate is now taking place at the Pentagon that will determine the pace of U.S. military withdrawals for what remains of President Bush's term. Senior Pentagon officials have been urging deeper troop cuts in Iraq beyond the five "surge" combat brigades already scheduled for redeployment this summer. “Last month Mr. Gates agreed to a pause in these withdrawals, so that General David Petraeus could assess whether the impressive security gains achieved by the surge can be maintained with fewer troops. But now the Pentagon seems to be pushing for a pause of no more than four to six weeks before the drawdowns resume. “Then again, a spate of recent attacks -- including a suicide bombing Monday that left five GIs dead in Baghdad and a roadside bombing yesterday that killed 16 Iraqis -- is a reminder that the insurgency remains capable of doing great damage. An overly hasty withdrawal of U.S. forces would give it more opportunities to do so. It could also demoralize Iraq forces just when they are gaining confidence and need our help to "hold" the areas gained by the "clear, hold and build" strategy of the surge. “This ought to be apparent to Pentagon generals. Yet their rationale for troop withdrawals seems to have less to do with conditions in Iraq and more with fear that the war is putting a strain on the military as an institution. These are valid concerns. Lengthy and repeated combat deployments have imposed extraordinary burdens on service members and their families. The war in Iraq has also diverted scarce funds to combat operations rather than investment -- much of it long overdue -- in military modernization. “This Pentagon pressure also does little to help General Petraeus. The general is supposed to be fighting a frontal war against Islamist militants, not a rearguard action with Pentagon officials. We understand there is a chain of command in the military, and General Petraeus is precisely the kind of team player who would respect it. “That's why as Commander in Chief, Mr. Bush has a particular obligation to engage in this Pentagon debate so that General Petraeus can make his troop recommendations based on the facts in Iraq, not on pressure from Washington. It was Mr. Bush's excessive deference to the Army's pecking order that put lackluster generals such as Ricardo Sanchez in charge when the insurgency was forming, and that prevented General Petraeus from assuming command in Iraq until it was nearly too late. Having successfully resisted pressure from Congressional Democrats for premature troop withdrawals, it would be strange indeed for Mr. Bush to cave in to identical pressure from his own bureaucracies.” Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

In one of those ironies of “I bet that wasn’t what he thought would happen,” NPR’s “All Things Considered” evening news program reported that the stringent funds transfer monitoring system that identified Gov. Spitzer’s suspicious transactions, which eventually led to the prostitution ring, was the result of tough measures in the banking industry that Spitzer championed as attorney general. R/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Yep … it does happen. If I were a politician, I would say something like “I optimistically overestimated the degree of change that the new Secretary would exert within the administration.” But I’m not. /Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Well, it looks like I was wrong back in November. In accepting Adm William "Fox" Fallon’s resignation, SecDef Gates cited “what the admiral called ‘the current embarrassing situation of public perception of differences between my views and administration policy and the distraction this causes from the mission.’ ”Recent press reports suggesting a disconnect between my views and the president's policy objectives have become a distraction at a critical time and hamper efforts in the CENTCOM region,’ Fallon said in a statement released by CENTCOM. ‘And although I don't believe there have ever been any differences about the objectives of our policy in the Central Command area of responsibility, the simple perception that there is makes it difficult for me to effectively serve America's interests there.’ ”Fallon said this disconnect led him to conclude “that it would be best to step aside and allow the secretary and our military leaders to move beyond this distraction ... and focus on the achievement of our strategic objectives in the region.’” Thomas Barnett's March 2008 Esquire story: “The Man Between War and Peace.” Far from Barnett's -- who *was* part of SecDef Rumsfeld's office -- best work, im-ever-ho. "If, in the dying light of the Bush administration, we go to war with Iran, it'll all come down to one man. If we do not go to war with Iran, it'll come down to the same man. He is that rarest of creatures in the Bush universe: the good cop on Iran, and a man of strategic brilliance." Back in November 2007, Adm Fallon did an interview w/UK’s Financial Times in which he criticized the rhetoric of those advocating for military action and asserted that diplomacy has a central role in American foreign and national security policy. The latter has been a repeated theme championed by Adm Fallon. What changed between then & now? ... VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Fun! Travel agency. Trips/treks ... all w/first class plane tix ... to Bhutan K2/Godwin Austen Tibet & northside approach to Everest Western Nepal Machu Pichu/Inca Trail Trans Siberia Rail trip Morocco & Atlas Mts Kilimanjaro South Africa Botswana Aconcagua Antartica Afghanistan Easter Island Mayan ruins Nazca lines Angkor Wat Vietnam, Cambodia & Burma Cordillera Blanca, Peru Mountains of Iran Catalhayak Mongolia - Gobi desert & Altai Mts Archeological trekking around ancient Sumeria/Mesopatamia New Zealand Australia - Ayers Rock & Great Barrier Reef Chernobyl Vozrozhdeniye (Rebirth) Island/Aral Sea Russia-Kazakstan Mount Elbrus ... that Gorge Amazon Basin ... & maybe triborder area for fun Petra

I would direct you toward the recent National Academy of Sciences report and the appendix therein, which reviews all the previous reports that came to largely the same conclusion (but also got little traction, i.e., the problem has been recognized and is *not* being addressed) and which details all the reasons why what you describe is not the case, from individual folks ignoring 'smart practices' and downloading/opening stuff anyway; lack of updating anti-virus, etc software; limitations in anti-viral software to be chasing the last attack (somewhat analogous to vaccine production); lack of communications due to proprietary instincts in the private sector, etc. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

I can see how that might appear callous. It’s something akin to the dark humor of skydivers use of phrases like “BSBD” and “bouncing” or climbers talking about “cratering.” Perhaps surprisingly … or perhaps not … I would not disagree with you *as you wrote it.* One can build cases from secular and religious ethics perspectives arguing against all involvement in any work related to nuclear weapons. From a realist perspective (i.e., Thucydides, Hobbes, Clausewitz, Scott Sagan), ‘shiny metal death’ and the power/realpolitik/deterrence they conveyed during the Cold War and continues today is “productive.” From a more pragmatic realist perspective, the case is the opposite of “disproportionately assigned,” rather knowledge and skills w/r/t nuclear physics, nuclear weapons modeling, and nuclear effects is dying, literally. It’s a rapidly aging workforce. One that can’t be replaced by foreign workers. If the ability to model nuclear weapons effects with any reasonable confidence is lost, there are forces within the USG (Depts of Energy & Defense, & other constituencies) that will push *hard* for resumption of nuclear testing. The Defense Science Board was tasked to review the issue last summer. The US Senate has not ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. I do not want to see any state test nuclear weapons. There's also a need for technically competent individuals who can challenge USG (& other states) nuclear policies. Folks like Jeff Lewis of Arms Control Wonk, Cornell’s George Lewis (no relation), Princeton’s Frank von Hippel, Richard Garwin (who will probably never die because he’s too stubborn), and UIUC’s Jeremiah Sullivan (also a JASON, i.e., w/highest security clearance). We lost Stanford’s Pief Panofsky last year. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

While the incidence of homosexuality is generally considered to be on the rise in most Muslim states and Saudi Arabia in particular, officially it is a crime punishable by death. Therefore, I strongly doubt the US Vice President nor King Abdullah will be engaging in fellatio with each other. /Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Good & relevant points. Yes, someday I'm going to have to pick your brain more on Marshall and the fostering innovation side - theory & practice. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying