Editor's Note
Spending the day with friends who are visiting from out of town (i.e. shopping, eating, drinking, the usual Holiday cheer). Regular blogging will return early this evening.
Why U.S. Strategy Needs To Change
2013: Time For US Strategy To Get Real -- Aol Defense
As the old year dies, AOL Defense has asked its expert Board of Contributors to look ahead at the next (click here for the whole 2013 forecast series). Today we hear from Col. (retired) Douglas Macgregor, a decorated combat veteran of the first Gulf War, prolific author, and a passionate skeptic of conventional strategic wisdom.
In his book Only the Paranoid Survive, Andrew Grove describes a strategic inflection point as a point in time when the balance of forces shifts from the old structure and the old ways of competing to ones. As Grove writes, successful business structures adapt and thrive. Archaic structures that fail to adapt, decline and die.
What Grove describes is precisely what the incoming Secretary of Defense and his (or her) team must do in the opening months of 2013: Recognize we've passed a strategic inflection point and adapt the armed forces to new realities, fiscal and military, while extracting real $ savings in the process. After all, if businesses can do it, so can the American defense establishment, right? Actually, it's not so easy.
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My Comment: This is one of my 'must read' posts for today.
Why Is The NSA Targeting Domestic Computer Systems In A Secret Test
Revealed: NSA Targeting Domestic Computer Systems In Secret Test -- CNet
The National Security Agency's Perfect Citizen program hunts for vulnerabilities in "large-scale" utilities, including power grid and gas pipeline controllers, new documents from EPIC show.
Newly released files show a secret National Security Agency program is targeting the computerized systems that control utilities to discover security vulnerabilities, which can be used to defend the United States or disrupt the infrastructure of other nations.
The NSA's so-called Perfect Citizen program conducts "vulnerability exploration and research" against the computerized controllers that control "large-scale" utilities including power grids and natural gas pipelines, the documents show. The program is scheduled to continue through at least September 2014.
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More News On The NSA Targeting Domestic Computer Systems In A Secret Test
Report: $91 million spent on secret NSA tests probing domestic computer systems -- Daily Caller
Privacy group gets NSA files on utility research -- Phys.org
NSA secret cyber security testing no longer secret -- Fierce Smart Grid
'Perfect Citizen' program tests security of U.S. utility infrastructure -- Examiner
Remembering Desert Storm Commander Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf
‘Stormin’ Norman,’ 1934–2012 -- Time
For those who came of age during World War II, or post-9/11, the death Thursday of retired Army general H. Norman Schwarzkopf may not be of great moment. But for those of us who came of age during Vietnam, when that war veered from the discredited Gulf of Tonkin to the Tet Offensive to Kent State, he was a godsend.
While there was trepidation before the Persian Gulf War began in January 1991 — a six-week bombing onslaught followed by a 96-hour ground campaign — it pitted a Cold War superpower against Iraqi despot Saddam Hussein (it was a mismatch that would have to be replayed 12 years later). Nonetheless, the U.S. went wild after the U.S.-led
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More News On The Death Of General Norman Schwarzkopf
Retired Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, Gulf War Commander, Dies at 78 -- ABC News
Gulf War commander Schwarzkopf dies -- CNN
Lionized for Lightning Victory in ’91 Gulf War -- New York Times
Retired Gen. Schwarzkopf dies at 78 -- Washington Post
General Led International Coalition in First Gulf War -- Wall Street Journal
‘Stormin Norman’ Schwarzkopf, who beat Saddam Hussein, is dead at 78 -- MSNBC
Retired Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf dies -- Politico
Norman Schwarzkopf, retired US general, dies aged 78 -- BBC
Gulf War's General "Stormin" Norman Schwarzkopf dies -- The E-Ring/Foreign Policy
Retired General Norman Schwarzkopf Has Died At 78 -- Business Insider
'Stormin' Norman' Schwarzkopf Dies at 78 -- New York Magazine
Norman Schwarzkopf Death Sparks Reaction From George H.W. Bush, Colin Powell -- Huffington Post
Reaction to death of retired Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf -- Washington Post/AP
Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf’s Best Quotes -- Daily Beast
Norman Schwarzkopf: 10 Quotes on Leadership and War -- Forbes
My Comment: A great American general .... he will be missed.
Picture Of The Day
U.S. Marines assigned to Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 169, Marine Aircraft Group 39, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward), land at Camp Dwyer, Helmand province, Afghanistan, Nov. 27, 2012. HMLA-169 conducted Operation Aero Hunter in Southern Helmand. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Keonaona C. Paulo
Falkland War Files Released
Falklands Invasion 'Surprised' Thatcher -- BBC
The 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands by Argentina caught Margaret Thatcher by surprise, newly released government papers have shown.
The then-prime minister only saw it was likely after getting "raw intelligence" two days before the Argentines landed.
Papers released under the 30-year rule show Mrs Thatcher was acutely worried about retaking the islands.
One historian said the documents were among the "most powerful material" declassified in the last three decades.
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More News On The Release of The Falkland War Files
Thatcher papers: 'worst moment' of her life -- Bloomberg Businessweek/AP
Falklands telegrams reveal UK response to invasion -- BBC
Thatcher was ready for Falkland Islands deal, National Archives papers show -- The Guardian
Secret UK files lift lid on Thatcher-Reagan Falklands contacts -- Reuters
Britain's approach on the Falklands: neglect and hope for the best -- The Guardian
Documents reveal US-UK split over South Georgia landing -- ITV
Reagan pleaded with Thatcher not to retake Falklands -- Financial Times
Haig Wanted to Tell Argentina U.K.’s Falklands Plans -- Bloomberg Businessweek
How US nearly betrayed us to the enemy: Secretary of State threatened to tell Argentina British troops were landing on South Georgia -- Daily Mail
Maggie's war with treacherous Mitterrand over Exocet missile: Archive files reveal relationship with France was stretched to breaking point -- Daily Mail
Thatcher urged to steal French-made Exocet missiles during Falklands war -- The Guardian
British government considered pulling out of 1982 World Cup as Falklands war broke out, archive files reveal -- Daily Mail
My Comment: When the Falklands War broke out I asked my father and his war buddies (my father and his buddies were World War II vets who fought on the Soviet side) who did they think was going to win. Their answer was immediate and unanimous and their rational was the following .... the British military is a military force that has been fighting wars for centuries, while the Argentinians had zero experience on how to fight against a professional military. They gave the Argentinians two to three months before they would capitulate. They were right .... the war lasted 74 days.
Insider Attacks Are Also Plaguing The Afghan Police Force
Afghan and coalition service members prepare to participate in a security transition ceremony on Camp Sayar in Farah City, Afghanistan, Dec. 12, 2012. U.S. Navy photo by Lt. j.g. Matthew Stroup
Betrayed While Asleep, Afghan Police Die at Hands of Their Countrymen -- New York Times
KABUL, Afghanistan — A wave of betrayal has left at least 17 Afghan policemen dead in the past 10 days — all killed in their sleep, at the hands of those close to them.
Early Thursday morning, an Afghan policeman unlocked the door of the check post where he was stationed in Oruzgan Province and let in his friends from the Taliban, who helped him attack his sleeping colleagues with knives and guns, eventually killing four and wounding eight.
On Sunday, a local police commander in a remote northern province, Jawzjan, shot to death, in their beds, five men under his command and fled to join the Taliban.
And on Dec. 18, a teenager, apparently being kept for sexual purposes by an Afghan border police commander in southern Kandahar Province, drugged the commander and the other 10 policemen at the post to put them to sleep, and then shot them all; eight died.
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My Comment: These attacks will only undermine the Afghan security forces .... and the Taliban know this.
