Military – Page 175 – Public Intelligence Blog

By Tyler Falk | October 28, 2012, 7:28 AM PDT

With 60 million people expected to be impacted by Hurricane Sandy, days of advanced notice have allowed the New York governor to issue a state of emergency, evacuations to take place along the Atlantic coast, and (at least in my Washington, D.C. neighborhood) residents to clear the grocery store shelves ahead of the storm’s dangerous surge. But soon weather forecasters might not be able to provide us with details and predictions of dangerous storms.That’s because there’s another looming problem in the United States that could be even bigger than Hurricane Sandy: dying satellites. The New York Times reports:

The United States is facing a year or more without crucial satellites that provide invaluable data for predicting storm tracks, a result of years of mismanagement, lack of financing and delays in launching replacements, according to several recent official reviews.

The looming gap in satellite coverage, which some experts view as almost certain within the next few years, could result in shaky forecasts about storms like Hurricane Sandy, which is expected to hit the East Coast early next week.

Continue reading “SmartPlanet: Gap in Weather Satellites [While Secret World Spends Madly]”

2012/10/282012/10/28

Penguin: Military Breaks Educational Promises, Congress Complicit

Ethics, Military

This upsets me. Especially when compared to what is being spent on toxic aircraft.

Broken Promise to an Army Veteran: Change to GI Bill Proves Costly

A cost-cutting change to the GI Bill has cost hundreds of thousands of veterans thousands of dollars, reports Winston Ross.

After serving 14 months in Iraq, U.S. Army Sgt. Hayleigh Perez planned to use her GI Bill benefits to get a master’s degree and become a physician’s assistant. When she enlisted, the government was paying for any veteran who signed up after Sept. 11 to go to any public university in America.

When she got out, she got screwed. Twice. A change in the GI bill forced Perez to apply to in-state schools if she wanted free tuition, and then a university in her home state of North Carolina determined that she wasn’t a resident—because she’d spent two years with her active-duty husband Jose in Texas, where he was reassigned in 2009.

Read full article.

2012/10/282012/10/28

Dolphin: CENTCOM/Navy Relieve Navy Flag from Middle East Strike Group

07 Other Atrocities, Government, Ineptitude, Military

The Admiral was not near enough to Benghazi for this to be related (near Guam on the day). It may be related to public statements critical of the President as Commander in Chief.

Navy replaces admiral leading Mideast strike group because of ongoing investigation

NEW YORK (WLS) – In an unusual move, the Navy has replaced an admiral commanding an aircraft carrier strike group while it is deployed to the Middle East. The replacement was prompted by an Inspector General’s investigation of allegations of inappropriate leadership judgment.

Read full article.

Phi Beta Iota: Another flag officer appears to have been relieved also, General Carter Ham at AFRICOM, with unconfirmed reports that he was disobeying orders to stand down and instead sending aid to the US personnel in Benghazi. According to Wikipedia, on 11 September 2012 Carrier Strike Group Three entered the U.S. Seventh Fleet‘s area of responsibility and subsequently participated in the U.S. joint military training exercise Valiant Shield 2012 off Guam. The closest US forces to Benghazi were probably those in Aviano Italy. The distance from Benghazi to Aviano is 1680 km or 1044 miles. A typical flight between Benghazi to Aviano would have a flying time of about 2 hours 6 mins. This assumes an average flight speed for a commercial airliner of 500 mph, which is equivalent to 805 km/hr or 434 knots. The principal delay factor appears to have been the Secretary of Defense who lacked adequate intelligence from the US secret intelligence world ($80 billion a year), and may have had orders from the White House to avoid increasing US force presence in Benghazi whatever the consequences. Nobody looks good on this — the hidden agendas remain to be disclosed.

Did Obama Fire General Ham Of Africom For Attempting To Buck His Order And Rescue Stevens?

2012/10/282012/10/28

Marcus Aurelius: Toxic Army Leadership Casts Long Shadow – Not Just Generals but Field Grade Also

Corruption, Ethics, Military

Marcus-Aurelius-150x150 — Marcus Aurelius

While many of you criticize WaPo, believe this is a real and growing problem within Army. I have read both Ward and O'Reilly DoDIG reports — shocking. IMHO, if 5 percent of what's in those reports is 10 percent true, those two generals should be going to Disciplinary Barracks at Leavenworth. Yet both cases have been at route step for months. O'Reilly is a West Pointer, Ward is not. At least in Sinclair case, a court martial process is gearing up. Even worse, we have field grade officers throughout Army mimicking this kind of behavior, particularly the O'Reilly variant. Toxic leadership gets a great deal of lip service but almost zero action in Army. Center for Army Leadership and Association of the United States Army have both written on topic, but nothing seems to happen. For those of you familiar with Anton Myrer's classic historical novel on military leadership, “Once an Eagle,” Courtney Massengales seem to be proliferating in Army. At least that's what I'm perceiving.

Washington Post, October 28, 2012, Pg. 3

Accusations Against Generals Cast A Long Shadow Over Army

Leadership screening is scrutinized; Complaints about senior officers are growing

By Ernesto Londono

The accusations leveled against three Army generals over the past six months are as varied as they are striking, the highest-profile of a growing number of allegations of wrongdoing by senior military officials.

Continue reading “Marcus Aurelius: Toxic Army Leadership Casts Long Shadow – Not Just Generals but Field Grade Also”

2012/10/27

Marcus Aurelius: Secretary Harold Brown on Cutting Service Secretaries

Corruption, Government, Ineptitude, Military

Dr. Brown paints Service Secretaries, in the terms my father would have used, as “spare gear.”)

A Better Place To Cut

To protect military programs, get rid of redundant service secretaries

By Harold Brown

Washington Post, October 19, 2012, Pg. 21

The four military services in the Defense Department differ in their roles, missions and skills — which are good reasons to retain their separate identities. But as the duties of the uniformed service chiefs have converged with those of the civilian secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force, the latter have become redundant appendages. Eliminating those positions would save money and streamline management, a good example for the rest of government. In today’s climate of fiscal austerity, cutting overhead is better than cutting defense programs.

Read full article.

Continue reading “Marcus Aurelius: Secretary Harold Brown on Cutting Service Secretaries”

2012/10/272012/11/12

Gordon Duff: An Alternative View of the Benghazi False Flag Murder of US Ambassador

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, Commerce, Corruption, Government, Ineptitude, IO Deeds of War, Military, Officers Call

Imaginary Planes, Imaginary CIA Armies, All Invented as Election Ploy
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By Gordon Duff, Senior Editor (with Top US Intel Specialists)

Veterans Today, 26 October 2012

A trained team of up to 120 [foreign] special forces personnel with radio jammers and heavy weapons killed the US ambassador. There were only two America CIA employees in Libya. The news stories are all fabrications.

The killing of Ambassador Stephens in Benghazi has become a ghoulish election ploy played by Fox News, Huffington Post and others. All are printing and broadcasting conjecture, total falsehood and the usual biased and unreliable garbage they are famous for.

. . . . . . . . .

The ambush at Benghazi required careful coordination. There was no Al Qaeda involvement and there has never been any history of Al Qaeda on the ground in Libya. Moreover, intelligence insiders use the term “Al Qaeda” when looking for money from “congressional critters” too stupid to know that the CIA has always run “Al Qaeda” as a way of avoiding explaining why dozens of small organizations and even friendly intelligence groups will, for obscure reasons, attack American targets.

Read full article.

Continue reading “Gordon Duff: An Alternative View of the Benghazi False Flag Murder of US Ambassador”

2012/10/272012/10/27

Reference: Chief of Staff of the US Army on 23 October 2012

Military

Chief of Staff of the US Army Speech 23 Oct 2012