Military – Page 67 – Public Intelligence Blog

U.S. to cut European military bases to save cost, Pentagon says

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) — The U.S. military will divest an air base in Britain and return it and 14 other facilities in Europe back to their home nations, the Pentagon said on Thursday, in a bid to save the U.S. government about 500 million U.S. dollars annually. The restructuring will pull thousands of U.S. military and civilian personnel out of the 15 sites mostly in the United Kingdom and Germany over several years, the Pentagon said in a statement. Read full article.

Continue reading “Mini-Me: US Closing Military Bases in Europe”

2015/01/072015/01/07

Chuck Spinney: Patrick Cockburn on US Military Failure PBI: Without Intelligence with Integrity, Force Structure is Fraud

Corruption, Government, Military

Can a Gold-Plated Military Counter ISIS?

Lightly armed guerrilla/insurgent/terrorist forces are once again holding off the high-tech, heavily armed forces of the United States.

War with Isis: Despite billions spent on weapons, the US has not been able to counter the militants' gruesome tactics

The West needs more than a ‘White Knight' if it wants to succeed

Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Patrick Cockburn on US Military Failure PBI: Without Intelligence with Integrity, Force Structure is Fraud”

2015/01/042015/01/04

SchwartzReport: $14M an HOUR “War on Terror”

03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Transnational Crime, 11 Society, Commerce, Corruption, Government, IO Deeds of War, Military, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence

I don't know when I have been as angered by a story as I have been by this one. Fourteen million dollars an hour for 13 years. Imagine what could have been done with that money to ease the lives of the 17 million minor children who experience hunger each year, or the 2.5 million children who are homeless each year, or the destitute elderly living on dog food. What could have been done with that money to rebuild our failing infrastructure, or our crumbling schools, or to improve our poor healthcare system. And that money is independent of the over $400 billion spent on the grotesque F-35 project I reported on yesterday. All of this made possible by phony-patriot war criminals beginning with Bush and Cheney, and passed by a Congress of cretins, too weak and pusillanimous to serve the people who elected them. A government “by the people for the people,” not in anyway I can measure.

$14 Million an Hour for 13 Years: War on Terror's Astounding Cost

2015/01/01

Chuck Spinney: Marisa Taylor on Criminally Dysfunctional Intelligence and Defense “Whistleblower” System — Screw the Truth, Kill the Messenger

Corruption, Government, Military

Below is superb piece of reportage by Marisa Taylor of the Washington McClatchy bureau. By a meticulous compilation of facts, Ms. Taylor has painted a detailed portrait of how this homeostatic control system protects normalcy in bureaucratic cultures. The only point I would disagree with is her characterization of this system as being “broken.” To my thinking, the system is working perfectly, and the use of the label whistleblower oils its gears.

Intelligence, defense whistleblowers remain mired in broken system

Chuck Spinney's lengthy comment below the line.

Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Marisa Taylor on Criminally Dysfunctional Intelligence and Defense “Whistleblower” System — Screw the Truth, Kill the Messenger”

2014/12/312014/12/31

SchwartzReport: Surveillance State — Good, Bad, Ugly

07 Other Atrocities, Corruption, Government, IO Impotency, Military

Here is what the American Surveillance State looks like (publicly) to Europe. This is a German assessment published in one of Europe's leading publications. I confess I don't like my country being thought of in this way.

Prying Eyes: Inside the NSA's War on Internet Security

EXTRACTS

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2014/12/302014/12/31

Marcus Aurelius: The Real Reason For The Poor State Of Military Morale

Corruption, Military

A military with poor morale is a military that fights poorly.

The key factor is senior leadership that has not kept faith with its troops. The rest of the force that doesn’t live within the Washington, D.C., beltway feels that it is being ridden hard and put back wet so that the generals and admirals can claim success before civilian leaders in Congress and the White House. They have come to believe that they are expendable.

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2014/12/302014/12/30

James Fallows: Chickenhawk Nation

Civil Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Military, Officers Call

The Tragedy of the American Military

The American public and its political leadership will do anything for the military except take it seriously. The result is a chickenhawk nation in which careless spending and strategic folly combine to lure America into endless wars it can’t win.

Continue reading “James Fallows: Chickenhawk Nation”