Communities of Practice – Page 961 – Public Intelligence Blog

Marcus-Aurelius-150x150 — Marcus Aurelius

(1) Little to disagree with here; (2) I remember author's name from my first years in current job; (3) there seem to be multiple reserve studies/actions ongoing now; (4) there is a major effort ongoing to reduce the number of Reserve/National Guard soldiers brought on active duty for “Active Duty of Operational Support.”

Phi Beta Iota: The article below is well-intentioned but ignorant. The infantry, 4% of the force, takes 80% of the casualties and gets 1% of the budget. There is plenty of money for a properly sized well-equipped, trained, and organized force including a National Guard optimized for domestic disorder and disaster and once in a lifetime deployment. What General Flynn is about to discover is that DIA and USDI civilians expect him to drink the kool-aid and “go along” with pathologically dysfunctional intelligence, policy, acquisition, and operations processes that are not just inadequate and ineffective, but also unaffordable. The “design” potential of intelligence with integrity has been absent from the US Intelligence Community for over 50 years now. The time has come to restore that potential….in an election year, this might be exactly what is needed, not just for DoD, but across Whole of Government. Afterthought: 18 veteran suicides a day – day after day after day. Has this been analyzed (e.g. breakdown by MOS and NG vs Active vs Reserve)?

The Best Defense (ricks.foreignpolicy.com)
August 31, 2012

These Days, Reservists Are Just Soldiers Who Get Laid Off Between Deployments

By Maj. Gen. Michael Symanski (US Army, ret.), Best Defense department of reserve affairs

The Army will add more time to the National Guard and Reserve training year, so let's be candid about what the “operational” reserve military forces really are: A method to avoid the cost of a full-time military of adequate size. The reserve force, which was our strategic capital banked for a once-in-a-career national military emergency, has been cashed in because our expensive regular force has been too small to wage a protracted war. We no longer have citizen soldiers; we have professional soldiers who are laid off between deployments overseas.

Continue reading “Marcus Aurelius: These Days, Reservists Are Just Soldiers Who Get Laid Off Between Deployments”

2012/08/312012/08/31

Mini-Me: Marine Officer on 9/11 – The Anomalies Continue to Surface

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, Commerce, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Knowledge, Law Enforcement, Media, Military, Politics

Huh?

Phi Beta Iota: As President Barack Obama faces what David Gergen calls one of three “choice” or turning point elections in modern US history, one has to wonder where he stands on the subject of the truth. Below the line is a methodical review with many links from retired Marine Corps officer Jim Fetzer, who focuses on the Cheney-dominated US Government at the time. Equally troubling facts can be asserted on the New York end by focusing on Larry Silverstein and Rudy Guliani. If ever a sitting President had a ready-made opportunity for eradicating an opposing political party by enabling the truth to be told about a major event in modern US history, Barack Obama is that President. We do not favor a traditional justice approach here, but rather a Truth & Reconciliation Commission. If Barack Obama were to sponsor The Smart Nation Act, the Electoral Reform Act of 2012, a Truth & Reconciliation Commission on 9/11, and the immediate decriminalization of marijuana and then of all other drugs [with a jobs program equal to the challenge of existing unemployment and emptied prisons with restored voting rights], it would be game over. Then instead of having to fight for credibility and traction every day, he might actually be able to govern in 2013-2016. On the other hand, if President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party are intent on demonstrating there is no substantive difference between the two parties that control the electoral process and the disbursement of the public treasury, they should continue to do precisely what they are doing now.

Continue reading “Mini-Me: Marine Officer on 9/11 – The Anomalies Continue to Surface”

2012/08/302012/08/30

Chuck Spinney: James Fallows on Paul Ryan’s Lie-Filled Convention Speech

Civil Society, Corruption, Government, Media

Paul Ryan and the Post-Truth Convention Speech

By James Fallows

The Atlantic, Aug 30 2012, 11:43 AM ET

Paul Ryan's speech was well-written, well- delivered, and well-received. All of that was evident to anyone watching on TV. It had a number of nice smilingly vicious hit lines — starting with the masterful “staring up at the faded Obama posters” riff — plus a note of encouraging uplift at the end.

It was also profoundly dishonest in ways large and small.

Small: telling the sad story of the closing of the Janesville GM plant, and clearly implying that this was one more casualty of the Obama-unemployment era. Whereas of course the plant was shuttered before Obama even took office.

Medium: telling that story on the assumption that no one would say, “Wait a minute: wasn't Obama the guy who was pushing the big auto-industry bailout, which your nominee and your party opposed? So wouldn't there have been a lot more closed plants if you'd had your way?”

Large: blasting Obama for not enacting the outlook of the Simpson-Bowles commission, without noting that Ryan himself was on the commission and voted against its recommendations because they included tax increases as well as revenue cuts.

Large: blasting Obama for proposed cuts in Medicare without noting that Ryan has proposed those same cuts and much more.

Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: James Fallows on Paul Ryan's Lie-Filled Convention Speech”

2012/08/302012/08/30

Steven Aftergood: 3,103 Classification Guides Now 2,234 – Volumn of Classification Continues

Government, Ineptitude, Military

FUNDAMENTAL REVIEW LEADS TO SOME REDUCTIONS IN SECRECY

The classification guides that function as the framework for national security secrecy underwent a substantial overhaul during the past two years. As a result of the Fundamental Classification Guidance Review, a large fraction of existing classification guidance has been eliminated, and at least some existing categories of classified information have been declassified.

Out of 3,103 classification guides, or compilations of classification instructions, that were reviewed by national security agencies, 869 were either cancelled or consolidated, the National Archives announced in a news release today.

The purpose of the Fundamental Classification Guidance Review, mandated by President Obama's executive order 13526 (section 1.9), was “to ensure the guidance reflects current circumstances and to identify classified information that no longer requires protection and can be declassified.”

The newly revised guidance should provide increased clarity and specificity about what is to be classified, along with greater traceability in identifying the justification for classification.

But it is less clear that the Review will result in a diminished volume of classified information.

Continue reading “Steven Aftergood: 3,103 Classification Guides Now 2,234 – Volumn of Classification Continues”

2012/08/302012/08/30

Chuck Spinny: NYT “Gray Lady” Down, Dishonest

Corruption, IO Impotency, Media

The New York Times — aka America's Gray Lady of journalism — loves to refer to itself as the newspaper of record — but whose record? After the NYT's sorry exposure of being a activist conduit for government disinformation and propaganda hyping the WMD fears leading up to invasion of Iraq in 2003, a reasonable person might expect it would have cleaned up its act. Glenn Greenwald's withering expose below suggests the NYT's dreary gray covers pomposities cover a darker journalistic dna that is no longer prone to self correction, if it ever was.

Chuck Spinney
Gaeta, Italia

EXTRACT:

From “All the news that's fit to print” to “please delete after you read” and cannot “go into detail because it is an intelligence matter”: that's the gap between the New York Times's marketed brand and its reality.

Correspondence and collusion between the New York Times and the CIA

Mark Mazzetti's emails with the CIA expose the degradation of journalism that has lost the imperative to be a check to power

Glenn Greenwald, guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 29 August 2012

(updated below)

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2012/08/28

David Isenberg: Private Military Contractors (PMC) – A Stake in the Heart of DoD and USG

Commerce, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Military

Negative Views of Civilian and Private Security Contractors

Concerns over their cost effectiveness and strategic value make the deployment of PMSCs a risky proposition. More worryingly, argues David Isenberg, is that they may permit governments to circumnavigate democratic debates over the necessity of sending armed forces into battle.

By David Isenberg for the ISN

From the outset, it needs to be established that the use of private military and security contractors (PMSC) – whether in wars or humanitarian and stabilization operations – is not necessarily a bad thing. Indeed, even if this was the case, the United States is unlikely to decrease its reliance on them in the future, if for no other reason than the fact that contractors are now essential to maintaining the U.S. military’s vast network of overseas bases and facilities. But it is also true that the deployment of PMSCs does not always make sense. Indeed, just because contractors are often unfairly vilified doesn’t mean that their claims should be taken at face value. Yet, like any other issue worthy of debate the devil is always in the details. Questions concerned with how PMSCs will be used, who monitors contracts for proper implementation – not to mention the challenge of developing transparency and accountability processes – are questions that have far too often been answered by trial and error.

A Checkered Past

Continue reading “David Isenberg: Private Military Contractors (PMC) – A Stake in the Heart of DoD and USG”

2012/08/262012/08/26