Strategy – Page 6 – Public Intelligence Blog

Robert David Steele 10 November 2015

An Open Source (Technologies) Agency, far removed from the secret intelligence world, would radically reduce wars and illegal immigration, increase trade and shared prosperity, and convert the USA into a “Smart Nation”.

On 06/17/11, I wrote the first installment of National intelligence and national defense, published at the Campaign for Liberty, suggesting that we could both cut the secret intelligence budget by three quarters, and radically increase the amount of open source decision-support (as opposed to secret mass surveillance).

Of course nothing happened, but now, to my enormous delight, I am hearing that there is a very tentative discussion in some of the darkest corners of the US government of a proposal to terminate three of the secret agencies that reside within the Department of Defense (DoD) – the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the National Security Agency (NSA), and the National Geospatial Agency (NGA). This should happen, if not in the closing year of the Obama Administration, then in 2017 under the first Independent president and a diversified Congress in which Independents, Greens, and Libertarians and others (e.g. Constitution, Working Families) win the 20-30 seats being vacated.

Continue reading “OpenDemocracy: Robert Steele, American Intelligence and National Defense 2.0”

2015/11/052015/11/03

William Martel (RIP): On Grand Strategy

Strategy

The Making of Future American Grand Strategy

Fundamental Attributes of Grand Strategy: First, it defines the whys; Second, it encompasses all dimensions of policy and doctrine including the domains of operations and tactics (across all Cabinet mission areas); Third, it is never-ending; Fourth, it guides the state as it marshals all of its resources—human, political, economic, technological, and military, among others—to defend and promote its long-term interests; Fifth, it enables the balancing of ends and means while helping to avoid overreach; Sixth, it reflects a fundamental political, philosophical, and ideological unity among the state’s goals and policies.

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2015/11/042015/11/04

Richard Wright: Are Army Leaders Serious? Cannot Fight a Big War with 127,000 Net Net Soldiers

DoD, Officers Call, Strategy

The sad fact is that flag level officers and their civilian overseers of all the military services appear unable or unwilling to exercise critical thinking and commitment to doing what should be their jobs.

Look at the U.S. Army: it is now down to between 425 and 450 thousand soldiers yet the army general staff still speaks of fighting multiple conventional wars, defending the U.S. Homeland, and tackling insurgencies. This is just plain silly.

Continue reading “Richard Wright: Are Army Leaders Serious? Cannot Fight a Big War with 127,000 Net Net Soldiers”

2015/11/022015/11/02

KINDLE: An American Grand Strategy – Evidence-Based, Affordable, Balanced, Flexible

Strategy

The American Republic is out of balance — collapsing from poor governance and the triumph of special interests over the public interest. There are two root causes — the corruption of the US political process that disenfranchises sixty percent of the public and blocks Independents and small parties from ballot access, and a dysfunctional intelligence architecture that lacks integrity — as Henry Kissinger has observed, intelligence is not necessary to the exercise of power (as now practiced by an elite-driven national security state) and is often useless.

No one since President Ike Eisenhower and Project Solarium has ever attempted an official honest, comprehensive, and coherent formulation of a grand strategy that balances ends, means, and ways for all government functions, not only in the national security arena, where the military is consuming 60% of the disposable budget in 2015, but across the domestic front as well.

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2015/11/022015/11/01

Steve Metz: Reimagining the US Military

Military, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence, Strategy

Reimagining the U.S. Military for Today’s Security Environment

Steve Metz

World Politics Review, 30 October 2015

The U.S. military is increasingly ill-suited for today’s complex, interconnected and transparent security environment. It was designed to fight major wars against the military forces of other nations, yet never does so. Despite the best intentions of its architects, the U.S. military is a “kluge”—a combination of sometimes compatible, sometimes mismatched parts cobbled together. It works, but not as effectively or efficiently as it should.

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2015/10/312016/12/08

Robert Steele: Reinventing the US Army Part I – An American Grand Strategy

#OSE Open Source Everything, 02 China, 03 Economy, 05 Iran, 06 Russia, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, 11 Society, Collective Intelligence, DoD, Government, IO Deeds of Peace, Military, NATO Civ-Mil Ctr, Office of Management and Budget, Peace Intelligence, Strategy, Threats

Robert David Steele Vivas

Steele, Robert. Reinventing the US Army Part I – An American Grand Strategy, Carlisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, Press, Projected Publication 2017.

Part I in the Reinventing the US Army monograph series.

Updated November 15, 2016 Robert Steele

This is the author's preliminary draft of the first of three monographs focused on the future of the US Army as an expeditionary force in a complex world that is rapidly decentralizing while also facing major development challenges. A revised draft is provide at DOC below but the online full-text version has not been updated.

Short URL: http://tinyurl.com/2016-Grand-Strategy

DOC (56 Pages): EIN 7FV42 ERAP Steele Vol 1 Grand Strategy 2.4 LINKS

KINDLE (99 cents): An American Grand Strategy: Evidence-Based, Affordable, Balanced, Flexible

See Also:

Steele, Robert. Reinventing the US Army Part II – Overview of Planning and Programming Factors for Expeditionary Army Operations, Carlisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, Press, Projected Publication December 2016.

Steele, Robert. Reinventing the US Army Part III – Strategy, Reality, Precepts, Structure, & Leadership, Carlisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, Press, Projected Publication December 2016.

Full Text with Graphics Below the Fold (Links Added)

Continue reading “Robert Steele: Reinventing the US Army Part I – An American Grand Strategy”

2015/09/192015/09/17

Berto Jongman: David Kilcullen on Strategy in Relation to ISIS and More

Strategy, Threats

Islamic State: dealing with an atomised, resurgent terrorist threat

EXTRACT

Don’t equate national security with counterterrorism. The ‘War on Terrorism’ made AQ the dominant threat, prompting governments to structure policy and capability around counterterrorism. We focused narrowly on one threat, and on one subset (AQ leaders) within that threat, and were surprised when killing and capturing them didn’t bring increased security. This time, we need to frame counterterrorism within a broader strategy that includes state-on-state conflict and non-traditional challenges like climate change, urban overstretch and mass migration.