Blog Posts

Current U.S. security assistance programs are ineffective, and often undermine American security, according to a new report from the NCPA.

The new President will need to have a plan to address this issue without unnecessarily escalating tensions - a tightrope, to be sure, but a necessary one to avoid conflict.

Top U.S. defense officials insist they are not turning a blind eye to fears that Russian hackers are trying to hijack upcoming U.S. presidential and local elections.

SIGAR will release its first lessons learned report, "Corruption in Conflict: Lessons from the U.S. Experience in Afghanistan”, tomorrow. Continue on for details.

"The Pentagon and intelligence community are expected to recommend soon to President Obama that he break up the joint leadership of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command."

"Our traditional tools of warfare, having been focused on state-on-state war, are in many ways ill-suited in war among the people where large-scale expeditionary warfare is not feasible."

The Center for Security Studies Lunch Series: "Interrogation, Intelligence Gathering, and Public Policy" - A Conversation with John McLaughlin and Dr. Elizabeth Arsenault.

*Starts Today* - This event will be streamed live from 13-14 September 2016. Continue on for information concerning the conference.

BLUF: "The most significant weakness of the new deal is that there is no mechanism to punish the Assad regime and Russia."

"After blasting the US for supposedly interfering with his anti-drug war, Duterte called for the pullout of US troops in Mindanao as he blamed the US for the conflict and security threats."

Continue on for links to the September 2016 issue of the CTC Sentinel.

“A mix of encrypted chat apps, face-to-face meetings, written notes and misdirection leaves few electronic clues for Western intelligence agencies.”

Three ODAs of 34-men on horseback worked with the Northern Alliance after 9/11 to overthrow the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Continue on for the video.

Every generation has a cataclysmic event that forever flashes for the participants - the visualization of the moment. Years pass and yet the greatest degree of detail is recalled.

"Top Afghan officials and representatives of an anti-government armed group have reported major progress in their protracted peace negotiations."

"Turkey and a key Syrian opposition group pledged to support a complicated and partly-secret cease-fire deal agreed upon by the United States and Russia."

Here are some points to consider as compiled from numerous grunt-level communications ranging from junior enlisted to senior flags.

"The flow of foreign fighters to the ranks of the IS, once a mighty current of thousands of radicalized men and women from nations across the globe, has been cut to a trickle this year."

This event will be streamed live from 13-14 September 2016. Continue on for information concerning the conference.

"Russia and the United States agreed early Saturday on a new plan to reduce violence in the Syrian conflict that, if successful, could lead for the first time to joint military targeting."

Continue on for a link to the Australian Army doctrine page.

“Four out of five Americans killed at the hands of the enemy have come from a force that makes up less than 4 percent of the men and women in uniform.”

Continue on for information on the Marine Corps Gazette Irregular Warfare Essay Contest.

The September-October 2016 issue of Military Review is now online. Continue on for a short description of each article and a link to download the entire journal.

This article is a critique of the dominant approach within the counter-terrorism community that failed to analyze IS’s trajectory as a distinct group.