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07/27/2020 News & Commentary – National Security

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07.27.2020 at 02:03pm

News & commentary by Dave Maxwell. Edited and published by Daniel Riggs.

1. Global report: China reports biggest Covid-19 rise in months as Australia sets new infections record

2. Second wave of coronavirus in Asia prompts fresh lockdowns

3. Trump’s troop drawdown from Germany will take ‘years,’ says Inhofe

4. The Future of Unconventional Warfare (2035 – 2050)

5. New Army Assessment Program Will Challenge Colonels on Their Biases

6. What the “Defunding the Pentagon” Articles Don’t Tell You

7. Just Because We Can Cut Military Spending Doesn’t Mean We Should

8.  Jihadist plots used to be U.S. and Europe’s biggest terrorist threat. Now it’s the far right.

9. Here’s How We Can Save $1 Trillion In Military Spending Over Ten Years

10. Want a More Restrained Foreign Policy? Take Away the Pentagon’s Toys

11. Two Men & A Bot: Can AI Help Command A Tank?

12. Why is the US accusing China’s Houston consulate of spying?

13. Military to Leverage New Biotech Fields to Gain an Edge

14. FDD | To stop China’s crimes against humanity, hit its pride and pocketbook

15. A conspiracy theory goes to Washington: Three questions about QAnon

16. How the Defense Department is reorganizing for information warfare

17. There’s a Bigger Threat Than Big Tech. It’s Big China

18. Senate passes defense bill without funding for Stars and Stripes

19. Let’s Cut the Army Budget: We Need Ships, Not Land Forces, To Fight China

20. Perspective | The federal police in Portland don’t even understand what ‘arrests’ are

21. What Camus’s The Plague can teach us about the Covid-19 pandemic

 

1. Global report: China reports biggest Covid-19 rise in months as Australia sets new infections record

The Guardian · by Alison Rourke · July 27, 2020

Not a good sign for the Asia-Pacific or the world.

2. Second wave of coronavirus in Asia prompts fresh lockdowns

Reuters · by Stephen Coates · July 27, 2020

It must be because of global travel or at least that is one contributing factor.

 

3. Trump’s troop drawdown from Germany will take ‘years,’ says Inhofe

Defense News · by Joe Gould, Sebastian Sprenger · July 24, 2020

No surprise here.  They just do not get on a plane and fly home. Withdrawal is a complicated and complex process whether in Germany, Japan, or Korea.

 

4. The Future of Unconventional Warfare (2035 – 2050)

groundedcuriosity.com · by Jess Ward · July 25, 2020

An interesting discussion though I think they take the broad view of anything that is not conventional warfare is unconventional warfare.

 

5. New Army Assessment Program Will Challenge Colonels on Their Biases

military.com · by Matthew Cox · July 24, 2020

Think about the statistic at the end of this article.  Out of 770 officers (MAJs and LTCs) only 25 were found unfit to command, what does that say about our promotion system?  Is it bad that 25 “slipped through?”  Or is the quality of the officers high and the promotion process actually sound?  Or is this new program not rigorous enough? From those I have heard from who have participated in this program it sounds very rigorous.  But if it seems to be simply validating that the promotion process is sound I wonder how long it will last.  It will be interesting to see how the Colonels do in September.

 

6. What the “Defunding the Pentagon” Articles Don’t Tell You

realcleardefense.com · by Thomas Spoehr

General Spoehr makes the argument that the “defunders of the Pentagon” (conservative and liberal) are making arguments without all the facts.

 

7. Just Because We Can Cut Military Spending Doesn’t Mean We Should

The National Interest · by Mackenzie Eaglen · July 27, 2020

MacKenzie Eaglen knows her stuff about defense spending and priorities.  And the subtitle says it all.  Our leadership has to make hard choices and set priorities. We should not use cuts as the method to restrain foreign policy.  We remove options and we put our national security at risk when we do.

 

8. Jihadist plots used to be U.S. and Europe’s biggest terrorist threat. Now it’s the far right.

NBC News · by Willem MarxWillem Marx · July 27, 2020

This will be upsetting to those who see left wing terrorists everywhere.

 

9. Here’s How We Can Save $1 Trillion In Military Spending Over Ten Years

The National Interest · by Dan Grazier · July 26, 2020

Perhaps most threats we face are deterred by our military capabilities.  There are various versions and interpretations) and controversies) of this quote but this one seems apt: ‘Those who have swords, and know how to use them, but keep them sheathed, shall inherit the world.”

 

10. Want a More Restrained Foreign Policy? Take Away the Pentagon’s Toys

The National Interest · by Benjamin H. Friedman · July 27, 2020

Again, taking options (and toys?) to restrain foreign policy is to abdicate leadership responsibility for foreign policy and national security.. The Pentagon’s “toys” are not the problem.  But it is these kinds of arguments that will put US national security at great risk. I hope someone is keeping score because those who make these arguments have no business working in positions of power and influence in the national security community.

 

11. Two Men & A Bot: Can AI Help Command A Tank?

breakingdefense.com · by Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.

“Gunner, sabot,  tank.” “Identified.” “Up.” “Fire.” “On the way.”  I have flashbacks to Graf in the 1980’s as a young infantry Captain serving as the Range OIC for the 3d ID’s Tank Table VIII and Tank Table XII.  I can still hear those fire commands and the NCOs evaluating those tank crews and tank platoons.  So can AI command, spot, identify, load, drive, or fire? :-). What happens when one of the two crewmen is wounded or injured?  There is no depth in the crew.  That said I am not at all opposed to the innovation this effort will develop.

 

12. Why is the US accusing China’s Houston consulate of spying?

ABC.net.au · July 26, 2020

 

13. Military to Leverage New Biotech Fields to Gain an Edge

nationaldefensemagazine.org · by Mandy Mayfield· July 26, 2020

 

14. FDD | To stop China’s crimes against humanity, hit its pride and pocketbook

fdd.org · by Craig Singleton· July 24, 2020

Human rights is a moral imperative and a national security issue.

 

15. A conspiracy theory goes to Washington: Three questions about QAnon

The Christian Science Monitor · July 23, 2020

I find it really hard to take anyone seriously who believes in this stuff.  I cannot believe we have people in positions of power and influence who believe this stuff.

 

16. How the Defense Department is reorganizing for information warfare

Defense News · by Mark Pomerleau · July 26, 2020

Four words are not used in this article: psychological operations and influence and human (they do not even use MISO!).  The emphasis, like most everything in the American way of war, is on the technical aspects of information warfare and not on the human domain.

 

17. There’s a Bigger Threat Than Big Tech. It’s Big China

defenseone.com · by Emily De La Bruyere

My belief: China seeks to export its authoritarian political system around the world in order to dominate regions, co-opt or coerce international organizations, create economic conditions favorable to China alone, and displace democratic institutions.

 

18. Senate passes defense bill without funding for Stars and Stripes

stripes.com· by Caitlin Kenney· July 26, 2020

I have heard the House will restore the funding for Stars and Stripes when it goes to conference.  Like USAGM and Voice of America and Radio Free Asia that are funded by the US Government, their existence and  freedom to report all the news, warts and all,  without government interference sends a powerful message about American values and our belief in the absolute necessity for freedom of the press. We believe in it so strongly that we fund news organizations that are allowed to report critically without fear of retribution by the government.  This sets the example for freedom of the press around the world.

 

19. Let’s Cut the Army Budget: We Need Ships, Not Land Forces, To Fight China

The National Interest · by Gil Barndollar · July 26, 2020

We need the strongest Navy in the world to protect US national security.  Like Air Superiority/Supremacy we cannot conduct effective military operations with freedom of the seas.

I also agree with the Princess Bride movie and the advice that you must never fight a land war in Asia.  

Unfortunately the author provides no analysis and rationale for his statement such as “stationing Army troops in Europe should be rejected” and “the ratio of active and reserve forces should go higher” (more forces in the reserve components) and “the continued viability of a huge attack helicopter fleet should be examined.”   I also wonder how Canada likes being described as a “militarily weak” friend.

 

20. Perspective | The federal police in Portland don’t even understand what ‘arrests’ are

The Washington Post· by Andrew Manuel Crespo · July 22, 2020

If we think these protest movements are “insurgencies” we sure are going about dealing with them in the wrong way. 

 

21. What Camus’s The Plague can teach us about the Covid-19 pandemic

Vox · by Sean Illing · July 22, 2020

A little existential philosophy to start off the week.

 

———————–

 

July 27, 1953

Agreement between the Commander-in-Chief, United Nations Command, on the one hand, and the Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army and the Commander of the Chinese People’s volunteers, on the other hand, concerning a military armistice in Korea.

 

Preamble

The undersigned, the Commander-in-Chief, United Nations Command, on the one hand, and the Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army and the Commander of the Chinese People’s Volunteers, on the other hand, in the interest of stopping the Korean conflict, with its great toil of suffering and bloodshed on both sides, and with the objective of establishing an armistice which will insure a complete cessation of hostilities and of all acts of armed force in Korea until a final peaceful settlement is achieved, do individually, collectively, and mutually agree to accept and to be bound and governed by the conditions and terms of armistice set forth in the following articles and paragraphs, which said conditions and terms are intended to be purely military in character and to pertain solely to the belligerents in Korea:

Article IV

Recommendations to the Governments Concerned on Both Sides

60. In order to insure the peaceful settlement of the Korean question, the military Commanders of both sides hereby recommend to the governments of the countries concerned on both sides that, within three (3) months after the Armistice Agreement is signed and becomes effective, a political conference of a higher level of both sides be held by representatives appointed respectively to settle through negotiation the questions of the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Korea, the peaceful settlement of the Korean question, etc

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