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8/15/2020 News & Commentary – National Security

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08.15.2020 at 04:13pm

News & commentary by Dave Maxwell. Edited and published by Duncan Moore.

1. ‘No lines on the battlefield’: Pentagon’s new war-fighting concept takes shape

2. Taiwan to boost ‘invasion’ defenses with US weapons

3. Pentagon creates UFO task force to see if aerial objects pose threat

4. The plan that could give us our lives back

5. Federal appeals court rules male-only draft constitutional

6. Who decides who is a ‘domestic enemy’?

7. The Pentagon’s AI factory gets a powerful new tool

8. A plan to turn military bases into ‘sandboxes’ for 5G

9. Rightsizing the Afghanistan mission

10. An arms race is brewing in orbit

11. Public toilet erected on former site of razed Xinjiang village mosque

12. American passports are useless now

13. Trump: ‘A lot of people’ think Edward Snowden ‘not being treated fairly’

14. As relations with U.S. sink, China tones down ‘hotheaded’ nationalism

15. Sexual violence rampant and expanding in armed conflicts, UN

16. ‘Deep remorse’: Japanese emperor marks 75th anniversary of surrender

 

1. ‘No lines on the battlefield’: Pentagon’s new war-fighting concept takes shape

Defense News · by Aaron Mehta · August 14, 2020

 

2. Taiwan to boost ‘invasion’ defenses with US weapons

Asia Times · by Dave Makichuk · August 14, 2020

An asymmetric approach is definitely required for Taiwan’s defense.

 

3. Pentagon creates UFO task force to see if aerial objects pose threat

Military Times · by Howard Altman & J.D. Simkins · August 14, 2020

I wonder how many people will be volunteering for this task force.

 

4. The plan that could give us our lives back

Defense One · by Robinson Meyer & Alexis C. Madrigal · August 14, 2020

There is no technical obstacle to the authors’ vision. There is only a dearth of political will.

 

5. Federal appeals court rules male-only draft constitutional

The Hill · by Rebecca Kheel · August 13, 2020

I wonder if this will go to the Supreme Court. And I wonder how it will rule.

 

6. Who decides who is a ‘domestic enemy’?

Defense One · by James Joyner · August 13, 2020

Another contribution to the Yingling-Nagl brothers and Schake-Golby debate.

 

7. The Pentagon’s AI factory gets a powerful new tool

Defense One · by Patrick Tucker · August 14, 2020

I would think this change would be game changing for DOD and especially its intelligence components. This development begs the question: will this be common throughout the intelligence community (I ask that rhetorically as I think we can guess the answer)?

 

8. A plan to turn military bases into ‘sandboxes’ for 5G

Wired · by Will Knight · August 13, 2020

I asked myself, what is a “sandbox” (in terms of 5G)?  I learned from the article that it means for experimentation.

 

9. Rightsizing the Afghanistan mission

Brookings · by Michael E. O’Hanlon · August 13, 2020

Just as an aside: we will never “right size” the mission if our sole metric is the topline troop number. Of course because of politics and ease of understanding the topline number will always be the driver and will always trump strategy.

 

10. An arms race is brewing in orbit

Economist · August 15, 2020

You have to dominate the ultimate “high ground.” Two questions: who does? And how do you enforce the law in space?

 

11. Public toilet erected on former site of razed Xinjiang village mosque

Radio Free Asia · by Joshua Lipes · August 15, 2020

Stay classy, China. If we did not have RFA and VOA reporting on this type of activity, we would probably not learn of this.

 

12. American passports are useless now

The Atlantic · by Yascha Mounk · August 14, 2020

Sigh…..

 

13. Trump: ‘A lot of people’ think Edward Snowden ‘not being treated fairly’

New York Post · by Steven Nelson & Ebony Bowden · August 13, 2020

I do not think Edward Snowden treated US national security “fairly.” He needs to be extradited to the US to stand trial for his crimes against the US (in a fair and just trial, of course).

 

14. As relations with U.S. sink, China tones down ‘hotheaded’ nationalism

New York Times · by Javier C. Hernandez · August 15, 2020

We should start including “hothead nationalism” in commentary. I wonder how it would go if used in negotiations. But is China really dialing down its belligerence? And even it appears to be doing so, we should not forget what Sun Tzu said: “all warfare is based on deception.” And nowhere is that more true than with political warfare (or China’s “three warfares” – psychological warfare, legal warfare or lawfare, and media or public opinion warfare).

 

15. Sexual violence rampant and expanding in armed conflicts, UN

Info Migrants · by Aasim Saleem · August 6, 2020

This is so tragic.

 

16. ‘Deep remorse’: Japanese emperor marks 75th anniversary of surrender

The Guardian · by Agencies · August 15, 2020

 

“It is the nature of every person to error, but only the fool perseveres in error.”

– Marcus Tullius Cicero

“We do not seek peace in order to be at war, but we go to war that we may have peace. Be peaceful, therefore, in warring, so that you may vanquish those whom you war against, and bring them to the prosperity of peace.

– St. Augustine

“Without a word this uniform also whispers of freezing troops, injured bodies, and Americans left forever in foreign fields. It documents every serviceman’s courage, who by accepting this uniform, promises the one gift he truly has to give: his life. I wear my uniform for the heritage of sacrifice it represents and more. I wear my uniform with pride, for it represents the greatest nation of free people in the world.”

– Captain Karen Dorman Kimmel

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