8/15/2020 News & Commentary – National Security
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