News & commentary by Dave Maxwell. Edited and published by Daniel Riggs
1. U.S. arrests five alleged Chinese agents, accusing them of targeting dissidents
2. The West Is Surprisingly Well-Equipped for Gray-Zone Deterrence
3. Roundtable highlights media's role in fighting 'infodemic' amid COVID-19
4. The CCP’s Global Political Expansion: Why Can’t the Chinese Communist Party Become a Responsible Stakeholder?
5. Subverting the Global Narrative: The Chinese Communist Party’s Propaganda Apparatus Seeks to Rule the World’s Media
6. China is not a threat to US liberty or democracy
7. The Year in Misinformation, So Far
8. China’s Real Invasion of Taiwan Has Already Started
9. Why American Strategy Fails: Ending the Chronic Imbalance Between Ends and Means
10. SecNav Says China Poses 'Threat Beyond Any Comparison' to American Way of Life
11. Air Force Meshes Info-War Capabilities
12. No Matter Who Wins the U.S. Election, Relations With China Are at a Crossroads
13. Trump Admin Sets Allied Defense Spending Targets, Taiwan Deals Lead Way
14. Rangers, Green Berets Showing Interest in New Nonlethal M4 Carbine, Firm Says
15. Con man and fake spy who once worked at DEA gets seven years in prison
16. What a New Army App Reveals About the State of Defense Department Innovation
17. Will COVID-Stressed Countries Slow Their Arms Buys?
18. American money for American ideas: Think tanks should disclose foreign funding
19. The 200 Millisecond Mission: Inside the Secret CIA Plan to Steal Soviet Missile Data
20. World War II: How America Treated Nazi and Imperial Japanese Prisoners
1. U.S. arrests five alleged Chinese agents, accusing them of targeting dissidents
The Washington Post· by Devlin Barrett · October 28, 2020
I concur with FBI Director Wray. I think he is spot on: “China is violating norms and laws left and right,” said FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, adding that the unprecedented case sends a clear message to the Chinese government that “surveilling, stalking, harassing and blackmailing our citizens and lawful permanent residents carry serious risks.”
2. The West Is Surprisingly Well-Equipped for Gray-Zone Deterrence
defenseone.com · October 28, 2020
A surprising title and thesis.
Conclusion:
“The advantage in gray-zone warfare is that the attacker can strike in a time and manner of its choosing. But, unlike traditional conflicts featuring troops that attack and counter-attack in relatively set pattern, a gray-zone defender has the very same advantage as an attacker: it can deliver punishment in a time and manner of its choosing.
In its cost-benefit calculation, the attacker must thus count in the cost of a surprise response whose nature it can’t predict. That asymmetric potential leaves us, the West, surprisingly well-equipped to punish gray-zone attacks. What we need now is a great deal of creativity.”
3. Roundtable highlights media's role in fighting 'infodemic' amid COVID-19
en.yna.co.kr · by 박보람 · October 29, 2020
Hosted by Sputnik??? Well, it is very experienced at disinformation.
4. The CCP’s Global Political Expansion: Why Can’t the Chinese Communist Party Become a Responsible Stakeholder?
ipdefenseforum.com · by Dr. Jinghao Zhou
This is from INDOPACOM's publication - INDOPACOM Defense Forum.
Key point from the conclusion: Clearly, the CCP wants to turn China into the world’s dominant superpower while retaining its one-party system at home. Determined by the nature of the CCP, China will not become a responsible stakeholder in the U.S.-led international order as long as the CCP retains its power. When the China Dream meets “America First,” the confrontation between the two countries becomes inevitable. To preserve its values and sovereignty, the United States must prepare for a long-standing ideological war and potential military confrontation with China over the Indo-Pacific region while decisively competing with the CCP in many areas, especially trade and high technology. It is critical to understand the nature of the CCP to win the second global competition with communist China.
5. Subverting the Global Narrative: The Chinese Communist Party’s Propaganda Apparatus Seeks to Rule the World’s Media
ipdefenseforum.com · by IPDForum
Also from INDPACOM's publication: INDOPACOM Defense Forum.
6. China is not a threat to US liberty or democracy
asiatimes.com · by Denny Roy · October 28, 2020
And now for something completely different. Certainly a different view than what we are reading in current newspaper and journal articles. But worth reading.
Conclusion:
“China is not a serious threat to US democracy. Americans are increasingly wise to Chinese influence operations involving the few issues at play, such as Chinese economic pressure on China-exposed US businesses to watch what they say about Taiwan or Hong Kong.
The Chinese social, economic and political models have no significant appeal in the US. Moreover, while the CCP leadership clearly wants to keep political liberalism out of China, there is little if any indication that the Chinese are hankering to destroy America’s freedoms.
China’s external behavior is more authoritarian than communist, more Machiavellian praxis than Marxist theory and more a way of doing business than an ideology.”
7. The Year in Misinformation, So Far
The New York Times · by Kevin Roose
Some very important analysis and data from Zignal Labs
8. China’s Real Invasion of Taiwan Has Already Started
The Daily Beast · by Brendon Hong · October 28, 2020
All countries with United Front Departments must be treated as threats. They exist to conduct subversion.
9. Why American Strategy Fails: Ending the Chronic Imbalance Between Ends and Means
Foreign Affairs · by James A. Winnefeld, Michael J. Morell, and Graham Allison · October 28, 2020
We must seek balance and coherency among ends, ways, and means. But as they write -easier said than done (because as the also write we are "stuck in our ways") : "From our experience as national security officials—in the military, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Department of Defense—we understand why correcting this imbalance is easy to say but hard to do."
10. SecNav Says China Poses 'Threat Beyond Any Comparison' to American Way of Life
military.com · by Gina Harkins · October 28, 2020
Strong words from the SECNAV.
11. Air Force Meshes Info-War Capabilities
nationaldefensemagazine.org · by Yasmin Tadjdeh· October 28, 2020
12. No Matter Who Wins the U.S. Election, Relations With China Are at a Crossroads
TIME · by charlie.campbell@time.com
Is this a true statement?
13. Trump Admin Sets Allied Defense Spending Targets, Taiwan Deals Lead Way
breakingdefense.com · by Paul McLeary
Interesting excerpts:
Part of the US strategy in the region is to coax allies into spending more on their own defense.
Recently, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien suggested that the new “gold standard” for allies across the globe is to spend 2% of their GDP on defense.
The goal has been a part of NATO planning since 2014. Only a handful of nations have reached the threshold, which has rankled President Trump since he took office. That anger boiled over during a messy blowup at a July 2018 NATO meeting in Brussels where he threatened to leave the alliance.
Earlier this month, Esper called the 2% goal “the floor” of what the administration expects from all allies. “We expect all allies to invest more in defense, at least 2 percent of GDP,” he said.
Why doesn't the administration respect South Korea's level of commitment to defense since it spends about 2.7% of its GDP on defense and on top of that does things like build the US the largest military base outside of the US - funding 93% of the $10.7 billion cost. The Administration should be using South Korea as an exemplar.
14. Rangers, Green Berets Showing Interest in New Nonlethal M4 Carbine, Firm Says
military.com · by Matthew Cox · October 28, 2020
nonlethal???
15. Con man and fake spy who once worked at DEA gets seven years in prison
NBC News · by Ken Dilanian · October 28, 2020
Truth is stranger than fiction. Does he spend seven years for each of his five aliases? (apologies for the attempt at humor).
16. What a New Army App Reveals About the State of Defense Department Innovation
defenseone.com · by Patrick Tucker
Excerpt:
“Tara Murphy Dougherty, CEO of Govini, said that the Defense Department needs to explore new ways to buy software in order to enable personnel at mid and lower ranks to actually work with the sorts of tools that entry-level workers at successful companies can use. “The standard for these types of things, data, software, should be licensing not owning… it gets back to culture and the fact that the default for when you’re writing a contract is to use DFAR clauses that assume the government has to own it all… The DFAR clauses in contracts should be limited rights where commercial IP is protected,” in particular, she said, the Department needs to look at new ways to rent or license software and data that can make apps like the one conceived by Adams more useful and functional. “The Department has a phenomenal understanding of its own data, a disastrous view of global markets,” she said.”
17. Will COVID-Stressed Countries Slow Their Arms Buys?
defenseone.com · by Marcus Weisgerber
I would expect so.
But here is some irony:
“By the way, Cooper added, the economic downturns could result in more NATO allies meeting the alliance’s goal of members spending 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense.
“Bizarrely, we may have some states where their numbers look like they've had an increase [in defense spending] because they've had a drop in GDP,” he said.”
18. American money for American ideas: Think tanks should disclose foreign funding
The Hill · by Herman Pirchner, Jr · October 28, 2020
19. The 200 Millisecond Mission: Inside the Secret CIA Plan to Steal Soviet Missile Data
Popular Mechanics · by David Hambling · October 28, 2020
Some interesting history.
20. World War II: How America Treated Nazi and Imperial Japanese Prisoners
The National Interest · by Warfare History Network · October 28, 2020
More interesting history. We should learn from this. Though we should keep in mind at the same time we interned Japanese Americans.
I recall training at Camp Bullis in Texas where German POWs were held. There was a huge swimming pool that was like a huge concrete lake that was apparently dug by the prisoners. Back in the 80's or 90's when I was there it was still in use.
I would also recall what Mao said about treatment of POWs: “We further our mission of destroying the enemy by propagandizing his troops, by treating his captured soldiers with consideration, and by caring for those of his wounded who fall into our hands” (page 93):
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“Virtue is a state of war, and to live in it we have always to combat with ourselves.”
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau
"Americans fully understand the requirement of the football field or the baseball diamond. They discipline themselves and suffer by the thousands to prepare for these rigors. A coach or manager who is too permissive soon seeks a new job; his team will fail against those who are tougher and harder. Yet undoubtedly any American officer, in peacetime, who worked his men as hard, or ruled them as severely as a college football coach does, would be removed. But the shocks of the battlefield are a hundred times those of the playing field, and the outcome infinitely more important to the nation. The problem is to understand the battlefield as well as the game of football. The problem is to see not what is desirable, or nice, or politically feasible, but what is necessary.
- T.R. Fehrenbach
"Diplomacy without arms is like music without instruments."
- Prussian King Frederick the Great