10/01/2020 News & Commentary – National Security
News & commentary by Dave Maxwell. Edited and published by Daniel Riggs
1. FDD | Beijing Seeks to Evade U.S. Restrictions on Technology Imports
2. How to Trim the Defense Budget Without Harming U.S. Security
3. The right debate question for Trump, Biden: How do we fight our next war?
4. The Army Rolls Out a New Weapon: Strategic Napping
5. Pandemic has not flattened the 'terrorism curve'
6. China's Leaders Can't Be Trusted | by Chris Patten
7. New Policy Makes U.S. More Competitive Partner
8. Duterte's China gambit fails to deliver the goods
9. House report: U.S. intelligence agencies have failed to adapt to China threat
10. Palantir Awarded $91 Million Contract R&D for the US Army Research Laboratory
11. U.S., Taiwan to team up on infrastructure in pushback against China
12. Attacker Dwell Time: Ransomware's Most Important Metric
13. Social Media Bots: Implications for Special Operations Forces
14. GOP Lawmakers Hammer Trump's Germany Troop Withdrawals
15. Palantir, the controversial data company, makes its Wall Street debut
16. Trump Thinks America Should Go It Alone. Americans Disagree.
17. Pentagon needs 'Gray Zone' weapons
18. After "the War that Never Was"-The Real Beginning
19. US 2020 election: Social media's nightmare scenario
20. It's Raining Blood: Air Force Tests New Way to Resupply Battlefield Medics
21.A Far-Right Militant Group Has Recruited Thousands of Police, Soldiers, and Veterans
1. FDD | Beijing Seeks to Evade U.S. Restrictions on Technology Imports
fdd.org · by Craig Singleton Adjunct Fellow · September 30, 2020
2. How to Trim the Defense Budget Without Harming U.S. Security
Foreign Policy · by Elbridge Colby, Mackenzie Eaglen, Roger Zakheim · September 30, 2020
What does the US want its military to do? We do have an NSS and NDS.
3. The right debate question for Trump, Biden: How do we fight our next war?
The Hill · by Sean McFate, opinion contributor · September 28, 2020
A very important and powerful question from Sean McFate: "So how does the United States fight secretive wars without losing our democratic soul? This is the most important national security question today, not how many F-35s are needed."
My thoughts (which are focused on SOF in IW and Great Power Competition):
- Competition equals Political Warfare
- Most likely
- State on state warfare less likely
- Most dangerous
- Consider lessons from the OSS to operate in the modern era of the Gray Zone and Political Warfare
- Major theater war will include political warfare and the gray zone.
- Problem
- We face threats from political warfare strategies supported by hybrid military approaches.
- Solution:
- Learn to lead with influence
- Learn to counter and conduct political warfare campaigns
- Cultural and/or organizational change
- Exploit lessons from the OSS (positive and negative)
4. The Army Rolls Out a New Weapon: Strategic Napping
The New York Times · by Dave Philipps · October 1, 2020
Hmmm....Never pass up a chance to fill your canteen or take a nap! I think all military personnel know this. Have you ever seen how fast a trooper can fall asleep in the back of an aircraft? And "hurry upland wait" is translated as "hurry up and nap."
5. Pandemic has not flattened the 'terrorism curve'
asiatimes.com · by More by Dnyanesh Kamat · September 29, 2020
Two key points:
The factors that fuel terrorism are still very much in play worldwide. Under the guise of combating Covid-19, governments from Tanzania to Colombia and from India to Sudan are clamping down on civil liberties. This will fray the unwritten contract between societies and law-enforcement agencies, the bedrock upon which intelligence agencies rely to block terrorist incidents.
In some instances, ruling regimes have actively fed identity politics and fueled ancient tribal hatreds as a way of diverting attention away from their mishandling of the pandemic. This has damaged the social fabric in these countries and could be fertile ground for terrorists.
Pandemic has not flattened the 'terrorism curve'
Amid the fight against Covid-19, some governments have actively fed identity politics and fueled ancient tribal hatreds
6. China's Leaders Can't Be Trusted | by Chris Patten
project-syndicate.org · by Chris Patten · September 28, 2020
The bottom line: "One thing is clear: the world cannot trust Xi's dictatorship. The sooner we recognize this and act together, the sooner the Beijing bullies will have to behave better. The world will be safer and more prosperous for it."
7. New Policy Makes U.S. More Competitive Partner
defense.gov · by C. Todd Lopez
Defense Security Cooperation Agency.
8. Duterte's China gambit fails to deliver the goods
asiatimes.com · by Richard Javad Heydarian · September 30, 2020
I guess you cannot trust Chinese leadership.
9. House report: U.S. intelligence agencies have failed to adapt to China threat
Axios · by Zachary Basu
The 37 page report (with some redactions) can be downloaded here.
10. Palantir Awarded $91 Million Contract R&D for the US Army Research Laboratory
news.clearancejobs.com · by Katie Keller · September 29, 2020
Follow the contractor information to know the direction of the US military. Even recent reporting on Palantir and the Army's relationship with DCGS-A and Palantir there is some irony in this contract.
11. U.S., Taiwan to team up on infrastructure in pushback against China
Reuters · by Ben Blanchard and Jeanny Kao · September 30, 2020
Great Power Competition includes political and economic warfare.
12. Attacker Dwell Time: Ransomware's Most Important Metric
13. Social Media Bots: Implications for Special Operations Forces
96 page report here · by Megan K. McBride, Zack Gold, and Kasey Stricklin
14. GOP Lawmakers Hammer Trump's Germany Troop Withdrawals
defenseone.com · by Katie Bo Williams
This is not something you want to say in a Congressional hearing: "Acting Defense Undersecretary for Policy James Anderson repeatedly told lawmakers that he was unable to answer detailed questions about the withdrawal, both because he was not involved in the initial decision-making process and because planning is ongoing and many decisions simply have not yet been made."
15. Palantir, the controversial data company, makes its Wall Street debut
CNN · by Sara Ashley O'Brien, CNN Business
16. Trump Thinks America Should Go It Alone. Americans Disagree.
Bloomberg · by Hal Brands · September 30, 2020
Trust the wisdom of the American people. But these three fault lines are troubling. And third I think stems from a lack of understanding about what is American exceptionalism. (And as an aside I think many proponents would be shocked to know the connection of American exceptionalism to the US Communist PArty, Stalin, and the USSR - see this article. But few of us know our history. I also wrote an article "Putin is Afraid of American Exceptionalism" with my views on the concept.
Key Points from Professor Brands:
And overwhelming majorities of both parties favor giving precedence to Washington's relations with its Indo-Pacific allies over its ties with China. The American public is warming up to great-power competition.
Look a bit more closely, however, and a broad consensus starts to fray. In particular, there are three partisan fault lines in how Americans view world affairs.
Trump Thinks America Should Go It Alone. Americans Disagree.
Polling shows three major fault lines between the parties on foreign policy.
17. Pentagon needs 'Gray Zone' weapons
washingtontimes.com · by Bill Gertz
What are "gray zone weapons?" How about a strategy first and some campaign plans to conduct political warfare in the gray zone?
Excerpt: "Gray Zone" warfare capabilities include better cyberweapons, information warfare capabilities, economic and commercial warfare tools and new multidomain military systems, the Pentagon advisory panel stated in an executive summary.
18. After "the War that Never Was"-The Real Beginning
usni.org · September 29, 2020
Time for a little fiction to spur some creativity and critical thinking (as well as being entertaining).
19. US 2020 election: Social media's nightmare scenario
BBC · by James Clayton
Be afraid.. Be very afraid. We should all be.
20. It's Raining Blood: Air Force Tests New Way to Resupply Battlefield Medics
news.yahoo.com · September 29, 2020
That is an interesting title for an article with an important capability.
21. A Far-Right Militant Group Has Recruited Thousands of Police, Soldiers, and Veterans
The Atlantic · by Mike Giglio
This will stir up a lot of ire on the proverbial "both sides."
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The truth is cruel, but it can be loved, and it makes free those who have loved it."
- George Santayana
"It is one thing to show a man that he is in error, and another to put him in possession of truth."
- John Locke
"A single lie destroys a whole reputation of integrity."
- Baltasar Gracian
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