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From Danger Room:
In late January, the Air Force banned TogetherWeServed.com, a military-themed social networking site, for being a security “nightmare.” Now, Air Force officials are admitting “to unfairly singling out” the site, which “does not pose any extra risk than most chat rooms or other online communities,” Stars & Stripes’ Leo Shane reports. “Site owners [...]
The State Department’s renewal of its contract with Blackwater shows the gap between operational necessity and public perception. All the evidence available from reports of those in Iraq using their services is that Blackwater has worked offensively to project a much more efficient, user-friendly image. They are also now being far more closely supervised and are working even more closely with the military. Yet the public reaction to the continuation of the Blackwater contract is clearly negative.
One of the great things about the Internet is that anyone with anything on their mind can say anything they want, regardless of how informed and insightful they might be. To illustrate this point I present Exhibit A – David Axe of Wired Magazine’s latest posting, “It’s a Major Prize,” attacking Admiral Allen and the U.S. Coast Guard.
Justice Department Declassifies Memo on Military Interrogations - Homeland Security Digital Library Weblog
Yesterday, the Justice Department declassified and publicly released a 2003 legal memorandum prepared in response to a request from the Pentagon to “examine the legal standards governing military interrogations of alien unlawful combatants held outside the United States,” including both international and [...]
Military Report: Secretly ‘Recruit or Hire Bloggers’ | Danger Room from Wired.com
Since the start of the Iraq war, there’s been a raucous debate in military circles over how to handle blogs — and the servicemembers who want to keep them. One faction sees blogs as security risks, and a collective waste of troops’ time. [...]
Congressman Waxman has extended his investigative activities into Blackwater to include the company’s treatment of employees as independent contractors; this is not news, as the allegations arose last year. It is interesting that the issue’s reprise has received media exposure and attention. I am not a Beltway expert by any means, but it is informative that the Committee has gone to pains to let the public know that it continues to pursue Blackwater through any means, relevant or not.
After being featured as one of the top stories in CQ Homeland’s Behind the Daily Lines, Security DeBrief contributor Rich Cooper was a guest on Federal News Radio’s Daily Drive to discuss the role FEMA played in preparing for the possibility of hazardous debris from the broken spy satellite that was shot down last week, and to address the agency’s perpetual critics . Listen to his interview here.
It is interesting to see that the Grand Jury investigation into the Sep 16 shootings by Blackwater continues. What is equally interesting is that following the rush of knee-jerk reactions in Congress to throw legislation at the problem that ‘closed the loophole’ by including contractors to the State Department to the Military Jurisdiction Expeditionary Act, which apparently meant that all contractors would now be covered and accountable under US law. Unfortunately, having satisfied themselves that all was now right with the world, the politicians and their staffs wrenched their arms out of their sockets patting themselves on the back for a job well done….if only that were so.
Last night, the Defense Department, via the USS Lake Erie fired a SM-3 missile to intercept a broken spy satellite from the sky rather than letting it break apart in the atmosphere and leave hazardous debris to fall back to the Earth. In the days prior to missile launch, FEMA engaged in a number of preemptory actions.Rather than applaud and support such forward thinking and action, some have used this as another opportunity to make FEMA a punch line and to accuse the agency of acting like Chicken Little crying out to the nation, ‘The sky is falling!’
The psychological effect in each of these cases is for the psychiatrists, medical experts and ultimately the legal apparatus to decide. My concern is that the crimes demonstrate that the federal safety net in place to catch and treat sufferers is not effective, and that merely educating the soldiers themselves is not working. PTSD is a legitimate threat to anyone who has served in combat or experienced conditions of high stress. Knowing that, and mixing alcohol, loaded weapons and an aggravating situation is a recipe for disaster.
Some of the recommendations of the recently published Congressional Report into the Reserves and National Guard seem ill-advised and counter-productive. Targeting the Department of Defense’s reported upon lack of ability to respond to nuclear, biological and chemical threats, one conclusion drawn is that the non-active elements should be refocused exclusively on domestic disasters. [...]
It was disappointing to read of the deaths of eight Afghan police and one civilian during a U.S. military raid in Afghanistan. The lack of co-ordination is interesting, as it signals either a lack of faith in the Afghan police or a level of arrogance that is unacceptable in a Counter-Insurgency (COIN) operation. This kind of incident, which discredits the U.S. military in the eyes of the locals, is significantly detrimental to the overall effort.
The Departments of State and Defense have agreed on a formula granting the military oversight of all private military company (PMC) operations in Iraq: the military will have oversight of the convoys are taking place, their routes, timings, etc. All of this is very good news, as it gives commanders access to oversee the [...]
The United States has ignored for too long the brewing turmoil in Pakistan. All signs point to the possibility of civil war breaking out in Pakistan in the very near future. The ingredients for such a war are already in place: President Musharraf’s power has been seriously weakened; there is a major rift among elements of the ISI and the military regarding Pakistan’s commitment to the war on terror and the handling of the Taliban; the return of Nawaz Sharif who will attempt to mobilize Islamists; and the return of Benazir Bhutto who will attempt to mobilize opponents to military rule and the Islamists.
There is a need for Americans to redirect the debate over GITMO, since an answer that involves merely closing the facility in Cuba does not mean that a similar compound here in the United States would be immune to criticism. Instead, the focus at the heart of the debate over Guantanamo should be on how the U.S. government treats its detainees and how we prosecute the war on terrorism. If America succeeds in this respect, location will prove to be an ancillary concern.