11/15/2020 News & Commentary - National Security
News and Commentary by Dave Maxwell. Edited and Published by Riley Murray.
1. Video in Honor of the late Major General Victor J. Hugo Jr., USA (Ret.)
2. The Pandemic Is Revealing a New Form of National Power
3. Missile Defense Drama: Why America Isn't Prepared
4. Taiwan Defense Ministry, Pentagon deny U.S. Marines' presence for training
5. To Fight the Next Pandemic, the World Needs Chinese Activists
6. Opinion | The coronavirus's origins are still a mystery. We need a full investigation.
7. Parler Makes Play for Conservatives Mad at Facebook, Twitter
8. Christmas terror attack: Security expert issues a chilling warning
9. A harder US line? Potential Pentagon chief floated idea to sink China fleet in 72 hours
10. In Trump's final days, a 30-year-old aide purges officials seen as insufficiently loyal
11. The US and Japan Are Digging in their Heels Over the Senkaku Islands
12. US urges Japan and South Korea to speak out against China despite trading relationship
13. Rolling Back Trump's Workforce Policies Won't Be Simple
14. A Decade Later, this Afghanistan Special Operations Story is Finally Coming to the Screen
15. 3 legendary leaders who made America's special-operations units into the elite forces they are today
16. Asia-Pacific nations sign world's biggest free-trade agreement
17. Top NPA leader killed in clash in Zamboanga del Norte - military
1. Video in Honor of the late Major General Victor J. Hugo Jr., USA (Ret.)
MG Victor Hugo died from COVID-19 in April and was interred at Arlington yesterday. This 13 minute video is a fitting tribute to him. MG Hugo was at the tip of the spear for so many important missions in the Army and after his retirement and many are recounted in this short video. It is very much worth watching His life was full of more adventure than you could read in a novel. And he made lasting contributions to our national security much as a result of his Special Forces training, experience, and expertise. We should all aspire to live up to his example.
It was an honor to know him these past many years. I had the good fortune to be part of the team with him working on the National Museum for Intelligence and Special Operations as a member of the OSS Society board of directors.
https://vimeo.com/477261473/5ec5854d
2. The Pandemic Is Revealing a New Form of National Power
The Atlantic · by Uri Friedman · November 15, 2020
There is a lot to be said for the importance of resilience in everything from dealing with pandemics to cyber-attacks to even nuclear attacks.
An interesting excerpt: "The scholar Bruce Jones has chronicled how a number of the world's "middle powers" have, "in the absence of credible great-power leadership from the United States or China ... led the way in coordinating health and economic responses" to COVID-19-an extension of their pre-pandemic efforts to bolster the multilateral system. They have, for instance, collaborated on financial responses through the Group of Seven and raised billions of dollars for international work on developing and distributing vaccines. Middle-power governments that have navigated the crisis relatively well have bolstered their reputations at home and abroad. Governments that have fared relatively poorly have sustained serious damage to their reputations and thus their standing at home and stores of soft power abroad."
3. Missile Defense Drama: Why America Isn't Prepared
The National Interest · by Peter Huessy · November 14, 2020
Excerpts:
Given the importance of the homeland defense mission, we must continue to invest in this critical capability. The current GBI system, though impressive, was developed under enormous time pressures using technologies from the late 1990s. We now have the opportunity, based on decades of experience, to do the next job better with the complimentary NGI program.
Remember, the enemies of the United States are not dealing with continuing resolutions, split legislatures or budget shortfalls. They are proceeding rapidly toward the future as made clear by the new North Korean ICBM threat. Congress must provide the full funding for GBI updates and accelerate the military's effort to develop and deploy this new NGI homeland defense capability - and bring it home on time and on budget.
4. Taiwan Defense Ministry, Pentagon deny U.S. Marines' presence for training
japantimes.co.jp · by Jesse Johnson · November 13, 2020
It would be interesting to run this whole incident to ground. Who provided the information to the Taiwanese media that originally published the report? What was the internet and who was the target audience? And of course did some kind of training actually take place and was it blown out of proportion?
The reports seemed pretty specific regarding the presence and training of MARSOC's Raiders.
5. To Fight the Next Pandemic, the World Needs Chinese Activists
thediplomat.com – by Sara L.M. Davis, Shen Tingting, and Lu Jun - November 13, 2020
Very interesting thesis.
Conclusion: "These community systems supplement the formal health system, because they enjoy the trust of those who are most vulnerable. An authoritarian approach is short-sighted; it weakens a country's immune system, leaving the whole world vulnerable to the next outbreak. By clamping down on civil society and community groups, the state has weakened public health and repeated the errors committed during the SARS and HIV epidemic. In so doing, the state may have undermined its long-term ability to respond to future infectious disease outbreaks. COVID-19 is under control in China, for now - but how will the world know about the next pandemic without these independent voices?"
As an aside, this is also why activists around the world need access to the tools that have been provided by the US Agency for Global Media to be able to circumvent internet censorship and to be able to communicate with the outside world. It is too bad that USAGM appears to have halted funding for them.
6. Opinion | The coronavirus's origins are still a mystery. We need a full investigation.
The Washington Post · by Editorial Board · November 14, 2020
Interesting OpEd from the WAPOST Editorial Board, though I am sure some are hoping for the conspiracy theory explanation that this was a deliberate act by China (and more specifically the CCP). This OpEd does not go down that rabbit hole.
Excerpt: "Preventing the next pandemic," wrote Dr. Relman, "depends on understanding the origins of this one."
7. Parler Makes Play for Conservatives Mad at Facebook, Twitter
WSJ · by Jeff Horwitz and Keach Hagey
I would not be surprised if in the next year or two Parler is bought out and absorbed by one of the major social media companies. It is all about the benjamins.
8. Christmas terror attack: Security expert issues a chilling warning
WSJ · by Jeff Horwitz and Keach Hagey
A warning for Australia.
9. A harder US line? Potential Pentagon chief floated idea to sink China fleet in 72 hours
news.abs-cbn.com · by Liu Zhen
Sigh... I think Ms Flournoy was taken out of context. She was talking about deterrence and posting a "what if" to support deterrence.
Excerpt: "For example, if the US military had the capability to credibly threaten to sink all of China's military vessels, submarines, and merchant ships in the South China Sea within 72 hours, Chinese leaders might think twice before, say, launching a blockade or invasion of Taiwan; they would have to wonder whether it was worth putting their entire fleet at risk," Flournoy said."
Here is the link to Ms Flournoy's article in Foriegn Affairs: How to Prevent a War in Asia: The Erosion of American Deterrence Raises the Risk of Chinese Miscalculation, June 18, 2020: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2020-06-18/how-prevent-war-asia
10. In Trump's final days, a 30-year-old aide purges officials seen as insufficiently loyal
The Washington Post · November 14, 2020
Personnel is policy. This is quite a report.
11. The US and Japan Are Digging in their Heels Over the Senkaku Islands
The National Interest · by Brian Victoria · November 15, 2020
A line in the sand (or the ocean)?
This is a historical analysis that seeks to undermine the Japanese claims to the islands.
12. US urges Japan and South Korea to speak out against China despite trading relationship
US urges Japan and South Korea to speak out against China despite trading relationship
13. Rolling Back Trump's Workforce Policies Won't Be Simple
defenseone.com · by Erich Wagner
Again, personnel is policy. We forget that our civil service is full of servants who choose to serve our country in a civilian capacity. Just like in any are of the government, the military, or private industry there are people who should be removed for inferior performance. However, we should not be approaching our civil service and personnel policies from the perspective that our civil service is the enemy or worse, the "deep state."
14. A Decade Later, this Afghanistan Special Operations Story is Finally Coming to the Screen
military.com · by James Barber · November 13, 2020
I would be interested to know how many Rangers from the actual tragic incident will be involved in consulting on the making of this film.
15. 3 legendary leaders who made America's special-operations units into the elite forces they are today
whobserver.com · by Stavros Atlamazoglou · November 13, 2020
Beckwith, Bargewell, and McChrystal.
16. Asia-Pacific nations sign world's biggest free-trade agreement
DW · by Deutsche Welle
"It has actually been suggested that warfare may have been the principle evolutionary pressure that created the huge gap between the human brain and that of our closest living relatives, the anthropoid apes. Whole groups of hominids with inferior brains could not win wars and were therefore exterminated."
- Jane Goodall
"The mind of the enemy and the will of his leaders is a target of far more importance than the bodies of his troops. "
- Brigadier General S.B. Griffith, II, USMC
"Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment nothing can fail. Without it nothing can succeed. He who molds opinion is greater than he who enacts laws."
- President Abraham Lincoln
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