Shaping Operational Flexibility: An Interview with Major General Owens

01/20/2013
2013-01-20 Second Line of Defense had a chance to talk with Major General Christopher Owens, Commanding General, 1st MAW in mid-December towards the end of a major USMC exercise in the Pacific. http://www.1stmaw.marines.mil/ https://slsp.manpower.usmc.mil/gosa/biographies/rptBiography.asp?PERSON_ID=2072&PERSON_TYPE=General Second Line of Defense had a chance to talk with Major General Christopher Owens, Commanding General, 1st…

Allies and Partners in a 21st Century Pacific Strategy

01/17/2013
2013-01-17 by Robbin Laird The 21st century is not the 20th.  But this is too often forgotten when it comes to shaping an effective military and security strategy. [caption id="attachment_48733" align="alignnone" width="232"] Any US-China rivalry in the Pacific really revolves around who has the most effective allied strategy. Credit Image:…

Why The Pacific Strategy Requires A Western Hemisphere Energy Policy

01/11/2013
2013-01-11 By Robbin Laird Energy security is a key element of national security. The missing piece of America's energy security policy, in turn, is the glaring absence of a strategy to coordinate and secure the enormous energy resources of the Western hemisphere. Today, America is over-dependent on the increasingly volatile Middle…

New Capabilities, New Constraints Call For New Concepts of Operation

01/09/2013
2013-01-09 by Lt. General (Retired) David Deptula Whatever happens with sequestration, Pentagon planners are now struggling to fit the services’ myriad programs under a reduced budget topline. Advocates point to their particular project or personnel as vital to US warfighting capacity.  Technologists point to new capabilities that will allow us…