10/23/2011 by Richard Weitz Now that all U.S. combat troops are scheduled to withdraw from Iraq by the end of this year, Iraq’s neighbors are positioning themselves. These neighbors are maneuvering to manage the resulting transformation in their regional security environment. [caption id="attachment_25373" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The latest Weitz Report on…
10/22/2011 - Second Line of Defense sat down with recently retired Lt. General Desclaux. Desclaux’s last command was as French Commander of Air Defense and Air Operations for the French Air Force. The General has a distinguished and comprehensive background in air operations, with significant NATO experience as well. An…
10/20/2011 Second Line of Defense recently visited Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron 1 (MAWTS) to hear first hand the effort to shape the F-35 transition. We also visited the construction team re-building Marine Corps Air Station Yuma and will report on the changes being made to operate the F-35Bs…
10/18/2011 Admiral Scott During the Briefing Aboard the USS Wasp on the F-35B Test Program Credit: SLD Second Line of Defense visited Marine Corps Air Station Yuma during the first week of October and talked with the leadership and workers building the new infrastructure for the F-35 at…
10/17/2011: During the Second Line of Defense visit to the West Coast in late July 2011 to discuss USCG operations and challenges, a wide-ranging discussion was conducted with the San Francisco Sector. Captain Cyndy Stowe, Sector Commander led the discussion. Captain Bliven, Commanders Stuhlreyer, and Tama participated in the round…
By Dr. Richard Weitz 10/17/2011 - One problem created by Vladimir Putin’s return to the Russian presidency is that it might make it harder to negotiate an agreement to reduce Russia’s large stockpile of tactical nuclear weapons (TNWs). No bilateral treaty limits the number of non-strategic nuclear weapons in the…
10/15/2011 - By Dr. Robbin Laird and Dr. Alain Dupas The Libyan military operation in Libya is not yet over. It is too early for scholarly and learned lessons. But it is not too early to look at the tactical experiences and how those experiences presage changes to come. We…
10/14/2011 By Richard Weitz Many of my questions in Turkey concerned that country’s ties with Russia. The Turkish officials we met considered their country’s relations with Russia to be their best ever. They pointed to their extensive bilateral trade, the millions of Russian tourists who visit Turkey each year, and the…
