By Karsten Von Hoesslin, Senior Analyst, Risk Intelligence Strategic Insights, No. 30, February 2011 09/25/2011 Overview A considerable increase in reported incidents occurred between 2009 and 2010 with elevated levels of sophisticated piracy and armed sea robbery in the South China Sea, the Sulu Sea, and nearing the end of…
09/15/2011 Technology response to the lean years ahead? by Michael W. Wynne, Former Undersecretary, Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. From the maneuvers of Gen. Washington, through the intensity and brilliance of those serving on both sides of the Civil War, extending in both World Wars and Korea, with Island Hopping, and the…
9/15/2011 by Robbin Laird The Second Line of Defense team is starting a series, which we will call the strategic whiteboard. By leveraging the new systems being designed and built today, and building upon the capabilities of these new systems, America can have a better defense at less cost. This…
09/15/2011 by Col Robert "Juice" Newton USAF (ret) The coming weeks will see Congress debate various recommendations from the so-called deficit reduction super committee and the stakes could hardly be higher. This committee has until Thanksgiving to find $1.5 trillion in budget cuts and failure to do so will lead…
09/14/2011 [caption id="attachment_23997" align="alignleft" width="662" caption="Johan Freckhaus in Afghan operatons http://www.atlantico.fr/decryptage/combat-officier-francais-aupres-commandant-massoud-contre-taliban-178446.html "][/caption] As Americans observe the day 10 years ago when terrorists in hijacked planes attacked New York and the Pentagon, the people of northern Afghanistan remember what for them was a greater tragedy two days earlier on Sept. 9,…
09/14/2011 - Captain Robinson Harris US Navy (Retired), now with Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Sensors (MS2), provides an assessment of how the new Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) might be used in an irregular warfare scenario. The case described was that of a notional crisis in Nigeria with the need to assist the…
09/13/2011: During the Second Line of Defense visit to USCG Island in Alameda, California, Captain John Prince and the Executive Officer of the Bertholf David Ramassini discussed their recent tour aboard the Bertholf. The conversation occurred in late July 2011 shortly after Captain Prince had relinquished command of the Bertholf…
An Interview With Colonel Mark Desens, Commander of the 26th MEU 09/05/2011 - In July 2011, Second Line of Defense sat down with Colonel Mark Desens to discuss the recent deployment of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit. Earlier we had discussed, with Col. “Ozzie” Osborn, the 15th MEU, the evolution…
