Shaping a Pacific Strategy: Honeycombing the Pacific

09/27/2011
09/27/2011 As the United States eventually gets around to looking at the world, a new strategy as well as a new approach to using the tools available to the national command authority will be necessary.  Currently, the US is in strategic free fall.  The Iraq engagement is ending, the Afghan…

Leveraging New Platforms During the Strategic Transition

09/26/2011
By Dr. Robbin Laird 09/26/2011 - The United States is facing twin pressures of fiscal constraints and a drawdown and withdrawal from Afghanistan.  The first highlights the need to reduce budgets; the second focuses upon the re-configuration of US forces. The need to reduce budgets in the context of a…

Mullen’s Parting Warning to Islamabad

09/23/2011
09/23/2011 by Richard Weitz The comments this week by Admiral Mike Mullen, the soon to retire Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, at perhaps his final congressional testimony, about the continuing links between Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Haqqani terrorist network were a welcome act of shock…

India: Bad cop in a predicament?

09/22/2011
By Karsten Von Hoesslin, Senior Analyst, Risk Intelligence Strategic Insights, No. 32, May 2011 09/22/2011 - On 29 September 2010, the Panama flagged asphalt tanker ASPHALT VENTURE was hijacked by Somali pirates off the Tanzanian coast. On 15 April 2011, after 200 days of detention and an estimated US$3.2 to…

The Role of the Osprey in Operation Odyssey Dawn

09/22/2011
09/22/2011 - During our annual visit to New River to get caught up on Osprey developments, Second Line of Defense sat down with Lt. Col. Boniface who was the XO for the Aviation Combat Element (ACE) for the 26th MEU. We have published recently an interview with Col. Desens, the…

A New Project Solarium

09/20/2011
By Dr. Richard Weitz 09/21/2011 - Many think tanks have been launching new “Project Solarium” exercises designed to assess the advantages, costs, risks, and implications of several plausible U.S. grand strategies in coming years. These exercises seek to identify the most important trends, drivers, and potential "black swans" that could…