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…
09/13/11 by Richard Weitz Like Robbin Laird, I too found myself at the Pentagon on the morning of September 11, 2001. At the time I was going to work at a nearby federally foundered research and development corporation that supported several Defense Department programs. The company had shuttle buses that…
The LPD-24 Sails Into the Future By Ed Timperlake and Robbin Laird 06/14/2011 - Recently, it was revealed that DOD plans to keep in operation ships for more than 70 years! To put this in context, if the USS Maine had not been blown up in Havana it could have…
By Tetsuo Kotani, Special Research Fellow, the Okazaki Institute, Tokyo Strategic Insights, No. 31, March 2011 09/08/2011 - Surrounded by the sea on all sides, Japan enjoys the benefits of the waters around it in the form of fishery and maritime trade with countries around the world. However, these waters…
09/08/2011 - The Second Line of Defense team visited the 11th USCG District in July 2011. The team included retired Rear Admiral Ed Gilbert who among other things was a former 11th USCG District commander. The current commander, Rear Admiral Joseph Castillo, provided a perspective of some of the key…
By Dr. Richard Weitz (Credit: Bigstock) 09/05/2011 - Turkish President Abdullah Gu, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu have recently warned that they might side with the Syrian protesters if the Syrian government did not order the security forces to end their massive violence against the…
An Exclusive Interview with the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Reported by George Talbot [caption id="attachment_23671" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Adm. Mark P. Fitzgerald, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa, right, escorts Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead to an all-hands call at Naval Support Activity Naples. Credit: USN Visual…
09/06/2011 By Maj. General Tim Hanifen, Rear Adm. Sinclair Harris and Robert Holzer Global demand for amphibious forces outstrips resources. When a crisis erupts the first question U.S. leaders often ask is, “Where are the aircraft carriers?” This historical axiom, however, has expanded over time and now regional commanders also…
