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…
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…
09/26/2011 We have written elsewhere about the impact of the Osprey on Libyan operations. And Lt. Col. Boniface, the ACE commander for 26th MEU, underscored one element of that impact. The Ospreys from Afghanistan flew directly to Souda Bay, Crete and then onto Naval Air Station Signalla, Italy. This trip…
09/25/2011 - In early August 2011, Second Line of Defense sat down with Col. Sampsel and Secretary Wynne to discuss the transition in maintenance culture and its challenges for the F-35. Col. Sampsel is living through the transition and Secretary Wynne was one of the architects of the F-35 and…
An Interview with Major Debardeleben 09/27/2011 - During the annual Second Line of Defense visit to New River to discuss Osprey operations and experiences with the Osprey Nation, we had a chance to discuss the TRAP mission over Libya with the ACE commander and with one of the Osprey operators…
This special report on the National Security Cutter focuses on the key role which this capability plays for the USCG and its missions. The NSC is unique in providing for both defense and security missions provided for by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense. It is…
09/23/2011 We have just posted a new special report for downloading. This special report focuses on the USCG's National Security Cutter. The report looks at the key role which this capability plays for the USCG and its missions. The NSC is unique in providing for both defense and security missions which…
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…
