By David Shedd, RealClearDefense: “Both China and Russia now rank as great powers and antagonistic competitors—and they are not alone. To cope with this reality, the military is shifting its primary focus from defeating international terrorism to prevailing in a great-power competition. U.S. intelligence must do the same.”
The Future of Psychological Operations
By Wade Pommer, Small Wars Journal: "Special Operations Forces - Psychological Operations should not exist in its current form. Rather, it should be moved to Conventional Forces with direct access to the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense."
(Defense One) The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence submitted its interim report and third-quarter recommendations to the president and Congress Tuesday.
By Conor O’Neill, Defence-in-Depth: "Mission command is firmly built into UK and Allied military doctrine. It has become an article of faith that it produces better results as it “…encourages initiative and decentralized decision-making” and thus “promotes…speed of action…”"
Intrapreneurship: The Art of Innovation and Influence
By Shamsa Lea & Lyndsay Freeman, Grounded Curiosity: "You might purely associate ‘intrapreneurship’ with tech startups and meetings on exercise balls with frappuccinos. Not very ‘military’ at first glance, but fostering a culture of intrapreneurship has immense value for the ADF. Let’s explore why, and how you can build on your passion for creativity and innovation within your sphere of influence in Defence."
Via Decision 2020In the twentieth edition of the Decision 2020 Report, Hoover fellows assess the economic, national security, and geopolitical implications of innovations in artificial intelligence (AI).
By Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen, September 27, 2020
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Two messages continue to ring out on the eve of the anniversary of the Yom Kippur War. One concerns the severity of the intelligence failure at the time, and the other promises that the right lessons have been learned and the IDF is now prepared for any scenario. When the failure is portrayed as essentially the lack of an intelligence warning, it is easy to promise that it has been diagnosed and remedied in a way that prevent its future recurrence. But an in-depth look at the war shows that the reasons for the fiasco went far beyond the intelligence failure.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The IDF’s difficulties at the outset of the 1973 Yom Kippur War stemmed from an inherent command flaw rather than an intelligence failure as is commonly believed. The roots of this flaw date back to 1957, when Chief of Staff Moshe Dayan decided on an early retirement age for IDF personnel so as to enable them to embark on a second career. Defense Minister David Ben-Gurion, who saw the dangers of the decision, opposed it but did not use his authority to revoke it.
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By Dr. Hanan Shai, October 9, 2020
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Although Israeli PM Golda Meir lacked military knowledge, her questions during government discussions on the eve of the Yom Kippur War exposed the fact that deterrence and early warning, the two cornerstones of Israel’s security conception, had not been adequately addressed. If the IDF officers and the many bithonistim (officials with a security background) in her government had heeded her questions, the war could have gone very differently and perhaps even have been averted.
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Command and Control Vulnerabilities After a Limited Nuclear Strike
By Bruce G. Blair, Sebastien Philippe & Sharon K. Weiner, War on the Rocks: “Imagine a rapidly escalating conflict between Russian and NATO forces. Compensating for Russia’s perceived conventional inferiority, Russian commanders execute a limited nuclear strike — a small number of low-yield weapons intended to change conditions on the battlefield.”
By James Holmes, 1945: "For decades China-watchers have debated what form a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) offensive against Taiwan might take. An onslaught seems to be coming. Saying no to a cross-strait union is not an option Chinese Communist Party (CCP) supremo Xi Jinping means to grant the islanders."
Colin Dueck | NationalReview.com
Conservatives and Republicans around the country are divided into three distinct groupings or tendencies: foreign policy activists, foreign policy hard-liners, and foreign policy noninterventionists. Full Story