Author Topic: Military Science, Military Issues, and the Nature of War  (Read 392319 times)

ccp

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follow up to previous post "Zhu Hai Yun "
« Reply #1050 on: June 11, 2022, 04:21:26 PM »

G M

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Re: follow up to previous post "Zhu Hai Yun "
« Reply #1051 on: June 11, 2022, 06:52:30 PM »

Crafty_Dog

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George Friedman: The Evolution of Great Powers
« Reply #1052 on: June 27, 2022, 01:48:18 AM »
June 21, 2022
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The Evolution of Great Powers
By: George Friedman

The evolution of military power is one of the most important if underrated geopolitical changes happening in the world today. Throughout the 20th century, military power was the province of large nations. Machines dominated the battlefield, and the production of these machines, the materials that fueled them and the ordnance they used required access to complex factories and massive amounts of raw materials. This, in turn, required vast numbers of workers – and the housing and food the workers needed to function. An economy of this scale needed to produce large numbers of ships, planes, tanks and all other manners of wartime materiel, even as they required functioning economies outside the wartime economy, providing the basic necessities of life and, ideally, maintaining national morale.

Battlefields are black holes of consumption. Any nation can build a plane or tank or send a man to his death, but wars were won by nations that could build enormous numbers of planes and tanks and replace the ones that had been destroyed by the enemy – not to mention replenish the steady stream of dead soldiers.

Small nations could not engage in high-intensity war because they lacked the resources to do so. The definition of a great power, then, was a country with a large population, the agricultural system that fed it and the mineral base that could arm it. Given the deaths and damage the enemy could inflict, the key to military power was the size of the population and its resources. It also ideally had to be vast, with resources dispersed such that an enemy victory in one region would not mean a victory in all regions.

As important, successful wartime nations needed technical expertise. Aircraft, warships and tanks needed to be planned and built, and the designs needed constant upgrading in response to the technical evolutions of the enemy. This meant that great powers had large numbers of inherently scarce technicians.

After World War II, only the United States and the Soviet Union had the potential to wage war as great powers. (They were later joined by China.) Before the war, smaller powers, like Germany, the United Kingdom, France or Japan could be considered great powers too, but in the end, they either lost or participated in an alliance.

In the intervening years, there has been a vast evolution of martial technology. It was once necessary to bring a 40-ton tank 2,000 miles away to deliver 40 or 50 pounds of explosives on an enemy position. The first British bomber attack was so inaccurate that the Germans couldn’t figure out what the British target was. Ships could not see farther than the horizon, where an enemy fleet could be lurking. Special aircraft had to be launched simply to see deep. Paradoxically, the more primitive the system, the more resources were required to sustain it. The more aware of its environment and the more accurate the guidance, the lower the drain. For example, a satellite can provide an enemy’s location, and automated internal guidance systems on munitions can strike precisely. There are new satellites that belong in a new class. As a result of accuracy, a force requires fewer munitions. The concentration of manpower shifts from the active battlefield to managing intelligence and rapidly innovating technologies. War no longer required a massive population, nor does it require massive consumption of raw material.

This has significant geopolitical consequences. Small and even very small countries can wage war, particularly against older model militaries that lack the precision and range of the new class of countries. These small countries shift from a dependence on depth to time. The more room a country had, the more room it had to disperse. In the emerging model of war, the more time they have in which to react to dangers, the more effective they are. It is not a single evolution so much as a set of evolutions, from space-based intelligence to long-range autotargeted weapons to automated anti-missile systems.

We can see this evolution most clearly in Israel. Founded first on French and then American weapons, the Israeli military now has homegrown capabilities that it (ironically) can sell to others. They are designed around the principle that putting troops at risk is a possible but rare event, while using unmanned force as the dominant element of strategy. Israel has come the furthest with this strategy, but it can be seen also in places such as the United Arab Emirates and Singapore. As a result, each wields international political power far beyond what might have been expected from it during the prior era. New technologies enable small powers to engage much larger powers. The core of the force is the technologists who maintain and upgrade systems – a fraction of the manpower needed by the old definition of great powers.

Of course, manned militaries remain indispensable. But the conversion to a new mode of thought is well underway. Israel has a striking amount of regional influence, but its technology cannot fully defend against a massive force from the last era’s great power. Maintaining one culture while creating new ones sparks crises between cultures – and within budgets. The new technology is ready for operation, but by itself it is not yet proven.

Still, the evolution is underway, and that means that the definition of great power will have to change. Russia expected to defeat Ukraine with older weapons. That has not happened, at least not yet. Russia has to evolve its military. So will other large great powers if they wish to have effective forces. There is no inherent reason they can’t evolve, but their size is no longer decisive. Smaller nations can become great powers, decisive and dangerous.



Crafty_Dog

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Re: Military Science, Military Issues, and the Nature of War
« Reply #1055 on: June 29, 2022, 07:56:06 PM »
Fk . . .

G M

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The purge
« Reply #1056 on: June 30, 2022, 07:23:54 AM »
https://media.gab.com/system/media_attachments/files/110/041/097/original/ef756233d58a45bb.jpg



Can't recruit, but let's purge the freethinkers!

They might not shoot Americans.


Crafty_Dog

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Concerned Grads of West Point letter
« Reply #1058 on: July 03, 2022, 06:06:05 AM »
Concerned Graduates of West Point Challenge Leadership of Military Academy: Letter
By Enrico Trigoso June 26, 2022 Updated: June 27, 2022biggersmaller Print

0:00
4:05



1

Three retired U.S. military officers—LTG Thomas McInerney, USAF; MG Paul Vallely, U.S. Army; and Colonel Andrew O’Meara Jr., U.S. Army—signed a letter authored by “Concerned Graduates of West Point and The Long Gray Line,” protesting against mandatory vaccinations, CRT classes, sanitary conditions, progressive political activism, and other “woke actions,” in the military academy.

“The Long Gray Line” refers to the continuum of graduates United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.

“We wanted to challenge the leadership of the Academy and the Defense Dept on their WOKE actions, CRT, Diversity training and the other discrepancies in the Academy. We found it pervasive at the Naval and Air Force Academies so we knew it was directed from the highest levels of our Military Leadership,” Vallely told The Epoch Times.

Epoch Times Photo
Paul E Vallely MG US Army (Ret) (Courtesy of Paul E Vallely)
“We all want the Military to get back on track to training and leading our Armed Forces to secure America and its Citizens,” Vallely, who has been sounding the alarm against a socialist takeover of the United States, added.

The letter, titled “Declaration of Betrayal of West Point And the Long Gray Line,” asks for the following information:

An explanation for the irregularities in the enforcement of the Honor Code.
A justification for the mandatory vaccinations of cadets with the COVID Virus despite widespread adverse reactions to the inoculation, as well as provisions for exceptions for cadets with religious objections.
An explanation for teaching Critical Race Theory at the Academy that constitutes an attack upon the Constitution and our constitutional Republic. This is behavior that constitutes unconstitutional conduct, if not sedition.
An explanation of reported mismanagement of the cadet dining facility resulting in unsanitary conditions, inadequate food prepared for the meal, and food served that was reportedly unfit for consumption.
Political activism on the part of civilian faculty members constituting political activity violating the long-standing policy of the Academy and Army Regulations.
The practice of exclusive reliance upon radical progressive guest speakers to address the Corps of Cadets. This practice results in prejudiced political activism on the part of the Staff and Faculty in violation of Army Regulations.
An explanation for the failure of the Superintendent to respond to correspondence inquiring about problems identified at the Academy.
Endangering the Mission
They believe that there is a rejection of the principles of the military academy which could endanger its original mission “to educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country and prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to the Nation as an officer in the United States Army.”

They sent the letter in the hopes that authorities take heed of their advice regarding the problems that they have spotted.

The letter was sent to the Superintendent of the Academy as well as the President and Directors of the Association of Graduates (AOG), alleging that the West Point Academy is “conducting business in a manner that ignores time-honored principles of the Academy, Constitutional Law, and our sworn oath of office.”

“When you take away to teach a critical race theory and communist ideology, you’re taking away from the time that could be used for learning how to shoot better, how to operate airplanes better, take care of airplanes through maintenance; and even within the medical corps of the armed forces, it has affected many the doctors and nurses. So it’s a terrible thing. They need to stop it right now. They need to stop enforcing the mandates,” Vallely recently told The Epoch Times.

Vaccine Mandate Deadline
As the June 30 deadline nears for compliance with the U.S. military’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, U.S. Army officials publicly claim a very small percentage of its members are unvaccinated, reporting 96 percent or more of its members are fully vaccinated.

However, the Army’s vaccination rate could be far lower than 96 percent, an anonymous active-duty senior Army official told The Defender.

The Epoch Times reached out to West Point Public Affairs for comment.



ccp

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new names for military bases
« Reply #1059 on: July 04, 2022, 07:03:36 AM »
https://www.yahoo.com/news/army-bases-honor-confederate-traitors-115801444.html

wokism, is  clearly a big part in the calculations
as it is for everything now

Crafty_Dog

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G M

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Re: Military Science, Military Issues, and the Nature of War
« Reply #1061 on: July 09, 2022, 11:29:24 PM »

ccp

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G M

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What if the US had a military and nobody enlisted?
« Reply #1064 on: July 13, 2022, 08:58:34 AM »






ccp

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very interesting, but exactly what is plasma?
« Reply #1070 on: July 14, 2022, 08:53:17 AM »
"A sufficiently intense laser pulse can ionize producing a burst of glowing plasma. The Laser Induced Plasma Effects program uses single plasma bursts as flash-bang stun grenades; a rapid series of such pluses can even be modulated to transmit a spoken message (video here). In 2011 Japanese company Burton Inc demonstrated a rudimentary system that created moving 3D images in mid-air with a series of rapidly-generated plasma dots (video here)."

This pops up in rapid Google search:

"Plasma physics is the study of charged particles and fluids interacting with self-consistent electric and magnetic fields. It is a basic research discipline that has many different areas of application — space and astrophysics, controlled fusion, accelerator physics and beam storage."

the military knows this so what was the big secret?
till now

So is CCP testing this against our military?


« Last Edit: July 14, 2022, 08:54:50 AM by ccp »

Crafty_Dog

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US military can't fulfill strategy because of Force Cuts
« Reply #1071 on: July 15, 2022, 08:41:24 AM »
MILITARY
US Military Can’t Fulfill National Defense Strategy Because of Force Cuts: Experts
By Andrew Thornebrooke July 14, 2022 Updated: July 14, 2022biggersmaller Print
ET


The U.S. military isn’t able to fully realize the demands of the National Defense Strategy because of years of force cuts and a failure to modernize its arsenal, according to experts.

“There’s a huge gap between what the national defense strategy requires that the Navy, the Air Force, the Army, and the Marine Corps [provide] and what they can actually provide today,” said Mark Gunzinger, director of future concepts and capability assessments at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. “That’s the product of three decades worth of force cuts and delayed modernization.”

To make up for that fact and to prepare for a possible conflict with China, the United States may need to consider increasing its use of cheaper, unmanned systems in an effort to augment its more expensive assets, Gunzinger said. Particularly so, given that U.S. officials have warned that China’s communist regime could launch an invasion of Taiwan by 2027.

“How do you make up that gap and in the time frame we’re talking about?” he said. “A big part of the answer in unmanned systems.”

Many US Systems Not Mission Capable
Gunzinger delivered the remarks during a July 12 roundtable on the issue of U.S. air and naval forces development hosted by the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank.

The group of experts discussed how unmanned systems could boost the survivability and warfighting capacity of U.S. military units in the Pacific, even as the military contends with sluggish readiness levels.

One such sign of dwindling military readiness discussed is a decade-long decrease in mission-capable systems, a trend most pronounced in the Navy and Marine Corps, which would be responsible for most of the fighting in the event of a conflict with China.

In perhaps the most jarring example of decreasing readiness, roughly 50 percent of the military’s F-18 Super Hornet fighter jets were considered to not be mission capable, according to Diana Maurer, director of defense capabilities and management at the Government Accountability Office.

“When half of your aircraft are not able to get up in the air to perform a single mission, that really blunts the ability to carry out some of the operations that the Navy and others would like to perform,” she said. “That’s a concern.”

Maurer said there were similar concerns with a number of vessels typically used to launch such aircraft and that the backlog and delays for routine maintenance on naval vessels were negatively affecting the military in profound ways.

To that end, she said the various service branches would need to do more to overcome “institutional bias” and integrate with one another in order to be capable of seizing the advantage in a Pacific conflict.

“They’re going to have to work together in a much more integrated, much more seamless way to make that possible,” Maurer said.

US Forces Not Ready for China Conflict
Overall, the United States would need to do much to regain the high ground against China in the Pacific, according to Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.

“The main challenge we’re facing is the missile threat posed by China,” Clark said. “Fundamentally, China has the ability to reach out thousands of miles away from its coast and threaten carrier strike groups … with a large number of precision strike weapons.”

As such, he said, U.S. forces would likely need to operate in a highly constrained environment, 1,000 to 1,500 nautical miles away from the Chinese coastline in order to be effective. Even then, however, it would face its biggest challenge in Chinese aircraft with large salvos of cruise missiles and bombs.

Clark and his Hudson Institute colleague, Timothy Walton, co-authored a report (pdf) on the issue earlier in the year. In that document, they made the case that the Navy and Marine Corps should opt to field more F-18s and fewer costly F-35s.

The F-35’s operational advantages would be effectively nullified given the distance they would have to be stationed away from Chinese forces, the authors said. The United States could make up the difference much more efficiently through distributed counter-air operations that relied on more drones and layered short-range air defenses, they said.

Such may not be the direction the Navy has in mind, however.

“Our engagement with the Navy showed that they were thinking of getting longer-range weapons to try to deal with the challenge,” Clark said. “Fundamentally, they’re constrained by the fact that their future attack aircraft portfolio is F-35s and F-18s, they don’t have a more penetrating aircraft on the horizon.”

To that end, Clark said physically larger missiles also meant reducing salvo sizes and that the strategy might not be affordable at scale. As such, his and Walton’s report suggested overhauling U.S. aircraft carriers to focus solely on strike capabilities while transferring other operation capacities to land and space assets.

==============

Even D1:

https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2022/07/fewer-military-families-would-recommend-uniformed-service-survey-finds/374481/
« Last Edit: July 15, 2022, 08:56:44 AM by Crafty_Dog »

Crafty_Dog

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Chinese aircraft carrier
« Reply #1072 on: July 17, 2022, 08:18:09 AM »


Crafty_Dog

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A different theory on enlistment woes
« Reply #1074 on: July 23, 2022, 10:32:59 AM »
How Covid May Have Crushed Military Recruitment

A U.S. Navy officer from the amphibious ship USS San Diego (LPD 22) receives a coronavirus vaccine at the navy port in Manama, Bahrain, February 26, 2021. (Brandon Woods/U.S. Navy/Handout via Reuters)
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By LUTHER RAY ABEL
July 23, 2022 6:30 AM
Allow me to offer the simplest explanation.
Word on the street is that military recruits are more and more difficult to come by. National Review’s Isaac Schorr and the New York Times have both valuably reported the recruiting shortfalls of late. They are an unfortunate but predictable outcome of a panoply of factors.

Perhaps not surprisingly, commentators have their pet reasons for why the Army might have secured only 40 percent of the 57,000 they hope to enlist by the end of the fiscal year and why even the Air Force — long considered the most desirable branch to join — is 4,000 short. The Left prefers to cite extremism in the enlisted ranks along with economic factors; the Right posits that woke-ism detrimental to the cause has proliferated under Biden’s administration while obesity has rendered many Americans physically unfit to serve. Naturally, there’s a tad more to the story; please allow me to apply Occam’s razor, even if it puts me in partisan-pundit territory.

The simplest and best explanation for the recruitment shortage is that potential recruits are disinclined to join because of vaccination requirements, limited exposure to recruiters stemming from lockdowns, and the dire warnings of family members and others who have served and abhor the direction some parts of the military have gone.

Three years ago, the Army met its goal of 68,000 recruits. Today, it struggles to hit a mark 11,000 below that. The economy was hot in 2019, with a solid 3.6 unemployment rate, so I’m not buying the economic argument as a primary reason. Further, the military was composed of a wide array of political nonsense of all stripes in the same year and long before. During my time in, we received absurd lectures along progressive lines on the regular; Obama or Trump, it didn’t matter. We grumblingly signed the muster sheet, departed our consciousnesses for the presentation, and looked for an opportunity to disappear from the lecture hall during the head breaks. The average shop aboard a carrier has pseudo-Marxists next to Trumpists next to social democrats next to neocons: They all talk s*** and don’t vote. What changed was Covid.

Our reaction to Covid did a few things simultaneously, all stymieing recruitment. Recruiters went from readily accessing schools, social institutions, and public events to having prolonged removal from all of the above. Recruiters are salesmen, and if MM2 (SW) Abel can’t shake hands with a young man or woman and fervently extol the many virtues of living in a press of sweat-stained coveralls eating reheated chicken for months at a time, then the sale becomes much more difficult. As a former recruit, I can attest that you build a relationship with your recruiters. I remember mine fondly. One was round; the other had a creepy mustache and worked part-time as a barista at Starbucks. But man, were they hilarious. A comedy duo, with the former playing the straight man and the other the gonzo funnyman. It was these exhibitions of camaraderie that made the Navy attractive.

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But with Covid, the military became a good deal less fun and increasingly antagonistic. While rarely a click-your-heels-with-joy adventure, deployments have provided young sailors the opportunity to experience countries they would never otherwise have known. Ask any servicemember about his or her enlistment, and foreign travel tops the list nigh-always. But bases locked down, deployed ships pulled into port, and masking was mandated. Imagine day after day in hot, humid climates with your breath recycling into your face. That whole thing about required vaccination didn’t help either.

The military’s recruitment comes as much or more from personal recommendation as it does from recruiters’ efforts. If you’re a rising high-school senior and considering enlistment, you reach out to a graduate who has since enlisted to hear how it is. If one receives a response detailing the misery that military service was during the lockdown period, who of sound mind would want to volunteer?

Crafty_Dog

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G M

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We lead the world in military drag shows for children!
« Reply #1077 on: August 05, 2022, 08:05:18 AM »




Crafty_Dog

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ET: Pentagon's Vaxx mandate is illegal?
« Reply #1081 on: August 25, 2022, 07:18:48 AM »
CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS
Pentagon’s Vaccine Mandate Is Illegal, Military Whistleblowers Allege in Memo to Members of Congress
By J.M. Phelps August 24, 2022 Updated: August 24, 2022biggersmaller Print



In opposition to the continued military vaccine mandate, a group of military whistleblowers delivered a 41-page memorandum to members of Congress on Aug. 16.

Captain Joshua “Hippity” Hoppe, a Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey pilot, wrote to various Congressmen, explaining that he and other signatories of the memo had attempted to bring their concerns about the military vaccine mandate to their commanders, but their efforts had “fallen on deaf ears.” In June, a 12-page report titled the Congressional Survey of Accountability, Truth, and Freedom (ATAF) began a public attempt to call attention to the difficulties of service members who refuse the vaccine mandate typically for religious reasons.

According to the whistleblower memo, Emergency Use Authorized (EUA) vaccines, as opposed to vaccines that received full Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval, have been unlawfully administered by the Department of Defense (DoD) since August 2021.

The argument rests on the claim that the Pentagon’s Aug. 24, 2021, vaccine mandate applied to “COVID-19 vaccines that receive full licensure from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in accordance with FDA-approved labeling and guidance.” And therefore EUA vaccines cannot be forced upon service members.

“Americans never lose the right to legally refuse an EUA product,” the memo stated.

The document further argued that “the DoD cannot claim ignorance with regard to the legal differences between an EUA product and a licensed product.”

The memo’s signatories also alleged that the new Comirnaty-labeled vials, which ostensibly have full FDA-approval, carry lot numbers associated with EUA vaccines, noting that “misrepresenting an EUA manufactured lot of vaccine product as a fully licensed product is a violation of labeling.”

Hoppe and his colleagues are now calling upon recipients of the current memo to publish the report on their Congressional websites, call for Austin to cease enforcing the vaccine mandate, begin a Congressional investigation into this issue and potential fraudulent actions, and hold any responsible parties to account. He hopes constituents in their home states will also encourage members of Congress to act.

The Epoch Times spoke to Navy Lt. Commander Patrick Wier, a second signatory on the memo. The 12-year veteran of the Navy currently serves a Reserve Judge Advocate General (JAG). His concern about the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on members of the nation’s military existed prior to Defense Secretary Llyod Austin’s announcement of a vaccine mandate. In March 2021, he said, he submitted a paper to his command explaining why he would oppose “the eventual vaccine mandate.”

Around the same time, he also sent a copy to several congressmen and senators in hopes of “getting them on board.” This initial effort garnered a “mixed response,” he said. Some remained advocates for the vaccine and others offered support for his decision to reject the vaccine.

Four months later, Wier’s instinct became reality. Austin directed the DoD to mandate the vaccine for service members. And despite there not being an FDA-approved vaccine available at the time, and while there is still not one today, Wier said, he chose to “remain committed to military service” while requesting religious accommodation.

Although the Pentagon has issued a policy (pdf) saying the FDA-approved Comirnaty and EUA Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are interchangeable, the legality of this policy continues to be contested by service members, like Wier.

With an appeal pending, his religious accommodation request was denied on Feb. 26.

In the interim, Wier said he was given a report of misconduct for failing to get the vaccine during the time period between receiving his denial letter and submitting his appeal. While he seeks to have the report of misconduct removed from his record, a misconduct investigation is still pending.

These incidents compelled Wier to gladly participate in the memorandum to Congress. He hopes the memo will “bring awareness to Congress.” He considers the governing body “to be the stewards of, and oversight for, the military which is being discriminatorily treated in an unlawful manner.”

In response to the whistleblower allegations, on Aug. 18, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis. ) sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, FDA Commissioner Robert Califf and CDC Director Rochelle Walensky asking them address multiple issues with the vaccine options. The senator questioned why some Comirnaty-labeled lot numbers correspond with EUA vaccine lots.


The Constitution Protects Service Members

Laws enacted by Congress offer protections to all service members, Wier said. These come in the form of requirements for informed consent, protections against clinical trials and testing on military members, and through the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, he explained. “Each of those protections are there because Congress has the job of controlling and overseeing the protection of service members,” he added.

The American public and members of the military have been lied to about the COVID-19 vaccines, according to Wier. “There’s an entire web of lies out there and no one understands the truth,” he said. The vaccine has been proven to be ineffective and presents dangers to those who have received it, he argued. In a recent report by substack The Dossier, service members are coming forward with allegations of vaccine-related injuries throughout the Air Force.

“Enemies within the military structure are not supporting the laws of the United States, whether that’s the Constitution or other statutory regulations,” Wier said. “Taxpayer dollars, used to fund the military, should be funding the military’s mission which protects the American way of life,” he said.

“First and foremost, in accordance with the Constitution, the military defends America against foreign and domestic enemies,” Wier said. “Unfortunately, some of those enemies are now within,” and many undermining the Constitutional rights of all service members, he said.

“I’ve heard throughout my career that I gave up my rights when I joined the military,” Wier said. “I challenge anyone to find me where I’ve agreed to give up any Constitutional right.” As a Navy JAG, he is very familiar with the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), and many statutes of the country.

“While there are restrictions under the UCMJ that control my behavior and appropriate courses of action,” he said, “none of them impede Constitutional rights.” He pointed out that Article 92 of the UCMJ states that “orders have to be Constitutional in order to be followed.” According to Wier, the military vaccine mandate is unlawful, and this sentiment is fully expressed in the memo recently sent to Congress.

Further explaining his rights, Wier admitted that when he joined the Navy, he proudly donned a Navy uniform. “And while, theoretically, I may have given up the ability to wear jeans and a T-shirt to work, I haven’t lost any Constitutional rights,” he said.

However, the vaccine mandate is unconstitutional and “must be ended,” Wier said. “In my opinion,” he said, “there’s no legal authority for the current vaccine mandate as outlined in the memorandum provided to members of Congress.” FDA-approved vaccines are not available and there is no justification for their use or enforcement, he said.

Wier maintains that the vaccine mandate is unconstitutional because it does not provide exceptions to support every servicemember’s rights to the free exercise of religion. According to the lawyer, it also violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which ensures that interests in religious freedom are protected against interference from the government.

“Other than through its own self-serving conclusions,” Wier said, “the DoD and the Navy have been unable to substantiate that the vaccine mandate is necessary, and the least restrictive means, to serve a compelling government interest.”

According to Wier, the vaccine mandate has not ensured mission readiness, as evidenced by the continued COVID-19 transmission of vaccinated servicemembers.

“Instead, mission readiness has been degraded by the vaccine mandate, because it has prevented many valuable and courageous servicemembers—those most willing to publicly embrace honor, courage, and commitment—from performing their responsibilities,” he said.

“By continuing to enforce it, military readiness is suffering because there are thousands of good, strong warriors who believe in the Constitution that are currently being separated from the military or sidelined from their jobs, unable to do what the taxpayers are paying them to do.”

The damage being done to military readiness is “irresponsible and dangerous,” he added.

Wier expressed that his views were his own and not that of the Department of Defense or Department of the Navy.

The Pentagon did not return an inquiry from The Epoch Times.

G M

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Re: ET: Pentagon's Vaxx mandate is illegal?
« Reply #1082 on: August 25, 2022, 07:22:58 AM »
The narrative is collapsing.

CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS
Pentagon’s Vaccine Mandate Is Illegal, Military Whistleblowers Allege in Memo to Members of Congress
By J.M. Phelps August 24, 2022 Updated: August 24, 2022biggersmaller Print



In opposition to the continued military vaccine mandate, a group of military whistleblowers delivered a 41-page memorandum to members of Congress on Aug. 16.

Captain Joshua “Hippity” Hoppe, a Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey pilot, wrote to various Congressmen, explaining that he and other signatories of the memo had attempted to bring their concerns about the military vaccine mandate to their commanders, but their efforts had “fallen on deaf ears.” In June, a 12-page report titled the Congressional Survey of Accountability, Truth, and Freedom (ATAF) began a public attempt to call attention to the difficulties of service members who refuse the vaccine mandate typically for religious reasons.

According to the whistleblower memo, Emergency Use Authorized (EUA) vaccines, as opposed to vaccines that received full Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval, have been unlawfully administered by the Department of Defense (DoD) since August 2021.

The argument rests on the claim that the Pentagon’s Aug. 24, 2021, vaccine mandate applied to “COVID-19 vaccines that receive full licensure from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in accordance with FDA-approved labeling and guidance.” And therefore EUA vaccines cannot be forced upon service members.

“Americans never lose the right to legally refuse an EUA product,” the memo stated.

The document further argued that “the DoD cannot claim ignorance with regard to the legal differences between an EUA product and a licensed product.”

The memo’s signatories also alleged that the new Comirnaty-labeled vials, which ostensibly have full FDA-approval, carry lot numbers associated with EUA vaccines, noting that “misrepresenting an EUA manufactured lot of vaccine product as a fully licensed product is a violation of labeling.”

Hoppe and his colleagues are now calling upon recipients of the current memo to publish the report on their Congressional websites, call for Austin to cease enforcing the vaccine mandate, begin a Congressional investigation into this issue and potential fraudulent actions, and hold any responsible parties to account. He hopes constituents in their home states will also encourage members of Congress to act.

The Epoch Times spoke to Navy Lt. Commander Patrick Wier, a second signatory on the memo. The 12-year veteran of the Navy currently serves a Reserve Judge Advocate General (JAG). His concern about the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on members of the nation’s military existed prior to Defense Secretary Llyod Austin’s announcement of a vaccine mandate. In March 2021, he said, he submitted a paper to his command explaining why he would oppose “the eventual vaccine mandate.”

Around the same time, he also sent a copy to several congressmen and senators in hopes of “getting them on board.” This initial effort garnered a “mixed response,” he said. Some remained advocates for the vaccine and others offered support for his decision to reject the vaccine.

Four months later, Wier’s instinct became reality. Austin directed the DoD to mandate the vaccine for service members. And despite there not being an FDA-approved vaccine available at the time, and while there is still not one today, Wier said, he chose to “remain committed to military service” while requesting religious accommodation.

Although the Pentagon has issued a policy (pdf) saying the FDA-approved Comirnaty and EUA Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are interchangeable, the legality of this policy continues to be contested by service members, like Wier.

With an appeal pending, his religious accommodation request was denied on Feb. 26.

In the interim, Wier said he was given a report of misconduct for failing to get the vaccine during the time period between receiving his denial letter and submitting his appeal. While he seeks to have the report of misconduct removed from his record, a misconduct investigation is still pending.

These incidents compelled Wier to gladly participate in the memorandum to Congress. He hopes the memo will “bring awareness to Congress.” He considers the governing body “to be the stewards of, and oversight for, the military which is being discriminatorily treated in an unlawful manner.”

In response to the whistleblower allegations, on Aug. 18, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis. ) sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, FDA Commissioner Robert Califf and CDC Director Rochelle Walensky asking them address multiple issues with the vaccine options. The senator questioned why some Comirnaty-labeled lot numbers correspond with EUA vaccine lots.


The Constitution Protects Service Members

Laws enacted by Congress offer protections to all service members, Wier said. These come in the form of requirements for informed consent, protections against clinical trials and testing on military members, and through the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, he explained. “Each of those protections are there because Congress has the job of controlling and overseeing the protection of service members,” he added.

The American public and members of the military have been lied to about the COVID-19 vaccines, according to Wier. “There’s an entire web of lies out there and no one understands the truth,” he said. The vaccine has been proven to be ineffective and presents dangers to those who have received it, he argued. In a recent report by substack The Dossier, service members are coming forward with allegations of vaccine-related injuries throughout the Air Force.

“Enemies within the military structure are not supporting the laws of the United States, whether that’s the Constitution or other statutory regulations,” Wier said. “Taxpayer dollars, used to fund the military, should be funding the military’s mission which protects the American way of life,” he said.

“First and foremost, in accordance with the Constitution, the military defends America against foreign and domestic enemies,” Wier said. “Unfortunately, some of those enemies are now within,” and many undermining the Constitutional rights of all service members, he said.

“I’ve heard throughout my career that I gave up my rights when I joined the military,” Wier said. “I challenge anyone to find me where I’ve agreed to give up any Constitutional right.” As a Navy JAG, he is very familiar with the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), and many statutes of the country.

“While there are restrictions under the UCMJ that control my behavior and appropriate courses of action,” he said, “none of them impede Constitutional rights.” He pointed out that Article 92 of the UCMJ states that “orders have to be Constitutional in order to be followed.” According to Wier, the military vaccine mandate is unlawful, and this sentiment is fully expressed in the memo recently sent to Congress.

Further explaining his rights, Wier admitted that when he joined the Navy, he proudly donned a Navy uniform. “And while, theoretically, I may have given up the ability to wear jeans and a T-shirt to work, I haven’t lost any Constitutional rights,” he said.

However, the vaccine mandate is unconstitutional and “must be ended,” Wier said. “In my opinion,” he said, “there’s no legal authority for the current vaccine mandate as outlined in the memorandum provided to members of Congress.” FDA-approved vaccines are not available and there is no justification for their use or enforcement, he said.

Wier maintains that the vaccine mandate is unconstitutional because it does not provide exceptions to support every servicemember’s rights to the free exercise of religion. According to the lawyer, it also violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which ensures that interests in religious freedom are protected against interference from the government.

“Other than through its own self-serving conclusions,” Wier said, “the DoD and the Navy have been unable to substantiate that the vaccine mandate is necessary, and the least restrictive means, to serve a compelling government interest.”

According to Wier, the vaccine mandate has not ensured mission readiness, as evidenced by the continued COVID-19 transmission of vaccinated servicemembers.

“Instead, mission readiness has been degraded by the vaccine mandate, because it has prevented many valuable and courageous servicemembers—those most willing to publicly embrace honor, courage, and commitment—from performing their responsibilities,” he said.

“By continuing to enforce it, military readiness is suffering because there are thousands of good, strong warriors who believe in the Constitution that are currently being separated from the military or sidelined from their jobs, unable to do what the taxpayers are paying them to do.”

The damage being done to military readiness is “irresponsible and dangerous,” he added.

Wier expressed that his views were his own and not that of the Department of Defense or Department of the Navy.

The Pentagon did not return an inquiry from The Epoch Times.



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WSJ: Delayed Repairs shrink our sub fleet
« Reply #1085 on: September 15, 2022, 07:17:12 AM »
Delayed Repairs Shrink the U.S Navy Submarine Fleet
Amid China’s threats to Taiwan, maintenance woes hobble a key weapon in the Indo-Pacific.
By Seth Cropsey
Sept. 14, 2022 2:44 pm ET



The U.S. Navy’s submarine fleet, America’s essential war-fighting instrument in the Indo-Pacific, is about three-fifths the size it should be, chiefly because of maintenance and production delays. This comes amid stepped-up threats to Taiwan by China.

Contesting such an assault would require a submarine force at maximum strength. Congress and the White House should act swiftly to integrate private shipyards that repair submarines into the Navy’s maintenance plans.

American strategists rarely concern themselves with the material issues that determine victory or defeat. They tend to regard international strategy as a question of will, not means. This takes for granted the traditional and outsize U.S. economic-material advantage.

America’s objective in a struggle over Taiwan would be to deny China a rapid victory. The war must become a slog, one that China labors to sustain in a geographically limited form. Generating this situation requires contesting China’s ability to stage an amphibious assault on Taiwan. Submarines would be crucial in such a contest.

The U.S. military today lacks the air forces, air defenses, and surface combatants with sufficient range to contest Chinese air control over Taiwan indefinitely, absent an interdiction campaign against the Chinese mainland that the U.S. has signaled it doesn’t wish to wage. Chinese anti-ship and ground-attack missiles, moreover, would cause damage. Recent war games suggest that in defending Taiwan, the U.S. would lose half its active air force and at least one carrier strike group—a collection of warships defending the aircraft carrier and its air wing. In such a scenario, China would lose 150 to 200 warships and tens of thousands of men.

Given Chinese force structure and military objectives, U.S. submarines are the most effective tool to counter an assault on Taiwan. China lacks ground-based aviation with robust antisubmarine capabilities, leaving its military and civilian transports vulnerable to submarine attack. The U.S. has a world-leading attack submarine force of 49 nuclear-powered boats, along with four guided-missile submarines each packed with 154 cruise missiles. In theory, around 42 of these boats should be deployable at a given time, with some 25 to 30 in the Pacific and 10 to 15 in the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Middle East. Normal schedules dictate that at any point 10% of the fleet is in dry dock, under repair or in overhaul.

A major submarine surge to the Indo-Pacific, keeping in mind the U.S. forward-support facilities in Guam, could number about 35 subs. A handful of Japanese and Australian subs could be added to the mix, and perhaps one from Taiwan. Taiwan currently has two aging operational submarines, but its Indigenous Defense Submarine program is promising. That means the PLA would face a 40-plus strong submarine force that can sink transports as they move men and materiel across the Taiwan Strait. That could erode a naval blockade enough to enable an American counterattack. China’s 53 attack submarines, roughly 40 to 45 of them deployable, may have numerical parity, but several are aging, and few have the advanced capabilities of U.S. subs. For China, that would make a Taiwan war a close-run thing.

Rear Adm. Jeffrey Jablon, the U.S. Pacific Fleet’s submarine commander, said at a conference this year that maintenance delays hamstring the submarine force. As of fiscal 2022, the U.S. submarine fleet spent about 1,500 days waiting for maintenance or repair. That is equivalent to losing four submarines in the fleet. In the past year, the Navy lost the equivalent of another 3.5 submarines to maintenance that took longer than expected. The Navy’s submarine force is eight boats under strength on average. Combined with standard maintenance expectations of one-tenth of the fleet, this brings the U.S. submarine force down to about 30 deployable attack boats.


The U.S. can’t build its way out. On average, it takes American shipyards two years to deliver three subs. Meanwhile, the Navy retires two older Los Angeles-class subs a year owing to wear and tear. The fleet will shrink on average by one submarine every two years until the 2040s, when new subs are delivered in greater numbers than retiring ones.

Even with faster delivery and better production capacity, combat damage must be considered. More construction won’t overcome the repair delays at shipyards. In wartime, when those yards are overworked—and possibly targeted—the U.S. submarine fleet likely will shrink even more, and faster, than anticipated. All the while, China will be relying on massive yards with civilian and military production capabilities. These large facilities can repair ships at a pace that gives China an advantage.

More resources are necessary for shipyards to bring the U.S. submarine force to the level of preparedness that China’s provocations in the Western Pacific demand. The U.S. should invest in maintenance, extend the life of older submarines, and regularize maintenance so shipyards are ready to work on many subs.

The Navy should integrate private shipyards into its repair and maintenance plans. It takes at least a year, more likely several, for a yard to prepare to overhaul several ships at the same time. It is more efficient, financially and temporally, to turn to shipyards that can expand maintenance today, rather than scaling up public yards exclusively.

A nation goes to war with the military it has, not the one it will have in five, 10, or 20 years. The executive and legislative branches face a choice between continued inaction and a conflict that calls on the military we wish we had.

Mr. Cropsey is founder and president of the Yorktown Institute. He served as a naval officer and as deputy undersecretary of the Navy and is author of “Mayday” and “Seablindness.”

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Strange how they can't find recruits these days...
« Reply #1086 on: September 18, 2022, 09:26:16 AM »
Jack Posobiec Retweeted
Darren J. Beattie:
I don't know about you but I want to join the United States Military and fight for the drag queen empire

Hooo Rah!


G M

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Re: Nat Guard fails to meet recruitment
« Reply #1088 on: September 21, 2022, 07:38:52 PM »
https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2022/09/vax-refusal-poised-deepen-national-guards-end-strength-shortage/377437/

White males from the SE US and the Intermountain West are the ones who actually fight. If they refuse, better be ready to draft the LGBTQPedos from the coasts.

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Re: Strange how they can't find recruits these days...
« Reply #1089 on: September 25, 2022, 08:22:28 AM »
Jack Posobiec Retweeted
Darren J. Beattie:
I don't know about you but I want to join the United States Military and fight for the drag queen empire

Hooo Rah!

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1572939759311282176.html

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USAF: What a joke
« Reply #1090 on: September 28, 2022, 09:31:39 AM »

DougMacG

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Re: USAF: What a joke
« Reply #1091 on: September 28, 2022, 03:35:34 PM »
Funny they didn't mention winning wars as the objective.

G M

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Re: USAF: What a joke
« Reply #1092 on: September 28, 2022, 04:15:57 PM »
Funny they didn't mention winning wars as the objective.

The American military isn't about winning wars, it's about making the MIC wealthy.

Extra points for being fake and gay!

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WSJ: Guns & Ammo shortages
« Reply #1093 on: September 30, 2022, 05:55:34 AM »
The American Military Needs More Ammo
Delay in delivering Himars to Ukraine reflects U.S. shortfalls.
By The Editorial BoardFollow
Sept. 29, 2022 6:35 pm ET

Vladimir Putin is claiming to annex pieces of Ukraine his troops now occupy, while threatening to use nuclear weapons if the war doesn’t go his way, so this is no time for Western democracies to go wobbly. The Biden Administration deserves credit for announcing another $1.1 billion in security assistance this week, but buried in the details is a warning about America’s ability to sustain a long war.


The Pentagon announced “the beginning of a contracting process” that will eventually deliver Ukraine more multi-mission radars, counter-unmanned aerial systems, tactical vehicles that tow weapons, and other gear. The U.S. will also procure 18 high mobility artillery rocket systems, known as Himars, to complement the 16 Ukraine is now using to excellent battlefield effect, particularly on Russian ammunition depots and logistics lines.

Yet the rocket systems and the associated ammunition won’t reach Ukraine for “a few years,” a senior defense official said. The package “underscores the U.S. commitment to supporting Ukraine over the long term.” Telling friends we won’t cut and run as the fight drags on is welcome reassurance. It’s worth planning for a stronger and more modern Ukrainian military that may have to deter Russia even after Mr. Putin is gone.

But the Ukrainians need more rocket systems now, and the fastest route is for President Biden to draw down more from U.S. stocks. The defense official told reporters this package “in no way rules out us continuing to invest in their current force.”

But the U.S. has so far declined to offer the longest-range rockets that would pack the most battlefield punch, and by some press reports is slow rolling more modern tanks. This is a recipe for a stagnant winter of fighting, and looks driven not by a theory of victory but a perceived risk of escalation.


That it will take “a few years” for less than two dozen new Himars to reach Ukraine should be a wake-up call. Fickle demand from Congress and a byzantine procurement process has discouraged capital investment in building ships and weapons, and the result is a fragile industrial base without the agility to surge production when a crisis emerges. A protracted skilled labor shortage and supply-chain hiccups have added to the troubles.

Take antitank weapons. The U.S. has sent Ukraine more than 8,500 Javelins, according to a Pentagon fact sheet. Lockheed Martin’s CEO Jim Taiclet told CBS News in May that the company is ramping up to produce 4,000 Javelins a year, up from its current capacity of 2,100, but that it would take “a number of months, maybe even a couple years” to reach that output.

Fighting a war and running low on bombs is a bad place to be, as the Russians are learning, and the lessons from Ukraine are worth absorbing before China makes a play to seize Taiwan. A paper last year from the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies estimated that the Air Force could run out of its best precision-guided munitions (e.g., long-range air-to-ground missiles) “about a week” into a war with China. Buy more while you can.

The Senate on Thursday voted for another $12 billion in assistance for Ukraine, including $1.5 billion for replenishing U.S. weapons stocks. Republican Leader Mitch McConnell was right when he said on the floor that if the Administration can’t move faster on rocket systems, “it will be an indictment of their persistent unwillingness to invest in our own military stockpiles and our defense industrial base.” After all, “it is not true strength and resolve that provoke the bully. It is delay and weakness.”

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Re: WSJ: Guns & Ammo shortages
« Reply #1094 on: September 30, 2022, 07:42:39 AM »
A big win for the MIC!



The American Military Needs More Ammo
Delay in delivering Himars to Ukraine reflects U.S. shortfalls.
By The Editorial BoardFollow
Sept. 29, 2022 6:35 pm ET

Vladimir Putin is claiming to annex pieces of Ukraine his troops now occupy, while threatening to use nuclear weapons if the war doesn’t go his way, so this is no time for Western democracies to go wobbly. The Biden Administration deserves credit for announcing another $1.1 billion in security assistance this week, but buried in the details is a warning about America’s ability to sustain a long war.


The Pentagon announced “the beginning of a contracting process” that will eventually deliver Ukraine more multi-mission radars, counter-unmanned aerial systems, tactical vehicles that tow weapons, and other gear. The U.S. will also procure 18 high mobility artillery rocket systems, known as Himars, to complement the 16 Ukraine is now using to excellent battlefield effect, particularly on Russian ammunition depots and logistics lines.

Yet the rocket systems and the associated ammunition won’t reach Ukraine for “a few years,” a senior defense official said. The package “underscores the U.S. commitment to supporting Ukraine over the long term.” Telling friends we won’t cut and run as the fight drags on is welcome reassurance. It’s worth planning for a stronger and more modern Ukrainian military that may have to deter Russia even after Mr. Putin is gone.

But the Ukrainians need more rocket systems now, and the fastest route is for President Biden to draw down more from U.S. stocks. The defense official told reporters this package “in no way rules out us continuing to invest in their current force.”

But the U.S. has so far declined to offer the longest-range rockets that would pack the most battlefield punch, and by some press reports is slow rolling more modern tanks. This is a recipe for a stagnant winter of fighting, and looks driven not by a theory of victory but a perceived risk of escalation.


That it will take “a few years” for less than two dozen new Himars to reach Ukraine should be a wake-up call. Fickle demand from Congress and a byzantine procurement process has discouraged capital investment in building ships and weapons, and the result is a fragile industrial base without the agility to surge production when a crisis emerges. A protracted skilled labor shortage and supply-chain hiccups have added to the troubles.

Take antitank weapons. The U.S. has sent Ukraine more than 8,500 Javelins, according to a Pentagon fact sheet. Lockheed Martin’s CEO Jim Taiclet told CBS News in May that the company is ramping up to produce 4,000 Javelins a year, up from its current capacity of 2,100, but that it would take “a number of months, maybe even a couple years” to reach that output.

Fighting a war and running low on bombs is a bad place to be, as the Russians are learning, and the lessons from Ukraine are worth absorbing before China makes a play to seize Taiwan. A paper last year from the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies estimated that the Air Force could run out of its best precision-guided munitions (e.g., long-range air-to-ground missiles) “about a week” into a war with China. Buy more while you can.

The Senate on Thursday voted for another $12 billion in assistance for Ukraine, including $1.5 billion for replenishing U.S. weapons stocks. Republican Leader Mitch McConnell was right when he said on the floor that if the Administration can’t move faster on rocket systems, “it will be an indictment of their persistent unwillingness to invest in our own military stockpiles and our defense industrial base.” After all, “it is not true strength and resolve that provoke the bully. It is delay and weakness.”

Crafty_Dog

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US Defense and Intel waking up?
« Reply #1095 on: October 05, 2022, 11:53:07 AM »
US Defense and Intelligence Must Prepare for ‘Contested Operational Environment’: Experts
By Andrew Thornebrooke October 4, 2022

Intelligence experts have warned that the United States’ defense and intelligence apparatus will need to relearn how to operate in contested environments as it transitions away from counter-terrorism and moves toward competition between great powers.

The Department of Defense and U.S. intelligence agencies will need to rapidly focus on combating threats from state actors that fall somewhere below an outright war, according to former Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security Kari Bingen.

“The intelligence community and the Department of Defense need to be thinking about that conflict below the threshold of armed conflict: Gray zone activities,” Bingen said during an Oct. 4 talk at the Atlantic Council, a D.C.-based think tank.

“The Department of Defense does order of battle well: [things like] how many tanks [or] how many aircraft, but in this more competitive and economic space, what are the implications for national security?”

Bingen said that reorienting from the types of operating environments that the United States enjoyed throughout the Global War on Terror would be difficult, as the nation would now face a “contested operational environment.”

Whereas the United States previously operated in the Middle East or Africa with relatively unchallenged superiority in intelligence, surveillance, and communication, competing with an adversarial nation such as China would be much more difficult.

The United States now faces the uphill battle of learning to fight and compete in cities filled with adversarial surveillance systems, under threat of enemy drones, and with its communications jammed, Bingen said. The prospect is made all the more difficult as the nation has not consistently engaged in such operations for over 20 years.

“I would encourage the [intelligence] committee to be focused on China and that peer [or] near-peer competition, and technology,” Bingen said.

That contested environment has come to the homefront as well. This is especially true in the battle for information and influence, according to Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio), who serves as ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee and also spoke at the Atlantic Council event.

Turner said that “outside influences” were working to undermine the United States and its democratic systems.

“There are foreign actors that attempt to, through malign intent, influence the outcomes of our democracy,” Turner said.

“It’s both a threat by foreign actors and it’s also an internal domestic threat.”

Turner’s comments follow claims by tech giant Meta Platforms last month that it dismantled Chinese and Russian influence operations aimed at influencing the upcoming U.S. midterm elections by increasing polarization.

That polarization presented a direct threat to the nation, Turner said, both for everyday Americans and also for those wielding power in Washington.

“There are people who are overstepping in the intelligence community in areas where it’s [become] a partisan effort and perhaps it squelches debate when debate needs to happen,” Turner said.

To that end, Turner said that steps would need to be taken to counter domestic threats from radicalized individuals and groups, but that extreme caution would be needed to ensure that such efforts did not weaponize the government against the American people.

“There is a significant danger of us turning the intelligence community on our citizens, and I think it can thwart democracy and thwart the debate that we need to have to support democracy,” Turner said.

“There [are] always going to be those elements that we have to make sure do not harm society, but we have to be careful.”

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Re: US Defense and Intel waking up?
« Reply #1096 on: October 05, 2022, 11:57:49 AM »
US Defense and Intelligence Must Prepare for ‘Contested Operational Environment’: Experts
By Andrew Thornebrooke October 4, 2022

Intelligence experts have warned that the United States’ defense and intelligence apparatus will need to relearn how to operate in contested environments as it transitions away from counter-terrorism and moves toward competition between great powers.

The Department of Defense and U.S. intelligence agencies will need to rapidly focus on combating threats from state actors that fall somewhere below an outright war, according to former Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security Kari Bingen.

“The intelligence community and the Department of Defense need to be thinking about that conflict below the threshold of armed conflict: Gray zone activities,” Bingen said during an Oct. 4 talk at the Atlantic Council, a D.C.-based think tank.

“The Department of Defense does order of battle well: [things like] how many tanks [or] how many aircraft, but in this more competitive and economic space, what are the implications for national security?”

Bingen said that reorienting from the types of operating environments that the United States enjoyed throughout the Global War on Terror would be difficult, as the nation would now face a “contested operational environment.”

Whereas the United States previously operated in the Middle East or Africa with relatively unchallenged superiority in intelligence, surveillance, and communication, competing with an adversarial nation such as China would be much more difficult.

The United States now faces the uphill battle of learning to fight and compete in cities filled with adversarial surveillance systems, under threat of enemy drones, and with its communications jammed, Bingen said. The prospect is made all the more difficult as the nation has not consistently engaged in such operations for over 20 years.

“I would encourage the [intelligence] committee to be focused on China and that peer [or] near-peer competition, and technology,” Bingen said.

That contested environment has come to the homefront as well. This is especially true in the battle for information and influence, according to Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio), who serves as ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee and also spoke at the Atlantic Council event.

Turner said that “outside influences” were working to undermine the United States and its democratic systems.

“There are foreign actors that attempt to, through malign intent, influence the outcomes of our democracy,” Turner said.

“It’s both a threat by foreign actors and it’s also an internal domestic threat.”

Turner’s comments follow claims by tech giant Meta Platforms last month that it dismantled Chinese and Russian influence operations aimed at influencing the upcoming U.S. midterm elections by increasing polarization.

That polarization presented a direct threat to the nation, Turner said, both for everyday Americans and also for those wielding power in Washington.

“There are people who are overstepping in the intelligence community in areas where it’s [become] a partisan effort and perhaps it squelches debate when debate needs to happen,” Turner said.

To that end, Turner said that steps would need to be taken to counter domestic threats from radicalized individuals and groups, but that extreme caution would be needed to ensure that such efforts did not weaponize the government against the American people.

“There is a significant danger of us turning the intelligence community on our citizens, and I think it can thwart democracy and thwart the debate that we need to have to support democracy,” Turner said.

“There [are] always going to be those elements that we have to make sure do not harm society, but we have to be careful.”

Too late.

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Whoopsie!
« Reply #1097 on: October 05, 2022, 06:28:59 PM »

Crafty_Dog

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Re: Military Science, Military Issues, and the Nature of War
« Reply #1098 on: October 05, 2022, 07:08:58 PM »
Barely a ripple in this moment, to be forgotten in a nanosecond , , , except by the fuct and those whom they tell.

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WSJ: US Military is growing weaker yet.
« Reply #1099 on: October 17, 2022, 09:01:26 PM »
The U.S. Military’s Growing Weakness
A new Heritage Foundation report warns about declining U.S. naval and air power.
By The Editorial BoardFollow
Updated Oct. 17, 2022 5:51 pm ET


U.S. aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan participates with other U.S. and South Korean navy ships during the joint naval exercises between the United States and South Korea in waters off South Korea's eastern coast on Sept. 29, 2022.
PHOTO: /ASSOCIATED PRESS

Americans like to think their military is unbeatable if politicians wouldn’t get in the way. The truth is that U.S. hard power isn’t what it used to be. That’s the message of the Heritage Foundation’s 2023 Index of U.S. Military Strength, which is reported here for the first time and describes a worrisome trend.

Heritage rates the U.S. military as “weak” and “at growing risk of not being able to meet the demands of defending America’s vital national interests.” The weak rating, down from “marginal” a year earlier, is the first in the index’s nine-year history.

***
The index measures the military’s ability to prevail in two major regional conflicts at once—say, a conflict in the Middle East and a fight on the Korean peninsula. Americans might wish “that the world be a simpler, less threatening place,” as the report notes. But these commitments are part of U.S. national-security strategy.

Heritage says the U.S. military risks being unable to handle even “a single major regional conflict” as it also tries to deter rogues elsewhere. The Trump Administration’s one-time cash infusion has dried up. Pentagon budgets aren’t keeping up with inflation, and the branches are having to make trade-offs about whether to be modern, large, or ready to fight tonight. The decline is especially acute in the Navy and Air Force.

The Navy has been saying for years it needs to grow to at least 350 ships, plus more unmanned platforms. Yet the Navy has shown a “persistent inability to arrest and reverse the continued diminution of its fleet,” the report says. By one analysis it has under-delivered on shipbuilding plans by 10 ships a year on average over the past five years.

From 2005 to 2020, the U.S. fleet grew to 296 warships from 291, while China’s navy grew to 360 from 216. War isn’t won on numbers alone, but China is also narrowing the U.S. technological advantage in every area from aircraft carrier catapults to long-range missiles.


The Navy wants to build three Virginia-class submarines a year, and the U.S. still has an edge over Beijing in these fast-attack boats. But the shipbuilding industry has shrunk amid waning demand, and the Navy’s maintenance yards are overwhelmed. Maintenance delays and backlogs are the result of running the fleet too hard: On a typical day in June, roughly one-third of the 298-ship fleet was deployed, double the average of the Cold War.

It’s worse in the Air Force, which gets a “very weak” rating. Aging “aircraft and very poor pilot training and retention” have produced an Air Force that “would struggle greatly against a peer competitor,” Heritage says.

The fighter and bomber forces are contracting to about 40% of what America had in the 1980s. The service has been slowing its F-35 buys even as it needs modern planes to compensate for the smaller fleet. Aircraft have low mission-capable rates, roughly 50% for the F-22. Heritage says the Air Force has “abandoned even the illusion” that it is working toward an 80% aircraft readiness goal. Munitions inventories “probably would not support a peer-level fight that lasted more than a few weeks,” and replacements can take 24 to 36 months to arrive.



A pilot shortage “continues to plague the service,” and the “current generation of fighter pilots, those who have been actively flying for the past seven years, has never experienced a healthy rate of operational flying.” Fighter pilots flew a meager 10 hours a month on average in 2021, up from 8.7 in 2020 but still far below the 200 hours a year minimum needed to be proficient against a formidable opponent.

The story isn’t much better for the Army, which has lost $59 billion in buying power since 2018 due to flat budgets and inflation. The Army is shrinking not as a choice about priorities but because it can’t recruit enough soldiers—nearly 20,000 short in fiscal 2022.

The Marines scored better in the index as the only branch articulating and executing a plan to change, reorganizing for a war in the Pacific in a concept known as Force Design 2030. But the Marines are slimming down to a bare-bones 21 infantry battalions, from 27 as recently as 2011. Mission success for the Marines depends on a new amphibious ship that the Navy may not be able to deliver.

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Some will call all this alarmist and ask why the Pentagon can’t do better on an $800 billion budget. The latter is a fair question and the answer requires procurement and other changes. But the U.S. will also have to spend more on defense if it wants to protect its interests and the homeland. The U.S. is spending about 3% of GDP now compared to 5%-6% in the 1980s. The Heritage report is a warning that you can’t deter war, much less win one, on the cheap