The Bolympics Begin!
The Defense world is all atwitter at the upcoming peek at the DoD 2015 budget that Secretary Hagel will be giving today and thus kicking off a new round of olympic games, the Budget Olympithon (let’s just call it the Bolympics), which will most likely last until at least Christmas. After two weeks of the NBC olympi-blitz I was growing just a bit weary of yet another human interest story. Unfortunately never-ceasing “breaking news” about the olympics will be replaced with never-ceasing “breaking news” about the DoD budget for the next 8 months . I know I sound...
Read MoreCyber: Too Big Not To Fail
I admit that I am not much of a cyber-techie. I do know a little about computers though. When Microsoft announced they were not supporting Windows XT a while back, I had a bit of a cyber-rebellion because I refuse to spend anymore money on Mircrosoft Operating Systems, which I assume, much like the NSA, report your every keystroke and video back to some central repository for “troubleshooting.” Right….But I instead elected to move to linux. I’ve not noticed a degradation in what I can do, don’t have to worry about virus checkers and internet security programs that...
Read MoreMini Cooper or a Lamborghini
I feel compelled to react to acting Deputy Secretary of Defense Christine Fox’s remarks yesterday regarding the questionable combat capability of the Navy’s controversial Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). Her views are that the threats to surface ships are so great that we ought not invest in them, especially the less capable LCS. Instead we should put our bucks in submarines (to the tune of about $2 Billion apiece) and other “enablers” like Electronic Warfare capabilities. She’s obviously been bitten by the Sub Bug! The facts are that we simply can’t afford the...
Read MoreDoD to Focus on Ethics Training
It seems as if every time I read the Defense press over the last few weeks there has been something about ethics, leadership, scandal or illegal activity. So I’m not surprised that the CJCS should say that the issue of ethics in the military has his “full attention.” General Dempsey’s staff says that the focus on ethics is not due to any of the recent issues (right…..), but rather the result of a natural rhythm of post-war transition. I guess that means that since we are pulling out of Afghanistan and still licking our wounds from Iraq (even as it inevitably...
Read MoreCheating Nukes
The fact that half the officers with the Nuclear Keys at Malmstrom AFB appear to be connected in some way to the emerging exam cheating scandal gives me the heebie-jeebies. SECAF James is admirably stepping up to get things turned around. This article in AF Times says SECDEF Hagel and SECAF James are convening the inevitable commission to admire the problem. Among other things they are going to consider are cultural issues, differences between testing and training, accountability, professional training, core values, incentives, et.al. WOW! But I don’t think these folks decided to cheat...
Read MorePentagon Wish List
I saw this article in Bloomberg News on the Pentagon Wish List this morning. In my days in the Pentagon we always had an unfunded list to share with the Hill. Inevitably, the day after the President’s Budget was submitted the Hill was asking for the list. Back then we didn’t share with OSD. It was all part of the strategy. There was the regular budget submission (those things that everyone wanted), the Gold Watch list (things we left out but were sure to be included in law because of Hill support) and the Unfunded list (those things we really wanted but OSD didn’t...
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