In a largely unnoticed remark at the Atlantic Council in Washington earlier this month, Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, rekindled the decade-old idea of making U.S. Special Operations Command a kind of super command in charge of global operations under which all other combatant commands are subordinates.
Irregular Warfare Alert
December 9, 2011
A standoff
between the United States and Pakistan has dashed recent glimmers of hope in
Washington that Pakistan might step up its cooperation in interdicting the flow
of bomb-making materials from two fertilizer factories within its border into
neighboring Afghanistan, Inside the Army has learned.
December 9, 2011
Concerned that Afghan national security forces won't be ready to take the reins at the time of the scheduled American troop drawdown from Afghanistan in 2014, a Washington-based think tank is advocating for U.S. forces to begin to transfer responsibility and take on an embedded advisory role within Afghan units as early as 2012.
December 8, 2011
The Defense Department favors a Senate proposal on the use of funds for a key security assistance team in Iraq rather than a House proposal that more narrowly limits the use of those funds.
November 22, 2011
A Defense
Department effort to clarify how security force assistance relates to similar
military terms has produced a new lexicon and framework, paving the way for the
development of doctrine.
November 22, 2011
Defense Secretary
Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey
agree that the government should not "divert resources" to establish a
bipartisan Afghanistan-Pakistan study group proposed on Capitol Hill, according
to a spokesman for Dempsey.
November 18, 2011
Army Training
and Doctrine Command took over the service's Ft. Meade, MD-based Asymmetric
Warfare Group on Nov. 11, and is tasked with refashioning the office into a
smaller outfit that can be expanded for use in future conflicts.
November 15, 2011
The Army has objected to the recommendation of an influential Pentagon advisory board calling for the establishment of a national intelligence manager for irregular warfare, including counterinsurgency operations, to improve synchronization of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance activities.
November 4, 2011
Navy and Marine Corps leaders told Congress last week that
the past decade of war has changed how they view irregular warfare, but they
admit they need to do a better job of recording and tracking their
capabilities.
November 4, 2011
The Army struggles to maintain and update records on language
and culture training and has yet to develop a solid plan to sustain language
skills among soldiers, according to a Government Accountability Office report
issued last week.
November 3, 2011
The Defense Department is poised to announce the creation of a new multiservice office charged with implementing the AirSea Battle concept to counter emerging Chinese weapons.
October 20, 2011
The Defense Department has drafted sweeping new guidance to track how many military and homeland-security personnel are prepared for irregular-warfare and security-force-assistance missions that have become increasingly important in recent years.
October 14, 2011
Army
officials plan to identify a brigade that can be called upon by U.S. Africa
Command to conduct security cooperation missions on the continent, according to
a Training and Doctrine Command official.
October 7, 2011
In one of his first acts as deputy defense secretary, Ashton Carter has established a new senior-level governance body -- the Deputy's Management Action Group -- to guide decisions on critically important issues like the Pentagon's five-year investment plan, force structure, global posture and key capabilities such as space and nuclear deterrence.
October 6, 2011
Senate appropriators and authorizers are backing the Obama administration's request to give the State Department, rather than the Pentagon, authority over $1 billion for training Pakistan's army to conduct counterinsurgency operations.
October 3, 2011
The Defense Department has forfeited $84 million in funds authorized in fiscal year 2011 to train and equip foreign forces rather than proceed with assisting select Middle Eastern nations affected by the wave of revolutions across the Arab-speaking world, according to a Pentagon spokesman.
September 29, 2011
Senate appropriators are backing a plan to scrap funding for a proposed Defense Department office that would assess the impact of security cooperation programs and initiatives.
September 22, 2011
A Senate panel is blocking the Pentagon from obligating any money for a new account aimed at boosting the capabilities of security forces in foreign countries until the department formally requests new authority for the fund from congressional appropriations' committees.
September 15, 2011
The Defense Department is expanding military-to-military cooperation with Tunisia by providing a $21 million train-and-equipment package designed to help secure the North African nation's borders.
The initiative comes less than a year after the Tunisian military won praise from Washington for its professionalism during the country's revolution, which triggered democratic uprisings across the Arab world.
September 15, 2011
The Defense Department is asking Congress to reprogram $113 million to buy vehicles, aircraft and equipment urgently needed by elite U.S. forces.