Thursday, May 26, 2005

RE:Transformation And Networked Organizations

The following is a response to the comments in the Transformation And Networked Organizations post below. The comment went too long, so I'm putting it here...

Having said that, more troops on the ground is not necessarily a panacea. Ambassador Khalilzad and LTG Barno demonstrated that with a force *one-ninth* that of OIF, in a country the *same* size and population as Iraq, they could nonetheless accomplish strategic effects that Paul Bremer and LTG Sanchez would have only dreamed about.

I'm totally in agreement here- I'm not trying to say that increasing the numbers of boots on the ground is a panacea, rather I'm trying to say that networked organizations do not necessarily decrease the amount of people you need on the ground. I also agree with you that a successful strategy (I would also add- a technological advantage) is still more important than troop #s- Barbarossa was one great example of this fact. However, I completely disagree that this wasn't one of the major strategic blunders of OIF. We absolutely needed many more civilian authorities and police in the immediate aftermath of the invasion (though maybe if we hadn't disbanded the Iraqi army and "debaathified" the Iraqi civilian authorities this may have been less severe).

And while I am a huge fan of Zinni’s, I don’t worship him like a god. Every person makes mistake- a great leader is someone who admits his mistakes and tries to prevent them from occurring again. Can you provide a link as to where you feel Zinni was wrong on OIF? He stated over and over again that the Iraqi armed forces were a joke, which could be easily smashed by our forces, which was one big reason why he stated that Iraq posed no “imminent threat” (not even a mildly upsetting threat) to the US. Zinni’s criticisms, at least as I’ve read, all had to do with things

For example, here’s Zinni’s testimony to Congress before the war on what he thought the problems would be if we invaded. I can't find anywhere where he questions the ability of U.S. forces to quickly crush the Iraqi forces:
And what I felt the first question I would ask if we went in, which was sort of addressed by Marc Grossman: what is it you envision as an end state? Is it a transitioned Iraq, a magnificent democracy? Or is it something less than that? I mean, is it truly this transformed Iraq that we've heard about or are we just going to get rid of Saddam Hussein and hope for the best with some decent law and order, territorial integrity basically put in place, maybe a federation of states that operates on their own? What is it that you want? If you don't have the vision going in, then the military and all the other agencies of government and the international agencies don't know where to go.

I saw the problem in four areas. The first area was security, and I would just give you an example of the kinds of things -- this is certainly not all inclusive -- that I saw we had to do on the ground. We had to under the security dimension maintain law and order, provide for a force protection, be prepared to do peacekeeping missions, protect threatened groups, deal with civil unrest and acts of retribution, counter external threats and develop local security capabilities, and that's just a few. I mean, this list could go on and on.

The second part was the political part, and that would require such things as establishing an interim or transitional government, laying the foundation for a final form of governance, ensuring coordination of all these activities, the political element will have to be the lead. Developing the principles and procedures for establishing civil functions, dealing with procedures for accountability and coordinating the regional and international involvement that we might have.
The third area was the economic area and here I felt this would involve dealing with issues such as energy production, employment restructuring. Just by the way, about 40 percent of the paychecks come from the government in this country and if the government goes down and sneakers up, where are the paychecks coming from? In addition to that, we saw that regional economic impacts would have to be taken into account. This isn't only going to affect Iraq, it's going to affect Jordan, it's going to affect Kuwait, it's going to affect countries around the country and in the region economically too.

We have to deal with the status of foreign debt and war reparations. Everybody is talking about pumping oil and we'll do this to reconstruct the country. What about the foreign debt and the war reparations that are still owed? There are others out there that have claims to the money and the production. Who will sort that out? We have to restructure the economic base. I think that's been addressed by the previous panel about how it is not the kind of economic base that will allow for a country that's solid in any way economically for the future. And we're going to have to solicit and manage donor contributions.

The fourth area I titled recovery and reconstruction, and this begins with the immediate and long term humanitarian needs. And, again, that's been described here and you can imagine what this could be based on what kind of catastrophe the war causes and Saddam generates. We're going to have to be involved in infrastructure repair and replacement, consequence management, WMD accountability and the reestablishment of services throughout the country.
And…
Number one task is keeping order in this country. The tribal retributions, the revenge killings, the opposition groups and others that will be jockeying for position, opposition groups that will scream across the border. All sorts of things can disrupt this. There are things in this country that we're going to have to deal with that no one has really talked about. There's a major Iranian opposition group in here, the MEK. What do you want me to do with that if I'm the commander in chief? Do I lock them up? Do I send them back across the border to be slaughtered? Exactly what happens to them? And there are millions of little issues like this that aren't talked about, that are going to be major problems when you're on the ground and whoever goes in is going to have to have the guidance.

My eighth point is that images in this region are everything. Particularly in the early stages of the mission we're going to need intelligent and active information operations that will make or break the mission from the very beginning. What appears on Al Jazeera TV and everything else in the region is going to determine success, maybe even more so than the actions on the ground. And all the explanations afterwards won't counter those first images.
I’m curious where in this testimony you see mistakes, because all of this seems to have been proved correct...

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Transformation And Networked Organizations

Today, Alexander the Average posted a blog entry commenting on a CAP report on needed transformations of the intelligence agencies. The main thrust of both the report and Alexander's comments, is the need for more investment in "human capital," something which I have been thinking a lot about over the past year as I look around for the investment in human capital that I expect to be made within progressive politics.

Over the past few days I've been trying to formulate a section of my masters thesis which will talk about the rise of the networked form of organization and what it means for politics. The main theme of the piece will be that while the internet has made communications cheaper, faster, and less centralized, the real power of the internet is in its abilities to bring people together offline- turning individuals into nodes on a broader political network. More broadly speaking, the internet has changed the most fundamental ideas of what mass-media is, especially the ideas of messenger, deliverer and receiver. Whereas older communications campaigns might emphasize the ability to convince a person who views a media message to change their behaviors and/or attitudes, internet enabled communications campaigns should strive for convincing people to convince other people for the campaign. To put it another way- the internet enables groups to "evangelize" for their issues/campaigns, turning individuals into the deliverers of messages.

But, since none of the above paragraph is very clear, let me just post this quote--pulled from Cyberwar is Coming! (PDF), which points to what I'm trying to get at:

The consequences of new technology can be usefully thought of as first-level, or efficiency, effects and second-level, or social system, effects. The history of previous technologies demonstrates that early in the life of a new technology, people are likely to emphasize the efficiency effects and underestimate or overlook potential social system effects. Advances in networking technologies now make it possible to think of people, as well as databases and processors, as resources on a network.

Many organizations today are installing electronic networks for first-level efficiency reasons. Executives now beginning to deploy electronic mail and other network applications can realize efficiency gains such as reduced elapsed time for transactions. If we look beyond efficiency at behavioral and organizational changes, we’ll see where the second-level leverage is likely to be. These technologies can change how people spend their time and what and who they know and care about. The full range of payoffs, and the dilemmas, will come from how the technologies affect how people can think and work together--the second-level effects (Sproull and Kiesler, 1991: 15-16)

Basically, I feel that most organizations are having a hard time grasping this change. I still find it a little hard to swallow that so much of the money spent in the last campaign went towards broadcast communications and not building the network. But I definitely feel the tides turning as more and more organizations come to grips with the human element of networked organization, at least within the political realm. As both Kris and J. (in the comments) point out, the big government bureaucracies seem to be having a lot harder time switching gears, which isn't really that surprising given that these organizations are almost entirely hierarchical and poorly suited for the emerging networked world. It is, however, more than a little disturbing, and extremely dangerous given the network enabled threats that we increasingly face.

One last point: Rumsfeld seems to have made the historical mistake listed above when he decided what "transformation of the military" meant. See- Rummy seemed to think that the efficiency effects would mean that we'd need less "boots on the ground" and more technology. Instead, we can see in Iraq that while we certainly need and benefit from new and improved technology, our real needs are for more nodes in the network, i.e. more people- whether they be intelligence assets, civilian authorities, or soldiers. General Zinni certainly seemed to "get it" when he called for 18x the number of civilian officials working for the CPA and roughly double the number of troops, but Zinni isn't in charge. I wonder if Rummy and co. will "see the light" and push the armed forces to beef up on its human assets (esp. its non-soldier assets). Somehow I doubt it.

Monday, May 23, 2005

Cyber Threats to the Critical Infrastructure of the United States

I just happened across a free hosting service for PDF files, and I've been meaning to post my final paper from one of my International Relations classes online, so here it goes...

The paper is titled Cyber Threats to the Critical Infrastructure of the United States and can be viewed here (PDF). At the very least I think that the sources can provide a good starting point for anyone interested in Cyberwar and the vulnerabilities of our critical infrastructures to cyber-based attacks.

Here's a chunk from the intro (minus footnotes):
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the past twenty-five years three major changes have shifted the way the world operates. First, the Cold War ended and we found ourselves in a world with a lone “hyper power.” Second, advances in computers and the introduction of the Internet to the world brought forth the information revolution. Third, these two forces combined to create the economic globalization that we see today.

Many of these changes have surely made the world better place—they have lessened the likelihood of wars between major powers, they have opened the way for the greatest integration of the world’s economies and made those economies more efficient, and they have made libraries of information widely available at the click of a mouse. But, these changes have also brought with them new vulnerabilities to the national security of the U.S.

As our economy has grown in the information age, it has integrated itself using networks and computers in such a way that the economy of the United States is totally dependent upon the information and computing infrastructure, alongside of the traditional infrastructures of energy, transportation, banking and finance, and vital human services, to operate. However, the Internet was developed without security in mind. At first it was a tool of communication that DARPA created for information exchange among various military, governmental, and associated organizations, all of whom were assumed to be trustworthy. But, as the computer became a household item, DARPA brought the Internet to the public, and it was quickly incorporated into just about every aspect of U.S. society . Even the U.S. Department of Defense relies upon privately-owned Internet lines for around 90% of its communications. In essence we have erected our “immensely complex information systems on insecure foundations,” a fact has not gone unnoticed by the adversaries of the United States.

These changes challenge most of the conventional ways that security has been thought about in the past. No longer can the U.S. afford to worry only about total war with a major adversary. The U.S. must now look at a whole range of actors who want to do harm to the state and its people, and re-adjust its thinking and actions accordingly. The entrance onto the world stage of multiple non-state actors is at least partially due to the ability of smaller groups to use the Internet to network with both individuals and other groups over great distances and regardless of any boundaries. As John Arquilla and David Ronfeldt put it: “the information revolution favors the growth of such networks by making it possible for diverse, dispersed actors to communicate, consult, coordinate, and operate together across greater distances and on the basis of more and better information than ever before.” These groups have the ability to act on their own, but in coordinated ways, which often gives networked forms of organization a relative advantage over hierarchically composed organizations, which must rely upon a fairly strict chain of command and present a direct challenge to the security and preeminence of the nation state. As Bill Clinton succinctly stated in 1998 during a speech to the U.S. Naval Academy: “Our Security is challenged increasingly by nontraditional threats from adversaries, both old and new, not only hostile regimes, but also international criminals and terrorists who cannot defeat us in traditional theaters of battle, but search instead for new ways to attack by exploiting new technologies and the world’s increasing openness.” Possible enemies, as Arquilla and Ronfeldt convincingly put forth, are “likely to operate in the cracks and grey areas of a society, striking where lines of authority crisscross and the operational paradigms of politicians, officials, soldiers, police officers, and related actors get fuzzy and clash.” Arquilla and Ronfeldt have given this type of war, between nation states and network-enabled non-state actors, or between two groups of non-state actors, the term “Netwar.”

Traditional security concepts such as deterrence, linkage, and escalation, all of which assume the nation state as the only actor, as well as many other concepts that have been relied upon for our security discussions and decisions in the past, need to be re-evaluated to see if they are useful in this new world. No longer can security be “defined by armed forces standing between the aggressor and homeland.” Today attackers can get around and outflank traditional defenses. One must come to terms with such difficult questions as: Where are the borders that define internet? Who polices and patrols it and who has jurisdiction over it? Most importantly, Can we defend ourselves in it?

The information revolution has not only brought forth new actors to the world stage, it has changed warfare between states as well. The United States military has grown to its preeminence primarily as a function of the information revolution. The ability to selectively target enemies, to control what they know, and to communicate with the many different pieces of the armed forces during battle is the defining characteristic of the modern military, and is largely responsible for the U.S.’s ability to vanquish a second rate enemy in short order. To a large extent wars have become battles over knowledge, i.e. “who knows what, when, where, why, and about how secure a society or a military is regarding its knowledge of itself and its adversaries.” The Gulf War has been seen by many thinkers in many nations as a turning point in the history of war, a point which was cemented in the minds of military thinkers worldwide by NATO’s victory in Kosovo. The lesson that was taken by these two wars is that the distinction between first- and second-rate militaries is that of information superiority. In essence information has become another front that a country must fight on, as each side struggles for total information superiority. In the Gulf War, for example, the Iraqis could not even mount a miniscule fight against U.S. forces, despite their larger numbers of soldiers and their Soviet-made equipment. Other countries have taken from this that those who control information control the battlefield and that, if they want to effectively challenge the United States, they should not fight another Desert Storm.

Because the United States has such a preeminent military that no other nation is able to counter on its own terms, other nations have begun to look for asymmetric ways of attacking it—attacks where “the United States is vulnerable and presents less risk of conventional retaliation.” The United States is particularly vulnerable to this type of attack in the same area which has enabled it to create such a dominating military and economy—in and through the information and communications systems themselves. In particular it has become obvious to many potential adversaries of the United States that its Achilles heel may be its communication networks, since it is the one critical military component which most modern militaries depend. It is also notable that though cyber war capabilities may be difficult and expensive, the costs needed to start up an effective cyber warfare program are very low, relative to more advanced weapons systems, and the knowledge needed to attain Cyber Warfare results is relatively common, in relation to other military technologies. Currently 8 countries have Information War capabilities somewhat comparable to the United States, most notably Russia and China, and many more are attempting to start their own programs. If we were ever to find ourselves in a strategic conflict with these countries there is a very real possibility that they might resort to attacking our critical infrastructures via cyberspace.

--------------------------------------------------------------
You can read the rest of the paper here.

Progressive Answers To National Security Questions

Last weeks top-ten list on Democracy Arsenal posed a series of questions that Democrats should be prepared to answer. The list is quite good, and I'm in full agreement that any progressive that wants to be taken seriously on national security issues should be ready to answer each of these:
1. Isn’t it the case that had a progressive been in the White House, Saddam Hussein would still be in power, with the Middle East as stagnant as ever?

2. Do you honestly believe that an organization as bureaucratic, nepotistic, fractured and politicized as the UN will ever be a trustworthy foreign policy instrument?

3. What would you really do differently on non-proliferation?

4. Does the promotion of democracy belong as a U.S. foreign policy priority and, if so, what's your strategy for getting it done?

5. How can we be sure you won’t sacrifice American interests out of an urge to be better liked around the world?

6. If you’re so attuned to the stressed placed on the military and the frustrations that members of the armed forces feel with the current leadership and approach, then how come more servicemembers don’t vote your way?

7.What makes you say progressives will do a better or more principled job managing the inevitable contradictions (inherent in foreign policy decisions)?

8. When push comes to shove, who would you rather have as the arbiter of what’s considered “legal” in international relations – some tribunal, court, or multi-national forum, or the U.S. government?

9.Under what circumstances do you think the U.S. is justified using military power without UN imprimatur?

10. If you had to draw up a foreign policy “contract” to offer the American people, what would be in it?
As usual J. at Armchair Generalist has some great progressive answers to these questions.

My only quibble with J. is in regards to #5. J. says:
5. Anti-Americanism. It doesn't come from an envy of what we have as a society - rather, it comes from when US federal agencies and government-sanctioned groups force their partisan ideals upon foreign nations. It's the arrogance of thinking we're always right that pisses people off and sending diplomats and troops to enforce that message, not our lifestyles. We need to be strong, but humble, and that will win them over in the long run.
I think that Anti-Americanism does stem in large part from envy of what we have, though this is certainly exacerbated by our flaunting of our powers.

I'll end this by saying 'Amen' to J.'s answer to question #10:
10. What's your agenda? Foreign policy agenda in a nutshell - Increase America's stature in the world by developing and implementing a persuasive outreach effort on our culture and values in all major cities and capitals. Open the borders to exchange students so that they can see our culture in action. Impose strict moral accountability standards on US companies doing business overseas. Reduce basing overseas from permanent US bases to shared rights on allied military bases. Increase work on and seek expansion of international treaties designed to reduce conflicts and their impact on noncombatants. Increase cooperative military agreements to support joint exercises and exchanges with coalition allied militaries. Engage as equals, lead by example, look for the long view.
However, I would add one more point to this answer- progressives need to take a firm stand on the need to recognize the emerging threats that we face. WMD and terrorism are two of the big emerging threats, but there are others, such as the environment, cyber-security, migration, and trans-national crime, that we must address.

Friday, May 20, 2005

What's The Matter With... Virginia?

In my original Draft Zinni! piece I pushed the idea of drafting Gen. Zinni to run against Rick Santorum in Pennsylvania. I've obviously found little support, so far, for this from other Pennsylvanians, and it now appears that Bob Casey Jr. will be Santorum's opponent. My reasons for choosing the US Senate race in PA where probably a little self-centered- I wanted to fight the Right in my beloved homestate, in particular against Rick "man-on-dog" Santorum, and I thought Zinni would be the best person to serve Mr. Gump, I mean Santorum, a beat down. I also thought that Pennsylvanians would embrace one of their risen stars (Zinni was born, raised, and educated, up to the collegiate level, in Philly).

Meanwhile, in the state that Zinni calls home, Virginia, there's only been one serious candidate mentioned to run against the Republican incumbent, George Allen- current Virginia Governor Mark Warner. But, it appears that Warner has his sites set on either the 2008 Presidential nominee, or the VP spot on the 2008 ticket. And without a big bench to pull candidate's from, this would appear to be a safe seat for Republicans. Unless...

I wonder where the Democrats could look to find someone who is liberal in many senses of the word, but who could appeal to the fiscal and security conservatives in Red Virginia? How about looking towards Virginia resident General Anthony Zinni? Is there a man out there with better security credentials than Zinni? Is there anyone who could better tap into the disaffected feelings that many conservatives must be feeling right now about our Cowboy President's overseas conquests and blatant neglect of national security?

Any Virginia residents out there care to help me push this idea?

p.s. I'm planning on moving this site to either a CivicSpace/Drupal site or at the very least a page using moveable type, in the near future. If anyone who comes across this is interested in helping to Draft Zinni, or if you like to write about NatSec from a progressive standpoint but need a home, please e-mail me- I would welcome any interested people to contribute to the site/effort. My e-mail is draftzinni [AT] yahoo.com.

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Operation Truth Benefit Concert THIS SATURDAY!!!

One of my favorite political groups- Operation Truth- is having a benefit concert in New York City this weekend. I'll definitely be going, and if anyone who happens on this blog wants to join, please leave a comment on this forum- you'll be supporting a great cause and you'll get to see some good live music at the same time!

If you came to this blog via Music for America (the political outreach group I work with) you've probably seen OpTruth's Friday posts on MfA. If you've never heard of OpTruth before, you should really check them out. They are the first and largest Iraq veterans group in America, and they are connecting these veterans with grass roots groups like MfA so that we can really support the troops. They also enable veterans to tell the truth about what they saw on the ground in Iraq through their amazing blog and by going to Washington to talk to lawmakers about the needs of soldiers and veterans.

This weekend, if you are in the NYC area, you have a great opportunity to support OpTruth's operations by coming out to their show. Here's the skinny on the show, from their site:
On Saturday, May 21 at 7 p.m., Operation Truth will be holding a benefit concert in New York City to support our work in the coming months. The event will be a great opportunity to hear some terrific live music, meet OpTruth's member veterans and staff, and support our Troops at the same time. Tim Robbins, Al Franken, Janeane Garofalo and Randi Rhodes from Air America Radio will be guest hosts, and Milo Z, the Laura Thomas Band and a special surprise guest will perform. Tickets are limited, so buy yours now!

What: Operation Truth Benefit Concert hosted by actor Tim Robbins, and radio personalities Al Franken, Janeane Garofalo and Randi Rhodes from Air America Radio. Featuring live music by Milo Z, The Laura Thomas Band and a special surprise guest.
When: Saturday, May 21, at 7 p.m.
Where: Canal Room, New York City (see below for directions)
Tickets: Click Here to buy tickets

Canal Room is a terrific club in TriBeCa, and the bands and celebrity MCs should make for a great evening. There is also a small number of VIP tables for sale - please contact Operation Truth for more details. Operation Truth really needs your help, and tickets are limited, so make sure to save the date and buy your tickets now.

Thank you for really supporting the Troops.

DIRECTIONS: Canal Room is located in TriBeCa at 285 West Broadway, just south of the intersection of West Broadway and Canal Street. By Subway, the A,C,E line to the Canal Street stop is closest, but the 1,9,N or R lines stop nearby on Canal Street. Click Here for a map, or visit the Canal Room website for more information.

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

General Anthony Zinni (ret.) Videos

Sometimes it's really hard to get a good idea of just how good someone is at something by just reading about them. This week I've been beginning to apply for field operations jobs at various political organizations and I've been having a hell of a time trying to put my skill set, much of which has to do with how I work in the field, into words.

Well, trying to get across what is so great about Gen. Zinni, as a person and a leader, is similarly difficult. So with that in mind I decided to look around the net for some videos of Gen. Zinni. Here are some that I found.

First I came across an amazing streaming video of Gen. Zinni on Leading Authorities' website (RealPlayer). The video can be found here, and deals mainly with the question of leadership. For anyone wishing to get a real taste of just how impressive Zinni is in person, you should really watch this video. Zinni talks about issues such as honesty, education, and spirituality. For any of those people out there who question whether Zinni is truly an open minded intelligent, and I would say liberal, you should watch this.

This is a longer speech on avoiding and mitigating conflicts (RealPlayer) given to the Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice at the University of San Diego. The video is pretty long, and is all very good, but there are some particularly good segments about Zinni's views on Iraq beginning about 50 minutes into the video. He ends by saying that if he had still been an officer under Bush II he would have quit long ago. If only Powell had Zinni's morals...

Here's the full 60 minutes interview (Windows Media Player). (via undergroundclips)

Here's a speech to the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (Windows Media Player). The sound is pretty poor, but there are some great comments on the "plans" for Iraq. Really powerful stuff...

This is a very lengthy video (RealPlayer) from The Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley's Conversations with History series. The transcripts of the interview are a great place to search for Zinni quotes.

That's all I've found for now. I'll post more as I find links.

Wesley Clark: Global Warming Is A National Security Threat

Yesterday I received an e-mail from Wes Clark asking his supporters to join him in a virtual march to stop global warming. Here's part of whatthe message:
Global warming and environmental policy are indeed important issues when considering national security policy.

Here's why: Evidence shows that global warming brings with it harsher weather conditions that could lead to drought and food shortages. This could mean that nations may be forced to compete more fiercely for scarcer resources. This pressure could become a destabilizing force that may lead to civil unrest and international conflict.

So, stopping global warming is not just about saving the environment for the hunters, fishermen, hikers and the other outdoor enthusiasts of today and tomorrow. It's about securing America for our children and our children's children, as well.

Shoulder-to-shoulder, let's march together to save what God loaned us, so our children and their children will live in a world we would recognize a hundred years from now.

Join the march to stop global warming now!

http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/campaigns/sgw/register/general_clark/

No excuses. No apologies. Take the first step today.

Sincerely,

Wes Clark
Many people still cling to the idea that we should view environmental degradation separately from national security, but as Gen. Clark points out we cannot. Gen. Zinni also noted, in an article I blogged about last week, the need to understand and deal with the root causes of instability before that instability requires military action.

These generals aren't the only ones concerned about the effects of Global Warming on national security. Last February a report titled An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its Implications for United States National Security, which the DoD tried to suppress, was leaked to the Observer UK. The report was commissioned by DoD adviser Andrew Marshall. As the Observer article notes:
Marshall, 82, is a Pentagon legend who heads a secretive think-tank dedicated to weighing risks to national security called the Office of Net Assessment. Dubbed 'Yoda' by Pentagon insiders who respect his vast experience, he is credited with being behind the Department of Defense's push on ballistic-missile defense
So what did Yoda's report say?
There is substantial evidence to indicate that significant global warming will occur during the 21st century. Because changes have been gradual so far, and are projected to be similarly gradual in the future, the effects of global warming have the potential to be manageable for most nations. Recent research, however, suggests that there is a possibility that this gradual global warming could lead to a relatively abrupt slowing of the ocean’s thermohaline conveyor, which could lead to harsher winter weather conditions, sharply reduced soil moisture, and more intense winds in certain regions that currently provide a significant fraction of the world’s food production. With inadequate preparation, the result could be a significant drop in the human carrying capacity of the Earth’s environment.

The research suggests that once temperature rises above some threshold, adverse weather conditions could develop relatively abruptly, with persistent changes in the atmospheric circulation causing drops in some regions of 5-10 degrees Fahrenheit in a single decade. Paleoclimatic evidence suggests that altered climatic patterns could last for as much as a century, as they did when the ocean conveyor collapsed 8,200 years ago, or, at the extreme, could last as long as 1,000 years as they did during the Younger Dryas, which began about 12,700 years ago.
The full report is one of the most complete overviews of the potential threats of global warming and is definitely worth a full reading. As it notes this climate change could have disastrous consequences for U.S. national security and our global interests:
  1. Food shortages due to decreases in net global agricultural production
  2. Decreased availability and quality of fresh water in key regions due to shifted precipitation patters, causing more frequent floods and droughts
  3. Disrupted access to energy supplies due to extensive sea ice and storminess
As global and local carrying capacities are reduced, tensions could mount around the world, leading to two fundamental strategies: defensive and offensive. Nations with the resources to do so may build virtual fortresses around their countries, preserving resources for themselves. Less fortunate nations especially those with ancient enmities with their neighbors, may initiate in struggles for access to food, clean water, or energy. Unlikely alliances could be formed as defense priorities shift and the goal is resources for survival rather than religion, ideology, or national honor.
As I noted, President Bush and the DoDs response to this was typical- they tried to suppress the information. However, ignoring this problem is not going to remove the threat that we face as a nation and as a world. Of course we all know that the Bush Administration isn't likely to do a goddamn thing about this looming threat, which is why the opposition party, The Democrats, need to take the mantle of environmental and other non-traditional security threats and use them as a central part of the party platform. In our two party system there is no other way to force these highly urgent topics to get addressed.

I'll be writing more about the subject of non-traditional threats a little later today, in preparation for a piece I'm writing for Music for America, which will look at a few more reasons why non-traditional security should be a central part of what we stand for as Progressives...

Sunday, May 15, 2005

A Soldier For The Truth Or A Right-Wing Hack?

Is Operation Truth part of a vast-Leftwing conspiracy to paint our soldiers as murdering psychopaths? After reading this piece of sophist garbage at Soldier's for Truth you might think so. You see, Operation Truth is going to Washington this week to talk with Congressional leaders about, amongst other troubling issues, the extremely high prevalence of PTSD and other mental disorders amongst our soldiers. But, this a-hole Ed Offley claims that those who discuss the mental strain of war are simply anti-troop (and by extension anti-American) conspirators, waiting for just the right moment to spit on our family and friends in the military.
With Operation Matador at full swing across northwestern Iraq this week, it's probably safe to say our Marines have not caught all of the news from home. I'm glad for that. They would not be encouraged to learn that a concerted effort is underway to portray all of them as mentally unbalanced killers.
And what evidence does Offley point to? The review of a movie dealing with the psychological trauma that many veterans face after being thrown into the war zone. Imagine that KIDS become traumatized when they watch their friends die, when they kill someone for the first time, and when they witness the carnage that is warfare.
Consider Times film critic Caryn James' encomium to a raft of new anti-war movies and TV shows that are in production this spring ("Critic's Corner," May 11, 2005). Ms. James, who counts herself as a spiritual kinswoman of Hollywood's two geopolitical experts, Michael Moore and Tim Robbins, begins with an overview of our nation's wars and the symbolic veterans as portrayed by Hollywood:
"Every war inspires its emblematic screen heroes, from the stoic World War II veterans of 'The Best Years of Our Lives' (1946) to the paraplegic Vietnam veteran who gains a political conscience, played by Jon Voight in 'Coming Home' (1978). Now, in a just completed film called 'Harsh Times,' Christian Bale is a veteran for our time. He plays an Army Ranger who returns from Iraq so haunted by what he has done, so psychologically scarred, that he turns to criminal acts back home."
There you have it in a nutshell: All World War II veterans were "stoic" and deserved our support. Vietnam veterans were crippled victims or psychologically unbalanced killers. So, too, the veterans of the post-9/11 era will all come home too "psychologically scarred" to function in society and will turn to violent crime.
First of all, stating that popular culture has dealt more with positive sides of WWII, and the negatives of Vietnam is simply a fact. If you don't like it Offley, then simply get into your time machine and go talk to Hollywood. Better yet- maybe you can tell us what the f-ck the righteous reasons to go to Vietnam were in the first place?

But more importantly, MUCH MORE IMPORTANT, is the fact that Offley is basically denying a fact of war that is seriously effecting our returning troops. Instead of looking at the issue Offley wants those of us who care about the mental health of our troops, and by extension the military readiness of our veterans, to shut up. Well, you know what Offley- we won't shut up. The lives of our family members, friends, and neighbors might seem like nothing more than political sport to you, but it's not that way for me.

Hey Offley- what percentage of Vietnam Vets have been homeless at some point? What percentage of them have suffered from serious mental ailments at some point? What percentage of them have been incarcerated?

You don't know, and the fact that you and your partisan hack ilk would rather ignore these issues than deal with them, means that you don't give two shits about our troops.

I support Operation Truth because they actually care about the troops. I admired Col. Hackworth for the same reason. You, however, are an affront both to truth and to our soldiers. You are no Soldier for Truth, you are a right-wing hack who cares only for partisan politics, and I hope that you don't damage OpTruth's chances of getting the very real phenomenon of PTSD and other combat related issues addressed. I really find it amazing that in the week after Hack's death, someone could write such an anti-grunt piece as this, and as you may be able to tell I can barely hold back my anger.

Well, at least Offley had one positive effect. I just doubled my contribution to Operation Truth so that they could go to Congress to talk about PTSD and other troop-related issues. Let's hope that a-holes like Offley don't hurt this vital mission, the lives and health of our troops depend in part on OpTruth's success.

To donate to OpTruth's Washington trip please click here.

Carl Nyberg Explains Military Recruitment

For those who missed this on Kos, Carl Nyberg had an amazing diary on Kos this week dealing with questions about military recruitment.

This is why Carl has some authority on the subject:
My last two years as a Navy officer I was assigned to Navy Recruiting District Chicago. I investigated misconduct by enlisted recruiters. At the end of my tour I was a whistle-blower about extensive corruption in Navy Recruiting Command, including cover-ups of recruiter misconduct by the chain of command.

Carl uses an unconventional style of writing in this post, where he posted each of his observations as comments to which people could ask individual questions. It really worked well, and for any of you who want an insider's view of recruitment, it's most definitely worth a look.

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Gen Zinni: A True Progressive On Foreign Policy

In last weeks Marine Corps Times there was an article about a speech that Gen. Anthony Zinni (ret.) gave at the Marine Corps Association's Ground Dinner, where he outlined what in my eyes are a few of the basic tenets of a Progressive foreign policy.

The most basic tenet of a progressive foreign policy should be, in my eyes, that military force is only one of the tools we posses to achieve our foreign policy objectives and ensure our security, and because of the extremely high costs of military action (blood, money, prestige, etc.), it should be the absolute last option that we turn to.
A former head of U.S. Central Command has criticized the Bush administration for trying to deal with modern security threats through military solutions alone.

Speaking at the Marine Corps Association’s Ground Dinner in Alexandria, Va., on May 5, retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni said the United States — and the Marine Corps — must make a greater effort to understand the problems of the developing world instead of narrowly focusing on fighting terrorism.

“Our threat is that half of the world is remarkably unstable and it brings that to our shores everyday … we need to do more than throw the military at this problem,” he said.

“Whatever the causes of stability in this world are, the causes of it are what have to be addressed. If you don’t deal with reasons, you’re going to continually have to deal with the symptoms.”
Here we can see another of the foreign policy principles that I believe progressives should take: we must search out and address the root causes of instability, instead of constantly having to react to the symptoms.

The third aspect of foreign policy that I think progressives need to embrace is the recognition that we face a new paradigm in national security, one which requires us to address issues usually thought to fall outside of the IR realm.
Zinni criticized the government’s national security strategy as not evolving enough from Cold War days, when enemies were nations and conflicts were dealt with army on army.

The government needs a complete overhaul to deal with the post-Cold War world of non-state actors and other threats, Zinni said.

The government, he said, must take a larger role in dealing with multi-faceted instability and problems of a globalized world — terrorism, epidemics, migrations, environmental degradation — so the military doesn’t get stuck with the job of economic and social rebuilding when those problems turn into threats, he said
To put the above principle in another way, progressives and liberals need to embrace reform of our national security policy and forces. As the Iraq War has made painfully obvious the military is not adequately equipped for the tasks of rebuilding and policing a failed (or in this case an overthrown and occupied) state. For example Zinni's plan for occupying Iraq (not that he wanted to invade and occupy, but he saw it as a possible scenario that needed to be planned for) called for about 18 times the number of civilian authorities.
In my time at CENTCOM, we actually looked at a plan for reconstruction, and actually developed one at CENTCOM because I though that we, the military, would get stuck with it. In my mind, we needed formidable teams at every provincial level. 18 teams. The size of the CPA was about the size we felt we needed for one province, let alone the entire country of Baghdad [sic] (Iraq), to do those other parts.
Beyond the recognition of the need for deployable non-military personnel, Zinni also recognizes that the causes of instability emanate from such non-military areas as environmental degradation, epidemics and mass migration.

In the last section of the article we see an aspect of foreign policy that is completely "liberal."
While Zinni said the military should focus on fighting wars — not rebuilding cultures and societies — military officers also need to make a greater effort to understand the problems of the world.

“We need to broaden out to where we become truly renaissance men and women. Just to go there and think you can break things and kill people better than anybody else won’t work. We’ve seen that before; the movie was called Vietnam.”

Zinni said that soon after graduating from The Basic School, Marine Corps officers should begin branching out, learning about the world’s cultures and problems. Specifically, officers need to understand that western and military logic don’t necessarily apply to other parts of the world.

“You need to understand these other pieces. It doesn’t mean the military do them, but for the fit and the integration you need to be educated enough to take that on,” he said.
And before you even suggest that this isn't a liberal view of how to deal with the world, let me just point to the definition of liberal:
lib·er·al
adj.
1. Not limited to or by established, traditional, orthodox, or authoritarian attitudes, views, or dogmas; free from bigotry.
2. Favoring proposals for reform, open to new ideas for progress, and tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; broad-minded.
3. Of, relating to, or characteristic of liberalism.
4. Liberal Of, designating, or characteristic of a political party founded on or associated with principles of social and political liberalism, especially in Great Britain, Canada, and the United States.
Now if only we could convince Gen. Zinni that definitions 1, 2 and 4 belong together we'd be one step closer to finding a Democratic spokesman for a truly progressive foreign policy.

Monday, May 09, 2005

CyberWar Is Coming, So Of Course We Cutback On IT

An editorial in last Friday's LA Times pointed to yet another disturbing sign of the Bush Administration's disdain for non-traditional security issues. In this case the area being neglected is Cyber Security.
The Pentagon fumble in which military officials essentially published on the Web the full version of a supposedly censored report was news last week. But occurring beneath the news radar is a more fundamental cyber-security problem: the Bush administration's cutting the funding of university-based information technology research by nearly half over the last three years.

Since 1961, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, or DARPA, has distributed IT research dollars in largely open-ended grants to universities. The grants encouraged basic research aimed not at marketable innovations but at basic scientific mysteries. DARPA and its investments have paid off handsomely nevertheless.

Its legendary role in developing the Internet as a free-for-all instead of a commercially owned space is widely known. Less so are its militarily and commercially important developments, such as global positioning satellites, the JPEG file format for efficiently storing photographs and Websearching technologies like those later refined by Google.
Now, I know that DARPA grants don't necessarily deal directly with Cyber Security, but with Cyber Security becoming increasingly problematic and with potential adversaries investing heavily in cyber weapons and tactics we need more funding to IT research centers, not less.

Thursday, May 05, 2005

R.I.P. Col. David. H. Hackworth

Today our nation lost a great soldier and patriot. Col. David H. Hackworth has passed away.
Washington, D.C., May 5, 2005 – Col. David H. Hackworth, the United States Army's legendary, highly decorated guerrilla fighter and lifelong champion of the doughboy and dogface, ground-pounder and grunt, died Wednesday in Mexico. He was 74 years old. The cause of death was a form of cancer now appearing with increasing frequency among Vietnam veterans exposed to the defoliants called Agents Orange and Blue.

Col. Hackworth spent more than half a century on the country's hottest battlefields, first as a soldier, then as a writer, war correspondent and sharp-eyed critic of the Military-Industrial Complex and ticket-punching generals he dismissed as "Perfumed Princes."

He preferred the combat style of World War II and Korean War heroes like James Gavin and Matthew Ridgeway and, during Vietnam, of Hank "The Gunfighter" Emerson and Hal Moore. General Moore, the co-author of We Were Soldiers Once and Young, called him "the Patton of Vietnam," and Gen. Creighton Abrams, the last American commander in that disastrous war, described him as "the best battalion commander I ever saw in the United States Army."

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Draft Watch: Army misses April recruiting goal by 42 percent

The pressure continues to mount on our armed forces as the Army misses April recruiting goal by 42 percent.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Army missed its April recruiting goal by a whopping 42 percent and the Army Reserve fell short by 37 percent, officials said on Tuesday, showing the depth of the military's wartime recruiting woes.

With the Iraq war straining the U.S. military, the active-duty Army has now missed its recruiting goals in three straight months, with April being by far the worst of the three, and officials are forecasting that it will fall short again in May.
I'd say that that's a pretty reliable forecast. Hopefully we should learn a lesson from this war- that you can't successfully fight a long-term war without the full backing of the public, especially when you rely upon an all volunteer armed forces. If only there was a recent conflict in American history that could have taught us this. But unfortunately all of the wars we've fought in the past 40 years have been hugely popular and/or really short, so there was no historical case for the administration to look to. Oh, accept for that one war, you know the one that ripped American society apart, soiled our reputation in the world, and left our military in disrepair for years.

It should come as no surprise that Army's recruiters have to bend or break the rules as pressure mounts to meet the quotas.
It was late September when the 21-year-old man, fresh from a three-week commitment in a psychiatric ward, showed up at an Army recruiting station in southern Ohio. The two recruiters there wasted no time signing him up, and even after the man’s parents told them he had bipolar disorder – a diagnosis that would disqualify him – he was all set to be shipped to boot camp, and perhaps Iraq after that, before senior officers found out and canceled the enlistment.

Despite an Army investigation, the recruiters were not punished and were still working in the area late last month.

Two hundred miles away, in northern Ohio, another recruiter said the incident hardly surprised him. He has been bending or breaking enlistment rules for months, he said, hiding police records and medical histories of potential recruits. His commanders have encouraged such deception, he said, because they know there is no other way to meet the Army’s stiff recruitment quotas.

“The problem is that no one wants to join,” the recruiter said. “We have to play fast and loose with the rules just to get by.”
Damned freedom hating kids! Why won't they sign up to go fight in a war of choice against a nation that didn't attack us? Why can't they follow in the footsteps of the Bush Administration, all of whom sacrificed so much and served so patriotically in the Vietnam War when they were young?

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Strategic Mistakes

Within the comments of the Armchair Generalist post that I listed below Bobby Bran and I disagreed about whether you could call Iraq a strategic mistake. While Bobby admits to many of the tactical and/or operational errors made by the Pentagon's civilian leadership, he stated that only history will tell whether the war was a strategic success or not.

I couldn't disagree more with those who say that the jury is still out on whether there were strategic errors made in this war, and this morning the Pentagon told Congress what they should already know- the invasion and occupation of Iraq is hampering our abilities to deal with other potential conflicts and adversaries.
WASHINGTON, May 2 - The concentration of American troops and weapons in Iraq and Afghanistan limits the Pentagon's ability to deal with other potential armed conflicts, the military's highest ranking officer reported to Congress on Monday.

The officer, Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, informed Congress in a classified report that major combat operations elsewhere in the world, should they be necessary, would probably be more protracted and produce higher American and foreign civilian casualties because of the commitment of Pentagon resources in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A half dozen Pentagon civilian and military officials were discussing the outlines of the report on Monday as it was being officially delivered to Congress; one government official provided a copy to The New York Times. The officials who discussed the assessment demanded anonymity because it is a classified document.

General Myers cited reduced stockpiles of precision weapons, which were depleted during the invasion of Iraq, and the stress on reserve units, which fulfill the bulk of combat support duties in Iraq, as among the factors that would limit the Pentagon's ability to prevail as quickly as war planners once predicted in other potential conflicts.

The report this year acknowledges that the nation's armed forces are operating under a higher level of risk than cited in the report last year, said Pentagon and military officials who have read both documents.
In case I wasn't clear as to what the strategic error the Bush Administration made is, let me spell it out. Despite possessing possibly the greatest military of all time, we still have limited defense capabilities. Because we have limited resources we must conserve those resources for times when we truly need to use them, IMO when we are directly threatened or when we are working to avert some large scale humanitarian crisis (though I'm not sure whether our armed forces should be dealing with these and not some international org. that we are a member of). Using our limited defense resources when no threat is present is thus a strategic error. Whether it is a major error or not to invade and occupy Iraq won't be know for some time, since it will be determined in large part by the actions of our adversaries. But I'm sure that our adversaries have taken note of our over extension (and the massive budget deficits we are incurring, IMO another major strategic error) and at the very least our credibility is seriously hampered.

And so it seems that right now our security is based largely on luck and the actions of our potential or actual enemies. Our faith-based foreign policy is in full swing, and I highly advise every god fearing American to pray like hell that we make it through this time of trial. Not that G-d actually gives two shits about American security, but at least it might take our minds off of the fact that we are becoming more and more insecure with each passing day.