Don't Drink the Kool-Aid

President Obama, Secretary of State Kerry and many other leaders are loath to acknowledge the Islamist nature of the various organizations that threaten the security of the entire Middle East, much of Africa, and important parts of South Asia. They think acknowledging the religious roots of these movements will lend legitimacy to their cause; the establishment of a fundamentalist Sunni Islamic Caliphate governed in accordance with Sharia Law. But if the world is to rid itself of these groups we will need a strategy, and the first step in developing a strategy is to gain an understanding of the adversary to be confronted and the environment in which they exist. By failing to acknowledge the religious motivations of these radical groups, President Obama makes it harder for those charged with developing a strategy to get this important step right. ... read more.

The United States is on the threshold of a multi decade project to rebuild its combat air forces. Central to that effort are the ongoing F-35 program and the recently launched Long Range Strike Bomber. In the unlikely event those programs were to execute according to current plans, the Air Force of 2040 would field 17 F-35 wings, two undersized F-22 wings and 100-120 stealthy Long Range Strike Bombers and B-2As. The Navy will have 11 aircraft carriers whose air wings will have a mix of F-35s and F-18s. The Marine Corps will field three wings of F-35s. This will be a formidable force, but it is probably not the force we will want three decades hence. ... read more.

We hear a lot about strategy of late, or at least the alleged absence of one to guide our efforts against the Islamic State. The President has said he wants to contain, degrade and eventually destroy ISIS and claims to have a strategy for achieving that goal. And in fact, he does. The administration's strategy is to help those in the region who are opposed to ISIS with training, equipment and air support. More recently those measures have been augmented with some special operations teams operating in direct support of the Kurdish Peshmerga. The real question then is not whether the administration has a strategy, but rather does the strategy they have chosen have a realistic chance of achieving the goal of containing, degrading and eventually destroying ISIS. ... read more.