Later this morning, President Barack Obama will deliver a speech at the Department of Justice. The topic will be his conclusions on surveillance by the national government. The speech follows several months of controversy unleashed by Edward Snowden's leaking of information on how the government has gathered data on citizens and groups. I want to remind you of what's beneath this speech and the … [Read more...]
Intelligence And Irregular Warfare
July 15, 2013 by
A specialty of mine is irregular warfare and the American Experience. Irregular warfare is that which uses ambushes, hit-and-run techniques, and surprise tactics rather than more standard approaches to warfare. Terrorism is a subset of irregular warfare. National security experts often use "asymmetrical warfare" as a synonym for irregular warfare. I mention this to help explain something you see … [Read more...]
Of Hogs, Vladimir Putin, And Abraham Lincoln
June 26, 2013 by
This morning I found a moment shared, incredibly, by Vladimir Putin and Abraham Lincoln. One of Lincoln's tools of communication was to use illustrations from farming life in his speeches and commentary. He once referred to holding the leg of a hog as it was butchered and skinned. Imagine my surprise when, in today's Wall Street Journal, I read that Vladimir Putin was asked about the … [Read more...]
