IS threat: Maharashtra rolls out deradicalisation plan

SHARAD VYAS

February 4, 2016

APThis undated file image posted on a militant website shows fighters from the Islamic State march in Raqqa.

Union Home Ministry had asked three States to draw up a comprehensive counter-strategy in the wake of attempts by international terrorist outfits.

Faced with the challenges of both home-grown extremism and the global Islamic State (IS) threat, Maharashtra has rolled out a deradicalisation programme for the minority community.

The programme includes opening vyayam shalas in minority areas, making National Cadet Corps (NCC), Bharat Scouts and Guides (BS&G) compulsory in minority schools, and setting up an independent media outlet to deliver ‘mainstream thoughts and values’ to the minority youth in the State.

NASA’s most powerful rocket to send 13 tiny satellites into space

February 3, 2016 

ReutersNASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) 70-metric-ton configuration is seen launching to space in this undated artist's rendering released in 2014.

These satellite secondary payloads or ‘CubeSats’ will carry sci-tech investigations to help pave the way for future human exploration in deep space.

The Space Launch System (SLS) — NASA’s most powerful rocket ever that will launch an uncrewed Orion spacecraft to a stable orbit beyond the Moon in 2018 — will also carry 13 tiny satellites to test innovative ideas.

These small satellite secondary payloads or ‘CubeSats’ will carry science and technology investigations to help pave the way for future human exploration in deep space, including the journey to Mars.

SLS’ first flight, referred to as Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), provides the rare opportunity for these small experiments to reach deep space destinations, as most launch opportunities for CubeSats are limited to low-Earth orbit.

** China's global ambitions

By CLIFFORD KRAUSS and KEITH BRADSHER

JULY 24, 2015

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China’s Global Ambitions, Cash and Strings Attached

The country has invested billions in Ecuador and elsewhere, using its economic clout to win diplomatic allies and secure natural resources around the world.

Water pipes set aside near where Ecuador wants a Chinese oil company to build a giant refinery, outside the port of Manta. China has invested heavily in overseas oil projects.CreditIvan Kashinsky for The New York Times 

EL CHACO, Ecuador — Where the Andean foothills dip into the Amazon jungle, nearly 1,000 Chinese engineers and workers have been pouring concrete for a dam and a 15-mile underground tunnel. The $2.2 billion project will feed river water to eight giant Chinese turbines designed to produce enough electricity to light more than a third of Ecuador.

** Stratfor: Getting to the Root of France’s Muslim Dilemma

By Joe Parson. Stratfor

24 January 2016

Summary: Generations of immigration gave France cheap docile workers. Now comes the hangover as France struggles to integrate them, amidst concerns about rising Islamic fundamentalism and recruitment by jihadists.

Getting to the Root of France’s Muslim Dilemma

The jihadist attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo signified the beginning of a new period of insecurity for France. Since those shots rang out a little over a year ago, France has been beset by threats, false alarms and more successful attacks. The latest of these, of course, took place in Paris itself, triggering the first nationwide state of emergency since 1961. Having been away for most of 2015, when I arrived back for the holidays I found the country had somehow changed. Disembarking at Charles de Gaulle airport’s oldest terminal, whimsically known as le Camembertfor its roundness, I found the same futuristic, grimy moving walkways and familiar odor of the Paris metro. Much was the same, but then I noticed that the usual airport security was gone, replaced by military personnel patrolling with automatic rifles. 

Boosting Innovation: Murthy’s Idea Of Funding Indian PhDs In US Is A Non-Starter

R Jagannathan

2 Feb, 2016

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Murthy’s idea will cost Indian Government in the tune of $25 bn over five years, an investment that can be better used to set up several top-notch universities and research institutions where Indians currently working abroad can be lured back.

NR Narayana Murthy suggested that India should spend an annual $5 billion to create 10,000 PhDs in American universities with the explicit proviso that none of them will be employed in the US. They have to return home to work on innovative projects and products right here.

While prima facie this seems like a bold idea to unleash thousands of innovators in India, giving a quantum jump the creation of intellectual property, a closer examination shows that this is actually a defeatist solution. Among other things, it concludes that India cannot produce world class PhDs, that the ones produced in the US will become innovative in India merely because they did their stuff under western masters, and that all this expense is worth it for ensuring high quality PhDs.

Why We Must Be Thankful To The Boses of Elgin Road

Sandip Ghose

2 Feb, 2016

http://swarajyamag.com/politics/why-we-must-be-thankful-to-the-boses-of-elgin-road/

While the circumstances of Netaji’s death may forever remain a mystery, the nation does have a right to know what has been holding back the previous and even the current government from coming clean with whatever facts are at their disposal. 

Eyebrows were raised when soon after the ceremonial release of the Netaji files by the Prime Minister, which was a lifetime’s photo-op moment for the extended Bose clan – Chandra Bose, grand nephew of Subhas Bose – attired in a Gandhi cap and Netaji’s signature round rimmed spectacles – formally joined the BJP in the presence of the party President Amit Shah. But as the young Bose is a political non-entity, it did not snowball into any major controversy.

The problem with Netaji Subhas Bose’ family is that they come across as trying to desperately cling on to his legacy more as a family inheritance rather than a national cause. This is distinct from the hurt pride of Bengalis at large, who feel short-changed at their sub-national hero missing his rightful place in India’s post-independence history due to a sad quirk of fate. But, the family seems to suffer from a loss of entitlement about their preeminent political status that the Nehru dynasty solely usurped by virtue of Netaji’s disappearance.

Russia and the Taliban Make Amends Moscow's New Ally in Afghanistan

By Javid Ahmad

January 31, 2016 

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The Taliban, once a pariah, now finds itself courted by several powerful regional players. Even Russia, the group’s historical enemy, has recently turned to the group for intelligence sharing against a common foe: the Islamic State (also called ISIS). Zamir Kabulov, Russia’s special envoy to Afghanistan, recently said, “Taliban interests objectively coincide with ours.” Kabulov, a former KGB officer who negotiated with Taliban leaders in the mid-1990s after the group captured a Russian plane and took seven Russians hostage, rationalized the new cooperation by adding that “the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban have said they don’t recognize [Abu Bakr] al-Baghdadi as the caliph; that is very important.” However, such a shortsighted alliance carries critical security risks for Afghanistan and the region.

Engaging Myanmar as it moves to democracy

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Economic and strategic imperatives both demand building close ties 

Last year, Burmese political icon and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi told an Indian television network: “If the National League for Democracy (NLD) wins the elections and we form the government, I am going to be the leader of that government, whether or not I am president.” On Monday, she stood on the cusp of fulfilling that promise with the historic inauguration of Myanmar’s first civilian-dominated parliament in half-a-century. The process of Myanmar’s political transformation that started—hesitantly—with 2010’s allegedly managed elections and gathered steam with more convincing elections in November last year is now well underway. 

Reportedly, Suu Kyi has avoided triumphalism in the wake of the NLD’s convincing victory. She has good reason. Multiple challenges await her. Pushing towards a resolution of ethnic conflicts is one. For another, she may soon hold power through a proxy president, but the military junta that ruled Myanmar from 1962 to 2010—and continued to dominate the political landscape during the subsequent nominally civilian dispensation headed by former general Thein Sein—will not be returning to the barracks anytime soon. The NLD’s overwhelming majority of about 80% of the elected seats in the legislature will be offset in part by the 25% block of both parliaments reserved for the military and the military’s continued hold on ministries like defence, home affairs and border affairs.

How Weak Is China? The Real Story Behind the Economic Indicators

By Salvatore Babones

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2016-01-31/how-weak-china?cid=soc-fb-rdr

China’s economy is slowing. But is it still growing? China says yes, with an official growth rate of 6.9 percent in 2015 and a target ofat least 6.5 percent for 2016. A CNN poll of industry economists yielded a consensus of 6.5 percent for 2016 as well, and the IMFis clinging to 6.3 percent. But many skeptics aren’t so sure. Barclays won’t go higher than six percent, Citi says five percent, and the ever-bearishConference Board anticipates growth of only 3.7 percent in 2016, which is equal to its lowball estimate for 2015.

China Reorganizing Military to Close Gap with US

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China Reorganizing Military to Close Gap with US

US Army and Air Force troops demonstrate to Chinese soldiers ways to secure and evacuate casualties during the Disaster Management Exchange held at Joint Base Lewis McChord, Wash., Nov. 20, 2015. (Army/Trish McMurphy)

Stars and Stripes | Jan 31, 2016 | by Wyatt Olson 

China's armed forces are undergoing a sweeping five-year reorganization aimed at creating central control over the military's nearly autonomous branches and creating a more lethal fighting force to close the gap with US capabilities, analysts say.

The restructuring is the most profound undertaken since the 1950s when Soviet advisers helped modernize the nation's post-civil war military, changes that will likely challenge long-held assumptions by the Pentagon, according to David M. Finkelstein, director of the China Studies division of CNA, a Washington, D.C.,-based research center.

China’s Stance on East Jerusalem

by Mohammed al-Sudairi 

January 28, 2016 

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For those accustomed to the themes of Sino-Arab diplomacy, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s speech at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo on January 21 was predictable enough. It might not have attracted much attention at all if not for Xi’s statement that “China firmly supports the Middle East peace process and supports the establishment of a State of Palestine enjoying full sovereignty on the basis of the 1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

This unequivocal position on East Jerusalem—at odds with the Israeli government’s insistence that Jerusalem is the “eternal and undivided” capital of Israel and with the US willingness to put Jerusalem’s status up for negotiation—was accorded considerable coverage in the Israeli press. In Arab social media, meanwhile, President Xi’s words met with some surprise as they appeared to indicate a shift in China’s position toward avid support for Palestine. Few noted, however, that the Chinese stance on this issue had already been spelled out in the “Arab white paper” issued on January 13, a week before Xi left on the tour of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iran during which he gave his speech.

Five myths about the Chinese economy

by Jonathan Woet zel 

November 2015 

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Predictions of deepening economic woes are plentiful. Here are five arguments against the pessimism.

A widely held Western view of China is that its stunning economic success contains the seeds of imminent collapse. This is a kind of anchoring bias,1 which colors academic and think-tank views of the country, as well as stories in the media. In this analysis, China appears to have an economy unlike others—the normal rules of development haven’t been followed, and behavior is irrational at best, criminal at worst.

There’s no question, of course, that China’s slowdown is both real and important for the global economy. But news events like this year’s stock-market plunge and the yuan’s devaluation versus the dollar reinforce the refrain, among a chorus of China watchers, that the country’s long flirtation with disaster has finally ended, as predicted, in tears. Meanwhile, Chinese officials, worried about political blowback, are said to ignore advice from outside experts on heading off further turmoil and to be paranoid about criticism.

Hard truths about U.S. relationships in the Middle East

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On January 29, 2015 I gave a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations about how America needs to confront the hard truth of extremism in the Middle East, including taking a look at the actions of our allies. I hope you’ll take a minute to read the full text of the speech below.

Senator Chris Murphy is the Ranking Member of U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism. He lays out his vision for a progressive foreign policy at ChanceForPeace.org

I would be a rich man if I had a quarter for every time one of my Republican colleagues on the Foreign Relations Committee utters some variation of the sentence, “President Obama doesn’t have a strategy to defeat ISIS”. It’s their calling card on the committee, and on the campaign trail.

But it’s not true. The President does have a strategy to defeat ISIS, and it’s largely working. ISIS’s territory in Iraq and Syria have been reduced by 30% in the last year, we’ve tightened our immigration policies to make sure the bad guys don’t get in, we’ve stood up a more capable fighting force in Iraq, and we’ve clamped down, significantly, on ISIS’s sources of financing. It’s hard to “win”, when only one spectacular and deadly strike can erase all of your good work, but the President does have a strategy.

The problem is that it’s still a short term strategy.

Can Libya Be Reassembled?

from STRATFOR

-- this post authored by Scott Stewart

Many indicators suggest that European and regional powers along with the United States are once again gearing up for an intervention in Libya. These signs include increased surveillance activity over the North African country, reports of U.S., British and French soldiers already on the ground, and leaks that countries in the region are being approached to provide assistance.

Libya is mired in a period of protracted chaos. Jihadists aligned with al Qaeda and the Islamic State now control substantial portions of the country. Thanks to their connections with other militant groups in the region, there is a network that provides training and weapons reaching from the Sinai Peninsula to West Africa.

It is understandable that the United States and its allies feel compelled to intervene in Libya to degrade the power of these jihadist groups. However, given the divisive and fractious nature of Libya, putting together a viable and sustainable political system after the military intervention will remain the greatest challenge.

Unshackling the Jihadists

THE URGENT NEED FOR REAL NATIONAL STRATEGY

JAMES GOLDGEIER AND JEREMI SURI

JANUARY 18, 2016

http://warontherocks.com/2016/01/the-urgent-need-for-real-national-strategy/

Strategy is an act of imagination. Strategic planning is important because it forces government bureaucracies to think imaginatively about how the world works and what the nation can achieve. Strategic planning creates space for leaders to articulate priorities, and match diverse capabilities to overarching goals. When done well, it allows powerful governments to become forward-looking international agenda-setters, avoiding the all-too-frequent tendency to react to emerging crises in piecemeal fashion. Strategic planning sees order and opportunity in the chaos and threats of daily politics.

Russia's Counterinsurgency in North Caucasus: Performance and Consequences

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Insurgent activity in the Northern Caucasus region continues. For Ariel Cohen, preventing the area from slipping back into even greater instability will require Moscow to tackle corruption, cronyism, discrimination, and unemployment – all of which it is unwilling to do.

By Ariel Cohen for Strategic Studies Institute of the US Army War College (SSI)

This monograph was originally published by the Strategic Studies Institute on 31 March 2014

This monograph examines the issues behind the continuing low-level insurgency in the Russian North Caucasus. It begins by analyzing the history of the bloody and contentious relations between the Russian and the North Caucasus Muslim nations, focusing specifically on the process of subjugating the region by the Russian Empire; the Caucasus wars of the 19th century; and the two Chechen wars and their aftermath, beginning in 1994 until today.

A Russian View on Landpower

April 2015

This paper explains why Russia desires to maintain strong conventional land forces as the mainstay of its military power, despite having seen the United States live through a 'counterinsurgency era' over the last 20 years.

This publication is subject to Title 17, United States Code, Sections 101 and 105. It is in the public domain and may not be copyrighted.

Download:

English (PDF · 62 pages · 1.0 MB)

Another Brick in the Wall: The Israeli Experience in Missile Defense

April 2015

This monograph offers a detailed account of Israel's experience with missile defense. More specifically, it examines the regional events that led to Israel's development of its Arrow missile and Iron Dome missile defense system as well as the bureaucratic tensions that these weapons systems caused in the country. The author also provides an overview of the strategic implications of Israel's approach to missile defense for the country, the US and its NATO allies.

This publication is subject to Title 17, United States Code, Sections 101 and 105. It is in the public domain and may not be copyrighted.

Download:

English (PDF · 61 pages · 1.0 MB)

Author:

Jean-Loup Samaan

Thucydides Was Right: Defining the Future Threat

April 2015

This monograph looks at Thucydides' classic text, the "History of the Peloponnesian War," in order to clarify the problems associated with defining future threats. In doing so, it 1) recommends prudence when performing any type of 'futurology'; 2) reminds us that there is very real political and cultural discretion in identifying and defining threats; 3) stresses the idea of historical parallels (rather than analogies) as a source of 'evidence' about future perils; and 4) emphasizes that all states, even great powers, are obliged to behave according to the same rule book, and plan with a familiar playbook, as other ones.

This publication is subject to Title 17, United States Code, Sections 101 and 105. It is in the public domain and may not be copyrighted.

Download:

English (PDF · 74 pages · 1.0 MB)

Author: Colin S Grey

"Re-tooling an army from scratch," as it fights a war

By CAMI MCCORMICK

February 1, 2016

Source Link

A U.S. military trainer moves out of the way as a platoon of Ukrainian soldiers prepare for "live fire" exercises at a training center near Ukraine's border with Poland, in late January, 2016. 

NEAR YAVORIV, Ukraine -- The U.S. and Lithuanian soldiers training a platoon of Ukrainian army soldiers on a cold, blustery day near the border with Poland were preparing the Ukrainians for their first "live fire" exercise.

But first the U.S. commander had to be certain they were ready. So after loading up in their aging Russian-built infantry fighting vehicles, with Lithuanian soldiers shouting directions down to the Ukrainian drivers in Russian -- a necessity, as it is a common language -- they rolled away over the mud and ice-covered terrain to a spot not far away, and fired blanks.

How Zika Virus Can Spread

BY CAROLYN KORMANN

FEBRUARY 1, 2016

http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/how-zika-virus-can-spread

When Andrew Haddow was a boy, in the nineteen-eighties, his father told him bedtime stories about his grandfather, a Scottish scientist named Alexander John Haddow, who studied rare viruses in the jungle outside Entebbe, Uganda. As Haddow got older, he began reading his grandfather’s papers. One of them was about the discovery, in 1947, of a virus in the blood of a rhesus monkey that lived in the Zika Forest. This virus—which, like dengue fever and yellow fever, is transmitted to humans mostly by mosquitoes—remained virtually unknown for the next sixty years, but it interested Haddow. In 2012, Haddow, now a medical entomologist, published a paper on the genetic lineage of the Zika virus. Haddow identified two points of origin—one African, the other Asian—and showed that a recent outbreak on the island of Yap, in the Federated States of Micronesia, had been caused by the latter strain. His paper also warned that Zika might spread.

More people in Europe are dying than are being born

January 14, 2016 

http://phys.org/news/2016-01-people-europe-dying-born.html

More people in Europe are dying than are being born 

More people in Europe are dying than are being born, according to a new report co-authored by a Texas A&M University demographer. In contrast, births exceed deaths, by significant margins, in Texas and elsewhere in the U.S., with few exceptions. 

Legality in Cyberspace: An Adversary View

March 2014

This paper examines Russian perspectives on the nature of conflict in cyberspace. In particular, the author illustrates the very distinct set of views that Russia holds on conflict in cyberspace in comparison to the US and how they need to be considered by the US when it counters or engages with Russian cyber initiatives.

This publication is subject to Title 17, United States Code, Sections 101 and 105. It is in the public domain and may not be copyrighted.

Download:

English (PDF · 56 pages · 2.0 MB)

Author:

Keir Giles, Andrew Monaghan

An Assessment of the Department of Defense Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace

September 2013 

This paper examines the US Department of Defense (DoD) 2011 "Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace." The author explores the evolution of cyberspace strategy in general and then looks at the DoD Strategy's five specific initiatives in terms of significance, novelty, and practicality. He also identifies shortcomings and makes recommendations for improvement in future versions.

This publication is subject to Title 17, United States Code, Sections 101 and 105. It is in the public domain and may not be copyrighted. 

Download: 

English (PDF · 60 pages · 866 KB)

Author: 

Thomas M Chen 

Editor: 

James G Pierce 

Confidence-Building in Cyberspace: A Comparison of Territorial and Weapons-Based Regimes

April 2015

How do you create effective confidence-building measures (CBMs) and then possibly apply them to cyberspace? This monograph looks at two historical examples that might aid the development of CBMs for the cyber realm – i.e., those developed to prevent conflict escalation in contested territories such as the India-Pakistan border, and to stem the proliferation of chemical weapons.

This publication is subject to Title 17, United States Code, Sections 101 and 105. It is in the public domain and may not be copyrighted.

Download:

English (PDF · 86 pages · 1.0 MB)

Author:

Mary Manjikian

National Power Grids Increasingly Targeted in Cyber Attacks

Doug Bernard

February 01, 2016 

Source Link

WASHINGTON— Ukraine’s electric power grid is once again under cyberattack, just one month after a similar incident successfully brought down portions of the system and left millions in the dark.

Worse, researchers studying the attacks say the malware believed responsible – a new version of the so-called BlackEnergy bug – has likely spread to numerous European power grids and is poised to infect many more.

The attacks and spreading malware have left cybersecurity analysts scrambling to determine not only which systems are at greatest risk, but who might be responsible.

“We need to assume it’s already being deployed around Europe,” says Udi Shamir, co-founder and chief security officer for the cybersecurity firm SentinelOne. “This is cyber-warfare; we need to wake up and see that this is war.”

An executive’s guide to the Internet of Things

by Jacques Bughin, Michael Chui, and James Manyika 

August 2015

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The rate of adoption is accelerating. Here are six things you need to know.

As the Internet of Things (IoT) has gained popular attention in the five years since we first published on the topic,1 it has also beguiled executives. When physical assets equipped with sensors give an information system the ability to capture, communicate, and process data—and even, in a sense, to collaborate—they create game-changing opportunities: production efficiency, distribution, and innovation all stand to benefit immensely. While the consumer’s adoption of fitness bands and connected household appliances might generate more media buzz, the potential for business usage is much greater. Research from the McKinsey Global Institute suggests that the operational efficiencies and greater market reach IoT affords will create substantial value in many industries.2 (For more, see the video “What’s the one piece of advice for a business leader interested in the Internet of Things?” And to see how experts believe the Internet of Things will evolve, see “The Internet of Things: Five critical questions.”)

What’s the one piece of advice for a business leader interested in the Internet of Things?

There are many implications for senior leaders across this horizon of change. In what follows, we identify three sets of opportunities: expanding pools of value in global B2B markets, new levers of operational excellence, and possibilities for innovative business models. In parallel, executives will need to deal with three sets of challenges: organizational misalignment, technological interoperability and analytics hurdles, and heightened cybersecurity risks.

Opportunities beckon . . .

Encryption won't stop surveillance, says Harvard study

By Corey Fedde, Staff 

February 2, 2016 

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A Harvard University study finds that notions of a new age of untraceable criminals is overblown. Why?

Encrypting communication will continue, but authorities will not be left in the dark, according to a new study.

A new Harvard University study, which included participants from academia, government agencies, and technical fields, found that warnings of an encryption-prompted surveillance crisis are overblown. The Berkman Center for Internet and Society study stated that while some forms of communication will remain resistant to surveillance, many others will offer an increase in data for security agencies.

The finding comes in direct juxtaposition to a recent increase in pressure from federal authorities on tech companies, like Google and Apple, to install “backdoors” for government surveillance into devices. While tech companies have resisted the pressure, federal agencies have warned that without a backdoor, intelligence agencies will be “going dark,” or be unable to properly surveil suspect communication.

Hard lessons emerge from cyberattack on Ukraine's power grid

By Jack Detsch, Staff writer 

February 2, 2016 

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The ongoing investigation into a cyberattack that experts have linked to a December blackout in Ukraine reveals how vulnerable other power suppliers are to malware attacks.

Melanie Stetson Freeman/The Christian Science Monitor

A cyberattack linked to a December blackout in Ukraine signals new dangers for critical infrastructure operators such as power suppliers and other utilities, experts said Monday.

The fact is that many supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems – the type compromised in the Ukrainian attacks and utilized at countless other power facilities – aren't designed to be secure against digital attacks, said security researcher Peiter Zatko, also known by his hacker nom de gare Mudge.

Hacking Critical Infrastructure is Accelerating and More Destructive

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A new report released this week by Trend Micro and the Organization of American States (OAS) shows a dramatic increase in cyberattacks directed against critical infrastructure owners and operators.

What could be worse than stealing millions of personal records in a large data breach?

How about destructive cyberattacks against our vital infrastructure companies that run dams, power plants, transportation systems and other critical infrastructures around the globe?

Sadly, such cyberattacks are becoming much more common and causing more harm than previously reported.

A new, first-of-its-kind report was released just this week which reveals astonishing survey results from more than 500 security chiefs spread across 26 member countries in the Organization of American States (OAS). The official report was created in collaboration between OAS and Trend Micro, and you can get a copy of the full report at this website.

IGNORING THE ARMY’S RECENT PAST WILL NOT HELP IT WIN FUTURE WARS

ANDREW HILL

FEBRUARY 2, 2016

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The Future of the Army report is part of a broader pattern of a denial of the significance and relevance of the Army’s recent experiences.

After the First World War, Hans von Seeckt, the commander-in-chief of the small German army that remained from the Versailles Treaty, established numerous small committees of handpicked officers to study the war. The German army had suffered tremendously in the war. With the Versailles treaty, shame was added to defeat. It would have been easy for the army to turn away from the experience of the war, to reject the past as an anomaly, or to blame the army’s failures on the strategic miscalculations of the political and military leaders of the Prussian Empire. But Seeckt refused to take the easy way out. In his studies of the German army, he tasked officers with addressing the following questions: What new situations arose in the war that had not been considered before the war? How effective were the army’s prewar views in dealing with the above situations? What new guidelines have been developed from the use of new weaponry in war? Which new problems raised by the war have not yet found a solution?

10 highlights from Army commission report: More units, fewer cuts

By Michelle Tan

January 29, 2016 

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The Army should put an armored brigade combat team in Europe, keep a combat aviation brigade in South Korea, keep some AH-64 Apaches in the National Guard, and look at possibly cutting two infantry brigades.

Those recommendations are among the key findings of a yearlong study by the National Commission on the Future of the Army, which was tasked by Congress to, among other things, look at what the Army should look like in the future. The commission’s long-awaited report was released Thursday.

Click here for the full report. Meanwhile, here’s a closer look at some highlights:

1. Stop further end-strength cuts.

SURPRISINGLY SOUND ANSWERS ON THE FUTURE OF THE ARMY

ROBERT H. SCALES

FEBRUARY 3, 2016

I really don’t have much faith in congressionally mandated committees. I was a member of the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR). I found the experience to be unseemly and the shrill and naked advocacy of my fellow members very disappointing. Congressman Ike Skelton appointed Professor Dick Kohn and me to the QDR expecting us to craft a concept for the reform of the military’s education system. We did that. We tried to get the administration to pay attention. So far, nothing.

So I read the recently published report by the National Commission on the Future of the Army with some trepidation. And I was pleasantly surprised. The document is good. The commission members were faithful to their congressional charter. They were instructed to answer two key questions: What should the size of the future Army be? And how should the Amy apportion its aviation fleet between the regular Army and the Army National Guard?

Army Faces a "Crisis of Relevance," Rand Expert Warns

by Minneapolis Star Tribune‎ and RAND Corporation

February 2, 2016 

Army Faces a "Crisis of Relevance," Rand Expert Warns by Mark Brunswick, Minneapolis Star Tribune‎

An expert from the Rand Corp. suggests that more than a decade’s worth of experience in Afghanistan and Iraq has honed the U.S. Army’s ability to fight irregular adversaries. But the Army now faces a “crisis of relevance” for its future enemies, particularly “state-sponsored hybrid adversaries” similar to the Islamic State (ISIL), Hezbollah, Hamas and separatists in Ukraine.

The thoughts of Rand senior researcher David Johnson, a retired Army colonel, may get into the weeds for the average civilian. Critics may also find the implications of his belief in the inevitability of U.S. military engagement off-putting.

But they do offer an interesting challenge about Army engagement - the battles the U.S. has not fought but likely will fight in the future…