Where Freedom Rings the Loudest

You can find the full list and details here, but I'll let you figure out the political implications and backstory for yourself. 

How to know you've lost the procurement bubble

If there was anything tailor-made for a show Congressional hearing, this would be it;

The Pentagon repeatedly waived laws banning Chinese-built components on U.S. weapons in order to keep the $392 billion Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter program on track in 2012 and 2013, even as U.S. officials were voicing concern about China's espionage and military buildup.
According to Pentagon documents reviewed by Reuters, chief U.S. arms buyer Frank Kendall allowed two F-35 suppliers, Northrop Grumman Corp and Honeywell International Inc, to use Chinese magnets for the new warplane's radar system, landing gears and other hardware. Without the waivers, both companies could have faced sanctions for violating federal law and the F-35 program could have faced further delays.
"It was a pretty big deal and an unusual situation because there's a prohibition on doing defense work in China, even if it's inadvertent," said Frank Kenlon, who recently retired as a senior Pentagon procurement official and now teaches at American University. "I'd never seen this happen before."

If as described, this goes in the same bucket as Loral Aerospace selling it soul in the 1990s.

We need names, and shortly thereafter heads on pikes outside The Pentagon as an example to others.

Even outside the potential national security issues, there is the whole industrial base argument. We cannot complain that we don't have the ability to make things in the USA on one hand, and then with the other pay bottom dollar to have it made offshore.

For something as short sighted as trying to avoid missing a deadline, one would open the door to a potential opponent.

Yea ... someone needs to be fired.

Kenya and East Africa with Alexander Martin, on Midrats

Many continue to focus on the "Pacific Pivot" and/or IndoPac, but the news seems to keep finding its way back to Africa.

This Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern, we're going to leave IndoPac and all that in order to focus the full hour discussing the eastern part of Africa with a returning guest Alex Martin, who will give us a first hand report from a personal and professional perspective.

Alex graduated with distinction from the U.S. Naval Academy and went on to lead infantry, reconnaissance and special operations units in multiple combat deployments. Upon leaving active duty, Alex started a private maritime security company that served commercial shipping interests in the Indian Ocean. In July 2013 Alex joined Nuru International and currently serves as a Foundation Team Leader in Kenya.

Join us live if you can with the usual suspects in the chat room and offer up your questions for our guest, but if you miss the show you can always listen to the archive at blogtalkradio.

Listen to internet radio with Midrats on Blog Talk Radio

Fullbore Friday

Mike brought me to task in that in all these years - I have yet to give enough love to one of our greatest tactical leaders; Vice Admiral Lawson P. "Red" Ramage.

Attention to citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as Commanding Officer of the U.S.S. Parche in a predawn attack on a Japanese convoy, 31 July 1944. Boldly penetrating the screen of a heavily escorted convoy, CDR Ramage launched a perilous surface attack by delivering a crippling stern shot into a freighter and quickly following up with a series of bow and stern torpedoes to sink the leading tanker and damage the second one. Exposed by the light of bursting flares and bravely defiant of terrific shellfire passing close overhead, he struck again, sinking a transport by two forward reloads. In the mounting fury of fire from the damaged and sinking tanker, he calmly ordered his men below, remaining on the bridge to fight it out with an enemy now disorganized and confused. Swift to act as a fast transport closed in to ram, CDR Ramage daringly swung the stern of the speeding Parche as she crossed the bow of the onrushing ship, clearing by less than 50 feet but placing his submarine in a deadly crossfire from escorts on all sides and with the transport dead ahead. Undaunted, he sent 3 smashing "down the throat" bow shots to stop the target, then scored a killing hit as a climax to 46 minutes of violent action with the Parche and her valiant fighting company retiring victorious and unscathed.

THAT is in the finest traditions of the naval service.

The TV is over there silly ...

In case you missed the post over at USNIBlog on Monday;

The Assets, an eight-part ABC miniseries event based on Circle of Treason will premiere on January 2, 2014 at 10|9 c. The series is based on Circle of Treason and will look inside the true, personal stories of the conclusion of the Cold War as told by the keepers of the nation’s secrets: the CIA. The series is produced for ABC by Lincoln Square Productions. Morgan Hertzan, Rudy Bednar, and Andrew Chapman are executive producers for the series.

Why I will drink more in 2014

Few things will drive a man to drink more than feeling a bit Cassandraesque.

As we have discussed often here over the last few years - there was a chance to achieve something acceptable in Afghanistan, a good chance. All it required was about another four-five years of patience. Of course, that 4-5 from now is based on an alternative history where we did not announce our retreat in DEC 09 ... but what is, is.

District by district "Shape, Clear, Hold, Build" was a solid way to do it - but just as it was getting roots as the surge soaked in, we stopped feeding it. The following results will be sadly predictable.

Well within half a standard deviation of where history should take us, WaPo's outline of the NIE is pretty good.

The National Intelligence Estimate, which includes input from the country’s 16 intelligence agencies, predicts that the Taliban and other power brokers will become increasingly influential as the United States winds down its longest war in history, according to officials who have read the classified report or received briefings on its conclusions. The grim outlook is fueling a policy debate inside the Obama administration about the steps it should take over the next year as the U.S. military draws down its remaining troops.

"Grim outlook?" Good googly moogly man - was there no one in the administration or in uniform who had the clue enough of history and the art of war back in '09 to at least provide an outline "Most Dangerous COA" or is all we briefed was what they wanted to hear? Well, to ask the question ...

Some officials have taken umbrage at the underlying pessimism in the report, arguing that it does not adequately reflect how strong Afghanistan’s security forces have become. One American official, who described the NIE as “more dark” than past intelligence assessments on the war, said there are too many uncertainties to make an educated prediction on how the conflict will unfold between now and 2017, chief among them the outcome of next year’s presidential election.

Well, hello there Miss Mary Sunshine. Has that person actually been to AFG in the last half-decade? Has he/she done more than chat with those in starched ACU in higher HQ? Talked 1-on-1 with anyone in uniform under 2-stars on background?

What a hack ... and that is a summary is who are keeping the eyes on our AFG policy; political hacks.

The field is lost. We have poisoned our own wells. Our politicians have abandoned us. As it has been for awhile - the loss of every American life in 2014 in an unnecessary waste that dishonors us all. This shame is and fully on those in the beltway and in Brussels; not for those in the field.

Where will this end? Somewhere between Taliban control of most Pashtun majority areas with ethnic warlords owning others, and outright civil war.

At this point, there isn't much more we can or should do but focus on the most efficient retreat possible. If we were a bit Roman ....

2014's Top-5 Environmental Factors

Over at USNews, our friend Mackenzie Eaglen has an important article to start the year out with, 5 Lessons for the Pentagon From 2013. A good alternative headline I could offer would be, "5 Forces Driving the Pentagon in 2014."

Her five are:
1. Sequestration's slow burn will continue, even with the recent budget deal
2. Hagel offers only a glimpse of the grim choices ahead for the Pentagon
3. Policymakers will continue to punt on serious bureaucratic reform at the Defense Department
4. Loss of traditional defense coalition on Capitol Hill will continue to hurt
5. Mission relief is not coming for the U.S. military as budgets fall

Of the five, the most unappreciated is #4;

While the bipartisan pro-defense coalition has been dwindling for years in Congress, many defense leaders at the Pentagon are only just now waking up to this new and unfortunate reality. Worse, this reliable group of informed members of Congress -- who took great interest in and care of national security -- is not returning anytime soon.

Read the whole thing. Plenty to chew on as you recover from last night.