The Islamic State group has presented the United States with an enemy unlike any other in its history. Its sophisticated propaganda would impress Hitler’s favorite propagandists, Joseph Goebbels and Leni Riefenstahl. Fueled by religious zealotry, its message is being spread worldwide through social media to recruit and motivate its followers to undertake terrorist attacks on the West, hoping to incite their governments to send ground troops to the Middle East. This would fulfill its religious prophecy of an apocalyptic battle between Christianity and Islam, thereby recruiting more followers to its cause. The Islamic State group is a non-state actor with a burgeoning state. It is confounding us. – The New York Times
THE CONTROVERSIAL IDEA that you can “train” a human brain to get smarter or faster has spread through the worlds of elite athletics and brain-trauma recovery. Now it’s going to boot camp. Military leaders, aware that troops face ever-more complicated threats and ever-more complicated gear, are starting to think that brain training might be just as important as pushups. At the recent “Mad Scientist” talks at Fort Leavenworth, and in white papers like the Army’s Human Dimensions Concept report (PDF), psychologists and neuroscientists who work with the military are starting to borrow the sports/trauma playbook. – Wired
In the seven decades since the last World War, warfare has been overwhelmingly characterized by proxy conflicts, regional wars and “submilitary” violence. What war hasn’t been—for American forces—is sustained state-vs.-state combat. But Americans still tend to talk about our military’s ability to fight and win as if we face only nation-states. And we incorrectly assume that a military prepared to defeat big enemies is inherently ready to conduct a broad range of actions only nation-states. And we incorrectly assume that a military prepared to defeat big enemies is inherently ready to conduct a broad range of actions in smaller, more complex campaigns. – The Wall Street Journal
A homeless man in North Carolina allegedly posed as an Army soldier and lived in a special forces barracks at Fort Bragg for eight months before being caught, according to a popular military Facebook page. The incident was first reported on the Facebook page U.S. Army W.T.F! Moments in a detailed post. The Fayetteville Observer has confirmed the hidden civilian’s discovery, but otherwise military officials have yet to confirm or deny the report. – Daily Caller
COIN, an examination: Hidden amidst the media scrutiny following the recent terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino is an interesting aside. In January, David Petraeus, co-author of the Counter Insurgency manual, and disgraced director of the CIA, is going to testify before the special house subcommittee on the 2012 Benghazi attack that killed four Americans. While our political betters will no doubt use hearing as an opportunity to make political hay, Petraeus is one of the few people who can answer a question he posed in 2003. – Havok Journal
[Featured image: Militant website via AP]
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The Islamic State group has presented the United States with an enemy unlike any other in its history. Its sophisticated propaganda would impress Hitler’s favorite propagandists, Joseph Goebbels and Leni Riefenstahl. Fueled by religious zealotry, its message is being spread worldwide through social media to recruit and motivate its followers to undertake terrorist attacks on the West, hoping to incite their governments to send ground troops to the Middle East. This would fulfill its religious prophecy of an apocalyptic battle between Christianity and Islam, thereby recruiting more followers to its cause. The Islamic State group is a non-state actor with a burgeoning state. It is confounding us. – The New York Times
THE CONTROVERSIAL IDEA that you can “train” a human brain to get smarter or faster has spread through the worlds of elite athletics and brain-trauma recovery. Now it’s going to boot camp. Military leaders, aware that troops face ever-more complicated threats and ever-more complicated gear, are starting to think that brain training might be just as important as pushups. At the recent “Mad Scientist” talks at Fort Leavenworth, and in white papers like the Army’s Human Dimensions Concept report (PDF), psychologists and neuroscientists who work with the military are starting to borrow the sports/trauma playbook. – Wired
In the seven decades since the last World War, warfare has been overwhelmingly characterized by proxy conflicts, regional wars and “submilitary” violence. What war hasn’t been—for American forces—is sustained state-vs.-state combat. But Americans still tend to talk about our military’s ability to fight and win as if we face only nation-states. And we incorrectly assume that a military prepared to defeat big enemies is inherently ready to conduct a broad range of actions only nation-states. And we incorrectly assume that a military prepared to defeat big enemies is inherently ready to conduct a broad range of actions in smaller, more complex campaigns. – The Wall Street Journal
A homeless man in North Carolina allegedly posed as an Army soldier and lived in a special forces barracks at Fort Bragg for eight months before being caught, according to a popular military Facebook page. The incident was first reported on the Facebook page U.S. Army W.T.F! Moments in a detailed post. The Fayetteville Observer has confirmed the hidden civilian’s discovery, but otherwise military officials have yet to confirm or deny the report. – Daily Caller
COIN, an examination: Hidden amidst the media scrutiny following the recent terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino is an interesting aside. In January, David Petraeus, co-author of the Counter Insurgency manual, and disgraced director of the CIA, is going to testify before the special house subcommittee on the 2012 Benghazi attack that killed four Americans. While our political betters will no doubt use hearing as an opportunity to make political hay, Petraeus is one of the few people who can answer a question he posed in 2003. – Havok Journal
[Featured image: Militant website via AP]
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