Category: Expert Analysis

Northern Syria has always been the more difficult and violent section of Syria in the civil war. Aleppo and other cities have seen the most devastation. They’ve also witnessed the most fluid situation of occupants running the gamut of groups in Syria. According to Barbara Starr, who tweeted “US Special Operations Forces in Northern Syria […]

An aircraft goes down over Africa under “mysterious circumstances.” The secretary general of the United Nations and 14 others, the crew and other members of his team, died. The only survivor of the 15 was an American Army sergeant on special assignment to the secretary general as security. He flatly insisted that the plane was shot down. His statement was […]

Former F-16 pilot Nate “Buster” Jaros takes us through his thoughts on USAF pilot retention issues and where leadership has missed the mark. A few years ago, my father (a Cold War F-106 Fighter Pilot of the 1970s) asked me how my F-16 career was going. “Getting about four sorties a week?” he asked. I […]

Former F-16 pilot Nate “Buster” Jaros takes us through his thoughts on USAF pilot retention issues and where leadership has missed the mark. A few years ago, my father (a Cold War F-106 Fighter Pilot of the 1970s) asked me how my F-16 career was going. “Getting about four sorties a week?” he asked. I […]

As Americans, our reason for being, externally, is to spread the good news of our democratic revolution. In that, we are aligned with France and the West. There’s some wisdom in the ideas of Rand Paul and other isolationists, I think. But only in certain respects. I agree that regime change as a policy is […]

Trump has already stated that our military is in terrible shape. It’s “very bad,” he’s hearing. Trump stated he knows more than the generals, a statement he backpedaled on during the IAVA forum. He seems to live and die by what he feels at the moment. Trump’s campaign staff have been shuffled. It’s not normal […]

Suicide attacks are never random, they are a cold calculation’s result that involves several factors. The most important is the capability to spread anxiety and fear among the population, not only those directly injured. Modern democracies have sophisticated weaponry, bomb military targets with drones, launch missiles at impossible distances, yet exhibit some uncertainty against the […]

Damascus has remained relatively untouched by the country’s insurgents. Its defense is rooted in Assad’s strategy, but aided by our uncoordinated policy. Syria is unique because its center of gravity is not the people. Iraq ultimately failed in part due to our failure to capture the support of the people. We ignored the Sunnis in Fallujah and expelled […]

Wherein she broadcasted an act of dissent across social media, on base; for every foreign intelligence service, opportunists, and terrorist from here to Kandahar to see and seek to exploit. Above all else, and as a service member, she should have known the security risk involved in such a selfish act. Similarly, the apparent violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, breach of oath, and total dereliction of duty . After all, who wants to be shoulder to shoulder in defense of the nation with a seditious service member? A service member who has not only taken action without regard of her own integrity and a disregard of duty, but has also failed to conduct any independent research.

On the 15th Anniversary of 9/11, a former Naval Aviator gives us his story while on board the USS ENTERPRISE in the Middle East. By CDR William “Libby” Lind Lots of folks posted ‘where I was’ sorts of stuff on 11 SEP… from the perspective of a Naval Aviator, I was lucky (and I hate […]

It’s an open secret that the Rebels receive Toyota trucks. It’s en vogue to blame the U.S. and other Western forces for training the would-be terrorist groups. This gives extremely high praise to the training and the resources they receive. Why would any force knowingly train a force to be very effective against their interests?

Cyber attacks on a decaying government IT system have already occurred and will continue to do so until we address our IT weaknesses.