Category: Expert Analysis

With the current front page news of Assad’s use of Sarin and a potential US military response, there’s been an Everest mountain’s worth of discussion over why we shouldn’t do anything.  Conspicuously absent is an honest questioning of the reasons to not intervene, well-explained reasons to intervene and analysis of the results of inaction. SOFREP is […]

In order to stay as current and informed as possible of both recent events and all other background knowledge in Syria, we wanted to provide a few resources that we find to be credible and on-point.  In the intelligence community, this is what is referred to as Open Source intelligence (OSINT)—publically available and overtly collected […]

After two years of bloody conflict, sectarian violence, and finally the unconfirmed use of chemical weapons in Syria last week (round two, allegedly), US options for direct military intervention in the war-torn region are finally coming to light. With extensive worldwide media coverage finally bringing the Syrian civil war into the limelight of American public […]

It took two hours for a jury composed of Majors and above to impose the death sentence on Nidal Hasan.  Not surprising, considering the non-defense offered by Hasan, overwhelming evidence and the heartbreaking accounts of the lives lost, the cost borne by next of kin, and the continuing suffering endured by surviving victims testified to […]

Every day I see that the stage on which we each play our roles is changing the repertoire. I mean comedies are fine but this is starting to turn into a tragicomedy… and a very poor one for that matter. When we speak of this comedy it instantly reminds me of a quote from a […]

Secretary of State John Kerry issued a statement today about the chemical weapons attack in Syria last week, and possible US and Allied response: “SECRETARY JOHN KERRY: Well, for the last several days President Obama and his entire national security team have been reviewing the situation in Syria. And today I want to provide an […]

We get a lot of requests to cover this story or that story.  Some of these requests jump right off into conspiracy theory territory.  It isn’t that I don’t believe that conspiracies exist, it’s just that I don’t have the time of day for people who espouse conspiracy theories without a shred of evidence. For these […]

“I am Chelsea Manning. As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me,” Manning said in the statement. “I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female. Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible. […]

We certainly live in interesting times. The Middle East has seen a series of revolutions that many in the Arab world have waited to see for fifty years.  From the beginning of the Post-Colonial period, many nations in the Middle East have been ruled by royal families and dictators.  Some of these leaders were installed […]

Recent events in Egypt are a good study in the art of the politics of the real. As usual, the media talking heads just run with the latest video out of Egypt without context. They cover it as a human tragedy rather than what it actually is, a power struggle between political and religious factions […]

When I was at SEAL Team 3 we used to laugh about Jesse’s antics is a positive way. When he became a Governor some of the guys from his home state used to joke with us that their Governor could kick anyone else’s ass. Probably a true statement. Then Jesse started getting weird, and joining […]

One of my news feeds this morning popped up a breathless piece from ABC about new, “ingenious” liquid explosives being used by Al Qaeda plotters.  Inside the hype, there was some discussion of a large, “strategic-level” attack (whatever that means–any terrorist attack is by definition strategic; they are attempting to use terror to achieve an […]