Terrorism

AFA Members, Congressional Staffers, Civic leaders, DOCA members, last week one of you sent me a compendium of terrorist attacks world-wide – it came from a very inflammatory web site … and several of my board members counseled against sending it to you. What it caused me to do was to see if I could find an authoritative source for such a compendium. This past weekend, I found one. It is on the US National Counter Terrorism Center website -- https://wits.nctc.gov/FederalDiscoverWITS/index.do?N=0

The site takes some “maneuvering” to get the information you might want. Here are some of the things I did to get access to the info I wanted. Note the site pops up with a begin date and end date of all of 2009. I next went to select a report by country; then hit “Generate a Report”

Secondly, hit the map button to show a map of the world … and the number of attacks per country. [Note: my system asked me if I wanted the information using only a secure connection – and to get the map, you have to say, No.]

My Observations:

I was surprised that there were almost 11,000 attacks in over 80 countries last year, killing almost 15,000 and wounding over 32,000

It was not surprising that Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan had the most. However, I was surprised that India was #4

I was also surprised that Somali and Democratic Republic of Congo had more large attacks than Afghanistan (ones that had 20 or more casualties)

Play with the site a bit and give me feedback on it. [I know it is not exactly accurate – as the US is cited with having 14 attacks … with 8 of them in Georgia. When I clicked on Georgia, it showed the attacks occurring in the country of Georgia.]

For your consideration.

Mike
Michael M. Dunn
President/CEO
Air Force Association

Security Assistance

AFA Members, Congressional Staffers, Civic Leaders, DOCA members, this week an important piece was published in Foreign Affairs. It was written by Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates. In the piece, Sec Gates calls for an improved process in the US government for building partner capacity. He, like Sec Rumsfeld before him, believes that the security sectors of at-risk countries are really systems of systems tying together the military, the police, the justice system, and other governance and oversight mechanisms. As such, building a partner's overall governance and security capacity is a shared responsibility across multiple agencies and departments of the US national security apparatus. And that process is cumbersome and needs improvement.

I urge you to read the piece - carefully and critically. As with all pieces I send you, I don't expect you to necessarily agree … and I urge you to look for assumptions in the piece. These assumptions may prove to be accurate … but they are assumptions none-the-less. I found many, such as:

The best way to take down terror networks is to do nation-building

The best way to do nation-building is to improve over-all governance and security capacity

The best way to improve over-all governance and security capacity is to share doing that across multiple agency and departments of the US national security apparatus

You can find the piece at: http://www.afa.org/EdOp/2010/edop_42210.asp

For your consideration.

Mike

Michael M. Dunn
President/CEO
Air Force Association

Op-eds

AFA members, Congressional Staffers, Civic Leaders, and DOCA members, in recent weeks many of our members have published op-eds in papers around the country. Most are available on-line … but one or two appeared in just the print addition. Here is a sampling of a few of the pieces:

1.Marv Tooman, in the Des Moines Register, states it would be a mistake to focus only on the present fight. Air Force aircraft are old and need to be replaced. We need to be concerned about next generation aircraft from Russia and China as Airpower is our asymmetric edge. It will take a commitment to our long-term security to maintain a strong defense -- http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100330/OPINION01/3300342/1036/OPINION/Guest-column-Air-space-and-cyber-power--who-will-dominate
2.Dave Dietsch argues in the Fort Worth Star Telegram that the nation is depending on the F-35. Given the age of the Air Force fleet, it would be tempting, yet a mistake to cut back on the program -- http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/04/12/2108864/dietsch-keeping-faith-with-the.html
3.Ross Lampert, in the Sierra Vista Herald, argues that the F-35 should be based at Sierra Vista. Its noise footprint is not as loud as it has been portrayed, and it would continue the proud tradition of Sierra Vista supporting the military -- http://www.afa.org/edOp/2010/SV_Herald_Pro-F-35_%20op-ed.pdf
4.Rick Gibbs in the North County Times (San Diego area) posits that the successful Airborne Laser tests have opened a new chapter and could revolutionize warfare. The program is minimally funded for the upcoming year, and a robust test program should be supported by the Congress. The program is truly transformational -- http://www.nctimes.com/news/opinion/perspective/article_eda69668-f52a-5fcf-bf8b-d3dab41ddb73.html
5.Both Arthur MacFadden (Chattanooga Times Free Press) and Scott Van Cleef (Roanoke Times) have excellent pieces on the importance of Airpower.
Congratulations to each and every author for taking the initiative to help educate both the public and opinion makers.

For your consideration.

Mike

Michael M. Dunn
President/CEO
Air Force Association

Response to Deresiewicz on Leadership

Great article but I believe Mr. Deresiewicz missed a point or two.

First, no one is ever alone in this world. God is with us at all times and knows each and every one of us. All of our shortcomings and failings are laid before Him and if we seek His guidance He will show us the way. We may not always agree with Him, in fact, most of the time we do not. That is why He forgives us our trespasses as long as we ask Him for forgiveness and are truly repentant. Hebrews 13:18 reminds us "Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things." Since this great country of ours was in fact founded as a christian nation and that Ben Franklin, at the Constitutional Convention, said: "...God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?" (quote from: http://www.afn.org/~govern/Christian_Nation.html) should it not have been included in Mr. Deresiewicz's remarks that one need not be alone to come to right and honorable decisions? So the statements that he makes "However many people you may consult, you are the one who has to make the hard decisions. And at such moments, all you really have is yourself." is incorrect!

The second point is that too many people today have forgotten this nation was founded as a christian nation and seem to continue to leave God out of everything or even to mention His name. Ask ANY former Prisoner of War if he ever consulted God during his captivity - you will likely get a resounding Yes! So why not inform those young people - because it is not politically correct? Isn't Mr. Deresiewicz espousing the very thing he so eloquently tried to dissuade? God should be placed first in all things - then country. For without God there would be no country. It has been said that the great General Patton asked his chaplain to write a prayer so that he could ask the Almighty God for clear weather so that he may engage the enemy and free our forces. "Looking into our internal compass in solitude" should include a prayer of thanks for serving God and this country and asking for His guidance in all things.

Larry Varvil

An Essay on Leadership

AFA members, Congressional Staffers, Civic Leaders, and DOCA members, I generally send you short pieces – op-eds and the like that can be digested in just a few minutes. However, this time I want to deviate from that standard and send you the link to a longer piece. This is a speech that was given plebes at West Point last year about four months after they arrived at USMA. It was given by William Deresiewicz – who was an Associate Professor of English at Yale University. I think it is an excellent read. As I said, it is long – 8 pages on my printer – but by midway through you will appreciate his reminder that we must look to our internal compass in solitude before we can lead others in a direction that is true.

http://www.theamericanscholar.org/solitude-and-leadership/

For your consideration.

Mike

Michael M. Dunn
President/CEO
Air Force Association

NPR

AFA Members, Congressional Staffers, Civic Leaders, and DOCA members, yesterday the Administration rolled out its long awaited Nuclear Posture Review (NPR). Like many other comprehensive reviews, there is much good and much not-so-good in this one. I was troubled last night as I saw both critics and supporters of the review comment in "sound-bite" segments. I believe it is important to read the actual documents and to make up your own mind.

We have posted both the NPR report and the NPR briefing on our website. You can find them at: http://www.afa.org/EdOp/2010/2010_Nuclear_Posture_Review_Report.pdf and http://www.afa.org/EdOp/2010/NPR_2010_Briefing_20100406.pdf. Note the report is long … and even the "Executive Summary" is 10 pages. The NPR Briefing is a bit more digestible.

As you review these documents – I'd like to point a couple of areas …

First on the briefing – take a look at slide #4. I don't know if these Framework items are listed in priority order, but assume they are. My question to you is: "Do you think the items listed are in proper priority, based on your knowledge of the challenges the US faces?"

Secondly, also on the briefing – slide #6, note that in some circumstances, the US will respond to the use of chemical and biological weapons with only conventional weapons. This decoupling of nuclear weapons from an overarching response to WMD is controversial. Do you think this is the proper strategy?

Finally, it is notable that the NPR did not discuss force levels … and it is clear the present nuclear force levels will have to change. The AFA Chairman of the Board has written an op-ed to point out the advantages of the ICBM leg of the triad. You can find it on our website at: http://www.afa.org/EdOp/2010/edop_4-6-10.asp

For your consideration.

Mike

Michael M. Dunn
President/CEO
Air Force Association