All they want for Christmas is…
As the year comes to a close, FP’s National Security team asked what you have atop your wish list. From peace on earth to a full magazine, coffee lids, and Mexican beer, here’s what they hope is coming in Santa’s sleigh. All I want for Christmas is… Defense Secretary Leon Panetta: “A deal to prevent ...
As the year comes to a close, FP's National Security team asked what you have atop your wish list. From peace on earth to a full magazine, coffee lids, and Mexican beer, here's what they hope is coming in Santa's sleigh.
As the year comes to a close, FP’s National Security team asked what you have atop your wish list. From peace on earth to a full magazine, coffee lids, and Mexican beer, here’s what they hope is coming in Santa’s sleigh.
All I want for Christmas is…
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta: “A deal to prevent sequestration… and Bravo wants his own Predator.”
Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: "Stronger allies, weaker enemies, and the continued commitment of the American people to our military in case the first two don’t work out."
Gen. James Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps: “The same thing that every Marine wants… a crust of bread, a full magazine, the eternal friendship of fellow Marines… and the sound sleep that comes with the satisfaction of serving the greatest nation on earth!”
Gen. Ray Odierno, Army chief of staff: “Wishing that all Soldiers deployed overseas, and away from their Families have a safe holiday and are able to take the time to celebrate with their teammates.”
Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations: "A banner year for safety — for those at home and those deployed."
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus: “In an organization where the sun never sets, I hope all of our sailors and Marines have a safe and healthy Christmas and know how much America appreciates their efforts to keep them all safe.”
Ambassador Michael Oren: [All I want for Hanukkah is…] "May 2013 be the year that all the peoples of the Middle East achieve true liberty and build peace-loving democratic societies, free from physical threat and political oppression.”
Andrew Schwartz, senior vice-president of external relations, CSIS: “My wish is for the killing to stop in Syria and for a diplomatic solution to our problems with Iran.”
Doug Wilson, Obama surrogate and former assistant secretary of defense for public affairs: “A new generation of Chris Stevenses: young foreign policy professionals who can be given the opportunities and the tools necessary to identify and engage earlier with the new generation of Mohammed Morsis emerging around the world through non-tradtional channels to positions of leadership within their nations.”
Paul R. Pillar, nonresident senior fellow, Center for Security Studies, Georgetown University: "A serious Western proposal in negotiations with Iran."
Richard Aboulafia, vice-president of analysis at The Teal Group: "An awareness by the F-35 program that the world fighter market is indeed a market. It’s a dialogue between people shopping for things and people selling things. It’s not a simple question of signing up partners and customers and then expecting them to pay the price they’re offered."
William Hartung, Center for International Policy: "an end to gun violence at home and abroad.”
Aaron Belkin, professor San Francisco State University and advocate for “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal: “A significant cut to U.S. military spending, not the measly $10 billion annual cut that’s currently under consideration."
Ben Friedman, CATO Institute: “As Jew, I feel like I have to be modest in my Christmas gift demands, so all I want is for the press to stop referring to the $487 billion reduction in once-planned spending (before sequestration) under the Budget Control Act as a cut. It’s a cut like me not eating out tonight as planned a few months back is a spending cut. In real terms the cut — meaning less than before — of about 3 percent, around $15 or $20 billion. Pretty modest over a decade.”
Lexington Institute’s Loren Thompson: “A Republican Party that isn’t on the wrong side of every issue.”
Canadian soldier on Camp Eggers in Kabul: “Coffee lids for the Green Bean.”
Soldier on drive duty in Kabul: “A cold Corona.”
Linda Jamison, executive vice president, external affairs (acting), U.S. Institute of Peace: “For no child to have to grow up in a conflict-ridden country.”
Chuck Rubac, former Navy Seal and owner and founder of upstart brewery Commando Beer: – “A 30-hour day.”
Harry Blaney, senior fellow, Center for International Policy: “Some intelligence, wisdom, and courage from Netanyahu and Abbas and more, not less, American, balanced mediation! (Oh, also Peace on Earth!)"
Kevin Baron is a national security reporter for Foreign Policy, covering defense and military issues in Washington. He is also vice president of the Pentagon Press Association. Baron previously was a national security staff writer for National Journal, covering the "business of war." Prior to that, Baron worked in the resident daily Pentagon press corps as a reporter/photographer for Stars and Stripes. For three years with Stripes, Baron covered the building and traveled overseas extensively with the secretary of defense and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, covering official visits to Afghanistan and Iraq, the Middle East and Europe, China, Japan and South Korea, in more than a dozen countries. From 2004 to 2009, Baron was the Boston Globe Washington bureau's investigative projects reporter, covering defense, international affairs, lobbying and other issues. Before that, he muckraked at the Center for Public Integrity. Baron has reported on assignment from Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, the Middle East and the South Pacific. He was won two Polk Awards, among other honors. He has a B.A. in international studies from the University of Richmond and M.A. in media and public affairs from George Washington University. Originally from Orlando, Fla., Baron has lived in the Washington area since 1998 and currently resides in Northern Virginia with his wife, three sons, and the family dog, The Edge. Twitter: @FPBaron
Gordon Lubold is a national security reporter for Foreign Policy. He is also the author of FP's Situation Report, an e-mailed newsletter that is blasted out to more than 70,000 national security and foreign affairs subscribers each morning that includes the top nat-sec news, breaking news, tidbits, nuggets and what he likes to call "candy." Before arriving at FP, he was a senior advisor at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, where he wrote on national security and foreign policy. Prior to his arrival at USIP, he was a defense reporter for Politico, where he launched the popular Morning Defense early morning blog and tip-sheet. Prior to that, he was the Pentagon and national security correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor, and before that he was the Pentagon correspondent for the Army Times chain of newspapers. He has covered conflict in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries in South Asia, and has reported on military matters in sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia and Latin America as well as at American military bases across the country. He has spoken frequently on the sometimes-contentious relationship between the military and the media as a guest on numerous panels. He also appears on radio and television, including on CNN, public radio's Diane Rehm and To the Point, and C-SPAN's Washington Journal. He lives in Alexandria with his wife and two children. Twitter: @glubold
John Reed is a national security reporter for Foreign Policy. He comes to FP after editing Military.com’s publication Defense Tech and working as the associate editor of DoDBuzz. Between 2007 and 2010, he covered major trends in military aviation and the defense industry around the world for Defense News and Inside the Air Force. Before moving to Washington in August 2007, Reed worked in corporate sales and business development for a Swedish IT firm, The Meltwater Group in Mountain View CA, and Philadelphia, PA. Prior to that, he worked as a reporter at the Tracy Press and the Scotts Valley Press-Banner newspapers in California. His first story as a professional reporter involved chasing escaped emus around California’s central valley with Mexican cowboys armed with lassos and local police armed with shotguns. Luckily for the giant birds, the cowboys caught them first and the emus were ok. A New England native, Reed graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a dual degree in international affairs and history.
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