Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks’ daily take on national security.
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8151496998_16a3156fb1_o Should NCOs be required to write better?
An Australian regimental sergeant major thinks they should up their literary game.
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Horse_Feathers_Burning_College You so smart? Then this job is for you.
I actually think lots of Best Defense readers would enjoy this gig.
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Screen Shot 2017-03-24 at 10.12.30 AM My guess: Someone in Trump camp told Russians to dump data to WikiLeaks
I think this Russia story is never going to go away.
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Brigadier-General Guy Chapdelaine (left) and Iman of the Islamic Quebec Cultural Center (IQCC) socialize during Operation Solidarity at the IQCC on February 24, 2017. Photo: Corporal Eric Girard, Canadian Forces Combat Camera IS07-2017-0002-013 ~ Brigadier-General Guy Chapdelaine (gauche) et Iman socialise au Centre culturel islamique de Québec (CCIQ) durant Opération Solidarité au CCIQ le24 février 2017. Photo: Caporal Eric Girard, Caméra de combat des Forces canadiennes IS07-2017-0002-013 The Canadian military’s chief chaplain explains why he visited a mosque
I wondered what the Royal Canadian Chaplain Service could do as a gesture of solidarity for Muslims who had experienced the death of six of their own.
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170321-N-XT039-396 PHILIPPINE SEA (March 21, 2017) Lance Cpl. Alex Marquissee, a military working dog (MWD) handler, from Appleton, Wis., and Gage, his MWD, both attached to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), fast rope from an MV-22B Osprey, assigned to the “Flying Tigers” of Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 262, onto the port aircraft elevator of amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6). Bonhomme Richard, flagship of the Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group, with embarked 31st MEU is on a routine patrol, operating in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region to enhance warfighting readiness and posture forward as a ready-response force for any type of contingency. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Jesse Marquez Magallanes/Released) A flying dog getting out of a V-22
At sea, even.
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A man carries two children away from the scene of an explosion in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, early on August 7, 2013. UN weapons inspectors tasked with looking into claims of chemical weapons use in Syria are "completing their preparations" in The Hague before heading to Damascus, the United Nations said. AFP PHOTO/ABDULLAH AL-SHAM (Photo credit should read ABDULLAH AL-SHAM/AFP/Getty Images) Civilians still in Raqqa are still civilians
The presence of the US 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit in Syria to take part in the campaign to capture Raqqa marks a significant shift in U.S. policy in the Middle East, and heralds an unknown future for the city’s civilians.
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UriahPhillipsLevy An interesting 19th century Navy officer
Uriah P. Levy helped end flogging in the Navy, suffered from anti-Semitic attacks, and was court-martialed six times (he disliked being insulted).
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Modernmillieposter Army chief: Time to prepare for urban war
The U.S. Army needs to better prepare to fight in megacities, said Gen. Mark Milley, the service’s chief of staff, on Tuesday.
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Dean_G._Acheson,_U.S._Secretary_of_State A classic book revisited: Acheson’s ‘Present at the Creation’ reminds us of how our government should work
Dean Gooderham Acheson, the son of Canadian immigrants, graduate of Groton, Yale, and Harvard Law, was probably the most consequential American diplomat of the twentieth century.
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16938691_10154468195543107_2553504843813845283_n D.J. Skelton’s wild night of adventures
So....let me tell you about last night...which will go down as the GREATEST NIGHT I'VE EXPERIENCED in a long time!
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Volodymyr_Horbulin,_June_26,_2014 Ukrainian elder statesman: How Russian hybrid war is changing the world order
Volodymyr Horbulin is one of Ukraine’s most accomplished elder statesmen.
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Paratrooper assumes a security position during a tactical exercise In future ground war, light infantry will be alone and unsupported on the battlefield
So argue two Marine officers in an interesting article in the March issue of the Marine Corps Gazette.
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51oF4aGwoJL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_ N. Schadlow and F. Hill land at the NSC
Both are interesting picks.
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5125935924_afeeae43dd_o CIA vet: I still don’t like leaks, but they do seem to be part of the American system
The recent spate of leaks seems to be all but designed to impede President Trump’s administration from accomplishing its political agenda.
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51DSS9kafAL._SX385_BO1,204,203,200_ A Best Defense salute to Duffel Blog
I think I have learned more about the U.S. military culture from reading “Duffel Blog” than I have from many hundreds of academic articles on the subject.
