Should America’s Military Prioritize And Do Less Overseas?

THURSDAY PDB – America will be more secure if it does less. In its final report, released at the end of last month, the Commission on the National Defense Strategy (NDS) had a chance to tackle the Pentagon's most stubborn but pressing challenge: the failure to prioritize. 

It squandered this opportunity, however, by recommending a “multi-theater force construct” that requires a larger military, more spending and an increased forward presence in Asia, Europe and the Middle East while still defending the homeland. 

In other words, the Commission's more-of-everything prescription punted on arguably the most crucial question it was supposed to tackle.

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – Here's a roundup of today's other top defense stories from conservative national security expert PAUL CRESPO.

Not the President's Daily Brief, but almost as good – PAUL'S DAILY BRIEFING – the PDB:        

NATIONAL SECURITY

Without talent agility, America may lose. When Russia attacked Ukraine in 2014, Ukraine could not afford to waste time establishing an official drone corps before deploying unmanned quadcopters onto the battlefield. Ukrainian soldiers did not pass a formal accreditation process and earn a skill identifier before assignment to these previously non-existent units, either. 

Instead, a whole-of-nation collaboration allowed civilian innovators to partner with Ukrainian intelligence and cyber units to rapidly create a new military unit. We need to be able to do the same.

White House advisory group blasts US government, DoD inattention to GPS threats. This, as we see increased risks of interference with the Pentagon-owned satellites, and lack of progress in finding alternative positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) systems — suggesting that control of GPS functions should lie outside the Defense Department.

HOMELAND SECURITY

The little-known US agency behind the string of coups against Mexico's drug lords.Homeland Security Investigations played a key role in the capture of elusive kingpin ‘El Mayo' Zambada and two sons of ‘El Chapo' Guzmán.

TOO MANY TRAITORS – Prosecutors seek detention for Pentagon employee charged with mishandling classified documents. A judge ruled Tuesday over prosecutors' objections that a U.S.-Turkish dual citizen can remain free on home detention. IDIOT JUDGE.

POLITICS

BUT UNVETTED ILLEGALS CROSS THE BORDER EVERYDAY – 3 years after fall of Kabul, US Congress has still not acted to secure future of more than 70,000 Afghan evacuees in US. Amid the chaos that followed the 2021 Biden-Harris Afghanistan retreat fiasco, the administration declared that evacuated Afghans would be allowed to enter the U.S. via humanitarian parole. This would provide them temporary access to American soil, but not with a pathway to permanent residency.

I'M SURE THEY WILL GET RIGHT ON THAT, JOE – Biden demands Austin Tice's ‘immediate release' from Syria on 12-year anniversary of disappearance. Journalist Austin Tice, a Marine veteran, vanished from a checkpoint outside Damascus.

Marines and sailors ordered to brush up on appropriate political activity amid heated election. It's well into a tense election season, and the Navy and Marine Corps are reminding their troops of what they can and cannot do when it comes to political activity.

US POWER OVERSEAS

In Germany, plan to deploy US cruise missiles draws opposition. In the months leading up to the deployment of American Pershing II and cruise missiles in West Germany in the early 1980s, the country erupted in mass protest.

Iraq boosts helicopter fleet ahead of pending US troops withdrawal. This, with a new planned purchase of French helos, a move that may take on new significance amid discussion of American troops' eventual exit.

ISRAEL'S WAR AGAINST TERROR

New high-stakes Gaza truce talks hope to avert a wider war. Mediators from the U.S., Egypt and Qatar will meet in Doha to try and broker a cease-fire 

IRAN THREAT

Iranian-backed cyber group ramps up phishing against Israel, US targets, says Google. It is carrying out an “aggressive, multi-pronged” effort to target the U.S. and Israel and interfere with the U.S. presidential election.

Iran shows off drones at Russian defense expo. Shunned by the West, Russia has attracted just a handful of foreign nations to display their military wares at an arms show this week, including one nation for whom the Kremlin has become an increasingly loyal customer: Iran.

CHINA THREAT

Did China just demote its defense ministry? Adm. Dong Jun has been left off key decision-making bodies. That could complicate the U.S.-China military relationship.

Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong back in South China Sea. The CNS Shandong (17) sailed back after spending less than two days in the Philippine Sea. Meanwhile the Russian Navy Pacific Fleet cruiser RFS Varyag (011) and frigate RFS Marshal Shaposhnikov (543) are back in the Indo-Pacific having earlier completed a deployment to the Mediterranean. 

Pentagon awards $32.9 million contract for more upgrades at Philippine fighter base. The Defense Department has announced additional improvements at a Philippine fighter base as part of an effort to deter China by rebuilding airfields across the Pacific.

RUSSIA THREAT – UKRAINE WAR

Ukraine launches biggest drone attack on Russian airfields as incursion puts Kremlin on the back foot. This, as Kyiv's troops advance further into Russia following their surprise cross-border incursion that has left the Kremlin embarrassed and scrambling. 

GOOD FOR UKRAINE – Pentagon didn't get heads up about Ukraine's Kursk offensive. U.S. officials are still trying to discern Kyiv's long-term objectives for the attack.

NORTH KOREA THREAT

US expresses frustration that North Korea is blocking efforts to recover remains of American casualties from the Korean War.

SPACE THREAT

Despite conventional wisdom, space arms control verification possible, says Aerospace Corporation. For decades, U.S. policymakers and diplomats have been extremely skeptical of space arms control, arguing that verification of compliance with such accords would be all but impossible due to the inability to discern weapons from non-weapons and attribute on-orbit violations to the perpetrators.

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY

Germany investigates possible unauthorized entry and sabotage of water supplies at a western military barracks.

US MILITARY

Second Replicator tranche to include autonomous underwater drones. Pentagon leadership selected  Dive-LD autonomous underwater vehicles as part of the second tranche of capabilities to be quickly mass-produced via the high-profile modernization effort known as Replicator.

Army stands up Arctic aviation command. The Army's activation of a new aviation command in Alaska marks the return of local air control over two battalions in the Arctic region after a five-year hiatus.

Better mobility ‘key' to Army operations in the extremes of the high north. The looming challenges posed by China and Russia in the Arctic have been raising questions about whether the U.S. Army's ground fleet is prepared to operate in an extreme environment with difficult terrain, rapidly changing weather patterns and temperatures reaching minus 60 degrees F.

Coast Guard cancels icebreaker Healy's Arctic mission. An electrical fire forced USCGC Healy (WAGB-20), one of only two American icebreakers, to cancel its mission.

BRING IN LOTS OF YOUNG WOMEN AND MIX THEM WITH YOUNG MEN IN CLOSE QUARTERS – US military sexual assault rates 2 to 4 times higher than govt estimates, according to a new Brown University study.

The Army is set to expand basic training, fueled by new recruiting momentum. This, as officials are confident the service is digging out of a recruiting slump it has struggled with for nearly a decade.

What is preventing the Army from integrating autonomous vehicles into its formations? Although the Army envisions an uncrewed future for part of its ground fleet, integrating autonomous systems into its formations has been a challenge.

END of PDB

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