DoD Seeks New Authority for Drone Countermeasures
Unmanned aerial systems (UAS, or drones) could be used by malicious actors to conduct unauthorized surveillance or to deliver hazardous payloads within the United States. But defending against such...
View ArticleDoD Again Seeks FOIA Exemption for Military Tactics
For the third time, the Department of Defense is asking Congress to enact a new exemption from the Freedom of Information Act for certain military tactics, techniques and procedures (TTP), as well as...
View Article“Readiness” and Secrecy in the US Military
Is there a “readiness crisis” in the U.S. military? The answer is uncertain because the question itself is unclear. But a perceived need to improve readiness has become a primary DoD justification for...
View ArticleNetwork Engagement: An Evolution of Warfare
If attacking the enemy and blowing things up were all that the military had to do, then its task would be straightforward. But if that was ever the case, it is no longer so. In order to execute its...
View ArticleArmy Issues New Counter-WMD Doctrine
Countering weapons of mass destruction is “an enduring mission of the U.S. Armed forces,” the US Army said last week in a new doctrinal publication. Counter-WMD operations are defined as actions taken...
View ArticleSome New DoD Directives and Instructions
Noteworthy new directives and instructions issued by the Department of Defense, of interest to some, include the following. DoD Space Enterprise Governance and Principal DoD Space Advisor (PDSA), DOD...
View ArticleArmy Operations: The New Operational Environment
Other nations, including current and potential adversaries, possess military capabilities that now match or exceed those of the United States, according to a new US Army doctrinal publication. “Today’s...
View ArticleWhat is an Act of War in Cyberspace?
What constitutes an act of war in the cyber domain? It’s a question that officials have wrestled with for some time without being able to provide a clear-cut answer. But in newly-published responses to...
View ArticleMilitary Operations Face Growing Transparency
Soldiers and Marines fighting in populated urban environments have to assume that their actions are being closely monitored by the public, according to new military doctrine published last week. They...
View ArticlePentagon Reaffirms Policy on Scientific Integrity
“It is DoD policy to support a culture of scientific and engineering integrity,” according to a Department of Defense directive that was reissued last week. This is in large part a matter of...
View ArticleReversing Course, DoD Will Retain Cluster Munitions
The Department of Defense last month abandoned a 2008 policy that would have reduced the U.S. inventory of cluster munitions and imposed strict new safety and quality control standards on these...
View ArticleArmy Sketches Future Cyberspace Operations
The U.S. Army this week published an overview of future military cyberspace operations. See The U.S. Army Concept for Cyberspace and Electronic Warfare Operations 2025-2040, TRADOC Pamphlet 525-8-6, 9...
View ArticleThe Expanding Secrecy of the Afghanistan War
Last year, dozens of categories of previously unclassified information about Afghan military forces were designated as classified, making it more difficult to publicly track the progress of the war in...
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Army Visual Signals
Soldiers need to be able to communicate on a noisy, dangerous battlefield even when conventional means of communication are unavailable. To help meet that need, the US Army has just updated its...
View ArticleUS Air Force Limits Media Access, Interviews
Updated below The US Air Force is suspending media embeds, base visits and interviews “until further notice” and it “will temporarily limit the number and type of public engagements” by public affairs...
View ArticleNuclear Weapons Maintenance as a Career Path
The US Air Force has published new guidance for training military and civilian personnel to maintain nuclear weapons as a career specialty. See Nuclear Weapons Career Field Education and Training Plan,...
View ArticleHomeland Defense: An Update
The Joint Chiefs of Staff last week issued updated doctrine on homeland defense, including new guidance on cyberspace operations, unmanned aerial systems, defense support of civil authorities, and even...
View ArticleStrategy: Directing the Instruments of National Power
The tools that can be used to assert national power and influence have often been summarized by the acronym DIME — Diplomatic, Informational, Military, and Economic. But “US policy makers and...
View ArticleDoD Seeks New FOIA Exemption for Fourth Time
For the fourth year in a row, the Department of Defense has asked Congress to legislate a new exemption from the Freedom of Information Act in the FY2019 national defense authorization act for certain...
View ArticleSuperiority in Cyberspace Will Remain Elusive
Military planners should not anticipate that the United States will ever dominate cyberspace, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a new doctrinal publication. The kind of supremacy that might be...
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