Isolationism and its Consequences for Conflict Prevention
April 24, 2017 4 min. read

Could Trump’s “America First” isolationism, professed during his electoral campaign, decrease the U.S.’ role in the world, and ultimately its security?

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AFCEA West 2017 Conference (Pt.1): What are the Major Threats to the U.S.?
March 12, 2017 8 min. read

Senior military leaders fear that the administration will develop a foreign policy that focuses too heavily on military solutions with little regard to other “tools” in the U.S. policy kit.

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How Hawkish is Gen. James Mattis?
January 5, 2017 6 min. read

Trump praised him as “a general’s general” and the point person for a muscular U.S. foreign policy. Does Gen. Mattis’ own rhetoric fit Trump’s casting call?

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Obama, Trump and Drones
December 15, 2016 6 min. read

Will the Obama administration’s recent report on the use of military force influence the Trump’s administration conduct of foreign policy?

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A Case of Improper Airmanship
June 9, 2016 4 min. read

Coinciding with Kerry’s visit to Beijing for high-level security talks, a Chinese fighter jet carried out an “unsafe” intercept of a U.S. spy plane.

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GailForce: Economics and National Security
April 3, 2015 6 min. read

Each year, the intelligence community presents an annual threat assessment to Congress. They publish an unclassified version that I and many other national security geeks read very closely.

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Worse than a Defeat
December 14, 2014 3 min. read

Was the British Army an effective force in bringing stability and order to Iraq’s Shiite heartland in Basra? Were British troops efficient and effective in confronting the insurgencies they faced in Afghanistan and Iraq? And, as a major Western military power, did they study their enemy?

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An Effective U.S. Airpower Strategy against the Islamic State
August 18, 2014 7 min. read

American airpower employed against IS lines of communication can be effective at halting its momentum and supporting Iraqi forces in driving it back, but only if the Obama administration couples airstrikes with a strategy to undermine the Islamic State’s strongholds in Syria.

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GailForce: President Obama’s Terrorism and National Security Strategy Part II
June 4, 2013 6 min. read

This week marks the 71st anniversary of the Battle of Midway.  The battle took place 4 – 7 June  in 1942 and proved to be the turning point in the war against Japan, just 6 months following the devastating Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  Winston Churchill summed it up best: “This memorable American victory was […]

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Chuck Hagel on “A Republican Foreign Policy”
January 9, 2013 2 min. read

Nearly nine years ago, Senator Hagel charted out “A Republican Foreign Policy” in the July/August 2004 issue of Foreign Affairs. Hagel summarized this foreign policy with seven principles: 1)      Leadership in the Global Economy: “The rule of law, property rights, advances in science and technology, and large increases in worker productivity all have contributed […]

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Another Bank “Pays to Play”– AML Policies Built to Fail?
August 4, 2012 14 min. read

Given the criminal billions available to ambitious ‘private wealth handlers’ inside the world’s biggest banks, the historic willingness of financial institutions to ‘look the other way,’ and the paltry repercussions, fines and deferred prosecution, for AML (anti-money laundering) non-compliance—it’s clear that powerful incentives continue to drive (and reassure) high-wire account executives ISO under-the-table commissions from traffickers (1-2 percent), and big bonuses from appreciative employers…

For years, the US government, along with FATF (the talking head for the AML community), has told banks the key is to ‘know your customer.’

Wrong.

The message should be “Know your banker.”

Listen.

The easiest way for criminals to launder dirty dollars is simply to pay a banker to do it, someone who manages millions a year for a financial institution that will never look him in the eye and announce, no-punches-pulled, that money laundering is a criminal offense, the kind that can land you in jail.

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GailForce: Afghanistan and Iraq Lessons Learned
July 16, 2012 5 min. read

Been off the blogosphere for the last month because of a project I was working on.  Thought I’d get back into the saddle by looking into the latest on Afghanistan.  On July 10th in response to a reporter’s question, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said the surge had been a success. In response to some […]

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